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© 2018 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group This study examines how financial audit-styled concepts such as materiality are transferred to non-financial audit arenas. Drawing on a case study of assurors working within a Big 4 professional services firm, we uncover a number of interrelated features of the materiality determination and assessment process within sustainability assurance (assurance on sustainability reports). We illustrate how assuror flexibility, underpinned by assuror intuition, is central to uncovering assurance technologies deemed capable of addressing the materiality of ambiguous sustainability data. Assurors with no financial audit background retrospectively rationalise their intuition using the assumed authority of structured financial audit methodologies. This facilitates the tentative translation of financial audit knowledge to the sustainability assurance domain. Collaborative, holistic decision-making processes inform the assurors’ continual construction of materiality and are characterised by alliances of (accountant and non-accountant) ‘expert’ assurors merging formal and tacit knowledge. These alliances seek social cohesion within sustainability assurance teams in order to establish a social consensus among assurors around the materiality determination and assessment process. Our analysis develops and extends Power’s theorisation of how new areas are made auditable and advances our understanding of the more practical aspects of non-financial assurance services offered by Big 4 professional services firms.

Low-elevation coastal areas and their populations are at risk during and after the appearance of a storm surge event. Coastal flooding as a result of storm surge events is investigated in this paper for a number of areas around the north-eastern (NE) Mediterranean coastal zone (Adriatic, Aegean and north Levantine seas). The sea level rise (SLR) due to storm surge events is examined for the period 2000–2004. Wind data, atmospheric pressure and wave data for this period as well as in situ sea elevation measurements (from stations around the Mediterranean coasts) were used. Potential inundation zones were then identified using a 90-m horizontal resolution digital elevation model (DEM). At these zones, the sea surface elevations were calculated for the study period, using the collected data and a 2D storm surge simulation model (1/10o×1/10o) output, examining the sea level alteration in specific coastal areas, where in situ measurements are absent and are characterised as “risky” in inundation areas, due to their topography. In order to determine the level of storm track implication on major SLR incidents, the trajectories of the respective storm events were computed. The aim of this paper is to investigate the major storm surge events that appeared during the study period, identify the major “risky” costal regions along the north-eastern Mediterranean coast and determine their hazard level due to inundation caused by storm surge phenomena. The combination of the risk level determination of an area and the calculation of sea level alteration is an important tool in terms of predicting and protecting the coastal area from extreme meteorological incidents.

This study examines the association between financial restatements and audit fees, and the effect of board of directors turnover on this relationship. Restatements are seen as a financial reporting failure, increasing risk for the auditor resulting in a higher audit fee. Regression analysis using the audit fee change model based on prior literature is applied on an U.S. sample. We found no evidence that there is positive significant relationship found between restatements and audit fees. Eventually, the association between restatements and audit fees does not weaken for restatement firms changing board members relative to restatement firms not changing board members. Hence, this implies that board of directors turnover is not an effective strategy to weaken the relationship between restatements and audit fees. This study contributes by responding to the call of Feldmann et al. (2009) to investigate possible indicators, next to CEO and CFO turnover, that firms can take to repair their damaged reputation due to a financial restatement.

Background Smoking is a major cause of cardiovascular disease and mortality. Smoking-related deaths in Greece account for 23%, whereas 41 % of young Greeks are smokers, the highest percentage in Europe. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of chronic smoking on the rate-pressure product and exercise tolerance in young, healthy male smokers. Design and methods Forty-two smokers and 51 nonsmokers were selected from a population of 543 students based on their age, sex, body mass index, physical fitness, smoking habit and health status. All participants were tested with the standard Bruce treadmill protocol. The rate-pressure product was obtained at rest and during exercise at a given submaximal workload. The evaluation of exercise tolerance was based on peak workload achieved and maximal exercise test duration. Results The smokers had a higher rate-pressure product at rest (P < 0.001) due to their higher resting heart rate (P < 0.001). Resting values of blood pressure did not differ significantly between the two groups. During exercise, smokers had a greater rate-pressure product (P < 0.001), mainly due to their significantly higher systolic blood pressure (P = 0.008). The smokers had a higher submaximal heart rate (P=0.005), but the differences in heart rate between groups were reduced for smokers during exercise when compared to rest The smokers’ exercise tolerance was impaired and their maximal exercise test duration time was significantly shorter (P < 0.001). Conclusions Chronic smoking was found to affect young male smokers’ cardiovascular fitness, impairing the economy and decreasing the capacity of their circulatory system.