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Effective, efficient and transparent management of public resources is particularly important in a poor country like Niger. This study shows how difficult it is for Niger to significantly change its expenditure composition in a short time span. A narrow and volatile domestic resource base, heavy dependence on aid, and a large share of pre-determined expenditures such as external debt payments are important factors behind this lack of flexibility. There are ways, though, to create space in the budget for increasing public spending on priority sectors. The study identifies a number of measures in this regard, such as increasing domestic revenues, more realistic and conservative budgeting, strengthening cash management, controlling the wage bill, prudent borrowing and attracting higher external financing for recurrent costs in priority sectors. The study also shows that enhancing the efficiency and transparency of public spending is as important as increasing spending for PRS priority sectors. It thoroughly assesses public management systems in Niger and presents an action plan, jointly elaborated by the Government and its main external partners, to address the main challenges in this area. This action plan contains a priority set of measures to improve budget preparation, execution as well as internal and external oversight.

Purpose Girls Active aims to tackle declining participation in physical activity of girls aged 10 to 18 and its associated implications on health, wellbeing and education. Change4Life Sports Clubs are designed to address inactivity in 7 to 11 year olds and improve healthy lifestyle behaviours with exercise, food and hydration. Both projects aim to reduce physical inactivity of those children suffering the greatest challenges to achieving the recommended daily physical activity level of an average of 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day. Project description Both programmes were developed from evidence reviews and principles that work to engage, inspire and motivate targeted groups of children to be active. They were both developed by the children’s charity Youth Sport Trust, who have used sport and play to improve the lives of children and young people since 1995. They were co-designed with children and implemented through a national network of 450 School Games Organisers. Youth Sports Trust’s ‘content, delivery, structure’ model was used. For Girls Active we used the Active Lives Children Data from Sport England and Change4Life Sports Clubs were aligned to the Department of Health’s National Child Measurement Programme data to target where the programmes were most needed and to ensure that the right groups of children and young people were included in the interventions. Both programmes have been externally evaluated through academic partners using pre and post survey data, case studies and control elements and achieved high quality evidence scores. Both programmes have been scaled through a variety of funding streams including London 2012 Olympic Legacy, Sport England Lottery, Corporate Social Responsibility budgets and local public health funding. Girls Active has been adopted in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Conclusions We will share the evidence-based principles that have made these two approaches highly effective in addressing inactivity in primary school aged children and adolescent girls that can be applied in multiple contexts and will share resources and content that can be accessed following the session.

Introduction/Main Objectives: This study has three objectives. First, to analyze whether tax education during higher education influences individual tax compliance through increased knowledge about taxation. Second, to explore the implementation of tax education in universities. Third, to identify the cooperation between universities and the Directorate General of Taxation in order to improve individuals' tax compliance. The research method used in this study is a mixed-method. Background Problems: In previous studies the educational variables have been measured from the level of the education of the respondents (diploma, undergraduate, and postgraduate), not on the application of courses in tertiary institutions, so that they do not reflect if the respondents received any tax education. Research Method: The approach used in this mixed-method is a convergent parallel one. In a parallel convergent approach, the author collects each item of quantitative and qualitative data simultaneously, and then the data are analyzed. Finding/Results: The results of a survey of 100 students who regularly attend night classes held at the Politeknik Negeri Batam (Polibatam), who have fulfilled the requirements to be taxpayers, indicate that tax education has a significant effect on tax compliance. Then, the indirect effect of tax education through tax knowledge also significantly influences tax compliance. The results of quantitative research are also supported by the results of interviews with two students, two tax lecturers, and one employee of the Directorate General of Taxation. Conclusion: The results of this study are also in line with the social learning theory, where the environment influences cognition and behavior. From the theory, it can be concluded that tax education can increase tax knowledge and influence taxpayers' compliance behavior.

The network of Portuguese companies in 1973 has been identified as a relevant element for understanding the economic structure of the country in the decade of 1970–1980. This network had been formed before 1974, during the dictatorship, but it remained after the Carnation Revolution. In spite of such research, this network has not yet been properly analysed, especially through adequate tools from network analysis. This work will detail this network, the different scores of centrality of each company, and their modular structures; it will also discuss estimates from exponential random graph models to identify significant attributes that explain the discovered flows of investment. This work will also detail the processes of vertical integration as well as the specificities of the identified oligopolies.

The practice of lobbying in the interest of economic or social groups plays an important role in the policy making process of most economies. While no data is available at this stage to examine the success of lobbies in exerting influence on specific policy issues, we perform a first systematic multi-layer network analysis of a large lobby registry. Here we focus on the domains of finance and climate and we combine information on affiliation and client relations from the EU transparency register with information about shareholding and interlocking directorates of firms. We find that the network centrality of lobby organizations has no simple relation with their lobbying budget. Moreover, different layers of the multiplex network provide complementary information to characterize organizations' potential influence. At the aggregate level, it appears that while the domains of finance and climate are separated on the layer of affiliation relations, they become intertwined when economic relations are considered. Because groups of interest differ not only in their budget and network centrality but also in terms of their internal cohesiveness, drawing a map of both connections across and within groups is a precondition to better understand the dynamics of influence on policy making and the forces at play.

PurposeThis study investigates the application of machine learning (ML) techniques in predicting firm performance, responding to the challenges posed by the large volumes of data required for accurate predictions. It aims to assess the effectiveness of various ML methods and algorithms used in recent research, focusing on the prediction of firm performance across multiple dimensions.Design/methodology/approachA systematic literature review was conducted, examining 70 studies published over the last decade (2013–2023) that utilize ML techniques for firm performance prediction. This methodology allowed for an in-depth analysis of the attributes, methods, and algorithms commonly applied in the field, offering insights into the evolution and effectiveness of these approaches over time.FindingsThe research highlights the importance of considering a broad range of attributes beyond traditional financial metrics, such as financial health, market positioning, operational efficiency, innovation capability, leadership quality, and employee engagement, in predicting firm performance. It reveals a predominance of classification methods in ML, with neural networks, logistic regression, and decision trees being the most frequently employed algorithms. These findings underscore the potential of ML techniques to provide a more nuanced and accurate prediction of firm performance by integrating diverse data sources and attributes.Practical implicationsThe study’s insights have significant implications for investors, financial analysts, corporate management, policymakers, and regulators. By adopting a more comprehensive ML-based approach to performance prediction, these stakeholders can make more informed decisions regarding resource allocation, capital budgeting, investment strategies, and policy formulation. Improved predictability also aids in the development of more effective regulations and policies, benefiting the broader economic landscape.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the existing literature by systematically reviewing and synthesizing the application of ML techniques in firm performance prediction over a substantial period. It offers a consolidated view of the methods and attributes that are most effective in this context, highlighting the shift towards more complex and holistic approaches to understanding firm dynamics. This comprehensive overview provides valuable insights for future research and practice in the field of business analytics and performance prediction.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to evaluate the influence of justice, culture and love of money on ethical perceptions about tax evasion. As well as gender will strengthen the influence of justice, culture and love of money on ethical perceptions about tax evasion. Design/methodology/approach The primary data were collected and analyzed using a popular component-based model called partial least square (PLS). PLS consists of two sub-models, measurement model or outer model and structural model or inner model. The measurement model shows how real or observable variables are latent variables to be measured. While the structural model shows the level of estimation between latent or construct variables. Findings The statistical analysis showed that neither the coefficient of gender (moderating variable) nor the interaction between gender and the exogenous variable are significant. Solimun (2010) explained that such moderating variable is called homologizer moderation (potential moderation). Homologizer moderation refers to variable that may potentially become a moderating variable influencing relationship between predictor (exogenous) and dependant variable (endogenous). This variable has no interaction with predictors or can be said to be insignificant on the dependent variable. In this study, gender is a potential moderating variable (homologizer moderation). Gender can potentially become a moderating variable influencing relationship between justice, culture and love of money and ethical perception on tax evasion. Gender does not have interaction with justice, culture and love of money or significant influence toward ethical perception on tax evasion. Originality/value There are very few studies on tax evasion from an ethical point of view so this study is not only important but also interesting because it shows that tax evasion is a classic problem taking place in nearly all countries that apply taxation system; cultural difference results in different views on ethical perceptions on tax evasion (Basri, 2015); this study uses the local wisdom of Balinese people, namely, Tri Hita Karana and thus, this study becomes relatively new; justice is one of the non-economic variables of tax compliance behavior (Darmawan, 2012), so that the researcher is interested in conducting further research on the effect of justice toward ethical perception on tax evasion; there are very few studies discussing love of money (Hnisz et al., 2013); therefore, research on the effect of love of money toward ethical perception on tax evasion is of necessity and the findings of previous studies that are inconsistent. The researcher predicted that there are contingency factors that influence the relationship between justice, culture and love of money toward ethical perceptions on tax evasion. As suggested by Baridwan (2012), gender, the moderating variable in this study, refers to masculine and feminine character as a dimension of social culture; this study is carried out in the Tax Service Office (KPP Pratama) of Badung Utara because during the 2015 tax year, KPP Pratama Badung Utara was one of the KPPs in Bali DGT Regional Office which experienced a decline in realization of revenues and a sharp decline in growth.

The latest vision for patient and public involvement, local HealthWatch (LHW) groups, created in the Health and Social Care Act 2012, was promised to be a 'shining' success. So far, it has not come close. The model's weakness is its potential lack of independence; LHW groups, which replace local involvement networks, will be funded through local authorities with un-ringfenced money. LHW groups should have been set up as statutory corporate bodies, supplied with budgets from the centre by HealthWatch England. Statutory patient and public involvement groups must be able to check and challenge, scrutinise the quality of care and service delivery, shape decisions, champion local needs and influence government. These groups should be a force for fairness and the right sort of change.