This study examines the whether or not family firms are financially healthier than non-family in terms of capital structure and leverage. It therefore takes into consideration the existence of any significant differences between the leverage and risk choices of family and non-family firms. Using a panel data set of 888 firms and 7104 firm-year observations of unlisted small and medium size firms over the period 2007-2014, we present that family owned businesses have lower financial structure than those of non-family owned businesses. This indicates that most family firms use less debt financing than non-family firms, and as such maintain a lower level of debt. Secondly, family firms demonstrate lower risk as illustrated by the Altman Z-score. The Altman Z-score scale illustrates a contrary relationship of significance with respect to family firms and their counterparts in terms of the operation aspect of the business's risk factors. Family firms managed their business operations with lower risk and are generally healthier financially than their counterpart firms. Lastly, findings from the robust tests for the hypotheses using a sample of bankrupt firms in Iberian Balance sheet Analysis System (SABI) reveal that the proportion of failure of family firms as opposed to their counterpart firms is relatively low. Analyzing the bankruptcy files of firms from 2002 to 2014 shows a considerably low ratio of family firms at the 5% significant level. This affirms that the low risk illustrated in the Altman Z-score regression is consistent to the lower ratio of family firms that were declared bankrupted over the study period, which makes Spain an important case in this study.

This paper examines the ongoing transition to the revised Organisation for the Harmonisation of Business Law in Africa Act on Accounting and Financial Reporting for companies in general and to the International Financial Reporting Standards for listed and group companies with a particular focus on recent institutional developments and corporate concerns. The study used 80 professional accountants, most of whom were members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Cameroon and academics. Using the descriptive statistics, the study shows that the transition to the revised OHADA brings about a high level of comparability and transparency of the financial statements, that the International Financial Reporting Standards cannot be implemented in Cameroon (but not fully), and that the benefit of the transition exceeds the cost.

In the era of globalization and technology, society demands young generations of citizens able to work in a kind of environment characterized by complexity and diversity. Therefore, the education system faces a new kind of challenge, as graduates are reported to need transversal skills, which are unlikely to be learned through traditional classroom teaching. The overall aim of this article is to examine the needs for these skills and their acquisition by higher education teachers to cope with the evolving European labour market of the 2020s. The article envisions the importance of soft skills in the teaching profession. The empirical part consists of a comparative study with Italian and Portuguese teachers, highlighting the status of a set of crucial soft skills (assertiveness, networking skills, teamwork, sensitivity, socialization, action-orientation, ability to work under pressure and social desirability).