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This article compares the results of between and within subjects tests of the expectancy theory in a public accounting environment. The models were tested in a between-subjects design instead of the within-subjects design, which is more consistent with expectancy theory's focus on individual choices. The author notes that the model is essentially the typical expectancy theory model, with the impact of the performance evaluation process incorporated. The within-subjects analysis was conducted by running regressions for each sample based on dimensions focusing on nine observations. Since the dependent variable was operationalized in four ways, four regressions were run for each subject.

The article presents a method for analyzing narrative accounting disclosures of financial information. The authors use a computer program called WORDS to provide a content analysis of the narrative elements of financial statements by looking at word frequency. The program catalogs the words into various classifications and then creates a statistical analysis of the words. The WORDS program was used to analyze annual report disclosures from companies that may or may not have released misleading financial information.

The article refers to research concerning social responsibility disclosures and discusses a method for measuring the information content of firms' voluntary social disclosures. The hypothesis relates to the assumption that there is an association between environmental disclosure and performance. Analysis was based on four dimensions in corporate annual reports--evidence such as monetary, time, specificity, and theme such as public interest. Statistics show the correlation between Council on Economic Priorities, or CEP Index, and the dimension categories, the factor loadings in content analysis, and regression of content scores and CEP Index.

Comments on Mark Trombley's conclusions in his paper `Accounting Method Choice in the Software Industry,' published in the July 1989 issue of `The Accounting Review.' Auditor effect on early adoptions; Size effect on early adoptions.