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This paper presents a compilation of personal reflections from 66 contributors on the impact of, and responses to, COVID-19 in accounting education in 45 different countries around the world. It reveals a commonality of issues, and a variability in responses, many positive outcomes, including the creation of opportunities to realign learning and teaching strategies away from the comfort of traditional formats, but many more that are negative, primarily relating to the impact on faculty and student health and well-being, and the accompanying stress. It identifies issues that need to be addressed in the recovery and redesign stages of the management of this crisis, and it sets a new research agenda for studies in accounting education.

This paper discusses the noticeable nervousness of many US-based financial statement issuers in adopting IFRS. For contextual purposes, the paper provides an overview of the FASB/IFRS convergence so far and its probable future. A detailed review of convergence in accounting standards is explained through the respective standards for "Pensions and Other Post-Employment Benefits". The paper concludes by suggesting that, while one set of global steps is a noble goal, it might not achieve the desired goal of comparability.

On May 28, 2015 the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (hereafter, the Board) issued Staff Consultation Paper No. 2015-01 (hereafter, the Staff Consultation Paper) to seek information and input on the potential need to improve standards related to the auditor's use of the work of specialists. The Board requested input from investors, accounting firms, specialists, companies, and others (such as academics) about (1) current practices, (2) the potential need for changes, and (3) possible alternative regulatory approaches, and any associated economic implications, for potential improvement in standards related to oversight and assessing the objectivity of employed and engaged specialists. The comment period ended July 31, 2015. This commentary summarizes the contributors' views on selected questions posed in the Staff Consultation Paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) is pursuing initiatives to make the U.S. Uniform CPA Examination more accessible to candidates outside of the United States. At the heart of their plan is a desire to ensure that the U.S.-CPA retains its position as a gold standard in the world of professional accountancy. Over the last 15 years, the author has been involved with programs directed at Japanese candidates for the U.S. CPA exam. This paper suggests that the international initiative of NABSA needs to be reconsidered from the perspective of an Asian candidate for the U.S. Uniform CPA Examination. That perspective reveals some unintended consequences for the U.S. CPA designation. This paper explores those consequences in order to draw attention to them. Any policy initiative should maintain the successful balance of education, experience, and technical examination that has created the great value and respect afforded to those with a U.S. CPA license.

There is much debate in the literature concerning the changes necessary for university accounting education to meet the needs of the business environment and broader society. In the USA the Pathways Commission has responded by implementing a programme of evaluation and improvement. In the UK there is no formal agenda for change. This paper compares the situation in the UK to that set out in the Pathways Commission. Two research questions are asked. (1) What should be included in a programme of change in the UK? (2) What are the impediments to the change? The questions are answered by reviewing the literature to firstly consolidate the calls for change and secondly to analyse the circumstances affecting UK accounting degrees. The paper calls on the accountancy profession, universities and academics in the UK to embark on a programme of change similar to the USA to agree a core curriculum, an appropriate academic resourcing strategy and a revised pedagogy. It argues that for significant and lasting change to emerge impediments in three areas need to be addressed. (1) The interface between professional accountancy bodies (PABs) and university academics. (2) The impact of institutional policies on accounting degrees. (3) The identity of UK university accounting academics.

In this paper, we report on the analysis of data collected from 684 students majoring in Accounting and Finance, to examine the relationship between academic outcomes and Work-integrated Education (WIE) and International Study Exchange (ISE) experiences. Both WIE and ISE are common elements of undergraduate business education because of the benefits to students' skills development they provide, particularly in the areas of graduate attribute development. This study examined the relationship between the change in students' academic performance and the amount and type of WIE a student undertook and whether or not they participated in an ISE. Findings showed that both completing a higher amount of WIE and undertaking an ISE are positive predictors of change in a student's grade point average. In addition, students who undertook industry-relevant WIE or WIE sourced by the school had higher grades on graduation. As well as benefits to overall academic achievement, the results showed that students who participated in ISE had significantly higher grades in the final year, major project, as well as a higher grade on graduation. Furthermore, undertaking an ISE and also doing extra WIE had the greatest effect on change in GPA. These findings strongly suggest that relevant WIE and ISE experiences are valuable for helping students be academically more successful when they return to study at their home institution.

The article presents commentary on a paper by Ehsan H. Feroz, Kyungjoo Park, and Victor S. Pastena (FPS) entitled "The Financial Market Effects of the SEC's Accounting Enforcement Releases," which was published in the December 1, 1991 edition of the "Journal of Accounting Research." The authors of the current paper assert that FPS overemphasize the ability of "Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Releases" issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to anticipate emerging accounting issues. They also believe the paper could have benefitted from greater use of 8-K forms that firms file with the SEC.

Professional mutual recognition agreements (MRAs) are one of the policy instruments employed in global and regional trade agreements to facilitate the mobility of skilled labour. While such agreements have been noted in the literature examining cross-border academic mobility, little is known about how they impact higher education. This paper examines the formation of professional MRAs in North America since the passing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), focusing on three fields: engineering, architecture, and accounting. In the three professions, asymmetries characterizing the NAFTA partners led to system-level reforms in Mexico. The paper discusses how and why the institutional arrangements governing professional higher education in the country were "harmonized" with those of the United States and Canada.

The paper examines if there has been an increase in the attention paid to social and environmental issues (SEI) in accounting curricula. Using schools participating in the Aspen Institute's Beyond Grey Pinstripes (BGP) program, we measure the increase in the number of accounting courses incorporating SEI across the biennial application years of 2005, 2007 and 2009. We also examine the percentage of SEI coverage in accounting courses between 2007 and 2009. Our findings suggest that there was not an appreciable increase in the number of accounting courses dealing with SEI between 2005 and 2007, but that the increase was significant during the period from 2007 to 2009. Further, the increase over the four-year period from 2005 to 2009 was also significant. In addition, there is a significant increase in the percentage of SEI coverage in accounting courses between 2007 and 2009. Implications of these findings are discussed.

The interest in uniform accounting or standard accounting in the newsprint industry began to become manifest about ten years ago. In 1916 a firm of public accountants issued a report on the subject. And since that time fairly rapid progress has been made. The movement was greatly facilitated by the attitude that the Governments of the United States and Canada took regarding the cost of manufacturing and price, when the industry was controlled during the war. They insisted that definite costs should be arrived at and this greatly promoted accounting activities in the industry, so that much of the resistance to the development of uniform cost accounting, which has been found in other industries, was overcome in this way in the news print industry. Accountants were employed both by the Government and by the manufacturers to make extensive investigations of costs and related matters and these investigations disclosed the lack of reliable cost data and indicated the necessity for development.

Purpose: The study examines the mediating role of accounting information quality (AQ), a proxy for firms' information risk, in firms' business strategy and the cost of equity (COE) nexus to highlight how AQ provides a mechanism through which a company's business strategy affects its COE. Design/methodology/approach: The research study utilises data from 12,100 firm-year observations of United States (US) non-financial firms from 2001 to 2017, drawn from multiple databases, and employs the bootstrapping method of mediation analysis to test the indirect effect of AQ on the business strategy–COE relationship. The authors rely on Miles and Snow's two pure business strategy typologies, prospectors and defenders and use innate accrual quality and implied COE models to measure AQ and COE, respectively. Findings: The results suggest that AQ partially mediates the relationship between business strategy and COE. The authors document that while innovative-oriented prospector firms have a lower AQ and a higher implied COE, efficiency-oriented defenders are associated with a higher AQ and lower COE. The higher (lower) COE of prospector (defender) firms is observed to be partly due to their lower (higher) AQ. The results indicate that while the idiosyncratic risk implied in firms' strategic orientation can directly influence their COE, the business strategy implications on firms' COE can be indirect through their AQ, a source of information risk. Research limitations/implications: Due to data limitation, it was not possible to measure all possible methods of measuring implied COE. Practical implications: The paper highlights the role of firm's business strategy in pricing decisions by investors. Originality/value: The paper contributes to the existing literature by providing evidence that AQ, a proxy for information risk, is a mechanism through which business strategy affects firms' COE. The authors thus complement extant literature to empirically test the information risk effect inherent in strategic orientation on security pricing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the coverage of management accounting techniques in several popular management accounting texts, assessing each technique's claimed position within practice, its benefits and limitations, and the information sources substantiating these claims. Employing the notion of research genres, the study reveals that textbooks in their discussion of techniques are essentially representing the consulting genre, characterized by its technical interest of knowledge and a prescriptive style of argumentation. Textbooks are found to be unrepresentative of the critical genre, concerned with emancipatory interest of knowledge and an increased awareness of ideologies predominant in current accounting practices. This study suggests that popular management accounting texts lack the representation of the basic genre oriented towards practical and theoretical interests of knowledge and an argumentation that possesses scientific rigour. If accounting educators have the ambition to offer broader perspectives on accounting in their teachings, they should be more considerate in their selection of textbooks.

The purpose of this article is to describe a method of reducing the time required for preparing a statement of source and application of funds. It consists of substituting two T-accounts for the formal working papers commonly used in source and application of funds preparation. The method is especially useful in examinations because of the great saving of time effected in organizing the information required for the statement. Of the two T-accounts, one is used to accumulate information for determining and explaining the amount of funds provided by operations. The second T-account is used to list funds provided and funds applied, the balance, of course, representing the change in working capital as shown in detail by the statement of working capital changes or determined in some other manner. In preparation of the formal statement of source and application of funds, if time is limited, the student may be allowed to show funds provided by operations as a single figure, since he has already shown the details in his T-account.

The article reports on write-offs on financial statements in the U.S. with commentary on a paper by Lynn Rees, Susan Gill, and Richard Gore. Rees and colleagues researched the management of write-offs and whether managers have a greater incidence of managing operating accruals when they've taken write-offs and if this is true then is it because they wish to publish value-relevant signals as opposed to acting opportunistically. The author feels that there is too much focus on manipulation of financial statements.

The article discusses the earnings measurement and financial disclosure requirements for foreign business enterprises listing on U.S. stock exchanges. The usefulness of information measured in foreign generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) is compared to that of U.S. GAAP in order to determine whether or not foreign firms should reconcile their annual reports to U.S. GAAP. Correlations between foreign GAAP accounting data and U.S. stock prices, as well as U.S. and foreign stock prices are looked at.

Graduate employability has become an issue since there are broad mismatches between the acquired graduate skills from university and the required skills by employers. While previous researches have outlined the salient skills that need to be embedded in graduate education, to date no studies have attempted to methodically identify and synthesize the literature on graduate attributes. In this paper a total of 39 relevant studies on graduate skills and attributes in the subject areas of business and management, accounting, and computer science were extracted from Scopus® (database). This revealed a total of 53 graduate attributes, with some being highly used, such as communication, teamwork, problem solving, technological skills, creativity, interpersonal skills, leadership skills, self-management and flexibility/adaptability. The majority of studies used a quantitative survey method to collect and rank graduate attributes, and Australia emerged as the most active country in researching the domain.

This article presents a critique of a paper titled "A Cross-national Comparison of R&D Expenditure Decisions: Tax Incentives and Financial Constraints," by Kenneth Klassen, Jeffrey A. Pittman and Margaret Reed. The authors analyze a cross-national comparison of R&D expenditure, in regard to tax incentives and financial constraints. They also developed tests that draw conclusions regarding the relative efficiency of the taxation regimes, combining both a theoretical model and an empirical study, removing many of the potential shortcomings found in existing research. The author contends their work effectively examines cross-national differences in the R&D incentive system between Canada and the United States to solves some of the shortcomings observed in prior research.

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to identify the offering and nature (scope) of sustainability accounting courses at universities that have signed the Talloires Declaration and also at universities with prominent sustainability accounting researchers' affiliations. For this purpose a university web sites content analysis for sustainability accounting courses was conducted. This study can be replicated in order to evaluate web sites disclosures by universities across disciplines in relation to sustainability education. It can also be replicated to assess the theoretical versus implemented scope of sustainability education, and to determine the impact of prominent researchers in the area of sustainability education. Design/methodology/approach: Talloires Declaration signatories' universities' web sites were searched for information regarding sustainability accounting subjects. A search was also conducted for the Curriculum Vitae and profile of prominent sustainability accounting researchers to collect data on involvement in sustainability accounting education by these researchers. The findings regarding the offering of a sustainability accounting course and its nature and scope (if found on the web sites) are presented in this article. Findings: It is found that less than 30 per cent of the Talloires Declaration universities' web sites in Canada, USA, United Kingdom and Australia have information on sustainability accounting education in various forms including stand alone subjects (all electives) and sustainability accounting embedded in other accounting and non accounting courses, with limited scope. This percentage was found to be substantially lower or non-existent at universities from other countries. The probability of sustainability accounting education being offered at the post-graduate level (specifically as a PhD programme) is much higher at universities that have a prominent research profile in the area. It is also found that sustainability accounting education is not offered in majority of the cases, at the undergraduate level at universities where prominent sustainability accounting researchers are based. The focus is on post-graduate and research education rather than on undergraduate and course work education. Research limitations/implications: A limitation of this study was the limited information available in English on universities' web sites from countries where English is not the primary language. Other technical limitations such as the absence of a search function on the university's web site were also found as a hindrance to data collection. Originality/value: This paper addresses the existence and scope of sustainability accounting education, the gap between universities' expected comprehensive (including all disciplines) commitment to sustainability and the actual implementation of this commitment. It also addresses the absence of sustainability education involvement by prominent sustainability researchers and academics at the under graduate level. (Contains 1 table.)

This paper presents the results of a study assessing the comparative effectiveness of teaching an undergraduate intermediate accounting course in the online classroom format. Students in a large state university were offered an opportunity to complete the first course in intermediate accounting either online or on-campus. Students were required to complete several objective homework assignments and write an essay on what is means to be a professional. In addition, students were asked to report their progress in achieving seven stated objectives of the course. Students in the online course performed as well as students in the on-campus course. (Contains 5 tables.)

The research presented in this paper seeks to discern which combination of pedagogical tools most positively impact student learning of the introductory Accounting curriculum in the Principles of Accounting courses in a 4-year U.S. public college. This research topic is relevant because it helps address a quandary many instructors experience: how to teach quantifiable courses in a way that resonates with and reaches undergraduate business students. The significance is underscored by concerns that U.S.-educated students lack quantitative ability needed in the 21st century workplace, and is heightened all the more by uncertainties in the current economic climate that would seem to make quantitative competencies all the more vital. Toward that end, student perceptions of course delivery methods were analyzed at the conclusion of the first of a two-course sequenced introductory Accounting course. The results were used to redesign the second half of the course, after which measured perceptions were compared with actual outcomes. Results and proscriptions for advancing Principles of Accounting course pedagogy are presented. (Contains 5 tables.)

The paper focuses on the auditing and accountancy paradigm that has dominated educational measurement of pupil performance for the last 20 years in England. The advocates of this minimum competency paradigm do not take account of the results of its dominance. These results include ignoring the heterogeneous complexity of groups within societies that exist now internationally and the reduction in pedagogy and curriculum experience to a "one-size-fits-all" model of teaching concentrated on the tested subjects. This is complemented by the "recitation script" style of pedagogy in schools based on coverage, delivery, completion and measurement rather than interpretation and analysis to support the complexity and diversity of individual learning needs. (Contains 9 notes.)

On July 30, 2002, President George W. Bush signed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 into law. The legislation was crafted by the United States Congress to address issues related to accounting improprieties which came to light during the Enron scandal. The specific purpose of the legislation was "To protect investors by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures made pursuant to the securities laws, and for other purposes." This case study recounts the experience designing, developing, and facilitating a train-the-trainer software course for a global pharmaceutical company's Sarbanes-Oxley implementation. The paper will begin with an introduction of the case and a description of the stakeholders' roles. Secondly, the authors reflect upon the case through the framework of Caffarella's Interactive Model of Program Planning. Finally, the case concludes with details of the training program's delivery and a review of the case's implications on the practice of adult education. (Contains 1 figure and 2 tables.)

This paper demonstrates why EPS comparisons across companies are meaningless. An example is provided showing how a company with a higher ROE than another company may have a lower EPS simply from having a lower book value per share (and more shares outstanding) than the comparison company. While ROE comparisons across companies can be useful, cross-company EPS comparisons are meaningless due to the arbitrary number of shares outstanding across companies. The authors review the EPS discussion of 31 financial and intermediate accounting textbooks aimed at US students and find that six of these textbooks incorrectly assert or imply that cross-company EPS comparisons are meaningful. Over 50% of the textbooks reviewed provide no warning that cross-company EPS comparisons should be avoided.

Examines the statement of management on internal accounting control by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Requirements for the annual reports of security holders; Execution of transactions in accordance with management's authorization; Maintenance of accountability for assets.

Since 2013, the European Union has aimed to harmonize the public sector accounting (PSA) of its member states by developing European Public Sector Accounting Standards (EPSAS). As a prerequisite for consistent EPSAS, a conceptual framework (CF) is to be developed which includes an explicit selection of purposes. Providing an international comparative view with the theoretical underpinning of Nobes' classification, this paper presents a literature-based systematization of PSA purposes. Our systematization is applied to three CFs: one international (IPSAS) and two national (from the USA and Germany, respectively). Through a normative discussion, we conclude that accountability is preferable as the overall accounting purpose. This theoretical lens is used to evaluate the recent status quo of the ongoing EPSAS CF project. This paper thereby develops relevant implications for accounting theory and offers a starting point for standard setters and scholars to prioritize purposes for PSA with respect to different legal frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a critique of the study "Some Implications of the United States Constitution for Accounting Institution Alternatives," by Orace Johnson. It discusses how the paper failed in two basic ways. The author comments on failure of the paper to clarify the proposition being advanced. The paper discusses issues concerning the constitutionality of the regulation of accounting by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It discusses the position of SEC regulation of accounting under contemporary Supreme Court decisions.

In 1765, the British Parliament imposed stamp duties on the American colonies, setting in motion the chain of events which ultimately led to the American Revolution. This paper analyzes the practicalities of the Stamp Act to provide insights into the way in which a tax instrument that was successful in one setting failed to achieve similar success in another. The reasons for choosing stamp duties as an appropriate fiscal measure, the colonial reaction to the tax, and the way in which the tax was accounted for by the British government bureaucracy are examined. The paper demonstrates the value of using an accounting lens to provide a more nuanced interpretation of the Stamp Act crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper decomposes the components of wealth inequality and its change in the United States during the period 2006–2016. The results show that wealth inequality in the US is extremely high. Real estate, non-housing assets and financial investments are the first three important components of equivalent wealth and overall inequality. Financial investments, real estate liabilities and non-housing liabilities have positive marginal impacts on overall inequality, while other assets' marginal impacts are negative. Financial investments changes had the largest impact on the aggregate trends of wealth inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Contemporary Accounting Research is the property of Canadian Academic Accounting Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The author presents comments on a paper that examined a potential unintended consequence of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC's) use of bright-line thresholds for compliance with financial disclosure regulations. The authors gave particular attention to whether the SEC's postponement of compliance with section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) for "nonaccelerated filers" provides firms with an incentive to remain small.

Financial exploitation (FE) is one of the most common reports to Adult Protective Services (APS) and the cases are often complex. Consequently, APS caseworkers report FE investigations to be among the most difficult while simultaneously reporting low confidence in productive outcomes for these investigations. This necessitates finding ways to support APS FE investigations. This paper describes the structure, process, and formative findings of a collaboration between forensic accounting examiners and APS workers to investigate complex cases of FE. Among the 77 FE cases completed, forensic examiners reviewed multiple years of financial records which included over 101,000 transactions, totaling over $213,000,000.00 in finances, and identified over $8,000,000 in questionable activity. Scores on the 8-item Client Satisfaction Questionnaire were high indicating high program satisfaction by APS workers, subject matter experts, and forensic examiners. These findings support the feasibility and acceptability of forensic accounting and APS collaborations to investigate complex cases of FE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines whether firms that voluntarily recognize stock option expense in their financial statements manage that expense downward more than firms that do not recognize the expense by adjusting option-pricing model assumptions. To examine this issue, I collect option-pricing model assumptions from fiscal year 2002 for both a sample of firms that voluntarily recognize stock option expense ("recognizing firms") and a sample of control firms that do not ("disclosing firms"). The empirical results suggest that recognizing firms manage the recognized stock-based compensation expense reported in their financial statements downward more than do firms that only disclose the expense. Additional analyses reveal that recognizing firms assume a lower level of volatility than disclosing firms in the option-pricing model calculations; however, I find no evidence that recognizing firms manage the dividend yield and risk-free interest rate assumptions more than disclosing firms. The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) recently issued Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 123(R), which requires the expensing of the fair value of stock options, so these results may be of interest to capital-market participants and the FASB as they assess the reliability of stock option expense as determined by option-pricing models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multinationals use transfer prices both for tax minimization and for managerial incentives. This paper analyzes two methods of disentangling the tax and incentive roles: setting multiple prices and using performance measures independent of transfer prices. Even with imperfect enforcement of transfer-pricing rules, regulator scrutiny limits the firm's flexibility. Transfer prices affect after-tax income both by influencing the manager's production decisions ex ante and by allocating income ex post across tax jurisdictions. If the ex ante incentive role dominates the ex post tax role, the firm increases the transfer price received by the subsidiary even if the subsidiary tax rate increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a rigorous analysis of two-tiered financial reporting regimes within a formal economic framework. The objective of the paper is to inject discipline into the debate over the implications of allowing two-tiered financial reporting. Some proponents of two-tiered reporting appear to be arguing that less sophisticated investors will be helped by introducing this regime. We model a securities market where both sophisticated and unsophisticated investors trade on the basis of information obtained by processing and analyzing a full set of financial statements and a summary annual report. The analysis examines the impact of summary reporting on investor profitability, decisions to become informed, and market liquidity. We show that two-tiered reporting can actually be detrimental to investors with low information-processing sophistication. This result can be expressed either in terms of expected trading profits or in terms of the equilibrium number of unsophisticated traders. By formally modeling the information characteristics of summary financial reports and mapping the impact of these characteristics into market behavior,: this paper illustrates the nature and importance of underlying assumptions and demonstrates that care must be exercised in assessing the consequences of introducing such a reporting structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a critique of the study "Voluntary Corporate Disclosure: The Case of Interim Reporting," by Richard W. Leftwich, Ross L. Watts and Jerold L. Zimmerman. It investigates the economic incentives of managers of corporations to voluntarily provide interim reports in the United States. The article provides an examination of market variables to determine the causes of reporting differences. The author argues that while individual reporting decisions may have trivial effects on an aggregate basis, their impact on the disclosure environment is significant.

Editorial. Summarizes the accomplishments of the editorship of the `Accounting Horizons' periodical from 1988 to 1991. Characteristics of the papers which were rejected by the editors; State of accounting research; Efforts to improve the teaching of accounting in the United States.

Purpose – Over the last decades concepts and practices related to intangibles gained momentum at international level especially within the economic, accounting and management arenas. However, dating back to the beginning of the 1900s, intangibles was a topic that in the USA dominated the law and taxation fields. Indeed, at that time few papers were published in accounting journals and reviews, whereas the majority populated law and taxation publications. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing upon the sociology of the profession, the ways through which lawyers and accountants constructed a “professional competition and power” (Dezalay and Sugarman, 2005) upon this arena are here explored. In particular, an in-depth analysis of the papers published on this field from the beginning of the 1900s until the 1970s in the USA is carried out. Findings – Notwithstanding the current conceptualisation of intangibles as a field of research and practice at the margins (Miller, 1998) of accounting, the results achieved in the present research suggest that, at least historically, the topic of intangibles was highly intertwined not only within the different streams of accounting studies and practice, but also with the developments in legal and taxation fields that were surrounding the US economic, social and political institutional scenario. Originality/value – The work intends to contribute to the current literature providing insights into the “genealogy” (Foucault, 1977) of the intangibles territory and the “turf battles” (Dezalay, 1995) it went through in order to become what has been defined as “a field upon which questions of disciplinary legitimacy have been raised” (Zambon, 2006) and, consequently, as characterized by “an intrusion of ‘external’ specialists into the accounting domain” (Power, 2001). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's analysis of the report "An Empirical Study of the Role of Accounting Data in Performance Evaluation," by Anthony G. Hopwood. The author questions Hopwood's claim that almost half of the persons in charge of cost centers were rated as representing nonaccounting styles. Furthermore, the author questions the validity of Hopwood using the term budget in his report. The author believes that Hopwood's paper successfully discusses operating results and budgets, and will be valuable in enabling future research on the topic.

The article discusses the research paper about audit judgment in the U.S. It notes that accounting judgment or decision making research are described by the paper prior to 1974. It further states that the paper also identifies the behavioral aspects of accounting and the specific approach to understanding judgment. Moreover, it mentions that judgment and decision-making research in accounting has developed beyond the level of sophistication represented by the lens model studies and beyond the level of acceptance that was afforded to behavioral accounting. It also emphasizes that auditors judge the strength of a hypothetical client's internal controls in the payroll system.

The objective of this research is to examine and evaluate the results of Convergence project that began in 2002 to remove the differences between the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US. GAAP). Our paper is considered a comparative analytical study, and it is motivated by the ongoing harmonization process in accounting standard setting and recent convergence projects by the FASB and the IASB. First, we give an overview about the progress of the convergence, and then we study the most important results reached during this project. Finally, the difficulties and the most important criticisms will be discussed. The paper concluded that the convergence between IFRS and US. GAAP is one of the most efficient methods adopted to achieve the goal of high-quality international accounting standards but it is a short-term solution and there are more effective ways that must be found to achieve the stated goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the results of an online program evaluation survey conducted in the USA in 2018 which was designed to understand how members of an enhanced multidisciplinary team (E-MDT) use the expertise of a forensic accountant (FA) in suspected cases of elder financial exploitation. Design/methodology/approach: This paper analyzes responses to an online survey from 54 E-MDT members. Narrative responses to open-ended questions were analyzed by using cross-case thematic analysis. Data from demographic questions and those with nominal response options were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Findings: Overwhelmingly, the E-MDT members described how useful the FA's expertise and subsequent detailed reports are in helping determine whether financial exploitation is taking place and providing information needed to continue an investigation and pursue criminal charges. Practical implications: The increasing longevity and sheer number of older adults present ongoing challenges in the fight to address financial exploitation. Findings suggest that FAs working with E-MDTs can help identify signs, collect evidence and help investigate cases of suspected financial abuse of older adults. The development of training programs focused on educating accountants to fill a need in a growing area of forensic accounting may be needed. Originality/value: This paper adds to the growing evidence of multidisciplinary teams as an effective model for investigating cases of financial elder exploitation by focusing specifically on the expertise of an FA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine the economic impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) by analyzing foreign listing behavior onto U.S. and U.K. stock exchanges before and after the enactment of SOX in 2002. Using a sample of all listing events onto U.S. and U.K. exchanges from 1995–2006, we develop an exchange choice model that captures firm-level, industry-level, exchange-level, and country-level listing incentives, and test whether these listing preferences changed following the enactment of SOX. After controlling for firm characteristics and other economic determinants of these firms' exchange choice, we find that the listing preferences of large foreign firms choosing between U.S. exchanges and the London Stock Exchange's (LSE) Main Market did not change following the enactment of SOX. In contrast, we find that the likelihood of a U.S. listing among small foreign firms choosing between the NASDAQ and LSE's Alternative Investment Market decreased following the enactment of SOX. The negative effect among small firms is consistent with these marginal companies being less able to absorb the incremental costs associated with SOX compliance. The screening of smaller firms with weaker governance attributes from U.S. exchanges is consistent with the heightened governance costs imposed by SOX increasing the bonding-related benefits of a U.S. listing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses two key features of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which was enacted in 2002 to restore integrity and public confidence to the financial markets. The law was passed in response to the horrendous corporate disasters that had occurred, including Enron, Worldcom, Adelphia, and Tyco. The implementation of effective business ethics became essential and the new law required the publication of corporate codes of ethics. It did not mandate their content. This paper suggests specific sections for inclusion in the general guidelines to encompass the ethical dimensions of the Act. It analyzes the compliance by the corporations in their public filings since Sarbanes-Oxley became law. The revelation of the size of the audit and accounting fees paid to Arthur Andersen by Enron and similar fees paid in other current financial debacles lead to another key requirement of Sarbanes-Oxley: mandatory auditor rotation. Here, however, Sarbanes-Oxley did not go far enough. The law required rotation only of the lead auditor within a firm. This paper submits that it should have required rotation of audit firms instead. The positions of the public companies, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Government Accountability Office, and accounting journals are explored as to the rotation of auditor firms regarding audit-partner rotation within a firm. The paper concludes that Sarbanes-Oxley should be expanded to require audit-firm rotation. This expansion is necessary to reinforce the independence of the public accountant, both in fact and appearance, and to restore competition within the accounting profession, which will benefit the investing public. It is up to the Security and Exchange Commission and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and, ultimately, Congress to make this expansion a reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In December 2004, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) adopted a new standard of accounting for employee stock options (ESOs). This standard, entitled, Statement of Financial Accounting Standards 123R, requires that ESOs be valued at the date of grant and expensed over the vesting period of the options. The signatories to this position paper strongly oppose this revision to GAAP because they believe that the expensing of ESOs is improper accounting that will result in the serious impairment of the financial statements of companies that are users of broad-based option plans. The case against expensing ESOs can be summed up in six simple statements: an ESO is a "gain-sharing instrument" in which shareholders agree to share their gains (stock appreciation), if any, with employees; a gain-sharing instrument, by its nature, has no accounting cost unless and until there is a gain to be shared; the cost of a gain-sharing instrument must be located on the books of the party that reaps the gain; in the case of an ESO, the gain is reaped by shareholders and not by the enterprise; the cost of the ESO, therefore, is borne by the shareholders; this cost to shareholders (which, not coincidentally, exactly equals the employee's post-tax profit) is already properly accounted for under the treasury stock method of accounting (described in FAS 128, entitled, "Earnings per Share") as a transfer of value from shareholders to employee option holders; and neither the grant nor the vesting of an ESO meets the standard accounting definition of an expense. These six statements lead to the conclusion that an ESO, while it may have an economic cost to shareholders, is not an expense of the entity that grants it. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, we examine investors' valuation of the domestic and foreign components of total earnings after controlling for information beyond current earnings. Our sample consists of U.S. multinationals during the 1985-2002 period. In a prior study, Bodnar and Weintrop (1997) find that investors place a higher weight on foreign earnings than on domestic earnings in valuing securities, and that this finding can be explained in part by the higher growth opportunities in foreign markets. While this explanation is intuitively appealing, other possible explanations include the varying importance of information other than current accounting earnings in pricing securities and the possible misspecification of their model. One potentially important source of other information is information contained in revisions of analysts' forecasts of future (abnormal) earnings and terminal values. Excluding this information from the regression specification potentially leads to a correlated omitted variables problem. In this paper, we use the Liu and Thomas (2000) proxy for "other information," which is derived from analysts' revisions of near-term and long-term earnings forecasts and discount rate changes. Including the "other information" variable greatly improves the explanatory power of the returns--earnings regression. Consistent with our predictions, we find that the bias resulting from excluding other value-relevant information has a greater effect on foreign earnings than on domestic earnings. Foreign earnings are no longer incrementally value relevant when we control for "other information." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empirical accounting is a relatively new course. It was first produced in the United States in the 1960s. After years of research and development, a relatively complete theoretical system has been formed. Empirical accounting teaching is a new content of accounting higher education in our country, which plays an important role in popularizing and improving the empirical study of accounting in our country. After investigating and analysing the empirical accounting teaching in most colleges in my country, this paper summarizes and analyzes the current status of empirical accounting teaching and discusses the optimization measures of its empirical accounting teaching mode based on the Internet of Things and deep learning. The experimental results show that this method can effectively improve students' learning efficiency and teachers' teaching satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the United States economy and reviews National Income Accounting concepts and evidence about future of an information economy. It is concluded that information economy growth will be in products, not services, and that it will not continue at same rate it has in past. Thirty-six references are cited. (EJS)

This paper presents a comparative analysis of three American (Enron, WorldCom and HealthSouth) and three European (Parmalat, Royal Ahold and Vivendi Universal) corporate failures. The first part of the analysis is based on a theoretical framework including six areas of ethical climate; tone at the top; bubble economy and market pressure; fraudulent financial reporting; accountability, control, auditing, and governance; and management compensation. The second and third parts consider the analysis of these cases from fraud perspective and in terms of firm-specific characteristics (ownership structure) and environmental context (coverage in media and academic literature, regulatory and corporate governance frameworks). The research analyses shed light on the fact that, despite major differences between Europe and U.S. in terms of political institutions, laws and regulations as well as managerial practices, there are significant similarities between six groups. The analysis also demonstrates that, the ethical dilemma has been coupled with ineffective boards, inefficient corporate governance and control mechanisms, distorted incentive schemes, accounting irregularities, failure of auditors, dominant CEOs, dysfunctional management behavior and the lack of a sound ethical tone at the top. Significant similarities were also observed in the analysis from the fraud triangle perspective. However, there are several major differences between the six corporate failure cases particularly with regard to ownership structure, coverage in media, and legal, regulatory and governance frameworks. This research study may have several academic and practical contributions, particularly because of multidisciplinary, international features, and comparative analyses used in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose In the 1990s and beginning of the next decade, a series of financial accounting scandals occurred in the United States (USA or US) and in several other countries of the world. The USA and Italy (among others) responded with legislation to reform financial reporting and corporate governance in these jurisdictions. This paper aims to compare the regulatory response of Italy to that of the USA.Design/methodology/approach This paper includes a review of relevant literature and evaluation of the actions of the regulatory authorities.Findings In the case of the financial reporting crises, the rapid response put the USA into the role of the “first mover” with the European Union (EU) reacting to US initiatives and eventually converging to a large degree with the provisions of the US legislation. Italy has adopted many of the same regulatory reforms as the USA and has added some reforms that are directed to the specific needs to Italy.Research limitations/implications In conjunction with legislative initiatives like Sarbanes-Oxley, private enforcement mechanisms, such as shareholder class action suits in the USA, play an important role in discouraging and punishing financial accounting fraud.Practical implications In the absence of significant reforms of the Italian private enforcement system, corporate governance abuses and the potential for accounting scandals may still be persistent. As a whole, cooperative efforts continue between the USA and the EU. Such efforts are needed more and more, as companies become increasingly globalized.Originality/value This paper provides comparison and evaluation of corporate governance reform efforts in the USA and Italy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to reflect a critical perspective drawing from phenomenology, especially informed by a reading of Heidegger, to enhance and extend appreciation of the need to question accounting's meaning or delineation and how research might be undertaken into the accounting phenomenon and related areas. Design/methodology/approach: To illustrate and clarify argumentation in terms of accounting mobilization and the domain of accounting research, the mainstream and strongly positivistic accounting perspective adopted in the USA is critically assessed. At the same time, the authors elaborate how much of interpretive research (including much of that labeled critical) is also lacking in terms of the perspective articulated here. Findings: The paper stresses the case for questioning the taken-for-granted and conventional. It promotes reflexivity, cautious pragmatism, attentiveness to the value of the existing, responsibility to difference and otherness and openness to new possibilities as part of a deeper critical orientation. Originality/value: The paper draws from phenomenology, especially in Heideggerian terms to open-up new conversational domain to debate accounting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]