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Digital Transformation's Impact On Innovation In Private Enterprises: Evidence From China, Li Chen, Ruixiang Tu, Boxuan Huang, Haiyan Zhou, Yumei Wu

School of Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

In the digital economy era, the pathways of digital transformation and intelligent development have emerged as crucial avenues for enterprises’ high-quality development. Focusing on listed private enterprises from 2011 to 2020, this study uses text mining to extract keywords related to digital transformation, as disclosed in annual reports. We construct a digital transformation index and empirically examine its impact on enterprise innovation and innovation incentive policies’ synergistic effects. The results demonstrate that digital transformation significantly promotes innovation in private enterprises, with a more pronounced catalytic effect in economically developed regions characterised by higher levels of the digital economy and larger …

The Governance Of Director Compensation, Lily Fang, Sterling Huang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

The average total compensation of directors in U.S.-listed companies was $342,030 in 2020, 5.06 times the median household income. Directors set their own pay, giving rise to potential self-dealing. We argue and document that in the presence of self-dealing, external mechanisms such as legal standards act as effective means of governance. Following a landmark Delaware court ruling that subjected director pay to a more stringent legal standard, Delaware-incorporated firms reduced director compensation relative to non-Delaware firms and experienced positive and non-transient stock price reactions. Our results indicate that proper governance of director compensation enhances firm value.

The Implications Of Artificial Intelligence On Junior Auditors, Kaye Ragasajo

Senior Honors Theses

The aim of this paper is to explore the evolving intersection of financial statement auditing and artificial intelligence (AI). A timeline of AI adoption in auditing is traced, detailing its impact on audit processes and the contemporary role of junior auditors. Challenges faced by junior auditors are identified, with an emphasis on the potential benefits and ethical concerns surrounding AI integration. Recommendations for adapting to AI's emergence and addressing challenges are provided. The analysis underscores the need for industry-wide collaboration, regulatory adjustments, and the cultivation of digital ethics. As AI continues to reshape auditing, future trends expected within the profession …

Beneficial Owner Reporting: Our Role As Trusted Advisor, Shelby Follis, Michelle Freeman

ETSU Faculty Works

Article Excerpt: The Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020, enacted on Jan. 1, 2021, contained the first-ever federal requirement for certain legal entities to identify and report their beneficial owners, also known as the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). The CTA was designed to “prevent wrongdoers from exploiting United States corporations and limited liability companies for criminal gain, to assist law enforcement in detecting, preventing, and punishing terrorism, money laundering, and other misconduct.” As trusted advisors, CPAs should consider informing clients of the new reporting requirements and advise them on the best option to pursue, even if they do not file the …

The Fallacy Of Auditor Independence And A Possible Solution, Harrison Hall

Senior Honors Theses

The goal of this paper is to analyze present research for the importance of independence to the auditing profession, determine the greatest threats to auditor independence today, the problems these threats have caused and to explore a possible solution to these problems. For many years, audit professionals have been considered the gatekeepers of the public market. Since the passing of the Securities Acts in the 1930’s, the structure of the privatized audit industry has made it incredibly difficult for auditors to remain independent from their clients. Client fees, the rise of non-audit services and the complexity of audit-client relationships pose …

Money Laundering In The United States: A Review Of Current Regulations And Threats, Grace Hutchinson

Senior Honors Theses

Money laundering is the act of hiding illegally obtained money in the financial system. There are three stages of money laundering: placing, layering, and integration. In the United States, the Bank Secrecy Act, monitored by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), requires companies to establish an anti-money laundering (AML) compliance program and to exercise customer due diligence as preventative measures. The US government can detect money laundering through Suspicious Activity Reports, Currency Transaction Reports, and whistleblower tips. However, AML threats and vulnerabilities such as Professional Money Launderers, cryptocurrency, and the global art market allow criminals to continue to launder money …

Understanding The Ey Split: A Qualitative Approach, Joseph Long

Honors Projects

This research project takes a qualitative approach at analyzing the proposed split between the audit and consulting operations of the accounting firm known as Ernst & Young (EY). The two specific research questions this project attempts to answer are: 1. What specific reasons led to the downfall of EY’s proposed split? 2. Could a similar project be more successful in the future for EY or another firm? In order to answer these questions, a variety of articles in reputable business publications pertaining to the EY split were analyzed to get their take on the proposed split. In addition, an assortment …

Institutions And Corporate Tax Evasion: A Review Of The Literature And A Methodological Exploration, Kiridaran Kanagaretnam, Jimmy Lee, Chee Yeow Lim, Gerald J. Lobo

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We first review the recent research published in JIAR on the influence of international institutions on accounting practices and follow it with a discussion of the literature studying the influence of institutions on tax avoidance and tax evasion. We then explore a new methodological approach that draws on the theory of institutional hierarchy proposed by Williamson (2000) and examine the relative importance of three broad types of institutions (informal, formal and media) in curtailing perceived tax evasion activities. We contribute to the international accounting literature by summarizing the recent research that addresses tax avoidance and tax evasion and providing preliminary …

Segment Disaggregation And Equity-Based Pay Contracts, Young Jun Cho, Hojun Seo

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We study the role of segment disaggregation in equity-based pay contracts in diversified firms. Disaggregated segment disclosures can improve the observability of managerial actions in internal capital markets and thus increase implicit incentives for managers to allocate resources as desired by shareholders, substituting for explicit incentives provided to CEOs. We use the adoption of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 131 as an identification strategy and find that firms affected by this segment reporting mandate significantly decreased the provision of equity-based incentives in the post-adoption period, especially for firms with higher operating volatilities. This effect is also more pronounced for …

From Canonical Law To Offshore Finance: Confessing To Priests And Bankers In Luxembourg, Samuel Weeks

College of Humanities and Sciences Faculty Papers

In this article, I address two recurring tendencies that I heard during a recent period of research on banking secrecy in Luxembourg. First, my banker interviewees frequently mentioned personal transgressions for why many of their clients hide assets “offshore.” The wrongdoings my interlocutors cited included not only clients’ tax evasion, bankruptcy, and avoidance of liability – but also divorce, adultery, and the existence of out-of-wedlock children. Second, with a similar frequency, my interviewees drew parallels between the secrecy laws covering bankers and those afforded to other professionals in the country. Article 458 of Luxembourg’s Penal Code, dating from the nineteenth …

How To Help Your Clients Understand Their 1099-K And Its Everchanging Threshholds, Shelby Follis, Michelle S. Freeman

ETSU Faculty Works

Although there have not been many ta law changes this year, one tax policy change being implemented this year is sure to cause confusion for a plethora of our clients. That change is the new reporting requirements for the 1099- K. CPA firms are already beginning to get calls from clients about these information reporting forms. If you are a tax preparer, you will no doubt have to help your clients sort through the tax consequences of this form if they use third parties such as PayPal, Venmo and many others for day-to-day cash transactions [...]

Audit Evidence, Technology, And Judgement: A Review Of The Literature In Response To Ed‐500, Dereck Barr‐Pulliam, Christopher G. Calvin, Marc Eulerich, Arpine Maghakyan

Accounting Faculty Publications

In October 2022, the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) issued Exposure Draft 500 (ED-500). This is focused on revising and integrating the standard auditors use when evaluating audit evidence during an external audit. This study contributes to the ongoing discourse as the IAASB evaluates feedback to ED-500 and executes its standard-setting agenda. We review academic literature published in the past 10 years to synthesize extant knowledge specifically on the use of technology and the application of professional skepticism during audit evidence evaluation. Our review offers factors the IAASB should consider when seeking to modernize and future-proof its standards, …

The New Management Accounting Ecosystem: A Retrospective View And Path To The Future, Chris Akroyd, Kevin E. Dow, Andrea Drake, Jeffrey Wong

Hunt Institute Working Paper Series

In this paper we argue that management accounting research should seek to expand to examine the broader ecosystem of information sources that influence organizational performance. We introduce the concept of the management accounting ecosystem as a means of linking discrete management accounting research topics to the broader environment in which organizations operate. By doing this, we can better bridge the gap between management accounting research and management accounting practice. Our goal is to encourage more cross-disciplinary research that provides a better understanding of the ecosystem in which management accounting practitioners operate. We encourage researchers to submit studies to “Advances in …

Measuring Financial Statement Disaggregation Using Xbrl, Joseph A. Johnston, Kenneth J. Reichelt, Pradeep Sapkota

Faculty Publications - Accounting

We develop a measure of disclosure quality using disaggregation of financial statement items from the Form 10-K XBRL filing. Our measure (ITEMS) extends Chen, Miao, and Shevlin’s (2015),DQ measure and is distinct from R. Hoitash and U. Hoitash’s (2018) ARC measure. Our measure provides a simple measure of disaggregation by counting the balance sheet and income statement line items, it does not depend on the data aggregators’ collection process and is readily available shortly after the Form 10-K is filed. We validate ITEMS by showing that firm fundamentals correlate to ITEMS in the predicted direction using …

The Economic Value Of Blockchain Applications: Early Evidence From Asset-Backed Securities, Xia Chen, Qiang Cheng, Ting Luo

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

In this paper, we evaluate the economic value of a blockchain application. In the context of asset-backed securities (ABS) issuance in China, where some ABS are issued with blockchain technology and others are not, we find that the use of blockchain significantly reduces the coupon yield at issuance. Compared with other ABS, those issued using blockchain technology experience a decrease of 31.4 basis points in the yield spread, which corresponds to a relative decrease of 13%. We further document that the effect of blockchain is more pronounced for ABS deals rated by less reputable credit rating agencies and agencies that …

Common Ownership And Analyst Forecasts, Qiang Cheng, Shuqing Luo, Jinping Zhang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We examine the effect of the common ownership relation between brokerage houses and the firms covered by their analysts (referred to as co-owned brokerage houses, co-owned firms, and connected analysts, respectively) on analyst forecast performance. Common ownership can help the connected analysts have better access to co-owned firms, leading to higher-quality analyst research. However, common owners have incentives for higher valuation of the co-owned firms and thus can exert pressure on the connected analysts to issue optimistically biased research reports for these firms. We find that common ownership improves analyst forecast accuracy. This result is robust to a difference-in-differences design …

An Analysis On The Efficiency Of Philippine Microfinance Institutions: A Stochastic Frontier Approach, Ryan Lou Dio, Elijah Jacob Mendoza, Lunette Clarisse Nunez, Ma. Ellory Villanueva, Myrna S. Austria, Tereso S. Tullao Jr

Angelo King Institute for Economic and Business Studies (AKI)

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) were created to provide loans and financial services for the poor as commercial banks have requirements that are not accessible to them. The Philippines government soon started using MFIs as a poverty alleviation tool to answer the market failure created by the commercial banking industry since it cannot accommodate the needs of low-income earners due to the high costs attached to it. However, recent studies have shown that MFIs are “mission drifting,” which means that they are deviating from their original social purpose and becoming more financially driven. As a result, this paper estimates the financial and …

Using Team Rewards And Individual Assessment To Incentivize Collaboration In Team Projects, Prasart Jongjaroenkamol

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Team projects are commonly used in higher education across different disciplines to promote cooperation among students. However, achieving this objective can be challenging. To address this issue, educators have explored various strategies, such as implementing peer evaluation or having periodic consultations with teams. In this paper, I present a novel approach to team assessment that combines team rewards with individual assessment. In this assessment, each team member independently takes a quiz, and the team's score is determined by the average performance of its members. Consequently, the team reward becomes intricately tied to the individual learning outcomes of all team members. …

Climate Policy Uncertainty And Corporate Tax Avoidance, Md Ruhul Amin, Akinloye Akindayomi, Md Showaib Rahman Sarker, Rafiqul Bhuyan

School of Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Highlights

• This study investigates the relation between climate policy uncertainty and corporate tax avoidance.

• Firms undertake aggressive tax avoidance strategies during periods of heightened climate policy uncertainty.

• Further analysis indicates that cash savings from lower tax payments are used to pay dividends and not retained for reinvestment.

• Findings are consistent with the precautionary hypothesis that firms become more (i) conservative in their long-term investment strategies and (ii) risk-averse during periods of elevated climate policy uncertainty.

Abstract

This study examines the relation between climate policy uncertainty and corporate tax avoidance. Using a novel measure of climate policy uncertainty (CPU), we document …

Irs Modernization – Preparing Clients, Shelby Follis, Michelle S. Freeman

ETSU Faculty Works

Internal Revenue Service (IRS) procedures seem to be outdated due to a lack of technology. On a good day, one can call the IRS and only wait on hold for an hour or two before speaking to an agent who may request a form be faxed. A tax professional may have spent half their workday by the time the situation is resolved or a plan of action has been established. It is no secret the IRS has had many setbacks the past 10 years including budget cuts, employment drops and workload increases. The budget declined by 17% from 2010 to …

Sustainability Transformation: The Role Of Accountancy And Finance Professionals In The Singapore Manufacturing Sector, Jiwei Wang, Holly I. Yang, Liandong Zhang, Sanli Pinar Darendeli, Ying-Chi Huang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Sustainability is already reshaping the Singapore manufacturing sector. The majority of companies surveyed (70%) have started their sustainability transformation in one form or another, and many have initiated discussions. However, on the whole, only 37% of companies have implemented sustainability initiatives, and 21% have reported on sustainability. On the bright side, these percentages are slated to double within 1-3 years. The infusion of sustainability into the manufacturing sector has led to accountancy and finance professionals potentially playing a bigger role in their organisations, particularly in aligning the sustainability objectives with business strategies. The study notes that manufacturing companies are mostly …

Informativeness Of Key Audit Matters: Evidence From China, Beng Wee Goh, Kiat Bee Jimmy Lee, Dan Li, Muzhi Wang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This study examines whether the key audit matters (KAMs) disclosed in expanded audit reports as a part of recent regulatory reforms are informative for investors in an emerging economy setting. Using the recent adoption of expanded audit reports for firms listed exclusively in Mainland China, we find robust evidence that the abnormal trading volume and earnings response coefficients (ERCs) are higher and that stock price synchronicity is lower during the postadoption than preadoption period. In additional tests, we find evidence that KAMs are more informative for non-state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs), smaller firms, and firms with a smaller analyst following. Finally, we …

From Mindset To Action: Accountants As Stewards For Sustainability, Yvonne Chan

Asian Management Insights

They need to start preparing for this new role now.

"Just Beat It" Do Firms Reclassify Costs To Avoid The Base Erosion And Anti-Abuse Tax (Beat) Of The Tcja?, Stacie O. Laplante, Christina M. Lewellen, Daniel P. Pynch, Daniel M. P. Samuel

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This study examines whether multinational corporations (MNCs) reclassify related-party payments to avoid the new base erosion and anti-abuse tax (BEAT). The Tax Cuts & Jobs Act of 2017 included the BEAT to combat income shifting from the U.S. to foreign entities. An exclusion in the tax law provides MNCs an incentive to reclassify related-party payments as cost of goods sold. We use a triple-difference design that leverages the BEAT filing threshold of $500 million in revenue and the parent company’s location to document increases in the unconsolidated sales of foreign subsidiaries of MNCs subject to BEAT relative foreign subsidiaries of …

Public Communication Of Audit Risks And Related-Party Transactions: Evidence From China, Ole-Kristian Hope, Heng Yue, Qinlin Zhong

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This paper examines whether and how firms' engagement in related-party transactions (RPTs) is shaped by public communication of audit risks as required by the expanded audit report. Using the phased regulatory changes in China and a difference-in-differences design with firm fixed effects and matching, we find that firms significantly reduce their RPTs after the adoption of expanded audit reports (EARs). To investigate potential mechanisms, we find that (1) investor scrutiny increases after the adoption of EARs, (2) the reduction of RPTs is more pronounced when EARs are more likely to attract investor attention, and (3) the reduction of RPTs is …

Do Community Banks In Fast-Growing Metropolitan Areas Outperform Rural Community Banks?, Nicole A. Morrison

School of Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Prior research found that community banks in rural areas outperformed community banks in metropolitan areas in terms of pre-tax return on assets and the variables contributing to it. However, a study on community banks by the FDIC in 2020 mentioned that community banks in the fastest growing metropolitan areas from 2010 through 2020 performed better than those in other metropolitan areas without comparing that performance to rural community banks. This study addresses that gap using a 2014 dataset and finds that, on average, community banks in the fastest-growing metropolitan statistical areas do not outperform rural community banks. The summary data …

Ceo Contractual Protection And Debt Contracting, Xia Chen, Qiang Cheng, Alvis K. Lo, Xin Wang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) contractual protection, in the forms of CEO employment agreements and CEO severance pay agreements, is prevalent among S&P 1500 firms. While prior research has examined the impact of these agreements on corporate decisions from shareholders’ perspective, there is little research on the impact from debt holders’ perspective. We find that, compared with other loans, loans issued by firms with CEO contractual protection on average contain more performance covenants and performance-pricing provisions. This effect increases with CEOs’ risk-taking incentives and opportunities, but it decreases with CEOs’ preference for and opportunity of enjoying a quiet life. Furthermore, for …

Auditor Materiality Threshold And Audit Quality: Evidence From The Revised Isa 700 In The United Kingdom, Beng Wee Goh, Kiat Bee Jimmy Lee, Dan Li, Na Li, Muzhi Wang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Using a broad sample of U.K. firms that are required to disclose auditor materiality thresholds under the International Standards on Auditing (U.K. and Ireland) 700, we examine whether the auditor materiality threshold is associated with audit quality. We document that a lower materiality threshold is associated with higher audit quality, as measured by lower absolute discretionary accruals, higher accruals quality, and a lower propensity to just meet or beat analysts’ earnings expectations. We also find some evidence that the negative association between the materiality threshold and audit quality is attenuated when the audit committee is more effective and when the …

Big Data Analytics And Management Forecasting Behavior, Beng Wee Goh, Na Li, Tharindra Ranasinghe

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This paper investigates whether the use of Big Data analytics by firms has a spillover effect on management forecasting behavior. Insights provided by Big Data could potentially improve firms’ ability to forecast earnings (supply channel) and investor demand for earnings information is likely higher for firms engaging in data analytics (demand channel). Using a text-based measure of firms’ commitments to and usage of Big Data analytics, we find that Big Data analytics usage is positively associated with the propensity to issue management earnings forecasts. Consistent with the “supply channel” explanation, we find that Big Data analytics usage is positively associated …

Investor Reaction To Spacs' Voluntary Disclosures, Vincent Castellani, Karl A. Muller, K.J. Park

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

SPACs are formed to combine with and provide a private firm public trading status and a capital infusion. Firms that enter the public market through a SPAC combination are believed to possess greater voluntary disclosure discretion than traditional IPOs as they obtain their public trading status through a merger. Consistent with regulators’ concerns, recent research finds that SPACs use this discretion opportunistically by issuing optimistic guidance. This study examines how investors respond to these disclosures. We find that optimistic projections increase retail purchasing, which is higher than that of institutional purchasing. Additionally, we find that investors partially see through the …