Business Commons^™

How The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Should Interpret Wynne, Michael S. Knoll, Ruth Mason

All Faculty Scholarship

In this special report, Knoll and Mason discuss how the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court should apply Wynne when it hears on remand First Marblehead v. Commissioner of Revenue. The authors conclude that when it originally heard the case, the Massachusetts court mistakenly considered, as part of its internal consistency analysis, whether Gate Holdings Inc. experienced double state taxation. As developed by the U.S. Supreme Court and most recently applied in Wynne, the internal consistency test is not concerned with actual double taxation that may arise from the interaction of different states’ laws. Rather, the test is designed to determine …

Howell Family (Sc 2953), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2953. Farm ledger belonging to the Howell family of Warren County, Kentucky. Includes a letter, 26 April 1925, drafted in Alvaton, Kentucky, to Clarence Howell and family.

Multilevel Approach To Sustainability Report Assurance Decisions, Belen Fernandez-Feijoo, Silvia Romero, Silvia Ruiz

Department of Accounting and Finance Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Using generalised linear mixed models as a statistical tool, this paper analyses the factors that explain the decision of a company to assure their sustainability report and of the choice of a Big 4 auditor as assuror. Specifically, we investigate the variables that affect the two dependent variables, existence of assurance and the profile of the assuror, at two different levels: the characteristics of the reporting company, and the country in which the company is located. Previous literature has explained this relationship as the result of linear regression models, considering only the fixed effects of the factors. Taking into account …

Smu-X: An Innovative Approach To Preparing Students With Skills For The Future, Gary Pan, Gan Hup Tan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

The SMU-X Initiative is a paradigm shit which focuses on learning as opposed to teaching as well as a mind-set shift to get the university to collaborate both internally and with our external stakeholders more. We strive to do this by introducing innovation curriculum based on an experiential approach that is interdisciplinary and hands-on. It gets the SMU community to collaborate and step out of their silos by encouraging group effort in solving complex issues.

Leveraging It Resources, Embeddedness, And Dependence: A Supplier's Perspective On Appropriating Benefits With Powerful Buyers, Michael T. Lee, Kit Scott

Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

The relationships between suppliers and buyers are often characterised by power differentials and dependence at the same time. This leads to the ability of a powerful buyer to benefit more from the relationship than the supplier. We examine how a supplier can strengthen its use of relation-specific IT with embeddedness to appropriate its share of relational benefits. We developed and tested a model of supplier relation-specific IT use, embeddedness, and buyer dependence on supplier. The results showed that embeddedness did not lead directly to the sharing of relational benefits; rather the appropriation of relational benefits is derived from buyer dependence.

More Evidence Of The Nevada Effect: Sec, Doj, Fbi, And Irs Regulatory Enforcement Actions, Anthony J. Cataldo Ii, Lori Fuller, Thomas Miller

Accounting Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Responsible Accounting For Stakeholders, Jeffrey S. Harrison, Joyce Van Der Van Der Laan Smith

Accounting Faculty Publications

Through a critique of existing financial theory underlying current accounting practices, and reapplication of this theory to a broad group of stakeholders, this paper lays a normative foundation for a revised perspective on the responsibility of the public accounting profession. Specifically, we argue that the profession should embrace the development of standards for reporting information important to a broader group of stakeholders than just investors and creditors. The FASB has recently moved in the opposite direction. Nonetheless, an institution around accounting for stakeholders continues to grow, backed by a groundswell of support from many sources. Based on institutional theory, we …

Insider Trading Restrictions And Corporate Risk-Taking, Yuanto Kusnadi

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This paper examines the effect of insider trading restrictions on corporate risk-taking. Using a cross-country sample of 38 countries over the 1990 to 2003 period, we find that corporate risk-taking is positively related to insider trading restrictions. This finding is robust to alternative regression specifications and sample periods, to the use of alternative measures of insider trading restrictions and risk-taking incentives, and to controls for possible endogeneity. Further investigation suggests that the relation between insider trading restrictions and corporate risk-taking is influenced by cross-sectional differences in stock market development and legal origin, and that the increase in risk-taking is beneficial …

The Intersection Of Tech And Accounting, Poh Sun Seow

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

No abstract provided.

Is Institutional Ownership Related To Corporate Social Responsibility? The Nonlinear Relation And Its Implication For Stock Return Volatility, Maretno Harjoto, Hoje Jo, Yongtae Kim

Accounting

This study examines the relation between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and institutional investor ownership, and the impact of this relation on stock return volatility. We find that institutional ownership does not strictly increase or decrease in CSR; rather, institutional ownership is a concave function of CSR. This evidence suggests that institutional investors do not see CSR as strictly value-enhancing activities. Institutional investors adjust their percentage of ownership when CSR activities go beyond the perceived optimal level. Employing the path analysis, we also examine the mediating effect of institutional ownership on the relation between CSR and stock return volatility. We find …

Water Contamination, Land Prices, And The Statute Of Repose, John F. Chamblee, Carolyn A. Dehring, Craig A. Depken, Joseph Nicholson

Department of Accounting and Finance Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

We examine how water contamination risk from an inactive hazardous waste site is capitalized into surrounding vacant land prices. After public knowledge of the first instance of off-site contamination, we find that shallow groundwater contamination potential is negatively capitalized into land prices, as is proximity to a known contaminated well. Public knowledge of off-site contamination and associated land price changes occur after the North Carolina’s 10-year statute of repose. Our findings raise questions concerning such statutes when environmental contamination has a long latency period, especially given a recent Supreme Court ruling that Superfund law does not preempt state statutes of …

How Risky Are Your Lease Vs. Buy Decisions?, Thomas Zeller, Brian Stanko, Andrew D. Tressler

School of Business: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Adding risk analysis to your lease vs. buy analytics can make the decision process more involved, but it is worth the effort strategically. To accomplish this, you need to create a comparable analysis that estimates the risk in a lease vs. buy decision. With a few additional steps in the present value analytics, you can develop comparable information to capture the risk of one option over another and manage expectations.

Nevada Continues To Lead Delaware And All Other States And Jurisdictions In 2014 Securities And Exchange Commission Trading Suspensions, Anthony J. Cataldo Ii, Xi (Cici) Cheng, Paul Christ, Thomas Miller

Accounting Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Exposure Draft On Leases: Impact On Lessee’S Tax Computation In Singapore, Teng Aun Khoo, Joon Keong Nicholas Chan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

How the exposure draft on leases would impact the computation of taxes in Singapore

Navigating The “Patent-Cliff”: The Role Of Corporate Real Estate In The Life Science Industry, Clarence Goh

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

The Life Science industry is standing on the edge of a “patent cliff.” In 2015, the world’s biggest pharmaceutical firms stand to lose up to US$47.5 billion in revenues from the expiry of the patents of some of their biggest blockbuster drugs. For example, Celebrex – an arthritis drug which contributed almost US$3 billion to Pfizer’s revenues in 2014 – is set to see its patent expire later this year, opening it up to competition from “generic” alternatives which are often sold at much cheaper prices.

Data And Analytics In Corporate Real Estate: The Importance Of Talent, Clarence Goh

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Data and analytics are set to play a more pivotal role incorporate real estate (CRE) over the next three years.As organizations recognize that data-driven insights candramatically improve decision making across a broadrange of business functions, they are seeking to capitalizeon and incorporate data and analytics in their CREprocesses.

The Importance Of Ethics And Ethical Leadership In The Accounting Profession, Mary Kay Copeland

Business Faculty/Staff Publications

The emergence of the twenty-first century was plagued with extensive, evasive and disheartening leadership failures. Despite the accounting profession’s standards of professional ethics, it was also tainted with ethical leadership indiscretions during this era. In response to these ethical leadership failings, renewed interest in developing accounting professionals with strong ethical principles and ethical leadership behaviors has emerged. In many firms training and development of ethical behavior is now at the forefront of the firm’s communications and professional development efforts. The question remains however, can the profession instill in its members the importance of ethical conduct? Can ethical leaders be developed …

Segment Disclosure Transparency And Internal Capital Market Efficiency: Evidence From Sfas No. 131, Young Jun Cho

Research Collection School of Accountancy

Using the adoption of SFAS 131, I examine the effect of segment disclosure transparency on internal capital market efficiency. SFAS 131 requires firms to define segments as internally viewed by managers, thereby improving the transparency of managerial actions in internal capital allocation. I find that diversified firms that improved segment disclosure transparency by changing segment definitions upon adoption of SFAS 131 experienced an improvement in capital allocation efficiency in internal capital markets after the adoption of SFAS 131. In addition, I find that the improvement in internal capital market efficiency was greater for firms that suffered more severe agency problems …

Small And Large Faculty-Size Adjusted Accounting Program Rankings Based On Research-Active Faculty: A Uniform Approach, Mark C. Dawkins, Matthew M. Wieland, Donald L. Ariail

Faculty and Research Publications

Prior studies have ranked accounting programs based on the use of various methodologies, many of which did not control for faculty size. Even in studies that controlled for faculty size, a common issue was the inclusion of faculty and PhD students who were not research active. To resolve these sample issues, this study uses a sample of top-6 accounting journal publications over the 2006-2013 period to demonstrate an innovative, efficient, and uniform approach for calculating faculty-size adjusted accounting program rankings. This approach can be modified to include more accounting journals. Specifically, the study controls for faculty size by including only …

Singapore Accounting Professors Receive International Honour For Innovative Teaching, Singapore Management University

SMU Press Releases

Seow Poh Sun, Associate Professor of Accounting (Education) and Associate Dean (Teaching and Curriculum) and senior lecturer Wong Suay Peng of the School of Accountancy at Singapore Management University recently were honoured with the 2015 Innovation in Accounting Education Award from the American Accounting Association (AAA). The award, sponsored by the Ernst & Young Foundation, was given to Prof Seow and Ms Wong in recognition of their outstanding achievement in innovative teaching in the use of a mobile game app. Their work "Accounting Challenge: Mobile-Gaming App for Learning Accounting" is the first mobile-gaming app developed for teaching financial accounting. It …

Economic Freedom, Investment Flexibility, And Equity Value: A Cross-Country Study, Chih-Ying Chen, Peter F. Chen, Qinglu Jin

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Prior studies show that equity value has convex relations with earnings and book value of equity, respectively, due to growth and adaptation options (Burgstahler and Dichev 1997a; Zhang 2000). These studies, however, do not consider the role of institutions in affecting firms' ability to exercise growth and adaptation options. In this study, we investigate whether these convex relations vary with the degree of a country's economic freedom, which may influence the frictions and costs of exercising these options. We develop four hypotheses: In countries with greater economic freedom, (1) a firm's capital investment in response to profitability is greater; (2) …

Ceo Contractual Protection And Managerial Short-Termism, Xia Chen, Qiang Cheng, Alvis K. Lo, Xin Wang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

How to address managerial short-termism is an important issue for companies, regulators, and researchers. We examine the effect of CEO contractual protection, in the form of employment agreements and severance pay agreements, on managerial short-termism. We find that firms with CEO contractual protection are less likely to cut R&D expenditures to avoid earnings decreases and are less likely to engage in real earnings management. The effect of CEO contractual protection is both statistically and economically significant. We further find that this effect increases with the duration and monetary strength of CEO contractual protection. The cross-sectional analyses indicate that the effect …

Corporate Real Estate’S Rising Profile In The Banking And Finance Industry, Clarence Goh

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Seven years after the financial crisis, profits have returned to the banking and finance industry – statistics compiled by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) for banks in the US showed that overall industry profits hit near record highs in 2014.

Comments On The Exposure Draft On The Conceptual Framework For Financial Reporting (Ed/2015/3), Tan, Pearl Hock-Neo

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

No abstract provided.

Kpmg Global Anti Bribery And Corruption: Rising To The Challenge In The Age Of Globalization, Themin Suwardy, Poh Sun Seow, Pan, Gary

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Corruption continues to corrode the global economy, 18 years after member governments of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) signed a convention1 that establishes legally binding standards to criminalize the bribery of public officials. Since then, a growing number of governments have passed anti-bribery and corruption (ABC) laws. The U.S. is no longer the lone policeman on the beat; the UK and other European governments have implemented anti-corruption regulations too, as have emerging economies including China and Brazil.

Despite tougher enforcement of regulations to combat bribery and corruption, illicit payments to counter-parties continue to burden economies, diverting resources …

Default Clauses In Debt Contracts, Ningzhong Li, Yun Lou, Florin Vasvari

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We examine the determinants of events of default clauses in syndicated loan and bond contracts, provi- sions that allow lenders to request the repayment of principal and to terminate lending commitments. We document significant variation in the use of default clauses and their restrictiveness within the same type of lending contract but also across loans and bonds. We find that default clauses in public bond contracts are less restrictive than those in syndicated loan contracts. We also document that two ex ante proxies for bankruptcy costs, the level of intangible assets and capitalized research and development expenditures at the time …

From Data Analysis To Intelligent Accounting: Impact Of Analytics On Accounting Function, Gary Pan, Poh Sun Seow

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

No abstract provided.

Opaque Financial Reporting Due To Unemployment Concerns, Jeffrey Ng, Tharindra Ranasinghe, Guifeng Shi, Holly I. Yang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This paper examines the link between rank-and-file employees’ unemployment concerns and financial reporting opacity. Following Agrawal and Matsa (JFE, 2013), we use exogenous variations in state unemployment insurance benefits to capture changes to unemployment concerns. We find that when unemployment concerns are lower, there is less opaque financial reporting. This relation is stronger when workers face higher unemployment risk, labor union participation is high, and executives have higher equity incentives. Using Tobin’s Q to capture firm value, we also find that the economic rationale to engage in opaque financial reporting reduces when unemployment benefits are high. Our findings suggest that …

Analytics And Cybersecurity: The Shape Of Things To Come, Gary Pan, Poh Sun Seow, Calvin Chan, Chu Yeong Lim

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

No abstract provided.

Management Earnings Forecasts And Value Of Analyst Forecast Revisions, Yongtae Kim, Minsup Song

Accounting

This study examines the stock-price reactions to analyst forecast revisions around earnings announcements to test whether preannouncement forecasts reflect analysts' private information or piggybacking on confounding events and news. We find that management earnings forecasts influence the timing and precision of analyst forecasts. More importantly, evidence suggests that prior studies' finding of weaker (stronger) stock-price responses to forecast revisions in the period immediately after (before) the prior-quarter earnings announcement disappears once management earnings forecasts are controlled for. To the extent that management earnings forecasts are public disclosures, our results suggest that the importance of analysts' information discovery role documented in …