Accounting Commons^™

Diverse Analyses Of Accounting: A Series Of Case Studies, Hannah Harris

Honors Theses

This thesis consists of a diverse variety of case studies surrounded accounting and accounting-related issues. The first five cases span a broad range of topics, such as 9/11 and COVID-19 and their effects on the accounting industry. The last five cases, which were completed as a team, provide an in-depth analysis of Goldman Sachs, mostly through the team’s study of their 2020 and 2021 financial statements. These cases provide an overview of the company and the team’s suggested improvements in each line of service—audit, tax, advisory, and risk advisory. Through these cases, I was provided a much deeper insight into …

The Sec Revolving Door And Comment Letters, Michael Shen, Samuel T. Tan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Government officials, advocacy groups, and the business press have raised concerns that former SEC employees may continue to influence the SEC after leaving the agency. Using hand-collected data on the characteristics of 1,384 lawyers who represented firms in responding to SEC comment letters between 2005 and 2016, we examine the impact of post-revolving SEC employees on the SEC comment letter process. Among other determinants, we find that older and larger firms with a history of litigation are more likely to hire former SEC lawyers over non-SEC lawyers. Relative to firms that involve only non-SEC lawyers, we find that firms that …

Bearer Negotiable Instruments: Addressing A Financial Intelligence Gap And Identifying Criminogenic Weaknesses, Hollis B. Kegg

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Bearer Negotiable Instruments (BNI) are a long-standing category of financial instruments used to transfer large amounts of money in ways that may not be subject to regulation, reporting, tracking, review, or oversight. There is limited information available on BNIs, and no evidence that any studies have been undertaken on BNIs alone, much less reported. Increasingly, BNIs are being used for illegal purposes including money laundering. This study gathers information about their characteristics, nature, purpose, legal status, and numbers. It also focuses on the crime risks associated with BNIs, the crime opportunities they facilitate, and the criminal weaknesses in the financial …

A New Framework For Taxing Cryptocurrencies, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Mohanad Salaimi

Articles

This Article explores the tax law challenges associated with the taxation of cryptocurrencies and offers proposals to address such challenges. The Article addresses the proper tax treatment of different cryptocurrency transactions and activities. It examines various aspects associated with the taxation of cryptocurrency through its life cycle, starting from earning cryptocurrency, through its disposal or exchange. The Article also examines the tax treatment of two special crypto events, hard forks and airdrops. Specifically, this Article describes a proposal to tax cryptocurrencies based on their unique features. It argues that various ways of earning or receiving crypto tokens (for example, mining …

What Is Insurance? An Analysis Of The Tax Deductibility Of Captive Insurance Premiums, John D. Patten

Honors Capstones

What is insurance for the purposes of a tax deduction? The Internal Revenue Code does not define insurance. Without this definition, taxpayers using alternative insurance products to manage their risks must look to case law to determine whether their arrangements count as tax deductible insurance or non-deductible self-insurance. This paper dives into the four prongs of insurance: insurance risk, risk shifting, risk distributing, and commonly accepted notions of insurance. This paper looks to cases that have dealt with the deduction of captive insurance premiums to provide better insight into the practical application of this test. After discussing the evolution of …

Analyzation Of Audit Procedures In The Wake Of The Early 2000s Accounting Scandals, Zachary Byar

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Enron, WorldCom, and Tyco International were companies that operated in different industries and had different levels of net profit for decades. However, these companies had one pivotal thing in common: accounting fraud. In the early 2000s, accounting scandals from large companies created a major impact on the financial markets, causing Congress to take action to increase investor protection through the origination of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The Act was meant to restore investor confidence through strengthened disclosures and auditing requirements for public corporations. However, even with the creation of this new Act from Congress, fraud is still prevalent today, …

Tax Reform Throughout U.S. History And The Economic Impact, Jacob Christopher Michel

Honors Thesis

The three largest tax reforms in recent years, The 1986 Tax Reform Act (TRA of 1986), The Bush Tax Cuts Act, and The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), differed in the treatment of taxable income through capital gains tax rate, depreciation treatment, limitation of losses, standard deduction, and the marginal rates in general. These provisions were studied to provide insight into how they affected various stakeholders. The TRA of 1986 and the Bush Tax Cuts Act have data determining whether they benefitted high-income taxpayers to the highest extent. The low-income taxpayers were also given tax breaks, however, not to …

Reversing The Fortunes Of Active Funds, Adi Libson, Gideon Parchomovsky

All Faculty Scholarship

In 2019, for the first time in the history of U.S. capital markets, passive funds surpassed active funds in terms of total assets under management. The continuous growth of passive funds at the expense of active funds is a genuine cause for concern. Active funds monitor the management and partake of decision-making in their portfolio companies. Furthermore, they improve price efficiency and managerial performance by engaging in informed trading. The buy/sell decisions of active funds provide other market participants reliable information about the quality of firms. The cost of active investing is significant and it is exclusively borne by active …

Australian National Audit Office: Evaluating Australian Army Program Performance, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) evaluates the management and financial performance of Australian government programs for the Australian Parliament, Australian government agencies, Australian taxpayers, and individuals interested in the performance of these programs globally. This article examines how ANAO has examined the performance of Australian Army programs and strengths and weaknesses found in these programs while recommending changes to improve program performance. It also examines how government agencies and corporations which have been the subject of ANAO analyses have reacted to ANAO findings. This assessment also examines how Plan B (the possibility that Australia might have to rely less …

Racialized Tax Inequity: Wealth, Racism, And The U.S. System Of Taxation, Palma Joy Strand, Nicholas A. Mirkay

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

This Article describes the connection between wealth inequality and the increasing structural racism in the U.S. tax system since the 1980s. A long-term sociological view (the why) reveals the historical racialization of wealth and a shift in the tax system overall beginning around 1980 to protect and exacerbate wealth inequality, which has been fueled by racial animus and anxiety. A critical tax view (the how) highlights a shift over the same time period at both federal and state levels from taxes on wealth, to taxes on income, and then to taxes on consumption—from greater to less progressivity. Both of these …

Law School News: Throw Out The Old Thinking 9-30-2019, Michael M. Bowden

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

The Relationship Between Audit Committee And New Chief Financial Officer Characteristics In Publicly Traded Healthcare Companies, John Workman

Scholar Week 2016 - present

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 established the role of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) over financial reporting in public companies. Prior research had demonstrated that the CFO of a company who was a CPA, female, had industry experience, or had prior CFO experience had implications on the quality of the company’s financial reporting. This quantitative study examined the relationship of these characteristics between the existing audit committee members (N = 331) and a newly-hired CFO (N = 93) in public healthcare companies. The extent to which audit committee members’ characteristics may have influenced the hiring of a new …

Directed Gifts, Love Offerings And The Uncertain Guidance Of Irs Publication 526 For Donors And Donees To Non-Profit Organizations: Literature Review, Victoria Liggett

Honors College Theses

Love offerings are donations given to an identified beneficiary of a non-profit organization. It can be challenging for tax experts to make accurate tax assessments based on such offerings and enormously difficult for the layperson. This is exacerbated by the unclear directives of the IRS, which include the sometimes nearly inscrutable guidelines of IRS Publication 526. The lack of clarity makes this a hazard for accountants and attorneys involved in tax preparation. Against this backdrop, this paper provides a literature review exploring the history of the issues, current guidelines as decided by court cases, and research done with regards to …

Navigating Sino-American Business Relationships, Ryan Stenquist

Marriott Student Review

Relationships between American and Chinese companies have never been more important or profitable as they are now. With linguistic, moral, governmental, and legal systems developed entirely independent of each other for thousands of years, these relationships also prove the most difficult and complex to navigate. This article explores mistakes foreigners often make while doing business in China, the current environment and culture of joint ventures with native Chinese, and how to succeed in the challenging yet rewarding economy now opening up to the world.

Capacitación Para La Elaboración De Informes Administrativos Y Contables De La Fundación Jesús El Buen Pastor, Según Requerimiento De La Alcaldía Mayor De Bogotá D.C, David Ernesto Ramos Cobos, Ana Carolina Hernández

Administración de Empresas

El siguiente proyecto, consistió en orientar y capacitar en temas administrativos y contables a los miembros de la entidad sin ánimo de lucro Fundación Jesús el Buen Pastor, dedicada a prestar servicio social a las familias de bajos recursos en la localidad de Bosa de Bogotá. Dentro del texto se encontrará los enfoques más importantes en los cuales se tuvo que trabajar rápidamente, esto debido a que la Fundación Jesús el Buen Pastor por temas de desconocimiento no cumplía con los requisitos mínimos de las entidades reguladoras, los cual podía llevarlos a un cierre definitivo de sus instalaciones. A través …

El Impuesto A La Renta Y Complementarios En Colombia Desde El Punto De Vista Del Contribuyente Persona Natural, Ley 1819 De 2016, Juan David Rojas, Natalia Ramírez Barbosa

Contaduría Pública

El presente artículo, tiene como objetivo presentar el impuesto a la renta y complementarios en Colombia desde el punto de vista del contribuyente persona natural, ley 1819 de 2016, en el que permiten evitar la evasión y elusión fiscal en Colombia. La evasión y elusión de impuestos son fenómenos que se encuentran inmersos en los diferentes grupos sociales, afectando a la comunidad en aspectos económicos, sociales, culturales y fiscales. La evasión responde a conductas o prácticas que adoptan las personas en el intento de evitar o eludir una responsabilidad u obligación que se tiene consigo mismo, con la comunidad o …

Efectos Frente A La Aplicación Niif En Cooperativas De Transporte De Carga Y Pasajeros En Colombia Al Año 2017, David Guillermo Flórez Ávila, Luis Antonio Suarez Sanabria

Contaduría Pública

El presente artículo tiene como objeto analizar los efectos de la aplicación de las NIIF en las cooperativas de transporte de carga y pasajeros en Colombia, con el fin de comprender estos cambios es necesario contextualizar ¿Qué son las cooperativas de transporte de carga y pasajeros en Colombia?, puesto que desde el año 2015 en Colombia se implementaron las normas internacionales de información financiera, las cuales se fueron aplicando a las empresas según la normatividad y la clasificación de las mismas; de igual forma es importante caracterizar y examinar las normas contables aplicables al patrimonio de las cooperativas de transporte …

Trabajo De Campo En El Área Administrativa Y Contable Fundación Jesús El Buen Pastor, Katherine Lastra Vargas, Luis Eduardo Aroca Cobos

Administración de Empresas

En este trabajo podemos encontrar la aplicación de los conocimientos adquiridos en las carreras de Administración de Empresas y Contaduría Pública para el mejoramiento de los procesos y procedimientos de la Fundación Jesús El Buen Pastor, el cual contribuyó a crear un marco estratégico que permitió identificar la misión para la cual la organización fue creada y a su vez establecer lineamientos y herramientas que pudieran ayudar al crecimiento de la fundación tanto administrativo como contable. Al desarrollar este trabajo de grado se pudo obtener la situación actual de la fundación, realizar un diagnóstico de la misma y a su …

Auditoría De Gestión En La Revisoría Fiscal, Andrés Camilo Vélez Acosta

Contaduría Pública

La Auditoría de Gestión representa un instrumento llamado a apoyar la gerencia estratégica en las organizaciones, mediante el suministro de herramientas que permiten medir y dar un juicio objetivo sobre el desempeño de las compañías, a fin de que éstas puedan lograr la consecución de sus metas. En el ámbito contable, este tema es causa de conflictos entre quienes conciben a la Auditoría de Gestión como una herramienta inherente al ejercicio de la Revisoría Fiscal y quienes están en desacuerdo con tal afirmación. Este artículo reflexiona respecto ambas posturas, pasando por una breve descripción de la Auditoría de Gestión, sus …

Relationships Between Corporate Inversions And The Tax Cuts & Jobs Act, Sedona L. Clothier

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

Shareholder Litigation And Corporate Disclosure: Evidence From Derivative Lawsuits, Thomas Bourveau, Yun Lou, Rencheng Wang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Using the staggered adoption of universal demand (UD) laws in the United States, we study the effect of shareholder litigation risk on corporate disclosure. We find that disclosure significantly increases after UD laws make it more difficult to file derivative lawsuits. Specifically, firms issue more earnings forecasts and voluntary 8-K filings, and increase the length of management discussion and analysis (MD&A) in their 10-K filings. We further assess the direct and indirect channels through which UD laws affect firms' disclosure policies. We find that the effect of UD laws on corporate disclosure is driven by firms facing relatively higher ex …

Accounting Choices And The Legal Environment: The Impact Of The Ex Post Loss Rule, Teck Meng Junior Tan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Using a landmark Supreme Court decision as a natural experiment, I examine the impact of a fundamental requirement in securities litigation, the ex post loss rule, on income-decreasing accounting choices. Dura Pharmaceuticals v. Broudo (2005) established that plaintiffs must show that the alleged misrepresentations caused an actual economic loss. The case resolved a circuit split, allowing me to identify a treatment jurisdiction affected by Dura, and control jurisdictions in which the rule was already the prevailing legal standard. Motivated by legal analyses suggesting that Dura incentivizes firms to delay negative corrections, I hypothesize and find that treatment firms in high-litigation …

Individual Lawyers, The Sec Revolving Door, And Comment Letters, Michael Shen, Samuel T. Tan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Government officials, advocacy groups, and the business press have raised concerns that former SEC employees may continue to influence the SEC after leaving the agency. Using a hand-collected database of individual lawyers that represent firms in responding to SEC comment letters, we examine the impact of individual lawyers, and lawyers formerly employed by the SEC, on the comment letter process. We document significant differences between lawyers and law firms in their clients’ resistance to SEC comment letters, and find that firms that retain former SEC employees are larger, more profitable, and more likely to have received a comment letter raising …

Beneficial Ownership: Tracking The True Owners Of Business Accounts, Angela Lintag-Ihde

Economic Crime Forensics Capstones

Bank accounts are a popular place to hide and move illegal funds. Many banks offer private banking or wealth management services, to customers with more than $1,000,000. That provides premier banking services as well as a confidential, safe, and legal haven. With these services is a heightened money laundering risk. The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) of Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) Examination Manual specifically states that privacy and confidentiality are important elements of private banking relationships. “Private Banking and Wealth Management services are vulnerable to money laundering schemes that include: private bankers as client advocates; powerful clients including …

The Emerging International Taxation Problems, James G. Yang, Victor N.A. Metallo

Department of Accounting and Finance Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The problems of tax evasion and tax avoidance are as old as taxes themselves. Between 2015 and 2016 alone, many U.S. multinational corporations were involved in tax disputes with the European Commission. From a historical perspective, these disputes are unprecedented as they have resulted in tremendous amount of tax penalties. The most notable case was Apple for €13 billion of unpaid tax. This article discusses what tax strategies these corporations used that caused such disputes. It specifically investigates seven corporations: Apple Inc., McDonald’s, Starbucks, Fiat, Amazon, Google, and Ikea, and elaborates on the following tax strategies: high royalties, intercompany transfer …

Bases Administrativas Y Contables Para El Mejoramiento De La Fundación Progresemos Juntos Kennedy, Javier Alexander Rojas Roa, Jeferson Stanley Varón Rozo

Contaduría Pública

El propósito de nuestro trabajo de grado Bases administrativas y contables para el mejoramiento de la fundación progresemos juntos Kennedy, es identificar el contexto actual de la fundación la cual se encuentra en la localidad de Kennedy en el barrio Villa de los Sauces y presta atención a niños vulnerables del sector con el fin de realizar acompañamiento en asesorías de tareas, talleres lúdicos, actividades culturales y deportivas. Su fin con lleva a que los niños tengan un apoyo por parte de la fundación y estén alejados del entorno el cual los rodea, siendo los actos delictivos o el consumo …

How Do Accounting Practices Spread? An Examination Of Law Firm Networks And Stock Option Backdating, Teck Meng Junior Tan, Patricia M. Dechow

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We hypothesize that one way that accounting practices spread is through law firm connections. We investigate this prediction by examining companies that avoided reporting compensation expense by engaging in stock option backdating. We hypothesize that executives engaged in backdating because they were desensitized to its inappropriateness when they learned through their legal counsel that other companies were engaging in this practice. We identify backdating companies through backdating-related restatements of earnings. Using network analysis, we document that backdating companies are more highly connected with other backdating companies via shared law firms. Logistic regressions indicate that the odds of a company backdating …

Impact On Grant Fraud Within The Government, Ashley Clark

Economic Crime Forensics Capstones

My proposal and area of concentration will focus on the forensic accountant’s role in grant fraud. This role is more important now than ever, as fraudsters’ efforts have become more sophisticated over time. Grant fraud is particularly susceptible because more and more fraudsters are working within the company and understand the internal workings of the organization. Ensuring that grant notice of award regulations and rules are followed – and that relevant agencies and individuals follow all protocols under the budgeted term – are crucial components to ensuring the grant’s success.

Within my research paper, I will cover all areas associated …

What The Sarbanes-Oxley Act Does Not Include: An Examination Of The Importance Of Audit Firm Rotation, Audit Firm Credibility And Tone At The Top, Nicole Damaschi

Honors Theses

This thesis is an examination of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) that was passed in response to a wave of accounting frauds, including Enron and WorldCom. Paul Sarbanes and Michael Oxley established SOX in an attempt to restore investors' confidence in the financial statements of publicly traded companies. However, there are critical elements of financial reporting that it fails to address, like audit firm rotation, audit firm credibility and management's tone at the top. Mandatory audit firm rotation and credible audit firms are believed to result in high-quality audits while management's tone at the top is reflected through the honesty and …

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 …