Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

The New Accounting For Operating Leases: Unintended Consequences In The Airline Industry, Renata Bandeira, Bridget M. Lyons, Carolyn Trabuco

WCBT Faculty Publications

By 2020, new accounting rules for operating leases were applicable to publicly traded companies reporting under either the US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) or International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The accounting authorities under both standards noted that the new rules were developed to increase the transparency of lease transactions to provide more relevant and comparable information. We compare two Brazilian airlines reporting under IFRS, Azul and Gol, with an operationally similar US airline reporting under US GAAP, JetBlue, to determine whether the new standards improve the ability to understand, evaluate, and compare performance, managerial decision making and credit metrics. …

Incorporating Financial Statement Information To Improve Forecasts Of Corporate Taxable Income, Danielle H. Green, Erin E. Henry, Sarah M. Parsons, George A. Plesko

WCBT Faculty Publications

We contribute to the research on the information content of earnings as it applies to the forecasting of economic activity across reporting models. We examine whether publicly available financial statement information is incrementally useful in forecasting confidentially reported taxable income. More precise firm-level taxable income forecasts can improve policymakers’ modeling of the tax system and their ability to analyze the effect of proposed changes in corporate tax law. When aggregated, improved micro-forecasts can also yield more accurate macro-forecasts of corporate taxable income, a significant component of the federal budget. We find that financial statement information improves firm-level estimates of future …

A Case Study In The Use And Potential Misuse Of Non-Gaap Financial Measures, Benoit Boyer, Ralph Lim, Bridget M. Lyons

WCBT Faculty Publications

Firms reporting under US GAAP are allowed to supplement financial information with non-GAAP measures. We examined 6 Firms in the chemical industry and looked at what information was presented (Dow, Du Pont, Monsanto, FMC, PPG, Praxair). We use the 2014 Annual Report so that we would have comparable data for all companies. For 2 firms we looked at numbers presented in Cap IQ and in Bloomberg and compared them to the numbers presented by the company (Dow and Du Pont). The numbers reported by the firms and the analysts differed greatly.

Interpreting Financial Results, Bridget Lyons, Rupendra Paliwal, Danny A. Pannese

WCBT Faculty Publications

The article discusses three accounting changes issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FSAB). The Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) No. 158 "Employers' Accounting for Defined Benefit Pension and Other Retirement Plans" and the SFAS No. 160 "Noncontrolling Interests in Consolidated Financial Statements" are mentioned. Financial Interpretation 48 "Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes, an Interpretation of FSAB Statement No. 109" is mentioned.

The takeaway? Financial analysts, investors, and creditors need to carefully interpret ratios and measures, including debt to equity, liabilities to equity, and return on equity. Financial ratios used in loan covenants should be clearly designed and …

Teaching The Budgeting Process Using A Spreadsheet Template, Benoit Boyer

WCBT Faculty Publications

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how to use a template to teach the budgeting process and how to use the same template to do a sensitivity analysis once the budget process is completed. The template can be used as-is by non-accounting majors. They just have to fill in all of their assumptions by replacing the red numbers. The template can be locked so that students cannot modify the formulas by mistake. Simply protect the worksheet (Review tab > Protect Sheet) and students will be able to only change the assumptions. Accounting majors are shown how to build their …

How The Madoff Fraud Could Affect Your Cpa Practice, Stephen Scarpati

WCBT Faculty Publications

With an estimated $65 billion lost from trust funds, retirement plans, pensions, investment funds, inheritance monies, and nonprofit organizations, many people have been adversely affected by the Ponzi scheme perpetrated by Bernard L. Madoff. When you combine a lot of lost money with a lot of angry people, the result is a lot of lawsuits. The breadth of those lawsuits will encompass all associated with the affected organizations--including CPAs. Those messages were loud and clear at the May 27, 2009, breakfast symposium "Are CPAs the Next Madoff Victims? The Accountant's Liability," sponsored by The CPA Journal.

Measuring The Degree Of International Harmony In Selected Accounting Measurement Practices, Emmanuel N. Emenyonu, Ajay Adhikari

WCBT Faculty Publications

The I-index developed by Van der Tas and chi square tests suggested by Tay and Parker are used to quantify and assess the degree of harmony in selected accounting measurement practices of large companies from France, Germany, Japan, the UK, and the US. The results indicate significant differences in accounting for inventory, fixed assets, and investments among the countries. The 3 sub-topics that exhibited a high degree of harmony were the treatment of gains or losses on the disposal of fixed assets, short-term investments and long-term investments, a reflection of the preference of regulators and companies in the different countries …