Accounting Commons^™

Reliance On Algorithmic Evidence: The Joint Influence Of Measurement Uncertainty And Algorithm Adaptability, Jenny Ulla

Theses and Dissertations--Accountancy

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems’ capability is rapidly expanding to perform complex tasks once reserved only for humans. With machine learning algorithms, AI can learn and adapt as it encounters more data, which has enabled these systems to improve the quality of accounting estimates that traditionally have been more difficult for humans. Although AI systems’ capability to adapt has potential benefits, these systems also have become increasingly complex, making it difficult for individuals to understand the processes or algorithms these systems use to produce advice. Practitioners worry that when algorithms behave like “black boxes” this opacity may lead to a lack …

Earnings Conference Calls And Lazy Prices, Chuancai Zhang

Theses and Dissertations--Accountancy

Changes to the language and construction of financial reports are indicative of firms’ future returns and operations. Investors, however, are often inattentive to these changes; consequently, price reactions to these changes are delayed—resulting in “lazy” prices. This study explores two possible channels through which earnings conference calls may mitigate lazy prices: (1) the topic overlap channel and (2) the comparison language channel. Specifically, I examine whether the topic overlap between conference call transcripts and 10K/10Q filings or the comparison language used on earnings conference call transcripts helps investors understand the nature of the overlapped topics and triggers investors’ attention to …

Critical Audit Matters Requirements And Auditor Reporting Behavior: Early U.S. Evidence, Valbona Sulcaj

Theses and Dissertations--Accountancy

In this study, I examine two research questions related to the reporting requirements of critical audit matters (CAMs) introduced in the Audit Standard (AS) 3101. First, I examine whether auditor’s perceived litigation risk and client’s financial reporting quality are associated with the number and textual attributes of CAMs. Second, I examine whether the number and textual attributes of CAMs are associated with audit effort and costs.

Consistent with the litigation hypothesis (Skinner, 1994), I find a positive association between litigation risk and the number of CAMs in the audit report, suggesting that auditors try to preempt negative consequences from shareholder …

The Influence Of Expedited Fabrication Rate, Unreliable Machines, Scrap, And Rework On The Production Runtime Decision In A Vendor-Buyer Coordinated Environment, Yuan Shyi Peter Chiu, Yunsen Wang, Tiffany Chiu, Peng Cheng Sung

Department of Accounting and Finance Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Transnational manufacturing firms operate in highly competitive marketplaces. This means that they are continuously seeking ways to reduce order response and fabrication cycle times, maintain the desired product quality, manage unanticipated machine failures, and provide timely delivery to effectively minimize overall operating cost and maintain a competitive advantage over their intra-supply chains. To assist firms in achieving these operational goals, we examine a buyer-vendor coordinated system with an expedited fabrication rate, unreliable machines, scrap, and rework, with the objective of minimizing the overall operating costs. An imperfect manufacturing process is assumed, which arbitrarily produces repairable and scrap items, with the …

How Do Team Workloads And Team Staffing Affect The Audit? Archival Evidence From U.S. Audits, Brant E. Christensen, Nathan J. Newton, Michael S. Wilkins

Faculty Publications

We use U.S. data from a global accounting firm to investigate how two key elements of audit teams eworkloads and staffing continuity e affect the audit. We find that heavier team workloads are associated with lower audit quality, particularly when team members have lower performance ratings or have total workloads that exceed 60 h per week. In addition to finding evidence of employee burnout, we also document an incremental distraction effect. Specifically, we find that audit quality on the primary client suffers when team members spend more time during busy season on other concurrent clients. Regarding continuity, we find that …

Implicit Attitudes And U.S. Tax Professionals’ Reliance On Offshore Tax Professionals’ Recommendations, Brian C. Spilker, Bryan W. Stewart, David A. Wood

Faculty Publications

Large accounting firms offshore a significant amount of tax work to professionals in India. Prior research suggests that individuals can have negative implicit attitudes toward people from different nationalities and that negative implicit attitudes can have undesired consequences. In this study, we measure a sample of U.S. tax professionals’ implicit attitudes toward Indian persons using an implicit association test (IAT) and assess whether the U.S. tax professionals respond differently to work produced by Indian versus U.S. tax professionals and whether implicit attitudes affect the U.S. professionals’ assessments of Indian tax professionals’ work product. We document that participants in our study …

Are Internal Audits Associated With Reductions In Perceived Risk?, Joseph V. Carcello, Marc Eulerich, Adi Masli, David A. Wood

Faculty Publications

We examine whether internal auditing provides value to organizations by reducing risk. We compare the changes in risks between audited business units and matched non-audited units within the same company. This design allows us to isolate the importance of an internal audit while holding constant changes in risk due to the organization and time period. Based on ratings from the heads of audited and non-audited units, we find that managers of audited units perceive a greater decline in risk as well as a greater increase in performance compared to managers of non-audited units. We also find that companies that have …

The Demand For Public Information By Local And Nonlocal Investors: Evidence From Investor-Level Data*, Travis Dyer

Faculty Publications

I examine the demand for public information by local and nonlocal investors. Using novel data on institutional investors' requests for financial information from the SEC, I document that investors acquire approximately 20% more financial information for their local investments. This pattern holds after controlling for investors’ 13(f) portfolio holdings. I further demonstrate that this pattern is concentrated in stocks eliciting behavioral biases as well as among investors with strong company relationships. Consistent with public information acquisition being more beneficial to local investors, I find that local investors exhibit both enhanced timeliness in acquiring public information and superior portfolio trading decisions …

Blockchain Technology: A Survey Of Croatian Business Leaders, Dražen Zec, William G. Heninger

Faculty Publications

Blockchain or distributed ledger technology emerged over ten years ago as the underlying technology of bitcoin. Blockchain is a special kind of database with individual records or blocks linked together in a sequential list called chain of blocks. These records are validated by multiple nodes in peer-to-peer networks and they are immutable. It is a decentralized system, with no need for intermediaries where all decisions are made using different consensus mechanisms. High expectations from blockchain technology, combined with a lack of deeper knowledge about the technology are expressed in the results from the survey conducted on a sample of Croatian …

Factors Affecting The Outcomes Of Legal Claims Against Auditors, Karen D. De Meyst, D. Jordan Lowe, Mark E. Peecher, Jeffrey Pickerd, Andrew Reffett

Faculty Publications

Maksymov, Pickerd, Lowe, Peecher, and Reffett (2020b) draw insights based on interviews with 27 prominent audit litigation attorneys about the factors affecting the initiation of legal claims against auditors and how such factors affect settlement outcomes. We summarize their key findings and discuss important implications for audit practitioners. Specifically, we focus on the key factors that affect plaintiff attorneys’ willingness to pursue legal claims against auditors, including the merits of the claim, size of alleged economic damages, auditors’ ability to pay, and the expected cost to pursue the claim. We also discuss the reasons why most audit disputes settle (as …

How Has The Change In The Way Auditors Determine The Audit Report Date Changed The Meaning Of The Audit Report Date? Implications For Academic Research, Steven M. Glover, James C. Hansen, Timothy Seidel

Faculty Publications

Archival research in accounting often relies on the audit report date to capture the constructs of audit efficiency, audit timeliness, audit effort, or audit completion. Auditors’ view of what constitutes sufficient appropriate evidence to support the audit opinion, and consequently the date of the audit report, previously coincided with the substantial completion of audit fieldwork, which would be days or weeks before a 10-K filing. However, this view has shifted to coincide with the timing of the public issuance of clients’ financial statements (i.e., the 10-K filing date) following several regulatory actions, audit practice changes, and professional standard setting changes …

Prior Audit Experience And Cfo Financial Reporting Aggressiveness, Eric R. Condie, Kara M. Obermire, Timothy Seidel, Michael S. Wilkins

Faculty Publications

In this study, we investigate the financial reporting behavior of chief financial officers (CFOs) with significant prior audit experience. Our tests indicate that, on average, CFOs who were former audit managers or partners report less aggressively than CFOs without prior audit experience. Thus, the mindset that auditors develop during their time in public accounting – which should value objective, transparent, and conservative financial reporting – appears to persist when auditors take high-level positions in industry. However, we also find that the reporting behavior of prior-auditor CFOs becomes more aggressive over time as the salience of their audit experience decays. Further, …

Perceptions Of Tone At The Top From The Inside: Insights Into Audit Pricing, Jace Garrett, Rani Hoitash, Douglas F. Prawitt

Faculty Publications

Tone at the top plays an important role in entities’ internal control over financial reporting (ICFR) and in auditors’ planning and risk assessment decisions. Using a novel measure based on employee perceptions, we find that strong tone at the top is associated with reduced audit pricing and that this relation holds even for firms that report effective ICFR. This relation is stronger when employees’ tone perceptions are more consistent throughout the organization, when accounting is more complex, and when earnings manipulation risk is higher. We also find that strong tone is negatively associated with the incidence of reported material weaknesses …

Reinforcing The Role Of Intellectual Property In The Battle Against The Pandemic: The Vowel Framework, Daniel S. Hofilena

DLSU Business & Economics Review

The intellectual property (IP) system plays a vital role in public health crises as everyone should have access to medicines and equipment to protect themselves. Thus, the State can utilize the system for the greater good. An IP-centric approach can be summarized using the simple letters of the vowels: Awareness – for the populace to respect IP rights, they must first be educated as to its value; Enforcement – for infringers to be discouraged, IP holders should have an avenue for the easy enforcement of their rights; Incentivize – for businesses to be encouraged to invest in certain forms of …

Stock Market Volatility And Business Cycle: Exploring Cross-Country Spillovers, Nufazil Altaf

DLSU Business & Economics Review

This study explores the impact of the financial crisis on the relationship between stock market volatility and the business cycle. In addition, the possible spillover effects within a cross-country framework are also examined. The study is based on secondary macroeconomic data of monthly frequency for the time period of 1991:01 to 2012:12. Bivariate and multivariate causality techniques are used to arrive at results. Results of the study provide fresh evidence for the existence of strong bidirectional causality between stock market volatility and the business cycle for all sample countries. In fact, this bidirectional causality was found to be strong when …

Winning The War On Poverty: Tracking Living Standards In The Philippines Using A Class Of Axiomatic Indices, John Paolo R. Rivera

DLSU Business & Economics Review

Poverty has persistently badgered the Philippines and alleviating it has been the fundamental thrust of government. However, this was hampered by the recent pandemic resulting in economic contraction plunging many Filipino households into poverty and widening inequality. Bootstrapping the economy is needed to fast-track recovery through resumption of innovative reforms vital to pursue a higher growth path that will accelerate poverty reduction. To do this, it is necessary to understand where the Philippines stands, using household data. Without updated measures and well-informed national and regional profiles on living standards, poverty reduction is bleak, as programs to facilitate it remain to …

Does The Organizer’S Reputation Affect Exhibitors’ Satisfaction?, Luz Suplico, Reynaldo Bautista Jr., Carlo Saavedra

DLSU Business & Economics Review

This research surveyed 229 exhibitors of the Manila FAME Trade Fair held last October 19–21, 2018, in the Philippines to find out if the trade fair organizer’s reputation was significant to exhibitors’ satisfaction. The other variable that was studied to determine if they affected exhibitors’ satisfaction was the quality of service dimensions of booth design and layout, exhibition logistics, venue services, and show management. The quality of these service dimensions was tested using structural equation modeling to determine if there is a relationship between the quality of the service dimensions and the trade fair organizer’s reputation, exhibitors’ satisfaction, and behavioral …

Strategic Surrogates Or Sad Sinners: U.S. Taxation Of Bartering In Digital Services, Mark J. Cowan, Joshua Cutler, Ryan Baxter

Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

The COVID-19 pandemic caused both a surge in technology use and a deterioration in government finances. At the same time, big tech companies are under scrutiny by lawmakers for tax avoidance, antitrust issues, and other concerns. These realities call for governments to reassess tax policy toward tech companies and for tech companies to reassess legal strategy toward taxes. State and federal governments' tax bases are eroding because of the noncash, barter nature of modern transactions. When a taxpayer uses “free” digital services such as e-mail, social media, or search engines, she pays via access to her personal data or attention. …

A Hebrew Republic Of Taxation?: Henry George’S Single Tax, Hebraic Law, And Unearned Income, Joshua Cutler

Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Can millennia-old religious ideas offer insights into modern tax law? I explore this question through the hugely popular, yet largely forgotten, tax movement of political economist Henry George. Seeking to explain why poverty always seemed to increase along with progress, George proposed that, as societies advanced, land owners were able to capture an increasing share of unearned wealth. To remedy this, George proposed a “Single Tax” on the unearned income from land. George’s tax movement gained popularity largely because it was founded on widely-held ideas originating in the Hebrew Bible. Yet, the religious foundation of George’s tax movement has been …

Intellectual Capital's Impact On Corporate Performance During The Age Of Digitalization And The Covid-19 Pandemic, Chance Sears

CMC Senior Theses

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between intellectual capital and firms’ financial and market performance during the peak levels of digitalization, focusing on the COVID-19 Pandemic. Utilizing the recently validated Value Added Intellectual Coefficient (VAIC), alongside its necessary controls, I conduct an empirical analysis on North American firms over the period of 2010-2020 using fixed effects and pooled ordinary least squares analysis. Findings from the empirical analysis provide evidence that intellectual capital is a driving factor in enhancing firms’ financial and market performance. Additionally, results indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic increased the impact of intellectual capital …