Digital Commons Network^™

Auditing Standards Board (Asb), Meeting Agenda, January 25-27, 2022, Video Conference (Zoom) (Times Are Est), American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants. Auditing Standards Board

Association Sections, Divisions, Boards, Teams

No abstract provided.

The Motivations And Practices Of Impact Assessment In Socially Responsible Investing: The French Case And Its Implications For The Accounting And Impact Investing Communities, Diane-Laure Arjalies, Pierre Chollet, Patricia Crifo, Nicolas Mottis

Business Publications

This research note elaborates on the impact assessment practices of the French Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) industry. The research was conducted by the Scientific Committee of the French public SRI label based on interviews, participative observation, a survey, and documentary evidence. SRI is usually distinguished from impact investing in terms of investors’ different intentions (contributing to sustainable development in a financially savvy way for SRI vs. demonstrating a societal impact for impact investing). We show that, beyond this distinction, the meanings and motivations behind impact assessment in the SRI community are broadly different from impact assessment practices in impact investing, …

Reform Of The Lebanese Public Accounting System Within The Framework Of International Accounting Standards In The Public Sector, Hassan Diab

Al Jinan الجنان

Reform of the Lebanese Public Accounting System in the Context of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSASs) This study addresses the increasing challenges that the Lebanese public accounting system is facing, in light of globalization, in shifting from a cash basis to an accrual basis system, as per the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSASs). Through addressing the peculiarities of the Lebanese public accounting system, the study concludes that the conversion from cash basis to accrual basis system will help boost transparency and accountability. Yet, some essential conditions are required to successfully achieve this, including: shifting from the traditional …

Precepts Of Professional Conduct, N.D., American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants (Aicpa)

Guides, Handbooks and Manuals

No abstract provided.

Climate-Risk Materiality And Firm Risk, Ella Mae Matsumura, Rachna Prakash, Sandra C. Vera-Muñoz

Faculty and Student Publications

Managers are required to disclose material climate risk in Form 10-K, but their decision whether or not to disclose is confounded by the lack of consensus on whether climate risk is material to the firms, as well as uncertainty about enforcement of disclosure regulations. Using the SASB Materiality Map™ to proxy for market expectations of climate risk materiality, we test whether the association between disclosing climate risk in 10-Ks and firm risk (proxied by cost of equity (COE)) varies with market expectations of climate risk materiality. Using S&P 500 firms’ decisions whether to disclose climate risk in Form 10-K for …

2021-2022 Morehead State University Audit Report, Morehead State University. Accounting And Financial Services Office.

Morehead State University Audit Reports

2021-2022 Audit Report for Morehead State University.

Family Ties: Impact Of Socioemotional Wealth And Succession On Real Earnings Management, Beth A. Flambures

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Private family businesses make up a significant portion of the world economy. While contributing to the larger macro environment, they also contribute critical resources to their communities and family units. Earnings management is a practice that is detrimental to future business viability. The motivation to use earnings management is different in family businesses as they have unique pressures and characteristics. Socioemotional wealth includes non-financial incentives exclusive to family businesses and is predicted to influence earnings management behavior. Succession is an event that is critical to all businesses, however, the pressure for generational transfer in family businesses can be greater due …

The Evolution Of Women In Business: During The Covid-19 Pandemic And Beyond, Carleen Ellerbruch

Senior Honors Projects

No abstract provided.

Tracking Tangible Asset Ownership And Provenance With Blockchain, Mark D. Sheldon

2022 Faculty Bibliography

Blockchain transactions are recorded in a shared and append-only repository that multiple parties verify, validate, and agree-upon. While initially used to keep track of digital assets, blockchains now track the ownership and provenance of tangible assets. An inherent challenge in using blockchain for this task involves keeping the status of a tangible asset in the physical world in sync with its non-fungible token on a blockchain. While several blockchains are already being used in this manner, specific implementation details are fragmented. In response, this study examines four stages of tracking tangible assets using a consortium’s permissioned blockchain, including: design and …

Have Recent Tax Credits And Benefits Affected The Adoption Of Plug-In Electric Vehicles In The United States?, Ethan Sutton

Senior Honors Projects

Looking at data from recent surveys showing that electric vehicles take up a meager 2.2% of the market share for passenger vehicles around the world, (Gilbert, 2021) it is safe to say that there is a lot of progress to be made if world governments hope to become carbon neutral within the half-century. This paper focuses on the accumulation of opinions and research regarding the adoption of plug-in electric vehicles in the United States, while focusing primarily on how tax benefits or credits could affect the adoption trends. We will provide information on the current climate of the electric vehicle …

Usefulness Of Audit-Firm Transparency Disclosures, Jooanne Choi

2022

South Korea is one of the first countries to enact audit transparency disclosure, requiring public accounting firms to file an annual report containing information on audit production, governance, operations, on-going litigations, and regulatory inspection results. In this dissertation, I make use of this rich information setting to address issues concerning audit quality management systems, audit-firm governance, and resource allocation in audit productions.

Motivated by the recent call from the PCAOB (Public Companies Accounting Oversight Board) for better understanding of audit-firm quality control system, the first chapter (sole-authored) examines the determinants of and return on firm-level investment in quality management. I …

An Exploratory Study On The Impact Of Covid-19 On U.S. State Boards Of Accountancy, J Gregory Jenkins, Velina Popova, Mark D. Sheldon

2022 Faculty Bibliography

In the United States (U.S.) individual state boards of accountancy govern the accounting profession within each state. When COVID-19 struck the U.S., state boards worked to maintain normal operations. This study examines how COVID-19 affected the regulatory and oversight activities of the state boards of accountancy and the ways in which boards adapted to the pandemic. We interview executive directors from 21 state boards to determine the pandemic’s impact on board operations and continuing professional education requirements. We also evaluate whether state boards implemented guidance from parties such as theNational Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA), and the resources …

Exploring A Digital Service Tax Policy In The United States, Mallory Gifford

Senior Honors Projects

As technological and global environments continue to evolve, the tax environment attempts to keep pace by implementing digital service taxes (DSTs). This paper covers a literature review of the DSTs that have been enacted across the globe, the complaints surrounding them, how data is valued, and how DSTs are being implemented in the United States. Also discussed is research regarding the consumers’ perceptions surrounding data collection. The purpose of this paper is to better understand the current global situation of DSTs.

Prison Break From Financialization: The Case Of The Pri Reporting And Assessment Framework, Diane-Laure Arjaliès, Daniela Laurel, Nicolas Mottis

Business Publications

Purpose

This article seeks to unravel the mechanisms through which financial actors agreed upon a sustainability accounting standard without financializing social and environmental issues, i.e., assigning a monetary value to sustainability.

Design/Methodology/Approach

The article examines the Reporting and Assessment Framework created by the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN-PRI), the leading reporting sustainability framework in the asset management industry. It relies on a longitudinal case study that draws upon interviews, participant observation, and archival data.

Findings

The article demonstrates that the conception of the framework was a funnelling process of sustainability valuation comprising two co-constituted mechanisms: a process of …

2022-2023 Operating Budget, Morehead State University. Budget & Financial Planning Office.

Morehead State University Operating Budgets Archive

2022-2023 Operating Budget of Morehead State University.

Annual Report Designs Today: A Paradigm Shift In Purpose, Imene Friday Oghenefegha

DLSU Business & Economics Review

This paper focused on reemphasizing the original purpose of the annual report which lies in its use as a medium of communication between preparers and users; whereby the former report stewardship while the latter evaluate stewardship to make buy/sell/hold decisions. To achieve this objective, opinions were collected from a sample of 150 preparers and users of annual reports, while the contents of 100 annual reports from 20 listed firms over a period of 5 years were also analyzed. The result showed that the preparers and users of annual reports agree that such content as advertisements and images, as well as …

Brokerage House Ipos And Analyst Forecast Quality, Mark Bradshaw, Michael S. Drake, Joseph Pacelli, Brady Twedt

Faculty Publications

We examine how brokerage firm IPOs influence the research quality of sell-side analysts employed by the brokerage. Our main results focus on earnings forecast bias and absolute forecast errors as proxies for research quality. Using a staggered difference-in-differences analysis, we document significant decreases in forecast bias and absolute forecast error during the two-year period centered on the analysts’ brokerage house IPO. In additional analyses, we explore several potential explanations for the short-term benefits of brokerage house IPOs. We find some evidence that IPOs delay the departure of more talented analysts and that the effects are more concentrated among analysts and …

Forward-Looking Disclosures And Accounting Information In Equity Crowdfunding Firms, Evisa Bogdani

Theses and Dissertations--Accountancy

Forward-looking disclosures (FLDs) play a critical role in traditional capital markets. However, evidence of their usefulness in settings with weak information environments, little to no operating history, nonprofessional investors, and lighter regulation is limited. This study sheds light on this critical issue and finds that FLDs are useful disclosures for raising capital in equity crowdfunding (ECF), and the presence of accounting information enhances FLDs relevance. I find that firms disclosing more FLDs raise more capital and attract a greater number of investors. More investors contribute to firms that disclose more quantitative FLDs, especially when the disclosures are accompanied by reviewed …

An Experimental Investigation Of Auditors' Evidence Evaluation And Work Ownership In A Compartmentalized Test Of Details Setting, Christopher Pearson

Theses and Dissertations--Accountancy

Psychological ownership theory suggests that auditors are more likely to exert effort when they feel a sense of personal ownership of the audit. Ongoing trends towards a more compartmentalized and decentralized audit, however, may impair auditors’ work ownership by decreasing their interaction with work, as well as by discouraging engagement with work performed by colleagues. In two experiments, I test the effects of audit work compartmentalization, where I consider whether auditors’ evaluation of evidence is affected by the source of the sample to which evidence is related. Findings from my first experiment indicate lower performance when auditors evaluate evidence that …

U.S. Gaap Financial Statements Best Practices In Presentation And Disclosure, 76th Edition, 2022; Accounting Trends & Techniques, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants (Aicpa)

Accounting Trends and Techniques

No abstract provided.

Engaging First Year Students In Assessment Rubrics: Three Personal Experiences, Katherine Ashman, Kristina Turner, Dona Martin

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In a direct effort to build a greater understanding of higher education teaching and learning opportunities, this study shares the journey of three university lecturers working to ensure best practice outcomes from criterion-referenced assessment [CRA]. The work was built on a belief that our respective higher education undergraduate students did not fully value the design structure or feedback outcomes inherent in CRA. Using a collaborative autoethnographic lens we pooled experiences, outcomes, challenges, assumptions, and accounts of unconscious biases from across our different tertiary education schools and subjects. Our examination enriched our understanding, our teaching, and our student outcomes. In sharing …

The Innovation And Reporting Consequences Of Financial Regulation For Young Life-Cycle Firms, Abigail Allen, Melissa F. Lewis-Western, Kristen Valentine

Faculty Publications

Firm life-cycle stage reflects a firm’s current strategic direction toward exploration independent of age or size. We provide evidence that young life-cycle firms are particularly vulnerable to negative innovation consequences from financial regulation but do not appear to experience any compensating financial reporting quality (FRQ) benefits. Using a generalized difference-indifferences design around Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX), we document a significant reduction in both research and development (R&D) spending and innovation outputs for young life-cycle stage firms after regulation. Declines in innovation manifest both from the diversion of scarce resources and from the imposition of an organizational culture mismatched …

Preparer Opposition And Strategic Implementation Of Governmental Accounting Standards: Evidence From Public Pension Accounting Reform, Abigail Allen, Reining C. Petacchi

Faculty Publications

Widely acknowledged as one of the most controversial standards in governmental accounting, GASB 67/68 radically altered both the recognition and measurement for defined benefit public pensions. The standards require the recognition of previously only disclosed unfunded pension liabilities and increase the magnitude of reported pension liabilities by requiring the partial incorporation of a market-based discount rate. While the recognition proposal was unaltered from its initial conception to the final standards, the discount rate proposal was significantly attenuated after the initial proposal met with unanimous preparer opposition. Accordingly, we examine what incentives drive preparer lobbying positions, whether such lobbying is aligned …

Do Auditors’ Incentives Affect Materiality Assessments Of Prior-Period Misstatements?*, Brant E. Christensen, Roy Schmardebeck, Timothy Seidel

Faculty Publications

We examine whether auditors' incentives affect materiality assessments of prior-period misstatements. Interviews with global network firm partners reveal consistency across firms in the process used to assess prior-period misstatements and highlight points in the process where judgments are most susceptible to auditors’ conscious or subconscious biases. In related empirical tests, we find that auditors assess misstatements as less material (i.e., misstatements are disclosed less prominently) when auditors face greater engagement risk (comprised of the risk of litigation and reputation loss) or have greater incentives to please important clients. These effects only occur when auditor incentives to avoid further litigation or …

Fairness And Luck: Contract Away Or Come What May?, H. Scott Asay, Jace Garrett, William B. Tayler

Faculty Publications

In practice, managers and employees often enter into risky, uncertain contracts. Prior works shows that managers use ex post discretion to reduce the effect of uncontrollable “bad luck” on employees’ performance-based compensation, but do not use ex post discretion to reduce the effect of uncontrollable “good luck,” due to fairness concerns. We investigate whether ex ante, objective compensation plans can help address the fairness concerns that lead to this asymmetric treatment of uncontrollable events. We provide evidence that compensation plans that account for uncontrollable factors can reduce differences between individuals’ fairness perceptions in good and bad luck settings. However, controlling …

An Fmri Investigation Of The Neurocognitive Processing Of Measures And Strategic Objectives, Paul Black, C. Brock Kirwan, Thomas Meservy, William B. Tayler, Jeffrey O. Williams

Faculty Publications

A central feature of most organizations is the use of measures to represent key elements of performance across multiple strategic objectives. Prior research has demonstrated a tendency for individuals to treat these measures as though they are the higher-order strategic objectives the measures were intended to represent, as opposed to imperfect representations of those strategic objectives—a phenomenon labeled surrogation. We employ an experiment to further understand this phenomenon. In this study, we capture neural activation when processing measures and when processing strategic objectives. We find that differences in brain activity when processing measures and strategic objectives are similar to the …

Accounting Academics Perceptions Of 12 Research Journals, F. Greg Burton, William G. Heninger, Scott L. Summers, David A. Wood

Faculty Publications

This paper reports perceptions of over 1,000 accounting faculty regarding 12 accounting journals (including the traditional Top 3/6), specifically in: (1) how open they are to diverse topic areas, (2) how open they are to diverse research methodologies, (3) how effectively they produce new and useful knowledge for academics, and (4) how effectively they produce new and useful knowledge for non-academic stakeholders. We find that the traditional Top 3/6 journals do not lead the academy along these four dimensions; in fact, some are viewed as the worst performers in these areas. Furthermore, we find that academics have a relatively poor …

Relevance Of Accounting Research (Roar): Ratings Of Abstracts By Accounting Professionals, F. Greg Burton, Scott L. Summers, T. Jeffrey Wilks, David A. Wood

Faculty Publications

The relevance of academic accounting research to practice has been frequently discussed in the accounting academy, yet very little data has been put forth in these discussions. We create relevance of accounting research (ROAR) scores by asking accounting professionals to read and evaluate the titles and abstracts of every article published in 12 leading accounting journals for the years 2016 to 2018, inclusive. These scores allow for an evidence-based evaluation and discussion of how academic accounting research is perceived by accounting professionals. The scores also allow us to identify the articles, authors, journals, and accounting topic areas that are perceived …

Perceptions Of Robotic Process Automation In Big 4 Public Accounting Firms: Do Firm Leaders And Lower-Level Employees Agree?, Lauren A. Cooper, D. Kip Holderness, Trevor L. Sorensen, David A. Wood

Faculty Publications

The use of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a recent innovation in the public accounting industry, and the Big 4 firms are at the forefront of its implementation. This paper examines how the adoption and use of RPA is affecting the perceived work experience of firm leaders and lower-level employees at Big 4 accounting firms. We interview 14 RPA leaders, survey 139 lower-level employees, and compare and contrast their responses. We find that the two groups generally agree that RPA is having a positive influence on the profession. Both groups believe that RPA is positively changing the work employees perform …

A Framework For Using Robotic Process Automation For Audit Tasks, Marc Eulerich, Justin Pawlowski, Nathan J. Waddoups, David A. Wood

Faculty Publications

The ability to automate tasks and processes using robotic process automation (RPA)—or the development of bots—is receiving significant attention in accounting. Auditors often struggle to know what tasks to automate and how to prioritize bot development. Drawing upon sociotechnical systems theory and using a design science methodology, we develop and validate a three-step evaluation framework to assist auditors as they decide what activities to automate. We validate this framework using interviews, surveys of experienced internal and external auditors, and two case studies. By developing and validating our framework through the lens of sociotechnical systems theory, we also provide several insights …