Business Commons^™

Three Essays On Information Security Breaches And Big Data Analytics: Accounting And Auditing Perspective, Shariful Islam

Doctoral Dissertations

The dissertation examines two separate yet significant Information Technology (IT) issues: one dealing with IT risk and the other involving the adoption of IT. The IT risks that the dissertation focuses are information security breaches and the adoption/outsourcing of big data analytics. Using competitive dynamics theory and the theory of information transfer, the dissertation examines whether there is a spillover effect from information security breaches of breached firms to those firms’ rivals. Market reaction from spillover effects is captured from market activity and information asymmetry. The results suggest that the market of rival firms react to the focal firm’s experience …

Ceo Network Centrality And Earnings Management, Huan Qiu

Doctoral Dissertations

This study investigates the relationship between CEO network centrality, choice of earnings management, and the consequences for the period from 1998 to 2016. From our empirical analysis, we find that CEOs with higher network centrality are more likely to use accruals-based earnings management, but less likely to use real earnings management to manage earnings upward in the current year. Although the use of accruals-based earnings management normally results in bad economic consequences for firms, CEO network centrality is associated with better (at least not worse) earnings quality, after controlling the use of accruals-based earnings management. As for longterm economic performance, …

The Effects Of Pair Budget Goal Difficulty And Pair Identity On Decision-Making And Performance, Chaoping Li

Doctoral Dissertations

Mixed incentive compensation structures have been widely studied in the accounting literature (e.g., Tian et al. 2017; Dekker et al. 2012, Rothenberg 2011; Hwang et al. 2009). However, the findings in the literature as to the effectiveness of mixed incentives are not consistent. The inconsistency in the mixed incentives literature may be due to the various levels of social dilemma embedded in the research setting of the studies. Therefore, I experimentally investigated two factors that may reduce the embedded social dilemma issue and improve the effectiveness of mixed incentive compensation. In this study, student participants were assigned to pairs to …

The Effect Of Horizontal Inequity, Capacity For Budget Slack, And Severity Of Peer Overstatement On Managerial Reporting Behavior, Yiwen Li

Doctoral Dissertations

An ongoing stream of accounting research indicates that non-pecuniary factors significantly affect employees’ reporting behavior. This study investigates the behavioral effects of three non-pecuniary factors - horizontal pay inequity, capacity for budget slack, and severity of peer overstatement. The behaviors of interest are the employees’ level of honesty and whether or not they report a peer that is overstating.

In the experiment, participants acted as division managers who request funding from the owner of a fictitious company to produce certain parts. In each period, participants were paired with a different fictitious peer and were required to make two decisions under …

An Empirical Examination Of Gender, Political Affiliation, And Family Composition Issues Affecting Reasonable Compensation In Closely Held Corporations, Dowis W. Brian

Doctoral Dissertations

This study examines the effect of gender, political affiliation, and family composition issues on reasonable compensation in closely held corporations. It is broken down into two parts: an archival and behavioral (survey) portion. The archival part analyzes decisions made in the U.S. Tax Court spanning 1983-2014 through the use of simple regression, multiple regression/ordinary least squares, and logistic regression. Four variables were found to be significant: judge gender, tenure, number of tax years decided, and taxpayer gender. The behavioral portion investigates the current perceptions of tax practitioners through surveying Certified Public Accountants (CPAs). Analysis of variance is used in this …

Effects Of Psychological Contract Breaches On Mergers And Acquisitions, Kristine M. Murphy

Doctoral Dissertations

This study investigates breaches in the psychological employment contract during mergers and acquisitions. An employee's contract is incomplete in regards to mergers and acquisitions (M&A). In its place, psychological contracts are formed. Common psychological contracts breached in the M&A process include raises, bonuses, promotions, job responsibilities, job security, and career development. Employees who have experienced an M&A were surveyed to test the severity of various psychological contract breaches and their effect on employee performance, organizational citizenship behavior, job satisfaction, organizational deviance, and turnover using t-tests, Structural Equation Modeling, and ANOVA. The mediating effect of feelings of violation was also tested. …

The Moderating Effects Of The Ethicality On Both Morality And Religiosity Concerning The Likelihood Of Tax Evasion, Fred Coleman

Doctoral Dissertations

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) defines the estimate of the difference between the federal income tax due each year and the amount voluntarily and timely paid as the "tax gap". In 1981, the Service reports a tax gap of 81.5 billion dollars. In 2006, the most recent IRS data indicates that the tax gap has risen to 345 billion dollars which suggests that tax evasion in the United States remains a growing concern for the federal government. Although various economic and nonpecuniary theories have been developed to investigate tax noncompliance, Jackson and Milliron (1986) and Cruz et al. (2000) suggest …

A Distributional Analysis Of Substituting A Value-Added Tax For The Current Federal Tax System, Xiaoyan Chu

Doctoral Dissertations

The growing public dissatisfaction with the current federal tax system and the ongoing national debt crisis are generating serious consideration of alternative consumption tax systems, especially the value-added tax (VAT hereafter). The purpose of this study is to objectively evaluate the distributional effects of both the current federal tax system and the alternative value-added tax system it is intended to (partially) replace.

This study finds some evidence that the current federal tax system becomes significantly more progressive over the period of 2005 and 2009 under the annual income approach, which is contrary to the prior research findings that the current …

The Effects Of Procedural Injustice, Rebecca B. Martin

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to test for the existence of procedural injustice (PIJ) in the audit environment and its effect on junior auditor's reporting of time and level of skeptical action. This dissertation theorizes that the conflicting forces between junior auditors' ethical beliefs, formal firm policies forbidding the underreporting of chargeable time (URT), and implicit encouragement from managers to engage in URT result in a unique aspect of the audit environment, PIJ, because entry-level auditors perceive these conflicting beliefs and messages as unfair. In this study, PIJ is defined as the inverse of procedural justice, which is the …

Converging Transnational Financial Reporting Standards: Validating The Joint Fasb/Iasb Concept Of Information Quality, Jim Watkins

Doctoral Dissertations

Accelerating cross-border investing activity transformed global financial markets during the latter part of the 20th century. Due to lack of trans-cultural consistency comparability in financial reporting was compromised hindering multinational investment. In light thereof there is a movement afoot among international authorities to converge national financial reporting standards into a single international financial reporting system. In September 2010 Financial Accounting Standards Board and International Accounting Standards Board agreed on a concept of information quality to guide formulation of internationally acceptable financial reporting standards. The Boards' goal is sustenance of local relevance while achieving transnational comparability. Toward that end, instead of …

Taxpayers' Perceptions Of Joint And Several Liability And Equitable Relief Under Sec. 6015, Karen J. Pierce

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to ascertain taxpayers' perceptions of joint and several liability and equitable relief. Congress was aware that joint and several liability is not always fair when they passed the first innocent spouse provisions in 1971. In fiscal years 1999-2001, over 152,000 requests were filed for relief from joint and several liability, and it remains one of the top ten most litigated tax issues. The innocent spouse rules were passed to protect the public, and it is important that we understand how ordinary taxpayers feel about this area of the tax code.

For this study, an …

An Empirical Examination Of The Effects Of Ethics, Disclosure, And Signal Theory On Disciplinary Actions Within The Accounting Profession, Benjamin Mcmillan

Doctoral Dissertations

There has been extensive research examining the relationship between the public mission of the accounting profession and the private interests of its professionals. All professions have been offered a special place within society due to the importance of the functions they perform as well as their stated public missions. In exchange, society delegates specific rights to the professions such as exclusivity of practice, self-discipline, and self-selection of their membership. Existing research suggests that the accounting profession's private interests have potentially encroached upon its public mission.

By using the Economic Theory of the Self Regulated Profession, Disclosure Theory, and Signal Theory, …

The Association Between Data Intermediaries And Bond Rating Classification Model Prediction Accuracy, Pavani Tallapally

Doctoral Dissertations

Kamstra et al. (2001) developed a bond rating classification model that was based on a similar model developed by Ederington (1985). While both studies use Moody's bond ratings as dependent variables, the studies differ with respect to the independent variable data source, that is, Kamstra et al. (2001) use financial statement data extracted from Moody's Industrial Manual (now known as Mergent) while Ederington (1985) uses financial statement data extracted from Compustat. Given this, and given the divergent results of the two studies, the following question must be addressed: Do different data sources yield models that differ considerably with respect to …

An Empirical Investigation Of The Fairtax As An Alternative To The Federal Personal Income, Corporate Income, Estate And Gift, And Payroll Taxes, Yingxu Kuang

Doctoral Dissertations

Dissatisfaction with the current federal tax system is fostering serious interest in a national retail sales tax. Specifically, the FairTax Plan intends to replace most of the federal taxes with a national retail sales tax and is gaining momentum in Congress because of its purported progressive features. The FairTax is promoted as being progressive but there is considerable opposition to this claim.

Using the most recent 2005 Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES) data and estimating lifetime income from a Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) panel tracked over 1968-2005, the distribution impacts of the FairTax Plan are examined, as well as …

Value Relevance Of Deferred Taxes In Mergers And Acquisitions, Wei-Chih Chiang

Doctoral Dissertations

The major concern in a mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transaction is how to determine the economic benefits and burdens and allocate them among the participating firms. Part of this concern can be described as the question of how the participating firms ascertain and price the potential tax benefits of the target's tax attributes.

Different from prior research, which focuses on the reaction of the market, this study emphasizes the viewpoint of the participating firms in pricing the target firms' deferred taxes when determining the acquisition price. The results indicate that the participating firms assign value to the target firms' deferred …

Tax Policy Questions Regarding The Federal Estate Tax And Charitable Bequests: A Two State Analysis Of Probate Records, Steven Hanke

Doctoral Dissertations

There is considerable support for extending the temporary repeal of the federal estate tax in 2010 into a permanent repeal. Although repealing the federal estate tax would simplify the current tax system, it may also impair the federal government's ability to prudently aid eleemosynary organizations if charitable bequests' preferential tax treatment is a budget efficient policy. Furthermore, overall charitable bequests may also decline in the absence of a federal estate tax.

Using Virginia and Louisiana probate records from the years 2000-2005, tax policy questions are examined regarding the federal estate tax and charitable bequests. Tobit regression models, adjusted for heteroscedasticity …

An Empirical Assessment Of Party Capability Theory In Federal Tax Cases, Ying Wang

Doctoral Dissertations

Party Capability Theory hypothesizes that parties with greater resources, usually "repeat players," fare better in the judicial system and are better able to influence legal changes than "one shotters." The theory also points out that "parties who have lawyers do better." The theory has become most influential since its publication and has been tested by several studies. However, its importance has not been addressed in the accounting academic arena.

The intent of this inquiry is to generalize Party Capability Theory to federal tax cases. The research sample consists of 1,010 trial court cases, 744 federal appellate court cases, and 29 …

An Empirical Investigation To Detect The Presence Of Confirmation Bias In The Decision-Making Strategies Used By Litigants In Tax Court Memorandum Cases, Mary M. Anderson

Doctoral Dissertations

Normative decision theory describes the judgment and decision-making process as a cost/benefit analysis based upon maximum utility. One assumption of the theory is full rationality for choices made throughout the process. Due to bounded rationality, however, mental shortcuts become necessary. Use of these shortcuts does not necessarily diminish the quality of the decision. However, a suboptimal use of a heuristic results in a biased decision.

Kahneman and Tversky (1979) identify three basic heuristics: availability, representativeness, and anchoring and adjusting. One suboptimal use of the anchoring and adjusting heuristic, confirmation bias, is the unconscious search for and evaluation of information that …

An Empirical Analysis Of Auditor Resignations, Harold Edward Davis

Doctoral Dissertations

There were two main objectives of this study. The first objective was to develop a theoretical model that will explain auditor resignations. To meet this objective, a model was developed which was primarily grounded in prior research related to auditor resignations as well as prior research addressing auditor switching. The second objective was to estimate the model at four different quarterly dates immediately prior to an event date (i.e., the resignation date) so that the effects of time on the explanatory power of the model and each independent variable could be ascertained. This objective was met by identifying and collecting …

An Empirical Investigation Into The Personal Value Systems Of Accounting Managers Of Cpa Firms, Morsheda T. Hassan

Doctoral Dissertations

The objectives of this dissertation were to empirically examine (i) the primary value orientation of CPA firms' managers; (ii) the value profile of these managers; (iii) the relationship between the personal value systems of CPA firm's managers and their managerial decisions, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and managerial success; (iv) whether the personal value systems of CPA firms' differ by gender or age; (v) differences between the personal value systems of CPA firm's managers affiliated with the departments of auditing, taxation, consulting, information technology, general administration, or others, and (vi) differences between the personal value systems of CPA firms' managers and …

An Empirical Analysis Of The Disclosures Of Loss Contingencies Associated With Operational Laws And Regulations, Lisa Nesbit Bostick

Doctoral Dissertations

This study was intended to determine whether there was a change in the disclosure of all loss contingencies associated with operational laws and regulations (i.e., environmental and non-environmental) and/or whether there was a complementary association between the environmental and non-environmental loss contingency disclosures during the period 1989 to 1999. In summary, the results of the study suggest (1) that there was an increase in all loss contingency disclosures associated with operational laws and regulations, and (2) that there was a complementary association between the environmental and non-environmental loss contingency disclosures.

The primary sources of the loss contingency disclosures (i.e., the …

An Investigation Of The Association Between Auditor Switching And Negative Information, Michael Morris Grayson

Doctoral Dissertations

This study investigates the premise that certain types of negative information are associated with auditor switches. A data set of 305 auditor switches from 1976 to 1994, extracted from the Compustat data base (limited subscription), was analyzed using tests of proportions and nonparametric sign tests. The data set consists of negative information extracted from the switching companies' income statements (i.e., net losses or extraordinary items) or calculated from the items extracted (i.e., net income adjusted to reverse the effect of extraordinary items).

The initial results, based on tests which assumed random movement of net income, did not support the notion …

An Empirical Analysis Of Taxpayers' Attitudes And Behavioral Intentions Regarding Compliance With Federal Income Tax Laws, Stanley Wayne Hays

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to analyze variables that potentially affect taxpayers' attitudes about income tax compliance. Phase one of the study focused on the relationships between four groups of variables and ethical perceptions of compliance behaviors. The four groups of variables follow: demographic variables such as age, education, and household income; personal characteristic variables such as idealism, relativism, conservatism, and religiosity; situational variables including an overall attitude about paying federal income taxes and impressions of the effectiveness of a number of law changes intended to make the IRS more responsive; and, consequential variables comprised of five dimensions of …

Determinants Of Other Post -Employment Benefit Plan Reductions And Terminations In The Post -Sfas No. 106 Adoption Era, Bruce Kinloch Johnson

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to determine which variables help identify firms that have reduced or eliminated postretirement benefits other than pensions (OPEBs). Mittelstaedt et al. (1995) found that the adoption of SFAS No. 106 was one of the major determinants in OPEB reduction decisions. Those authors also found that financial weakness was a determinant in such reductions. This study attempts to determine the possible factors involved in such decisions, including both financial weakness and the OPEB liability, now that its disclosure is mandated by SFAS No. 106.

The theoretical backbone of this study was traced back to the …

Observable Outcomes And Performance Effects Of The Application Of Theory Of Constraints To Organizational Management, Martha Lair Sale

Doctoral Dissertations

The objectives of the study were to empirically examine the relationships among the three elements of the Theory of Constraints (TOC), a number of observable outcomes expected to be associated with application of TOC, and business unit performance. Measures were developed for each of the elements of TOC and a number of observable outcomes (OUTCOMES) expected to be associated with practice of TOC. TOC is defined as consisting of scheduling logistics (LOGISTICS), the Thinking Process (THINKING), and non-traditional performance measures (MEASURES). A previously developed and widely used measure of business unit performance (PERFORMANCE) was employed.

The sampling frame for this …

Determinants Of Loan Losses In National Banks: Size, Regulation, And The Aicpa Model, Randy Marl Reed

Doctoral Dissertations

Because of recent failures, the AICPA Banking Committee has developed a normative model citing specific variables for auditors to use in bank audits. This research has examined that AICPA model.

In addition, the Auditing Principles Board has identified several areas of concern for auditing internal control structures. Research into size and regulation from other sources has indicated that both are significant modifiers of financial models. Regulations now require banks and holding companies of more than $500 million in assets to submit to an annual independent audit.

The primary purpose of this research was to determine whether the AICPA normative model …

Expectation-Performance Gap: Professional Liability Associated With Certain Auditor Behaviors, Sidney Paul Glandon

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is threefold: (i) to establish hypotheses relating financial liability to certain auditor behaviors discussed in the independence literature, (ii) to empirically validate that the presence of these behaviors will increase auditor financial liability over the normal audit situation, and (iii) attempt to explain the differences in subjects' perceptions for each of the behavioral scenarios studied.

A survey instrument was developed and administered to three groups of subjects: an impaneled jury, bankers, and CPAs. The instrument contained a vignette describing an annual audit situation where the company filed for bankruptcy subsequent to the issuance of the …

An Empirical Examination Of Materiality By Factor Analysis And Cognitive Mapping Of User And Preparer Groups, Treba Lilley Marsh

Doctoral Dissertations

This research primarily has attempted to determine if user-decision perspective (banker) and preparer perspective (CPA) differed in their materiality decisions and materiality cognitive processes. As its second objective the research has sought to determine the factors used in materiality judgments.

The researcher collected the data for the study while attending graduate and undergraduate classes of the American Banking Association's National Commercial Lending School and a training session of a Big Six accounting firm. Factor analysis of the data determined the underlying dimensions of materiality decisions. The accountants identified three relevant sets of factors: ratios, sensitive areas, and unrecorded items; the …

A Study Of The Influence Of Broadscope Managerial Accounting Systems On The Propensity To Create Slack, Gary Linn

Doctoral Dissertations

The goal of this study was to empirically examine the propensity to create budgetary slack. The research was designed to test the hypothesized moderating effect of broadscope managerial accounting system use on variables that are associated with the propensity to create budgetary slack, and it is the first known attempt to do so. The study also extends the previous research that has been conducted on budgetary slack.

After an extensive literature review was conducted on the variables studied, questionnaires were sent to 2,000 managers in the United States. The response rate was lower than expected at 105, but high enough …