Business Commons^™

Government Auditing Standards And Single Audit Developments, 2016/17; Audit Risk Alerts, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants (Aicpa)

Industry Guides (AAGs), Risk Alerts, and Checklists

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of International Financial Reporting Standards On Key Financial Indicators Of Canadian Companies, Clint W. Smith

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Companies throughout the world use different methods for reporting their financial information to capital market investors and regulators. These different methods have caused financial reporting of statements to become less transparent, has increased adjustment errors and forecasting errors, and has reduced investor confidence. As a result, the International Accounting Standards Board created International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) to establish a global standard. Currently, 140 jurisdictions worldwide have implemented IFRS. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of IFRS on 248 Canadian companies and to analyze whether the 2011 implementation of IFRS affected corporate stock prices, key financial …

An Experimental Investigation Of The Effects Of Contract Frame And Discretion In Performance Evaluation On Effort, Robert Ewing

Theses and Dissertations--Accountancy

The design of incentive compensation plans is critical to a company’s success. This study develops and validates a theoretical model to examine how incentive contract framing affects effort. This study uses an experiment to observe the effect of the manipulation of incentive contract frame and the presence or absence of principal discretion in performance evaluation on effort. The results of the experiment show that when principal discretion in performance evaluation is absent, penalty contracts induce greater effort than bonus contracts. The results of the experiment also demonstrate that the interaction of principal discretion in performance evaluation and contract frame influences …

Firms’ Non-Reliance Judgment, Restatement Venue Choice, And Litigation Risk, Keunho Philip Chung

Theses and Dissertations--Accountancy

This paper examines the determinants of firms’ non-reliance judgment and the effect of restatements disclosure venue choice on future litigation risk. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires firms to disclose any error that will undermine investors’ reliance on previously issued financial statements in Item 4.02 of Form 8-K starting on August 23, 2004. The requirements for non-reliance judgments lack clear guidelines; raising concerns that firms are cloaking errors and mistakes through opaque disclosure venues instead of the more prominent Form 8-K.

This paper is the first to investigate the quantitative and qualitative criteria that firms use for non-reliance judgments …

How The Prospect Of Fault Influences Managers' Compliance, Matthew T. Sooy

Theses and Dissertations--Accountancy

The SEC relies heavily on ‘no-fault’ settlements in its enforcement, where targets avoid costly litigation by accepting sanctions without admitting or denying fault. This policy is argued to enable the agency to pursue greater numbers of violators. However, opponents argue that no-fault sanctions may be less effective, reducing fines to a ‘cost of business’. In an experiment, I examine the effects of fault assignment on managers’ cost perceptions, ethical framing and compliance. I manipulate the presence of fault assignment in prospective sanctions, and additionally manipulate sanction strength and sanction target - attributes that commonly vary in sanctions and which may …

التمايز السلوكي لدى القادة ودوره في التماثل التنظيمي للحد من سلوك العمل المنحرف (دراسة تحليلية في الكلية الاسلامية الجامعة), فاضل راضي غباش الغزالي

Muthanna Journal of Administrative and Economics Sciences

المستخلص تهدف الدراسة الحالية الى إيضاح الدور الذي يمارسه التمايز السلوكي في بلورة التماثل التنظيمي للحد من سلوك العمل المنحرف . وقد جمعت بيانات الدراسة من آراء منتسبي الكلية الاسلامية الجامعة في القادسية وقد بلغ عدد الذين ابدوا آرائهم (55) فرداً ما بين موظف وتدريسي وقائد ادري . تم اختبار فرضيات الدراسة التي تدور حول علاقات الارتباط والتأثير المباشر وغير المباشر بين متغيرات الدراسة . اثبتت نتائج الدراسة صحة اغلب الفرضيات والتي اصيغ بصددها مجموعة من التوصيات التي يمكن الاستفادة منها في تطوير واقع التعليم العالي في العراق بشكل عام وفي المنظمة المبحوثه بشكل خاص .

خارطة تدفق القيمة: كمدخل لمواجهة الهدر دراسة حاله في المعهد التقني/ الديوانية, طاهر حميد عباس

Muthanna Journal of Administrative and Economics Sciences

تتطلع هذه الدراسة إلى توظيف خارطة نشاط العملية بأنَّها أحد أهم أدوات خارطة تدفق القيمة في إعادة تصميم الخدمة في البيئة التعليمية ، وقد تم اختيار المعهد التقني/ الديوانية كونه أحد المؤسسات العلمية الراعية للعلم وتقدم أفرادها بما يسهم في تقديم أفضل الخدمات التي يتطلعون اليها وبذل الجهود من أجل الوصول إلى ميزة تنافسية تنعكس من خلال إزالة الهدر بجميع أنواعه الذي يجعل من وقت انتظار طالب الخدمة عبئاً من الناحيتين المعنوية والمادية. تتمثل مشكلة الدراسة في كثرة وطول الاجراءات لإنجاز معاملة احتساب شهادة ماجستير ومنح القدم واللقب العلمي لمستحقيها ما أدى الى زيادة وقت الانتظار، ما أنعكس سلباً على …

Client Importance And Audit Quality In Highly Connected Jurisdictions, Kelly Grani Yuen

Lingnan Theses

The study focuses on the audit quality issue in three culturally and commercially highly connected jurisdictions with very different legal systems which affect auditors. Hong Kong practices common law, Taiwan practices civil law, and the People’s Republic of China (Mainland China) practices a socialist legal system. Taiwan adopts a civil law system with heavy influence by common law countries. It is therefore motivating to assess how auditors in each of the three connected jurisdictions with distinctive legal environments handle the audit quality for important clients. Accounting scandals and auditing frauds are perceived to be driven by aggressive companies and misrepresentation …

Aicpa Annual Report, 2016; Ready For Next, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants (Aicpa)

AICPA Annual Reports

No abstract provided.

Foxes In The Henhouse: An Exploratory Inquiry Into Financial Markets Fraud, Joseph Wall, Timothy J. Fogarty

Accounting Faculty Research and Publications

Conventional understandings of fraud are organized around the fraud triangle first developed in the 1950s by Cressey. This conceptual device remains central in our pedagogy and research on this especially timely topic. As long as fraud is imagined to be not much different than a stereotypical act by a single individual out of financial desperation and impulsiveness, the fraud triangle provides a reasonably powerful conceptual organization. However, when applied to abuses that occur in highly organized financial markets, its application takes on new meanings that push the boundaries of its usefulness. Using interviews with traders and other securities market participants, …

Audit Quality Indicators: Perceptions Of Junior-Level Auditors, Veena L. Brown, Jodi L. Gissel, Daniel Neely

Accounting Faculty Research and Publications

Purpose

In an effort to develop an audit quality (AQ) framework specific to the US audit market, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) recently issued a concept release proposing 28 audit quality indicators (AQIs) along three dimensions: audit professionals, audit process and audit results. Using AQIs initially proposed by the PCAOB, as well as AQIs suggested by prior literature, the authors solicit perceptions from junior-level (senior and staff) auditors to investigate the current state of practice along many of the AQIs relating to audit professionals and audit process.

Design/methodology/approach

In the study, 78 junior-level auditors responded to the survey. …

Re-Thinking The Intentionality Of Fraud: Constructing And Testing The Theory Of Unintended Amoral Behavior To Explain Fraudulent Financial Reporting, Andrew Dill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My three-paper dissertation is aimed at applying the concepts of bounded ethicality and ethical fading to accounting fraud. Typical of relatively new fields such as behavioral ethics, theoretical models are scarce (Tenbrunsel & Smith-Crowe, 2008). As such, the purpose of Study 1 is to unify disparate theories and ideas from psychology and behavioral ethics as a means of constructing a theory, the Theory of Unintended Amoral Behavior (TUAB), which includes the concepts of bounded ethicality and ethical fading. In addition, the pressure for management to meet earnings expectations is discussed through the lens of the TUAB as an example of …

Under-Researched Areas Of Audit Quality: Inputs, Firms, And Institutions, Jared Eutsler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Francis (2011) lists three under-researched units of analysis that affect audit quality: inputs, firms, and institutions. This dissertation analyzes how each of these units of analysis contributes to audit quality. Study 1 examines audit inputs, specifically, characteristics of the individual auditor that affect professional skepticism. Study 2 examines how firm staffing decisions affect audit quality. Study 3 examines how the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board ("PCAOB"), as a regulatory institution, promotes audit quality through their risk-based inspection program. The first study reports the results of two experiments that examine professional skepticism as a function of moral agency. Consistent with the …

Decision Making In Corporate Taxation, Bonnie Brown

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is comprised of three experimental studies that examine corporate tax aggressiveness through an investigation of judgment and decision making in the corporate tax environment. Studies 1 and 2 examine individual judgment involved in decision making (i.e., assessments of tax positions based upon tax scenario facts and tax authority). Study 1 examines how advice from external tax advisors and a tax advisor's association with the company's audit firm influences the aggressiveness of experienced in-house corporate tax decision makers. Study 2 examines how situational factors in the corporate tax environment interact with individual traits to affect individual-level tax aggressiveness, focusing …

Healthways: A Financial Analysis And Recommendations, Katherine Adcock

Honors Theses

The Accy 420 course at the University of Mississippi serves to provide students who are in both the Patterson School of Accountancy and the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College an alternative route in which to write their theses. The course uses research methods and financial statement analysis to allow students to produce an in-depth analysis on a company of their choosing. Both a written thesis and a presentation are aspects of the course. Through ten weekly chapter submissions, students compose their final thesis made up of general company information, industry and geographical analysis, strategy analysis, financial statement analysis, accounting quality, …

Food With Integrity: A Financial Analysis Of Chipotle Mexican Grill, Kaylie M. Rowell

Honors Theses

For the accounting alternative thesis, we were to pick a publicly traded company domiciled in the U.S that we were interested in and research their financials, business, and industry. I chose Chipotle Mexican Grill due to their unique restaurant brand. Chipotle's Food with Integrity campaign makes up their main brand, but brings the issue of finding enough suppliers to meet their needs. If Chipotle has to use processed food to fulfill the lack of the natural, organic food then they will eventually lose their customer's trust. Chipotle has also expanded globally so there are always issues that appear when dealing …

Is Accounting For Stock Options Manipulated Before And After An Initial Public Offering?, Natalie Marie Flood

Honors Theses

Stock option accounting is an area in financial statements that requires substantial estimates and management discretion. Previous research in the area of stock option accounting has found that valuations of options and subsequent accounting methods have been incorrectly stated to aid a company to look financially stronger. Companies that are about to undergo an initial public offering have the most incentive to incorrectly state the value of their options. However, all of these studies have used financial data from financial statements dated before 2004. This is significant because FASB Standard 123(R) (2004) and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (2000) have both been …

An Exploration Of Modern Financial Reporting, Jane C. Case

Honors Theses

The following are solutions to a series of case studies in financial reporting completed in fulfillment of the requirements of the honors ACCY 420 course at the University of Mississippi for both the fall and spring semester of the 2015/2016 academic year. Each case study focused on a particular area of financial reporting for a specific company or set of companies in the same industry. Each case contained a problem set requiring comprehension of accounting concepts, analysis of financial stability, mathematical calculations, and preparation of journal entries and financial statements.

Hospital Corporation Of America: An Analysis Of The Financial Statements Of Hca Holdings, Inc., C. Haadsma

Honors Theses

A successful and dynamic hospital management company, Hospital Corporation of America owns, manages, or operates hospitals, freestanding surgery centers, diagnostic and imaging centers, radiation and oncology therapy centers, comprehensive rehabilitation and physical therapy centers, and other facilities. In fact, Hospital Corporation of America is responsible for between four to five percent of all inpatient care delivered in the United States today. In partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College at the University of Mississippi, I have researched the healthcare industry, analyzed the company's financial statements, and provided audit and tax recommendations to the company's management. …

Delta Air Lines: A Financial Analysis And Corresponding Recommendations For Delta Air Lines, Inc., Emily Bush

Honors Theses

This alternative thesis project is a financial analysis of Delta Air Lines, Inc. Utilizing the 10-K Financial Statements from 2009 to 2013, along with some correlating outside resources, a full business and financial analysis was completed. Starting with the business background and operations, and then working into analysis of the Financial Statements, corresponding recommendations were created for tax, audit and advisory planning strategies.. The bulk of the analysis utilized the 10-K data provided by the SEC, only using minimal other resources for background research. The research found that since filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy Delta Air Lines has improved substantially. Delta's …

Executive Compensation, Firm Performance, And Net Community Benefits Within Nonprofit Urban Hospitals, Terry Deshawn Long

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nonprofit hospitals are under increased pressure to maintain financial stability and compliance with Internal Revenue Service (IRS) net community benefit requirements. Boards of directors are not always confident that the compensation packages awarded to executives stimulate them to act in the organization's best interest. The principal-agent theory formed the basis of this correlational study. Archival data from National Center for Charitable Statistics, Guidestar, and the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services were collected from 117 nonprofit urban hospitals for the fiscal year 2013. Regression analysis was used to determine the significance of relationships between return on assets (ROA), change in …

Implementation Of International Financial Reporting Standards By Listed Companies In Nigeria, Emmanuel Inalegwu Ogbenjuwa

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study is on implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by reporting entities in Nigeria. Since Nigeria adopted IFRS in 2010, managers of reporting entities have been confronted with organizational changes both in the structures and processes of financial reporting. Previous studies have not assessed the claims that adopting IFRS improves the quality of financial reports and managerial efficiency. This study evaluated the assertion that IFRS adoption impacts the quality of financial reports, operational costs, and operational efficiencies of management. The theoretical frameworks which undergirded the study were theories of organizational behaviors and attitudinal change. Data were collected via …

Government Financial Disclosures: The Timeliness Of State Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports, Dylan Mcleod Bartlett

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

Escalating Commitment: Business Investments And Csr, Victoria Forrest, John Hasseldine Ph.D

Honors Theses and Capstones

There are many instances, in all areas of business, in which individuals can become committed to a course of action that begins costing more than it is producing. Because it is often possible for persons who have suffered a setback to recoup their losses through an even greater commitment of resources to the same course of action, a cycle of escalating commitment can be produced (Staw, 1981). This thesis serves to address prior literature and prior studies based on the theory of escalation behavior . We furthered our research by conducting an experiment using university students to test certain said …

Balancing Act: Trends And Current Issues Of Retaining And Promoting Women In Accounting, Katelin A. Collins

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

Taxation As It Relates To Politics, Small Business & Corporate America, Elizabeth Assaf, Rebecca Wuorio

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

Measuring The Quality And Identifying Influencing Factors Of Sustainability Reporting: Evidence From The Resources Industry In Australia, Siew Hoon Ong

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The lack of a standardised reporting framework in sustainability reporting has resulted in companies producing unaudited generic sustainability information that are not reflective of companies’ actual sustainability performance. The disclosures also differ in quality and hinder comparison. This study addresses these problems with the development of a new scoring index that integrates the hard and soft principles in Clarkson, Li, Richardson and Vasvari’s (2008) environmental index with performance indicators of the Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI) framework. The newly developed index comprises all three aspects of sustainability (economic, environmental and social) and adopts a standardised scoring scale that is reflective of …

Using Unstructured And Qualitative Disclosures To Explain Accruals, Richard Frankel, Jared Jennings, Joshua A. Lee

Faculty Publications

We examine the usefulness of support vector regressions (SVRs) in assessing the content of unstructured, qualitative disclosures by relating MD&A-based SVR-accrual estimates (MD&Aaccruals) to actual accruals. We find that MD&A accruals explain a statistically and economically significant portion of firm-level accruals and identify more persistent accruals. We find that the explanatory power of MD&A accruals is higher for more readable 10Ks, thereby providing evidence for the construct validity of the readability measures. To highlight the flexibility of the SVR method, we apply it to other dependent variables and disclosures. We find that MD&A-based cash-flow forecasts produced by SVR predict next …

Applying Basic Gamification Techniques To It Compliance Training: Evidence From The Lab And Field, Ryan J. Baxter, D. Kip Holderness, David A. Wood

Faculty Publications

Companies depend on strong internal controls to protect the integrity of accounting information systems. IT security and data privacy training are critical controls to safeguarding company information. However, employees often dislike the training, which can cause a lack of attention to and poor understanding of training concepts, leading to less effective internal controls. To improve the training experience, companies are implementing principles of games into employee training modules; a practice known as gamification. Using a laboratory experiment of data privacy training and a field study involving a publicly-traded bank’s rollout of IT security training, we test whether a training environment …

Does Use Tax Evasion Provide A Competitive Advantage To E-Tailers?, Jeffrey L. Hoopes, Jacob Thornock, Braden M. Williams

Faculty Publications

Many online retail firms (e-tailers) do not collect sales tax from the majority of their customers. This practice provides these firms with a potential competitive advantage over traditional retailers. We examine stock market returns and analysts' sales forecast revisions surrounding federal legislative proposals, such as the Marketplace Fairness Act, that could erode this alleged competitive advantage for e-tailers. Following events that indicated an increased likelihood of federal sales tax legislation, we find negative abnormal stock returns for e-tail firms relative to traditional retail firms. We also find that analysts forecast a future reduction in sales revenue for e-tailers. These findings …