Business Commons^™

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, …

Earnings Management Around Mergers And Acquisitions, Eugenie Ann Ardoin Goodwin

Doctoral Dissertations

Earnings management has become a topic of interest when trying to explain anomalies in company stock performance following corporate events such as equity offerings and mergers. If managers are trying to manipulate earnings upward to increase stock value before a merger to achieve a better exchange ratio at acquisition announcement, they may use discretion in accruals to inflate earnings and/or reduce spending in research and development prior to the announcement. Literature results are mixed as to whether firms engage in opportunistic earnings management using discretionary accruals before acquisition announcement and if this manipulation has an impact on stock performance post-announcement. …

External Financing: Market Timing Or Managerial Optimism, Beth Collins Hegab

Doctoral Dissertations

Management of capital structure is an important part of maximizing the firm value. Financial research has proposed many theories that explain aspects of firm behavior when a firm makes financial decisions that change the firm's capital structure. However, none of the theories fully explain why firms with similar fundamental characteristics make different financing choices.

This study focuses on what motivates managers when they are making external financing decisions. It investigated whether the motivation for the decisions about capital structure are driven by market timing or managerial overoptimism. This is done by focusing on equity and debt issues and whether these …

When Corporate Policies And Consumer Values Collide: Examining The Relationship Between Religion And Controversial Business Decisions, Krist R. G. Swimberghe

Doctoral Dissertations

Religion appears to play a very important role in people's lives in the United States. Some companies, however, continue to make business decisions which appear to be contrary to the value systems of a majority of consumers in the United States. Although past descriptive research has confirmed that religiousness influences consumers' and marketing managers' ethical judgments of their own behavior, this research has not explored the influence of religion in the buyer-seller dyad. To fill this gap in the consumer behavior literature, this study uses the Hunt-Vitell theory of ethics to help explain how consumers' religiosity influences their ethical judgments …

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 …