Business Commons^™

Hamilton Vs. Jefferson In Supreme Court Direct Tax Jurisprudence, Joshua Cutler

Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Increasingly frequent calls for a wealth tax in some form highlight the importance of understanding whether such a tax would be considered an unconstitutional “direct tax” if not apportioned according to population. The definition of direct tax was left deliberately vague at the Constitutional Convention, and consequently its meaning has been shaped through battles between the opposing political philosophies represented by Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. Hamilton and his allies prioritized an energetic national government with taxing powers adequate to support its functions and unite the states; had great respect for tradition, precedent, and practical experience; and preferred a broad …

Real Earnings Management And The Properties Of Analysts' Forecasts, Lisa A. Eiler, Joshua J. Filzen, Mark Jackson, Isho Tama-Sweet

Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Prior literature generally finds analysts are able to identify and process complex financial information. However, research suggests that in certain settings, analysts struggle to fully incorporate into their forecasts all available information. We examine analysts' forecast properties in the face of a specific type of complex financial information: real earnings management (REM). First, we investigate the relation between measures of REM and analysts' forecast properties. We find REM measures are associated with greater forecast error and dispersion in the following year. However, REM measures, by definition, capture abnormal operating results, and thus include both firms engaging in manipulative REM as …

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 …

Risk Management Strength And Financial Disclosure Quality, Cristina Bailey, Joshua J. Filzen

Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Enterprises are increasingly incorporating risk management functions into their operations. This is usually accomplished by establishing a board-level risk committee, hiring a chief risk officer (CRO) or both. There are some positive effects associated with having these roles, and the following study shows the association between these positions and the characteristics of public risk disclosure statements.

Taxing Cannabis On The Reservation, Mark J. Cowan

Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

American Indian tribes that enter the cannabis industry confront a multisovereign tax system that lacks certainty and horizontal equity. The complex interaction of state legalization and taxation of cannabis, federal tax law, the status of tribes as both governments and business enterprises, and the legal and tax landscape in Indian country can give tribes tax advantages and disadvantages compared to off-reservation cannabis dispensaries. This article analyzes these tax issues, examines them in the context of prior challenges posed by Indian gaming, and suggests reforms that address the tax inequities that can result from cannabis sales on Indian reservations.

The Effect Of An Auditor Identity Disclosure Requirement On Audit Quality: An Experimental Examination Incorporating The Incremental Effect Of A Signature Requirement, Allen D. Blay, Eric S. Gooden, Mark J. Mellon, Douglas E. Stevens

Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

After considering a proposal to require the engagement partner’s signature on the audit report (PCAOB 2009), the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board chose instead to only require the disclosure of the engagement partner’s name (PCAOB 2015). This choice was made, however, with little supporting theory or empirical evidence. We make predictions regarding the behavioral effects of the two proposed requirements using insights from social norm activation theory, and test those predictions using an experimental audit market setting found in the literature. We find that both requirements reduce misreporting in the audit report compared to a control setting with neither requirement …

Real Tax Reform: An Efficient, Equitable, And Simple Plan In The U.S., Janet Mosebach, Michael Mosebach

Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper presents real tax reform that is not only efficient, equitable, and simple but revenue neutral. It also removes a significant amount of double taxation from the individual taxpayer. The underlying premise is that businesses do not actually “pay” income taxes but pass them on to the consumer. Our plan consists of eliminating all federal income taxation of individuals and changing business taxation from a tax computed on taxable income to a tax based on total audited revenue. After computing the combined amount of federal tax currently collected from individuals and all forms of businesses, we develop a revenue-based …

A Tale Of Two Embas, Mark J. Cowan, Kathy Hurley

Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this report, Cowan and Hurley review, and draw planning lessons from, two recent Tax Court opinions on the deductibility of Executive Master of Business Administration program tuition and related costs.

Comovement, Financial Reporting Complexity, And Information Markets: Evidence From The Effect Of Changes In 10-Q Lengths On Internet Search Volumes And Peer Correlations, Joshua J. Filzen, Maria Gabriela Schutte

Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

We investigate the effect of financial reporting complexity on stock comovement. We hypothesize that investors deal with complexity increases by acquiring low cost information. This information is typically informative not just about the firm of interest but also about other firms with similar fundamentals, which generates excess comovement. We find that increases in 10-Q word counts, a complexity proxy, are consistently followed by increases in 1) internet searches about the firm and 2) R²s from regressions between the firm’s returns and its peers’. On a large scale, complexity-induced comovement might hinder investors' ability to discriminate across stocks and …

Understanding Employee Motivation And Organizational Performance: Arguments For A Set-Theoretic Approach, Michael T. Lee, Robyn L. Raschke

Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Empirical evidence demonstrates that motivated employees mean better organizational performance. The objective of this conceptual paper is to articulate the progress that has been made in understanding employee motivation and organizational performance, and to suggest how the theory concerning employee motivation and organizational performance may be advanced. We acknowledge the existing limitations of theory development and suggest an alternative research approach. Current motivation theory development is based on conventional quantitative analysis (e.g., multiple regression analysis, structural equation modeling). Since researchers are interested in context and understanding of this social phenomena holistically, they think in terms of combinations and configurations of …

Why Use Multiple Choice Questions With Excess Information?, Jason Bergner, Joshua J. Filzen, Mark G. Simkin

Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

The examinations administered by accounting instructors, professional certification examiners, textbook writers, and preparatory accounting software all routinely include multiple-choice (MC) questions with excess (yet related) information. Despite their widespread use, little is known about how MC questions with excess information (hereafter MCE questions) affect student test performance. Based on an empirical analysis of the tests of 374 students in two introductory accounting classes at a single university, we found that average performance was lower on MCE questions than non-MCE questions, but was sensitive to the overall difficulty of the tested concept. We also found no significant difference in the power …

Global Dental Equipment: How Variance Analysis Can Help A Startup Business Survive Growing Pains, Michael T. Lee, Celia J. Renner

Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

This educational case study describes an entrepreneurial crisis at Global Dental Equipment (GDE), a company selling used dental equipment. GDE had grown from a startup and reached a volume of activity such that the founder was no longer able to personally manage all of the dayto- day aspects of the business. The evolution of GDE from startup to rapid growth to bringing in outside investors and a Board of Directors is described. During its early years, GDE’s accounting system supported historical reporting, compliance, and taxation requirements. However, GDE reached a point where it needed to use more detailed and relevant …

Navigating The Accounting Academic Job Market And Related Advice, Jason M. Bergner, Joshua J. Filzen, Jeffrey A. Wong

Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Purpose:

To disseminate helpful advice to current and future candidates about the accounting academic job market.

Methodology/Approach:

Literature review, interviews with recently hired faculty members, insights from the author’s experiences as both job candidates and search committee members, and discussions with colleagues.

Findings:

In this chapter, we discuss the current state of the job market for accounting professors and offer our insights as well as those from a group of recent graduates. It is our recent experience that many rookie candidates pursue initial faculty positions with an incomplete understanding of many aspects of the market, including how the market clears, …

Leveraging It Resources, Embeddedness, And Dependence: A Supplier's Perspective On Appropriating Benefits With Powerful Buyers, Michael T. Lee, Kit Scott

Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

The relationships between suppliers and buyers are often characterised by power differentials and dependence at the same time. This leads to the ability of a powerful buyer to benefit more from the relationship than the supplier. We examine how a supplier can strengthen its use of relation-specific IT with embeddedness to appropriate its share of relational benefits. We developed and tested a model of supplier relation-specific IT use, embeddedness, and buyer dependence on supplier. The results showed that embeddedness did not lead directly to the sharing of relational benefits; rather the appropriation of relational benefits is derived from buyer dependence.

Improved Accounting Helps Nonprofit Manufacturers, Michael Lee, Dan Robison

Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Prosperous manufacturing companies have accounting systems that can provide managers with product costs and allocation information for improved decision-making.

Product cost information is influential, because it provides insight regarding product margins and business profitability. Managers with effective-cost accounting systems can make informed decisions about manufacturing operations and product mix.

Assignment Of Income At The Ivory Tower: Relaxing The Tax Treatment Of Services Donated To Charities By Their Employees, Mark J. Cowan

Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

When a faculty member donates time to a college or university by, for example, teaching a summer course for no compensation, the federal income tax treatment of the donation can take one of two forms. One possibility is that the donation will have no tax consequences. The faculty member realizes no income from the donation and gets no charitable deduction. A second possibility is that the faculty member will be required to recognize taxable income equal to the value of the services provided and then may (subject to certain limits) be allowed a charitable contribution deduction. In many cases, the …

Think Your Business Is Ready For Internationalization?, Michael Lee, Michael Wright

Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Many small and medium-size enterprises that reach a relative saturation point in their domestic market look toward the global stage as a way to grow into a multinational corporation. This is known as internationalization, the process of increasing business involvement in international operations. Internationalization requires considerable resources and coordination, and it is fraught with business risks.

Boise State On Business: Companies Must Balance Feelings And Facts, Michael Lee, Nicholas Gaudioso Jr.

Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Many companies are founded with innovation, enthusiasm and hopes for success. In its inaugural days, the business founder/CEO is able to personally drive the company's success with a passion while wearing multiple hats and controlling all aspects of the business operations. They understand their market, can effectively communicate their chosen mission to employees and have a good "feel" for their cost and margins.

However, there comes a point where sales grow, new employees are hired and operations expand. All of a sudden, it becomes evident that managing by "feel" is not enough. Founders/CEOs must transition from managing by "feel" to …

Lean Processes Without Compromising Controls, Robyn L. Raschke, Michael T. Lee, Arti Mann

Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

In today’s economic environment, governments feel the pressure to operate more efficiently, and many are therefore considering the gradual and continuous process improvement that Lean provides. Lean begins by examining a process from beginning to end, without departmental barriers; identifying the parts of the process that are inefficient; making a case for Lean improvements; and improving the process by reducing activities and waste that don’t add value to the consumer of the process.

Boise State On Business: These Tools Can Help Make The Most Of Profit And Loss Data, Michael Lee, Michael Wright

Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Companies invest heavily in creating the traditional profit and loss statement because it is a periodic requirement that measures business performance. The problem is that management is framed into thinking about summarized information, routine reporting and often irrelevant historical performance. Rather than treat it like a mandatory reporting necessity, a periodic photograph of the past that reminds them of what once was, we suggest that companies exploit this versatile tool by adding our three applications that will provide insights into what can be.

Management Accounting Systems Support Start-Up Business Growth, Michael Lee, Spencer R. Cobia

Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

When a start-up company entered an entrepreneurial crisis, it turned to forward-looking management accounting tools to meet the challenges of its changing marketplace strategy and increasingly departmentalized organizational structure. These strategic tools - variance analysis, profit planning, and a performance measurement system - allowed the company to sustain its entrepreneurial spirit and growth. Here is the story of how it all came together.

Reevaluating The Intellectual Property Holding Company, Mark J. Cowan, Warren Newberry Jr.

Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

In their zeal to save on taxes, many companies isolate their intellectual property in wholly owned subsidiaries called intellectual property holding companies (IPHCs). The IPHC landscape, however, is changing. Recently state actions have reduced the tax benefits of IPHCs, impacting the business and legal ramifications of managing intellectual property through a holding company.

Boise State On Business: Old Accounting Tools Can Perk Up Mature Company, Michael Lee, Nicholas Gaudioso, Jr.

Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

In recent weeks, Apple has taken a valuation hit on the back of its quarterly earnings release. Apple's financial reports show that average revenue per unit is declining, production costs are increasing, and sales growth is slowing down. Competition from the likes of Blackberry and Samsung (phones), and Google (Android operating system) is fierce. Blackberry has been on a downward valuation slide since 2011. We can add to this list: Dell (heading for privatization to regain its mojo) and Hewlett Packard.

It seems these companies have entered a "maturity" crisis, unable to keep pace with shortening product life cycles and …

Culture And Management Control Systems In Today’S High-Performing Firms, Michael T. Lee, Sally K. Widener

Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

You might think that firms with bureaucratic cultures would emphasize their use of management control systems. Contrary to expectations, firms with bureaucratic cultures are not users of management control systems!

How Management Accounting Can Help Environmental Firms, Michael T. Lee, Spencer Cobia

Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Our recent study of management accounting systems for startups demonstrated that properly designed and implemented tools are linked with greater chances of business success. These systems can help environmental startups overcome failure.

Accounting Systems Must Grow With Your Company, Michael Lee, Spencer Cobia

Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Atlas is a niche company that resells used medical equipment via the Internet. The business has experienced enormous growth each year to date.

Business Culture Affects A Company's Strategic Success, Michael Lee

Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

At Boise State, we surveyed managers, general and operation managers, business analysts and accountants in more than 350 companies to find more about business culture and how these companies manage their cultures in pursuit of success.

How Firms Learn From The Uses Of Different Types Of Management Control Systems, Michael T. Lee, Sally K. Widener

Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Many users of management control systems claim that a system’s effectiveness in creating business performance resides in its ability to facilitate learning and decision making. Yet this does not explain why users of management control systems have varying levels of success in terms of business performance with these tools. Our IMA-sponsored research project1 examines the following questions that relate management control system use, learning, and performance:

• How are management control systems used?

• How do organizations learn from management control systems?

• What uses of management control systems and styles of learning characterize high performing firms?

To answer these …