Business Commons^™

Becoming A Certified Public Accountant: It Is The Only Way To Go, Benjamin Lombard

Honors Program Theses and Projects

For accountants, becoming a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) seems to be the most recognized and widely coveted of all the different accounting career paths, yet very few prospective accountants understand why it garners so much respect. The purpose of this project aims to educate future accounting professionals about the requirements for earning one’s Certified Public Accountant license, the career options available to them, the value of the certification, and the cost benefit analysis of choosing that career path. The primary method of collecting data includes a literature review of testimonials from accounting professionals along with relevant career statistics to provide …

The Assurance Market Of Sustainability Reports: What Do Accounting Firms Do?, Belen Fernandez-Feijoo, Silvia Romero, Silvia Ruiz

Department of Accounting and Finance Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The assurance of sustainability reports is a relatively new service offered by different providers such as accounting firms and consultants. The percentage of sustainability reports assured and the weight of the four largest accounting firms (Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PWC) in this new market are evolving in time. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of the role each one of the four major accounting firms (Big4) play in this assurance market. Using a generalized linear mixed model in an international sample, our results confirm that each Big4 accounting firm leverages its network of financial …

Shakers - South Union, Kentucky (Mss 64), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 64. Ledger volume containing fulling mill records, (1814-1815), accounts (1843-1844), and journal (1909-1911) of the Shaker colony at South Union, Kentucky.

A Case Of Fixed Asset Accounting: Initial And Subsequent Measurement, Jodi L. Gissel

Accounting Faculty Research and Publications

This instructional case integrates multiple accounting concepts relating to fixed asset acquisition and subsequent measurement. You must apply accounting knowledge, professional judgment, and critical thinking skills to evaluate fixed assets and make recommendations. You must also analyze differences between fixed asset accounting under US generally accepted accounting principles and IFRS. As a student, you generally understand basic application of asset cost computation that simply recognizes the amount of cash paid for acquiring the asset. However, determining asset cost becomes challenging when you encounter more complex situations. You must consider initial measurement issues relating to a land purchase (demolition of existing …

Transaction Complexity And The Movement To Fair Value Accounting, Pinky Rusli, Xinlei Zhao, David A. Ziebart

Institute for the Study of Free Enterprise Working Papers

Our global economy has pushed the complexity of business transactions to a new level, as companies now employ sophisticated contracts and financial instruments. However, it is unclear whether accounting standards are able to effectively capture transaction complexity, which has been growing at a rapid pace. In this study, we examine three questions related to transaction complexity: (1) Do accounting standards reflect differences in the complexity of the transactions being recorded? (2) Does the use of mark-to-market (i.e., fair value) accounting reduce the complexity of standards by relying on market valuations to capture transaction complexity? (3) Does the reliance on fair …

Corporate Inversions: New Challenges, New Opportunities, James Mohs, Martin A. Goldberg, Lanzi W. Butler, Amanda M. Heath

Accounting Faculty Publications

With a wave of recent tax inversion and corporate reorganization discussions, corporate tax strategy has begun to move to the forefront of media, public and Congressional attention. These high-profile inversion strategies have gained momentum and achieved heightened attention, becoming a matter of public policy matter in 2014. While corporate international tax strategies have existed since the dawn of the U.S. federal income tax, inversions in their current form have been active only since the 1980s. Using three predominate inversion cases as a lens, this research intends to fill a gap in the existing literature relating to corporate inversions. By combining …

Trade Networks And Cross-Border Acquisitions: Evidence From United States Acquiring Firms, Seung Hun Han, Eun Jin Jo, Dong-Kyoon Kim, Duk Hee Lee

Department of Accounting and Finance Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This study examines the impact of the trade networks of target firms' nation on the announcement returns of the cross-border acquisitions of United States acquirers. By using a sample of 818 cross-border acquisitions during 2000–2007, we find that the centrality measure of trade networks has a positive impact on announcement returns, after controlling for Hofstede's cultural distance measure between the acquiring and target nations and various firm- and deal-specific factors. In sum, trade network analysis, based on strength centrality, better explains the performance of acquiring firms than does the bilateral trade openness measurement used in previous studies.

The Benefits Of Specific Risk-Factor Disclosures, Ole-Kristian Hope, Danqi Hu, Hai Lu

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Practitioners have long criticized risk-factor disclosures in the 10-K as generic and boilerplate. In response, regulators emphasize the importance of being specific. By using a computing algorithm, this paper establishes a new measure (Specificity) to quantify the level of specificity of firms’ qualitative risk-factor disclosures. We first examine determinants of variations in Specificity, and document that firms with high proprietary costs provide less specific risk-factor disclosures. More importantly, we find that, controlling for numerous determinants, the market reaction to the 10-K filing is positively and significantly associated with Specificity. In addition, our results suggest that analysts are better able to …

Ceo Overconfidence And Stock Price Crash Risk, Jeong-Bon Kim, Zhang Wen, Liandong Zhang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This study examines the association between chief executive officer (CEO) overconfidence and future stock price crash risk. Overconfident managers overestimate the returns to their investment projects and misperceive negative net present value (NPV) projects as value creating. They also tend to ignore or explain away privately observed negative feedback. As a result, negative NPV projects are kept for too long and their bad performance accumulates, which can lead to stock price crashes. Using a large sample of firms for the period 1993–2010, we find that firms with overconfident CEOs have higher stock price crash risk than firms with nonoverconfident CEOs. …

Accounting Flexibility And Managers' Forecast Behavior Prior To Seasoned Equity Offerings, Jae Bum Kim

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This study examines the effect of accounting flexibility on managers’ forecasting behavior prior to seasoned equity offerings (SEOs). Although SEO firms have a strong incentive to convey optimistic information to boost the pre-SEO stock price, they also face enhanced litigation risk arising from SEO-related regulations. Thus, I hypothesize that managers will release positive news through their forecasts (relative to the prevailing analyst consensus) prior to an SEO only if they have the accounting flexibility to manage subsequent reported earnings to meet or exceed their forecasts. I find that managers with greater accounting flexibility are more likely to issue a forecast …

Targets Tax Shelter Participation And Takeover Premiums, Travis Chow, Kenneth J. Klassen, Yanju Liu

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This paper examines the effect of targets' participation in tax shelters on takeover premiums in mergers and acquisitions. Using a novel data set in which targets disclose that they have not participated in tax shelters, we find that targets that make this statement in their merger filings are associated with 4.6 percent higher takeover premiums, on average. These findings suggest that acquirers are concerned about the potential future liabilities when targets have engaged in tax sheltering. Consistent with this interpretation, the results also indicate that the positive association between targets' nonsheltering disclosure and acquisition premiums is stronger for less tax-aggressive …

Using A Mobile Gaming App To Enhance Accounting Education, Poh Sun Seow, Suay Peng Wong

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This paper describes the first mobile-gaming app for learning accounting, Accounting Challenge (ACE). As at June 30th 2016, ACE was downloaded 21,800 times, spanning 90 countries and has won three international teaching awards. The app was motivated by the aim to empower students to learn accounting in a fun way, outside the classroom. ACE combines mobile learning and game-based learning to generate interest and motivation for the digital-native students and is freely available in iPhone/iPad and Android version. Based on a voluntary students’ survey, majority rated ACE favorably, indicating that they were satisfied with the app. ACE was presented at …

Theory And Practice Of The Proposed Conceptual Framework: Evidence From The Field, Kevin Ow Yong, Chu Yeong Lim, Pearl Hock-Neo Tan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We provide survey evidence of chartered accountants' perspectives on the proposed conceptual framework of the International Accounting Standards Board. Our survey obtains their views on the changes in the definitions of assets and liabilities, recognition criterion, and additional guidance in these areas, as well as issues relating to other comprehensive income, business model-based accounting, and choice of measurement basis. Our field evidence suggests broad consensus with respect to most of these changes. The areas that generate the most disagreement among our respondents relate to the removal of economic benefits in the proposed asset definition, the proposal to remove the minimum …

Audit Committees And Financial Reporting Quality In Singapore, Yuanto Kusnadi, Kwong Sin Leong, Themin Suwardy, Jiwei Wang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We examine three characteristics (independence, expertise, and overlapping membership) of audit committees and their impact on the financial reporting quality for Singapore-listed companies. The main finding is that financial reporting quality will be higher if audit committees have mixed expertise in accounting, finance, and/or supervisory. In addition, we do not find evidence that incremental independence of audit committees enhances financial reporting quality because audit committees already consist of a majority of independent directors. Finally, we fail to find any impact of overlapping membership on audit and remuneration committees on financial reporting quality. Overall, the results have policy implications on improving …

The Effect Of Corporate Tax Avoidance On The Cost Of Equity, Beng Wee Goh, Jimmy Lee, Chee Yeow Lim, Terry J. Shevlin

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Based on Lambert, Leuz, and Verrecchia (2007)'s derivation of the cost of equity capital in terms of expected cash flows, we generate a testable hypothesis that relates tax avoidance to a firm's cost of equity capital. Using three broad measures of tax avoidance-book-tax differences, permanent book-tax differences, and long-run cash effective tax rates-to test our hypothesis, we find that the cost of equity is lower for tax-avoiding firms. This effect is stronger for firms with better outside monitoring, firms that likely realize higher marginal benefits from tax savings, and firms with higher information quality. Overall, our results suggest that equity …

Relation Between Auditor Quality And Corporate Tax Aggressiveness: Implications Of Cross-Country Institutional Differences, Kiridaran Kanagaretnam, Jimmy Lee, Chee Yeow Lim, Gerald J. Lobo

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Using an international sample of firms from 31 countries, we study the relation between auditor quality and corporate tax aggressiveness. Employing an indicator variable for tax aggressiveness when the firm's corporate tax avoidance measure is within the top quintile of each country-industry combination, we find strong evidence that auditor quality is negatively associated with the likelihood of tax aggressiveness, even after controlling for other institutional determinants such as home-country tax system characteristics. We also find that the negative relation between auditor quality and the likelihood of tax aggressiveness is more pronounced in countries where investor protection is stronger, auditor litigation …

Major Government Customers And Loan Contract Terms, Daniel Cohen, Bin Li, Ningzhong Li, Yun Lou

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This study examines how a firm’s business relationship with the U.S. government, in particular, sales to the government, impacts its loan contract terms and how the effect is different from that of major corporate customers. We find that firms with major government customers have a lower number of covenants and are less likely to have performance pricing provisions in their loan contracts than other firms, whereas major corporate customers do not have such impacts. We do not find evidence that major government customers affect the supplier firm’s loan spread, security, or maturity. We conjecture that lenders benefit from the strict …

Point Pleasant Store - Ohio County, Kentucky (Mss 594), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 594. Ledger books containing transactions from the Point Pleasant Store in Ohio County, Kentucky. Because of this store’s location on the Green River, ledgers also include information about shipment of tobacco from that site. Also includes wages for labor performed for the store owner.

Gerard Family Papers (Mss 577), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 577. Funeral records, correspondence, account books and other financial papers related to various undertaking establishments run by the Gerard and Bradley families, including Gerard and Gerard Funeral Home, Eugene Gerard Company Mortuary and the Gerard and Bradley Funeral Chapel in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Also includes financial records related to an earlier furniture making business operated by John C. Gerard, a French immigrant.

Exploring The Effect Of Financial Literacy Programs On Low-Income Adults, Bridgid A. Schaffer, James Mohs

Accounting Faculty Publications

Financial literacy is a necessity of modern adult life. Obtaining control of personal finances is challenging for everyone. The lack of financial literacy in the low income adult grouping has become more problematic as personal finances become more complex. Utilizing a series of interviews the shared experiences of the study participant’s reflected in-depth descriptions of the personal lived experiences relating to financial literacy concepts, educational programs, and future expectations from the participants. This study addresses the perceptions and expectations of low-income adults regarding financial literacy programs and attempts to isolate ways to increase attendance in educational financial literacy programs. Using …

Research Insights About Risk Governance: Implications From A Review Of Erm Research, Therese R. Viscelli, Mark S. Beasley, Dana R. Hermanson

Faculty and Research Publications

In recent years, expectations for increased risk governance have been placed explicitly on boards of directors. In response, boards are being held responsible for not only understanding and approving management’s risk management processes, but they are also being held responsible for assessing the risks identified by those processes as part of overseeing management’s pursuit of value. These increasing responsibilities have led a number of organizations to adopt enterprise risk management (ERM) as a holistic approach to risk management that extends beyond traditional silo-based risk management techniques. As boards, often through their audit committee, consider management’s implementation of ERM as part …

The Price Contagion Effects Of Financial Reporting Fraud And Reputational Losses: Evidence From The Individual Audit Partner Level, Ferdinand A. Gul, Chee Yeow Lim, Kun Wang, Yanping Xu

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This study investigates the existence of price contagion effects for the low-quality audits of individual audit partners and the associated reputational losses in China. Low-quality partners are identified as those whose clients have been sanctioned by regulators for financial reporting fraud. Our evidence shows that sanctions induce a significant stock price decline among the contagion firms that share common low-quality partners and common low-quality audit firms; however, the decline is greater for the former. We also find that the price contagion effects of low-quality partners are more pronounced for firms located in regions with weak institutional development and less pronounced …

Mismatches In Tax Outcomes In The Light Of Beps Actions 2 And 5, Lukas Mechtler, Cindy Siu Ching Wong

Research Collection School Of Economics

No abstract provided.

Territorial Tax System Reform And The Financial Behavior Of Multinational Firms, Jing Xing, Stephen Bond, Giorgia Maffini

Research Collection School Of Economics

We investigate whether the move from the worldwide tax system to the territorial tax system in Japan in 2009 affects the financial behavior of overseas affiliates of Japanese multinational companies. The reform substantially reduces the tax costs of profit repatriation in the form of dividends for Japanese overseas affiliates. We use this reform as a quasi-natural experiment to investigate whether and how the tax system affects multinationals’ cash holding and financing policies. Findings from our study sheds some light on possible outcomes of similar tax reforms in countries such as the United States. Based on a sample of Japanese overseas …

Perceived Risk And Behavioral Determinants Of Using Internet Banking In Egypt, Amani Hussein, Mohamed Saad

Business Administration

Internet banking (IB), refers to the use of bank’s web site through which users access their banking accounts and conduct financial transactions. The success of IB is determined not only by banks or government support but also by users’ acceptance of it. Therefore, this research aims at examining perceived risk and behavioral determinants of using internet banking in Egypt. The research design a model based on using the original postulates of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use and introducing new factors (such as: security risk, financial risk, privacy risk, awareness, computer self-efficacy (CSE) and resistance …

Does The Relation Between Information Quality And Capital Structure Vary With Cross-Country Institutional Differences?, Jeff Zeyun Chen, Chee Yeow Lim, Gerald J. Lobo

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Prior research based on U.S. data finds that firms with better information quality raise more equity whereas firms with poorer information quality prefer to issue debt when they seek external financing. Little is known about whether the same conclusion holds outside the U.S. and how the country-level institutional environment influences the relation between information quality and capital structure choices. We examine the relation between accounting information quality (measured by earnings precision, accruals quality, and analyst consensus) and financial leverage across 24 countries and whether that relation varies systematically with country-level investor protection and financial orientation. We document a lower financial …

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 …

Financial Reporting Quality Of Chinese Reverse Merger Firms: The Reverse Merger Effect Or The China Effect?, Kun-Chih Chen, Qiang Cheng, Ying Chou Lin, Yu-Chen Lin, Xing Xiao

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

In this paper, we examine why Chinese reverse merger (RM) firms have lower financial reporting quality than U.S. IPO firms. We find that the financial reporting quality of U.S. RM firms is similar to that of matched U.S. IPO firms, but Chinese RM firms exhibit lower financial reporting quality than Chinese ADR firms. We also find that Chinese RM firms exhibit lower financial reporting quality than U.S. RM firms. These results indicate that the use of the RM process is associated with poor financial reporting quality only in firms from China, where legal enforcement and investor protection are weak. In …

Ouachita Accounting Professor Bob Webster Earns National Research Award, Haley Martin, Ouachita News Bureau

Press Releases

Ouachita Baptist University Professor Emeritus Robert L. Webster received the American Accounting Association’s 2016 KPMG Best Paper Award from the Gender Issues & Work-Life Balance (GIWB) Section of the AAA.

Sheep Updates 2016, Mick Keogh, David Cornish, Michael Chilvers, Gerry Hinkley, Danielle England, Rosemary Bartle, Brad Wooldridge, Norm Santich, John Young, Ashley Herbert, Jamie Heinrich, Graeme Howie, Bruce Mullan

Sheep Updates

This session covers eleven papers from different authors:

1. Forward, Dr Bruce Mullan, Director Sheep Industry Development, Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia

2. The Australian sheep industry in 2025, Mick Keogh, Australian Farm Institute

3. Decision making in a risky environment, David Cornish, Cornish Consulting

4. Business Transitioning, Michael Chilvers, Nile Tasmania

5. Advisory Boards in WA Agriculture - making life 'easier' for everyone, Gerry Hinkley, Producer, Tincurrin and Danielle England, Aginnovate

6. Principles of Successful Family Business Succession Strategies, Rosemary Bartle, Succession Planning Facilitator, Rabobank

7. Diversifying the Feedbase...is the …