Business Commons^™

Examining The Career Path Of Certified Public Accountants In Audit And Tax Services: Perceptions Of Accounting Graduates' Competencies, Steven Mulhollen

Dissertations

Accounting professionals claim there is a deficiency of individuals with the appropriate competencies to enter the accounting workforce (Pasewark, 2021; Richardson, 2020; Sandifer, 2018; Thomson, 2017). Also, recent trends indicate a need to increase the number of qualified accounting professionals who can pass the Certified Public Accounting Exam (CPA Exam) and enter the public accounting workforce (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants [AICPA], 2021a; Dawkins, 2023). This quantitative, causal-comparative study expands existing studies by analyzing the impact of CPA's chosen career path of audit or tax on their perception of the required and attained accounting competencies. This study contributes to …

Exploring The Relationship Between Financial Transparency And Sustainability Transparency In The Fashion Industry, Sohaila Hussaini

Dissertations

The focus of this research is to investigate the relationship between the corporate sustainability attributes of financial transparency and sustainability transparency in the fashion industry. Many firms in the fashion industry disclose sustainability reports to communicate their efforts and activities for promoting sound environmental, social, and governance-related policies and practices. However, recent literature suggests that within the fashion industry, incomplete disclosures and a general lack of transparency diminish the usefulness and effectiveness of such reports. This study seeks to ascertain whether observed shortcomings associated with environmental, social, and/or governance-related disclosures are associated with similar shortcomings in corporate financial reporting completeness …

Not All Best Practices Result In Best Performances: Two Empirical Studies Of Online Accounting Education, Mark Sanders

Dissertations

Exploring the impact of specific pedagogical strategies in online accounting education on student learning outcomes is central to this research. This two-study dissertation focuses on the influence of course delivery methods on student performance and the mediating function of accounting efficacy. A diverse sample of accounting and business students was quantitatively analyzed to determine the relationship between course structure, classroom justice, students’ motivation and their accounting efficacy, applicability of learned material, and final grades. Even though certain teaching practices were advantageous, the combination of these practices did not always lead to improved student performance, according to the findings. Significant determinants …

Risky Business: Ceo Risk Tolerance And Non-Gaap Earnings, Johnna Murray

Dissertations

CEO influence on non-GAAP earnings is a growing area of research. Risk-taking by CEOs is one way to gauge the extent of CEO influence on firm outcomes, especially non-GAAP earnings. This research examines the association between CEO sports hobbies, a proxy for CEO risk-taking, and their company’s non-GAAP earnings. In addition to the risk-proclivity of the CEO, non-GAAP earnings are the result of firm size, equity, return on assets, and changes in revenue. The extent of CEO influence was evaluated by a regression analysis of non-GAAP earnings using firm characteristics with CEO risk-taking measures and control variables such as CEO …

The Impact Of Firm Size, Job Embeddedness, And Job Engagement On Turnover In Public Accounting Firms, Amy Cooper

Dissertations

Retention in public accounting firms has been and continues to be a top concern in the accounting profession. The direct and indirect cost of turnover; the decrease in accounting enrollment and graduation; the Great Resignation; and changes to work environments due to the pandemic elevate what was already a serious problem into a critical problem for the accounting profession. The size of public accounting firms is a well-used descriptor when employees talk about where they work. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of the size of firm in predicting an employee’s level of job embeddedness and …

Transition To The New Revenue Standard: A Study Of Firms’ Decisions To Adopt Asc 606 Early, Irene Y. Zhang

Dissertations

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued a new revenue standard through a series of updates since May 2014 (collectively, ASC 606). The standard allowed firms to adopt it a year early before the required effective date. This study provides evidence of the adoption effects of ASC 606 on firms’ financials and examines the relationship between the likelihood of early adopting ASC 606 and firm-specific characteristics. The results show that early adopters are distributed across 12 industries and 40% of them are concentrated in the computer programming and software industry. Early adopters in the software industry reported the largest cumulative …

Predicting Bear Trend In The Uae Stock Markets Using Macro-Financial Variables, Hamood Abdulla Alyasi

Dissertations

Understanding the effects of macroeconomic and financial variables on stock market trends, especially bear markets, can help different stakeholders and concerned parties to react according to their goals and tasks. Investors can make better investment decisions and allocate assets in their portfolios based on trend expectations. Regulators and decision-makers can adopt adequate precautious regulations to protect the stock market and economy in general from any negative consequences in the case of a stock market recession.
The purpose of this study is to investigate whether it is possible to predict UAE stock market bear states through the use of macro-financial variables. …

Towards A Revised Model For Cpa Firm Ownership And Compensation In A Tight Labor Market And A Changing Culture, Andrew Thomas

Dissertations

The Post Senior Manager (PSM) position is a relatively new development in accounting firms. PSMs are accountants who do not make partner either by personal choice or firm decision. Research relating to PSMs in large firms has indicated that demographics, especially gender, work-life balance issues, managerial skill, and geographic preferences, play a role in determining who becomes a PSM. Research also notes that PSMs are viewed as economically vital to firms since their high skill level and billed hours represent an essential component of firm revenue. At the same time, research notes that PSMs are often viewed unfavorably for not …

Corporate Tax Avoidance And Fraud Risk, Zhonghua Cao

Dissertations

Corporate Tax Avoidance and Fraud Risk

There is mixed evidence on whether corporate tax avoidance (CTA) is positively or negatively related to aggressive financial reporting. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) requires that auditors assess fraud risks that are related to aggressive financial reporting. In this study I extend the research of CTA by examining the relationship between CTA and fraud risk. I use accrual quality related variables, performance variables, and non-financial measures (NFMs) to measure fraud risk. Drawing on agency theory and fraud risk triangle theory, I find that CTA is positively related to fraud risk. However, I …

Lean Accounting: A Connection To Strategic Partnership & Collaboration Between Management Accountants And Operations Managers, Colleen Mpofu

Dissertations

Technological advances, such as automation and artificial intelligence, have transformed the accounting profession. There is a consensus in the academic and practitioner literature that management accountants must move from their traditional role into one that serves as a strategic partner. However, literature that examines how management accountants have moved from this traditional role to one that is more strategic is limited. This study combines concepts from three different literature streams to explore how utilizing lean accounting practices relate to management accountant’s participation in strategic decision making, partnership with operations managers, and overall operational performance in manufacturing firms utilizing a lean …

The Impact Of Target Audit Quality On The Likelihood Of Future Goodwill Impairment, Elizabeth Boyle

Dissertations

US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) require that in an acquisition, the purchaser must record a premium when the purchase price exceeds the fair value of the target’s identifiable net assets (both tangible and intangible). This premium lives on the balance sheet as an intangible asset called goodwill. Goodwill has an indefinite life, but over time it may become impaired due to overpayment of the original acquisition, unrealized synergies, changes in the business, legal issues, etc., and as a result, require a write-down. This impairment not only impacts the acquirer’s balance sheet but can also impact the market value of …

Budget Gaming: Politics, Ethics, And Compensation, Gretchen Decker

Dissertations

Practitioners are frustrated with the budgeting process, frequently complaining that budgets cause undesirable and political behaviors in the organization (Jensen, 2001). One of the most frequent problems is budget gaming, which critics consider non-value added and frustrating. In a 2010 survey, over 95% of respondents acknowledged that budget gaming exists at least “occasionally” (Libby & Lindsay, 2010). Previous studies indicate budget gaming is frustrating, prevalent, and wasteful (Hansen et al., 2003; Libby & Lindsay, 2007; Neely et al., 2003).

I conducted an experiment to investigate organizational influences (organizational politics, compensation condition, ethics attestation) and their impact on budget gaming. The …

How Does The Market View Share Repurchases: Five Possible Book Values In The Fama-French 3 Factor Model, Jaime Peters

Dissertations

Share repurchase activity has grown significantly over the past twenty years and has emerged as the most popular technique for returning cash to shareholders. Current U.S. generally accepted accounting principles treat share repurchases as a return of capital to shareholders, recording the repurchased shares at market prices and offsetting them against contributed capital accounts. This treatment reduces the recorded book value of the equity of companies. Of course, companies can reissue these shares to fulfill stock option contracts, as consideration in acquisitions, and/or in secondary offerings. These economically relevant uses of repurchased shares suggest that the market may treat share …

Do User-Generated Ratings Affect Hotel Valuations? – An Analysis Of The Chicago Hotel Market, Shailesh Patel

Dissertations

Today’s travelers are increasingly relying on aggregated online opinions to make purchase decisions. One of the sectors most impacted by these online reviews is the hospitality industry, where consumer review websites such as TripAdvisor, Expedia, and Bookings.com play a critical role in influencing consumer's choice of hotel and the price they will pay for the room. Recently, there have been studies investigating the various aspects of user-generated online reviews and ratings. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of user-generated ratings on hotel valuations. Our paper does this using regression analysis to study the impact of TripAdvisor …

What Is The Research Standard For Tenure And Promotion At U.S. Accounting Research Institutions Outside Of The Top 200?, Rodney Carmack

Dissertations

Prior studies provide benchmarking data for faculty promoted at the Top 75 U.S. Accounting Research Institutions (e.g., Glover et al. 2006 and Glover et al. 2012). The data from these studies help the academic accounting market operate more effectively and efficiently. The data are valuable for less seasoned scholars as they set goals for their research output, and for professors as they evaluate candidates’ cases for tenure both at their schools and on behalf of other universities. This paper extends Glover et al. (2012) to consider programs outside of the Top 200 U.S. Accounting Research Institutions (Glover, Prawitt, & Wood, …

The Leadership Role Of Management Accountants As It Contributes To Innovation And Entrepreneurship In Start-Up Businesses In Southern California, Paula Edwards

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand and describe the leadership role of managerial accountants as it contributes to innovation in start-up businesses in Southern California.

Methodology: The methodology used to understand and describe the leadership role of managerial accountants as it contributes to the innovation and entrepreneurship in start-up businesses in Southern California was a qualitative study. The study participants included 12 entrepreneurs who had started a business in the last five years, had utilized a management accountant on a part-time, full-time or consultant basis and are located in the San Diego, Orange, or Los …

Knowledge, Technical Skills, And Employability Skills Required Of Accounting Graduates: Perceptions Of Certified Public Accountants In Mississippi, Lisa Sandifer

Dissertations

Employers report recent college graduates are not prepared for the workforce and a skills gap exists (O’Bannon, 2016). Research indicates accounting graduates do not have the skills needed when entering the workforce (Altarawneh, 2016). The skills gap is costing companies money (Nanduri, 2017). Employers report extended job vacancies cost U.S. companies close to one million dollars annually (Nanduri, 2017). Also, the skills gap costs the U.S. economy an estimated $160 billion per year (Fisher, 2014).

This research determined the knowledge, technical skills, and employability skills required of accounting graduates in the workforce as perceived by Mississippi CPAs and determined if …

An Evaluation Of The Bachelor Degree In Accounting Program In A Ghanaian Private University, Samuel Adaboh

Dissertations

Problem: There is the growing demand by all stakeholders (teachers, students, employers, governments, and society) for universities and colleges to be more accountable in preparing their products for the challenges of the 21 ^st century. Such demands have fueled interest in the evaluation of student learning in virtually all disciplines in college. There are calls for pedagogic innovations that will improve student learning in college. If any success can be achieved in addressing the challenge of improving the quality of products from higher education, then colleges and universitieshave need for reliable data. Such data can be obtained partly through an …

Implementing Innovative Pedagogy In The First Course In Accounting And Its Relationship To Student Attitudes Toward The Profession, Henry L. Foster

Dissertations

Problem. The traditional accounting pedagogy that served the industrial era effectively is losing its relevance. Not only do accounting graduates lack the kind of skills called for in an information age but the profession is no longer successful in attracting sufficiently large numbers of quality students. During the 1980s, professional and academic accountants as well as employers of accounting graduates began to voice their complaints about an accounting education model that had not experienced significant change in about a half century. In 1989 the Accounting Education Change Commission (AECC) was established to stimulate change and to act as a clearing …