Accounting Commons^™

A Research Note On Street Pricing Requirements In Major U.S. Airport Retail Concessions Requests For Proposals, Blaise Waguespack

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

When reviewing the subject of airport marketing, much of the literature is broken down into issues external or internal to the airport. The external literature tends to divide and differentiate airports on the issues of size (passenger counts) and who is the target of the marketing campaign. Those articles and books that tend to focus on the larger commercial airports (Jarach, 2005; Halpern and Graham, 2013) note the role the airport can play in economic development. Much of the external marketing tasks for the larger commercial airports are aimed at either attracting more airline service to the community or working …

Motivations In The Fine-Art Market: A Self-Determination Theory Approach, J. Paul Leavell

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Fine-art marketing research experiences friction that other arenas for marketing research do not. The product moved within this arena has subjective value with many drivers that can be difficult to quantify: The motivations of sellers and buyers may be different from what other marketing arenas experience (Marshall and Forrest 2011). The end price of fine art may have no relationship to the cost of inputs relying more on the demand driven by the artist’s reputation (Throsby 1994). Due to such challenges, the Academy has struggled in its contemplation of the marketing concept within this arena.

This paper will investigate the …

Rembrandt Versus Van Gogh: A Qualitative Contrast Study Applying A Visual Arts Valutation Model, Rene Desborde, Kimball P. Marshall

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Few marketing scholars have explored the field of fine arts marketing despite its significance as an area of economic activity and human creativity. Billions of dollars change hands annually in the worldwide visual fine arts industry (Velthuis, 2007; Clark and Flaherty, 2002), defined here to include various paintings, sculptures, and ceramics. This lack of academic attention might be because marketing scholars perceive that issues related to fine arts have little to do with marketing. It could also be that the unique characteristics of fine arts marketing are thought not to lend themselves to a traditional analytical approach to explain a …

Pricing In Opaque Markets: Paintings Old And New, Sharon V. Thach

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Pricing is one of the more difficult aspects of marketing management and poses interesting problems for economists trying to account for what are really a collection of microsales that are not well reflected in aggregate macroterms. The developed models and processes work best for mass produced products but grow increasingly problematic when products are intangible services or unique goods. This paper looks at paintings as a product within a specific “industry” , but many of the issues are similar to those in the professional services (law, medicine, education) and auxiliary services (consulting, IT outsourcing, insurance). There are also aspects of …

Perceived Risk Reduction In E-Commerce Environments, C. Michael Powell, Chris Conca

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

During the past three decades, the growth of e-commerce has presented marketers with many new arenas for research and application. Certainly e-commerce has become a significant portion of the world economy and in particular the consumer sector. As previous literature has consistently considered perceived risk as a major factor consumer purchase decisions, this research identifies several major components of consumer perceived risk (PR) and their normative implications in the e-commerce environment

Do You Feel Financially Secured? The Investigation Of Economic Indicators Of Financial Well-Being, Tommy Hsu, Leona Tam, Ryan T. Howell

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

The economy has been in downward movement in the past few years in the United States as well as different parts of the world. Consumers’ financial situations have been found to influence their purchase behaviors. While some personal finance experts blame consumers’ (lack of) spending plans for their financial situations, others suggest that consumers’ perception of their financial standing influences their purchase plans. Using a nationwide large scale survey study, we examined the value of applying economic indicators as proxy measure of financial well-being. Instead of income or debts, wealth was found to be the most important economic indicator of …

Small And Large Faculty-Size Adjusted Accounting Program Rankings Based On Research-Active Faculty: A Uniform Approach, Mark C. Dawkins, Matthew M. Wieland, Donald L. Ariail

Faculty Articles

Prior studies have ranked accounting programs based on the use of various methodologies, many of which did not control for faculty size. Even in studies that controlled for faculty size, a common issue was the inclusion of faculty and PhD students who were not research active. To resolve these sample issues, this study uses a sample of top-6 accounting journal publications over the 2006-2013 period to demonstrate an innovative, efficient, and uniform approach for calculating faculty-size adjusted accounting program rankings. This approach can be modified to include more accounting journals. Specifically, the study controls for faculty size by including only …

The Influence Of Leadership Style And Personal Costs On Fraud Whistleblowing Intent, Tonya D.W. Smalls

Doctor of Business Administration Dissertations

Using an experimental approach, this study examines employees’ intention to report occupational fraud through various channels based on the leadership style (transformational or transactional) of the manager and the expected personal costs (either high or low) of reporting. The study also focuses on the influence of value congruence between the manager and the employee, as well as trust factors that motivate employees to report occupational fraud. In examining these issues, I consider two types of occupational fraud schemes (misappropriation of assets and financial statement fraud). Unexpectedly, the results indicate leadership style and/or personal costs do not have a significant influence …

Bank Loan Agreement And Ceo Compensation, Amine Khayati, Donald L. Ariail

Faculty Articles

Contrary to other forms of outside financing, the announcement of a bank loan agreement prompts a positive and significant market return. Throughout the literature, bank loans are deemed special and unique due to multiple benefits accruing to bank borrowers. The short-term positive market reaction is however inconsistent with the long-term underperformance of borrowing firms (Billet et al., 2006). We find that unlike shareholders, CEOs gain from the bank loan relation over the long-term. Specifically, we find that bank loan agreement elicits a significant increase in total compensation through an increase in non-performance based compensation components such as salary, bonus and …

The Effect Of Audit Committee Compensation On The Procurement Of Non-Audit Services, Caroline Hayek

Doctor of Business Administration Dissertations

Over the last decade, audit committee member compensation has shifted from a cash compensation structure toward a more equity-based compensation structure, with members on the audit committee holding substantially large equity positions. Although contrasting viewpoints exist as to whether more equity-based compensation aligns with shareholders’ interest, empirical evidence suggests that the form of compensation has an impact on financial reporting quality and audit committee members’ objectivity. Despite these results, to date there is no authoritative guideline on the appropriate compensation structure for audit committees. Non-audit services (NAS) have also been at the forefront of regulators’ attention in the last decade …

An Increasing Usefulness For Managerial Communication Research On The Main Topics Of Management, Reginald L. Bell, Deborah Roebuck

Faculty Articles

Effective communication is necessary across all management tiers and functions. In addition, it is an integral part of managerial decision-making. Over the last 10 years, interest in the nuances of communication as related to management has intensified. These studies have fostered diverse approaches to linking management and communication. Our investigation, using 2x5 and 2x4 factorial ANOVAs, reveals that differences exist among the means of five professional communication fields. Numerous articles published between 2004 and 2013 were examined, and we found an increasing usefulness for managerial communication research on the main topic of management.

Preparing For The Looming Changes In Lease Accounting, Dennis Chambers, James Dooley

Faculty Articles

Donald Rumsfeld famously stated, “There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know.” Rumsfeld’s statement can be applied to our state of knowledge regarding the accounting for operating leases in the future. There is general agreement (that is, a “known known”) that new standards will require lessees to report most of the assets and related liabilities associated with operating leases on the balance sheet—a significant …

Comparing Business Law In Online And Face-To-Face Formats: A Difference In Student Learning Perception, Mary Catherine Cleaveland, Cristen Dutcher, Kathryn Epps

Faculty Articles

This paper extends the body of research investigating potential differences in face to face and online delivery of a business law course. Using a unique survey, it investigates student perceptions of their learning and understanding of key course concepts, as well as student satisfaction with the course and course instruction. Further, the paper explores the specific characteristics of online versus face to face students that may impact their satisfaction.

Wink, Wink, Nudge Judge: Persuading U.S. Courts To Take Accountants Seriously In Federal Securities Cases, With Help From The U.K. Companies Act, Kurt S. Schulzke

Faculty Articles

The 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers reopened wounds many thought were healed by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) in 2002. The Lehman litigation finally ended in late 2013 with audit firm Ernst & Young paying $99 million to investors who claimed the firm misled them with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Other defendants, including banks, officers, and directors, paid out more than $500 million. The bright line standards of GAAP and SOX were obviously not enough to protect Lehman plaintiffs or defendants. Why not? The 2006 fraud trial of Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling offers clues. When asked at trial whether U.S. …

Earnings Management Constraints: An Examination Of The Tradeoff Between Accruals-Based Earnings Management And Classification Shifting, John Abernathy, Brooke Beyer, Eric Rapley

Faculty Articles

Prior literature has investigated three forms of earnings management: real earnings management (REM), accruals earnings management (AEM) and classification shifting. Managers make trade-off decisions among these methods based on the costs, constraints and timing of each strategy. This study investigates whether managers use classification shifting when their ability to use other forms of earnings management is constrained. We find that when REM is constrained by poor financial condition, high levels of institutional ownership and low industry market share, managers are more likely to use classification shifting. Further, we find that when AEM is constrained by low accounting system flexibility and …

Autopsy Of The Banking Crisis: Examining The Impact Of Director Characteristics On Bank Failures, Gregory L. Prescott

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects

The catastrophic impact of the recent financial crisis on the banking industry reverberated throughout the United States and had contagion effects worldwide. Congressional inquiries, media scrutiny, and the public alleged failure of the boards of directors to effectively discharge their governance responsibilities. The objective of this study was to investigate how certain characteristics of directors on a bank‘s board are related to bank failure—specifically whether the presence of directors with banking industry–specific experience and accounting expertise is related to a bank‘s likelihood of failure. The study also examined how board director tenure is related to bank failure.

I employed a …

Audit Committee Oversight Of Fraud Risk, Robert M. Wilbanks

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects

This study examines how audit committees (ACs) fulfill their responsibilities for assessing fraudulent financial reporting (FFR) risk by focusing on the social influence/risk aversion relationship. Although the AC’s responsibility for assessing FFR risk is arguably one of its most important roles, ACs lack consensus on how to perform the task of fraud risk oversight. This study explores this issue at a deeper level by examining the relationship between the AC’s fraud risk assessment process and the professional and personal ties that exist between AC members and (a) management (CEO and CFO), and (b) other corporate governance actors (internal audit, external …

Essays On Motivating Investment, J. Reid Cummings

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects

Essay 1

This research examines the relationship between Real Estate Investment Trusts‘ uses of the audit process to increase financial transparency, and their ability to attract and/or maintain reasonable access to capital investment. I find that capital investment is positively and significantly associated with three commonly used audit-related attributes: auditor quality (captured by higher audit fees), auditor specialization (captured by industry-audit specialization), and auditor reputation (captured by the audit firm being a Big 4 auditor). Moreover, I find the positive relationship between capital issuance and auditor fees remains after controlling for the financial crisis of 2007-2008. This positive association between …

Voluntary Audit Committee Characteristics, Incentives, And Aggressive Earnings Management: Evidence From New Zealand, V. D. Sharma, Chunli Kuang

Faculty Articles

This study provides initial evidence on the association between voluntary audit committee characteristics, incentives and aggressive earnings management in New Zealand. Our results suggest audit committees comprising independent (non-executive) directors reduce (increase) the likelihood of aggressive earnings management. Financial expertise is associated with a lower likelihood of aggressive earnings management but only when the expertise is held by independent directors. Greater stock ownership by non-executive and executive directors serving on the audit committee increases the risk of aggressive earnings management. However, stock ownership by independent directors reduces this risk. Our results show that independent directors serving on other boards are …

Environmental Initiatives And Earnings Management, B. Litt, D. S. Sharma, V. D. Sharma

Faculty Articles

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide initial evidence on the association between environmental initiatives and earnings management. Prior literature documents firms participating in environmental initiatives to report relatively stronger financial performance. Moreover, firms with superior performance have been shown to engage in greater levels of earnings management. A natural question that arises is to what extent do firms with environmental initiatives engage in earnings management to report better financial performance? Design/methodology/approach – The study draws on two theoretical frameworks, external monitoring and internal corporate culture, to predict an inverse association between environmental initiatives and earnings management. …

A Summary Of Ten Years Of Pcaob Research: What Have We Learned, John Abernathy, Michael Barnes, Chad Stefaniak

Faculty Articles

For the past 10 years, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) has operated as an independent overseer of public company audits. Over 70 percent of PCAOB studies have been published since 2010, evidencing the increasing relevance of PCAOB-related research in recent years. Our paper reviews the existing literature on the PCAOB's four primary functions – registration, standard-setting, inspections, and enforcement. In particular, we examine PCAOB registration trends and evaluate the effects of PCAOB registration requirements on the issuer audit market, as well as discuss the relative costs and benefits (e.g., auditor behavior changes, improvements in audit quality, auditor perceptions) …

The Influence Of In-House Tax Expertise On Corporate Tax Avoidance, Kimberly Hutton Honaker

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects

Allegations of tax abuse at Enron, WorldCom, and others generated scrutiny from regulators, public markets, and the media. In response, accounting researchers have sought to understand factors that drive corporate tax avoidance. While historical research has focused on firm characteristics, little emphasis has been placed on the executive who develops corporate tax strategy.

This study addresses this issue by considering how the internal tax function (ITF) and in-house tax expertise influence tax avoidance. I examine the association between tax avoidance, denoted BOOK_ETR, which is measured as the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles effective tax rate, and (1) the existence of an …

The Impact Of Social Influence Pressure On Cfo Judgments, Carol C. Bishop

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects

Through an experiment, this study examines the influence of social influence pressure on the Chief Financial Officer’s (CFO’s) financial reporting decisions. Specifically, I evaluate the impact of inappropriate obedience and compliance pressure from the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) on the CFO’s propensity to make revisions to financial results in order to meet an earnings target. This study also examines how followership propensities and core self-evaluations (CSE) influence the pressure effects. This study complements and expands archival research examining why CFOs appear to participate in material accounting manipulations (Feng, Ge, Luo, & Shevlin, 2011; Ge, Matsumoto, & Zhang, 2011).

The results …

The Influence Of R&D Investment And Dividend Payment Tax Incentives On Corporate Dividend Policy, Mary Catherine Cleaveland

Faculty Articles

Although much research on corporate dividend policy exists, the evidence is far from conclusive. Understanding how dividend taxes affect firm-level decisions is crucial to evaluating dividend imputation credits which provide shareholder-level tax credits for dividends received or decreased shareholder-level dividend tax rates, which reduce the double taxation of dividends. Using changes in New Zealand and Australia's tax regimes, this paper provides new insight into the corporate dividend policy views. The results support the double taxation and tax irrelevance corporate dividend policy views in dividend-paying firms operating in a tax regime with dividend imputation and capital gains taxes. By documenting a …

Two Papers On "How Perceptions Of Fairness And Influences Of Social Capital And Source Credibility Matter To Compensation Committees And Investors", Anne M. Wilkins

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects

This paper uses an experimental research design to examine the influences of social capital, source credibility, and fairness on the decision making process of compensation committee members when making an executive compensation decision as well as whether an expectation gap exists between the committee members and nonprofessional investors regarding the judgment. One hundred and one public company compensation committee members and ninety nine nonprofessional investors completed an executive compensation case indicating their support on a scale of 0 to 100 of revising executive incentive pay financial performance targets mid-compensation cycle.

I find outcome fairness to shareholders and management significant influences …

Antecedents And Outcomes Of The Investment In Internal Auditing And The Moderating Role Of Family Business Culture, Debra J. Lasher

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects

While the internal auditing function (IAF) has been studied extensively in publicly traded firms, relatively little is known about the function and related outcomes among privately held family businesses. However, family businesses play a leading role in economic production and employment in the U.S. and globally. The blending of family culture with organizational culture in family businesses is a key aspect that differs from nonfamily businesses and across family businesses. This research develops the new construct of family business culture as a replicable measure of the influence of the combined cultures of the family and the business. Both essays include …

The Effects Of Internal Audit Report Type And Reporting Relationship On Internal Auditors' Judgments, Douglas M. Boyle

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects

This study examines the effects of internal audit reports issued to external stakeholders (the public) and internal audit reporting relationship types on internal auditors’ judgments. I use a 4 x 2 between-subjects experiment and practicing internal auditors as participants. I manipulate internal audit report type at four levels ((1) no external report issued by the internal audit function [current state of practice], (2) descriptive external report of internal audit activities, (3) assurance external report on the internal controls, and (4) a descriptive external report of internal audit activities and an assurance external report on the internal controls). Senior level internal …

Ceos, Cfos, And Accounting Fraud, Douglas M. Boyle, Brian W. Carpenter, Dana Hermanson

Faculty Articles

The article focuses on fraudulent financial reporting, which has been a long-standing concern for the U.S. investors. It discusses the findings of a study that provides valuable insights into the role of chief executive officers (CEO) and chief financial officer (CFO) in the prevention of such situation. Also provided are key anti-fraud resources including a fraud risk management program, the assessment of fraud risk exposure and prevention techniques.

Decision Support Systems For Strategic Dispute Resolution, Anurag Agarwal, Sridhar Ramamoorti, Vaidyanathan Jayaraman

Faculty Articles

Disputes and lawsuits are quite common in business and are often a source of significant liabilities. We conjecture that measurement challenges and lack of adequate analysis tools have greatly inhibited the ability of the General Counsel's offices in selecting the best mode for the resolution (i.e. litigation vs. out-of-court settlement) of business conflicts and disputes. Easily quantified direct costs (e.g., out-of-pocket expenses related to pursuing and defending against litigation) tend to be considered, whereas the more difficult-to-quantify indirect risks and costs (e.g., damaged relationships with customers and potential alliance partners, including reputational harm) which may be quite significant, tend to …

Intangible Investments And The Pricing Of Corporate Sga Expenses, Rongbing Huang, Gim S. Seow, Joe S. Shangguan

Faculty Articles

This study examined whether the market fully prices the reported Selling, General, and Administrative (SGA) expenses when this item includes an intangible investment component. For a sample of intangible investment-intensive firms, we showed that their SGA expenses benefit future operating performances. Evidence suggests some degree of market inefficiency in the pricing of SGA expenses and the intangible investment component. Furthermore, the financial analysts do not appear to appreciate fully the future benefits of the component in their earnings forecasts. Finally, the pertinent disclosures in firms’ annual reports are so inadequate as to attenuate the market mispricing, suggesting a significant room …