Accounting Commons^™

Keystone Xl Pipeline, Violet C. Rogers, Jack R. Ethridge

Faculty Publications

The Keystone Pipeline and everything it entails has taken over the news and the majority of North America. Most people around the United States did not know the Keystone Pipeline already existed before all of the uproar and protesting began back at the end of 2011. The part of the pipeline that does not exist is the additional expansion, the Keystone XL Pipeline, which was proposed in 2008. Since the approval of the project in March 2010, the Keystone XL Pipeline has been a problematic proposition ever since the idea was introduced by the TransCanada Energy Company. While the project …

Does The Classroom Delivery Method Make A Difference?, Esther Bunn, Mary Fischer, Treba Marsh

Faculty Publications

This study seeks to determine if a difference exists in student performance and participation between an online and face-to-face Accounting Intermediate I class taught by the same professor. Even though students self-selected which course section to enroll, no significant difference was found to exist between the delivery method of the two courses based on the student's major field of study, gender, and whether or not they commuted to class. No significant difference is found between the assessments of the two class sections membership except the students' course performance. Contrary to prior research, the students enrolled in the online sections did …

Is The Community Health Needs Assessment Replacing The Certificate Of Need?, Pamela C. Smith, Kelly Noe

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this paper is to question the need for Certificates of Need at the state level. At the Federal level the Affordable Care Act requires hospitals must justify their community impact through a Community Health Needs Assessment (IRS Form 990 Schedule H) in order to retain their tax-exempt status. Not-for-profit hospitals will save money, time and personnel resources if the CON is combined with the CHNA and all states accept this change, no longer requiring the CON.

A Descriptive Comparison Of Two Sources Of Occupational Fraud Data, George L. Hunt

Faculty Publications

The propose of this study was to determine if the data contained in the Internal Auditor Roundtable and Fraud Finding columns are consistent with data reported in the ACFEs Report to the Nation. Cases of fraud reported in the Internal Auditor columns were analyzed, summarized, and compared to the data contained in the Report to the Nation. The results show significant similarities between the two data sources.

Are State Tax Amnesty Programs Associated With Financial Reporting Irregularities?, Neal Buckwalter, Nathan Y. Sharp, Jaron H. Wilde, David A. Wood

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Short Selling Around Restatement Announcements: When Do Bears Pounce?, Michael S. Drake, Linda A. Myers, Susan Scholz, Nathan Y. Sharp

Faculty Publications

This paper draws on two distinct literatures – one that investigates the impact of accounting restatements and another that investigates the trading behavior of short sellers – to further our understanding of how sophisticated investors process and respond to news about accounting corrections. We examine short-seller behavior in the days surrounding restatement announcements to determine when short sellers identify restatements and how they trade on restatement news. Our findings suggest that short sellers do not appear to anticipate restatement announcement dates, but we find that abnormal short selling is significantly higher than is typical when restatements are announced, especially for …

Optimistic Reporting And Pessimistic Investing: Do Pro Forma Earnings Disclosures Attract Short Sellers?*, Theodore E. Christensen, Michael S. Drake, Jacob Thornock

Faculty Publications

When companies announce their quarterly results, along with their standard GAAP earnings number, managers sometimes choose to disclose an adjusted (pro forma) earnings figure that excludes one or more income statement line items from net income. While managers frequently argue that they exclude transitory items from GAAP income in an effort to better reflect core operating performance, regulators and critics of pro forma reporting contend that these exclusions can overstate operating results. In particular, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a warning that under certain circumstances, pro forma reporting “can mislead investors if it obscures GAAP results” (SEC 2001). …

The Reputational Costs Of Tax Avoidance*, John Gallemore, Edward L. Maydew, Jacob Thornock

Faculty Publications

This study investigates whether firms and their top executives bear reputational costs from engaging in aggressive tax avoidance activities. At least two decades of empirical tax research has shown that firms engage in a wide range of strategies for tax avoidance purposes. 1 Recent studies suggest that for many firms, tax avoidance appears to be highly effective at reducing the firms’ tax payments and increasing their after-tax earnings. For example, Dyreng, Hanlon, and Maydew (2008) find that more than a quarter of publicly traded U.S. firms are able to reduce their taxes to less than 20 percent of their pre-tax …

Accounting Education Research: Ranking Institutions And Individual Scholars, D. Kip Holderness Jr., Noah M. Myers, Scott L. Summers, David A. Wood

Faculty Publications

Previous rankings of accounting literature have largely ignored the subtopic of accounting education research. Given the important role that rankings play in creating incentives and benchmarks, ranking education research may improve both the quality and quantity of research in this subtopic. This paper ranks academic institutions and individual accounting researchers based on their production of accounting education research. We show that the correlation between education research rankings and singular, non-education research rankings is very low (i.e., ranges from 0.20 to 0.31), emphasizing the importance of considering education rankings separately from other topical areas in accounting research. We also provide evidence …

The Media And Mispricing: The Role Of The Business Press In The Pricing Of Accounting Information, Michael S. Drake, Nicholas M. Guest, Brady J. Twedt

Faculty Publications

This study investigates the role of the business press in the pricing of accounting information. Using a comprehensive dataset of more than 111,000 earnings-related business press articles published from 2000–2010, we find that press coverage of the annual earnings announcement mitigates cash flow mispricing, but has a negligible effect on accrual mispricing. We provide evidence that this impact is driven primarily by the press disseminating the information more broadly, rather than by the creation of new content that helps investors understand the implications of accounting information. Our results suggest that the business press plays an important role in facilitating the …

Individual Characteristics And The Disposition Effect: The Opposing Effects Of Confidence And Self-Regard, Kathryn Kadous, William B. Tayler, Jane M. Thayer, Donald Young

Faculty Publications

We conduct two experiments to examine potential causes of the disposition effect. In Experiment 1, we rule out beliefs in mean reversion as a cause of the disposition effect. Although a belief in the mean reversion of stock prices should be independent of whether an investor owns or only follows the stock, we show only investors who own the stock behave as though prices will reverse. In Experiment 2, participants buy and sell securities over multiple periods. We find that self-regard and investing confidence (two types of self-esteem) have opposing influences on investors’ tendency to hold losing investments. Investors with …

The Determinants And Consequences Of Information Acquisition Via Edg, Michael S. Drake, Darren T. Roulstone, Jacob Thornock

Faculty Publications

Using a novel dataset that tracks all web traffic on the SEC’s EDGAR servers from 2008-2011, we examine the determinants and capital market consequences of investor information acquisition of SEC filings. The average user employs the database very few times per quarter and most users target specific filing types such as periodic accounting reports; a small subset of users employ EDGAR almost daily and access many filings. EDGAR activity is positively related with corporate events (particularly restatements, earnings announcements, and acquisition announcements), poor stock performance, and the strength of a firm’s information environment. EDGAR activity is related to, but distinct …

Trust And Financial Reporting Quality, Jace Garrett, Rani Hoitash, Douglas F. Prawitt

Faculty Publications

Using unique survey data from Great Place to Work R Institute, we investigate the association of intraorganizational trust (i.e., employees’ trust in management) with three aspects of financial reporting: accruals quality, misstatements, and internal control quality. We find that trust is associated with better accrual quality, lower likelihood of financial statement misstatements, and lower likelihood of internal control material weakness disclosures. However, these effects are not uniform across all companies. Consistent with trust improving financial reporting quality through improved information production and information sharing, we find that trust is significantly associated with financial reporting quality in relatively decentralized firms, but …

Cash And Internal Controls For Sda Organizations, Annetta M. Gibson

Faculty Publications

Presentation for Treasurers, Euro-Asia Division, Jul17, 2013

An Introduction To Fund Accounting, Annetta M. Gibson

Faculty Publications

Presentation for treasurers, Euro-Asia Division, July 16, 2013

Accounting For Agricultural Products: Us Versus Ifrs Gaap, Treba Marsh, Mary Fischer

Faculty Publications

Currently there is a mix of accounting guidance for agriculture producers in the US that is both GAAP including Accounting Statement Codification 905 and non-GAAP financial guidelines. Should the US adopt International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), this guidance would be replaced with International Accounting Standard (IAS) 41 – Agriculture.

This study identifies systematic differences between the US and International accounting and reporting for agricultural assets and products. The study also finds that international and US agricultural accounting recognition and reporting guidance result in dissimilar reporting due to guidance interpretation. Valuation variances and definition differences including the requirement to change the …

Enterprise Risk Management In The Oil And Gas Industry: An Analysis Of Selected Fortune 500 Oil And Gas Companies Reaction In 2009 And 2010, Violet C. Rogers, Jack R. Ethridge

Faculty Publications

In 2009, four of the top ten Fortune 500 companies were classified within the oil and gas industry. Organizations of this size typically have an advanced Enterprise Risk Management system in place to mitigate risk and to achieve their corporations' objectives. The companies and the article utilize the Enterprise Risk Management Integrated Framework developed by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations (COSO) as a guide to organize their risk management and reporting. The authors used the framework to analyze reporting years 2009 and 2010 for Fortune 500 oil and gas companies. After gathering and examining information from 2009 and 2010 annual …

Transfer Pricing In A Global Economy, Jin Ulmer, Jack Ethridge, Treba Marsh

Faculty Publications

In September 2006, the Internal Revenue Service and GlaxoSmithKline entered into an agreement to settle transfer pricing disputes covering the years 1989 to 2005. The $5.2 billion agreement, whereby Glaxo paid $3.4 billion in back taxes plus dropped a claim for a $1.8 billion tax refund, was the largest settlement in IRS history.

Attitudes Of Students And Practitioners Regarding Ethical Acceptability Of Accounting Transactions, Mary Fischer, Treba Marsh, George L. Hunt

Faculty Publications

This study reports the findings of a study assessing the acceptability differences in decisions made by Certified Public Accounting practitioners (CPA) and students studying to become CPAs. The study responds to researchers’ call for additional research on topics related to accounting decision ethics. Modified managerial and accounting recognition scenarios were used to collect the acceptability of ethical judgments. The analysis employs factor analysis to affirm whether the scenarios are mana­gerial or accounting recognition decisions. The analyses further divides the managerial decisions into either revenue or expense related. The accounting recognition decisions are further divided into those involving an accounting manipulation …

A Descriptive Study Of Factors Associated With The Internal Audit Function Having An Impact: Comparisons Between Organizations In A Developed And An Emerging Economy, Audrey A. Gramling, Irem Nuhoglu, David A. Wood

Faculty Publications

An internal audit function (IAF) should positively impact financial reporting and governance, and add value to its organization. We provide evidence on IAF factors (i.e., characteristics, activities, work areas) associated with these types of impact and whether these factors, and their influence on various impacts, differ between a developed and an emerging economy (i.e., US, Turkey). Factors positively associated with financial reporting in the US are assurance activities, control work, and competence; in Turkey, significant factors are governance work and competence. For governance, we find that the factors positively associated with it in the US include assurance activities, governance work, …

Managers’ Discretionary Adjustments: The Influence Of Uncontrollable Events And Compensation Interdependence, Jasmijn C. Bol, Gary Hecht, Steven D. Smith

Faculty Publications

Discretionary bonus adjustments allow managers to restore the alignment of employee effort and compensation when bonus amounts are based on noisy objective performance measures. The implications of discretionary adjustments for employees' future efforts and fairness perceptions present important trade-offs for managers to consider. Adjustments may be used to motivate different types of effort in future periods, but may also create perceptions of unfairness among employees who are not affected by negative events. This study examines the joint influence of the likelihood of future negative uncontrollable events and compensation interdependence (i.e., the extent to which one employee's compensation influences others' compensation) …

The Effects Of Dividend Taxation On Short Selling And Market Quality, Jacob Thornock

Faculty Publications

This study examines the effects of dividend taxation on the primary parties involved in a short sale: the lender of the stock and the short seller. For stock lenders, dividend taxation is associated with a decrease in the supply of shortable shares and an increase in equity lending fees around the dividend record date. For short sellers, potential reimbursement costs are associated with a significant decrease in short volume before the ex-dividend date followed by a significant increase after the ex-date. Prior research shows that short selling improves price efficiency and formation. Hence, because of the negative effects of taxation …

Can Short Restrictions Actually Increase Informed Short Selling?, Adam C. Kolasinski, Adam Reed, Jacob Thornock

Faculty Publications

We use the 2008 short selling regulations to test whether short sale restrictions can increase informed short selling. For the preborrow requirement, we find more negative price reactions to short interest announcements though no reliable increase in the price impact of short sales volume. For the stocks with banned short sales, we find an increase in the price impact of short sale volume though no reliable change in the price reaction to short interest announcements. Both restrictions, however, are associated with increased informed trading. Our results suggest that short restrictions will not reduce informed short selling and may actually result …

Enhancing Auditor Professional Skepticism: The Professional Skepticism Continuum, Steven M. Glover, Douglas F. Prawitt

Faculty Publications

The Standards Working Group (SWG) of the Global Public Policy Committee of the six largest global accounting networks is committed to improving the quality of financial statement audits and as such has a keen interest in advancing the understanding and application of professional skepticism. The SWG accordingly commissioned leading academics to produce this thought leadership paper. The purpose of the paper is to facilitate an ongoing discussion between the profession, standard setters, regulators, investors, audit committees, and other interested stakeholders. While the SWG believes this paper accomplishes that objective, not all of the views expressed in this paper necessarily represent …

Acquirer Valuation And Acquisition Decisions: Identifying Mispricing Using Short Interest, Itzhak Ben-David, Michael S. Drake, Darren T. Roulstone

Faculty Publications

We use short interest as an investor-based measure of over/undervaluation that distinguishes between the misvaluation and Q-theories of mergers. Using this measure, we find that misvaluation is a strong determinant of merger decision making. Firms in the top quintile of short interest are 54% more likely to engage in stock acquisitions and 22% less likely to engage in cash acquisitions. Stock (but not cash) acquirers have higher short interest than their targets. Overall, our results suggest that the previously documented underperformance of stock acquirers and the overperformance of cash acquirers can be explained by misvaluation, as captured by short interest.

Towards An Understanding Of The Role Of Standard Setters In Standard Setting, Abigail Allen, Karthik Ramanna

Faculty Publications

We investigate the effect of standard setters in standard setting. We examine how  certain professional and political characteristics of FASB members and SEC commissioners predict the accounting ‘‘reliability’’ and ‘‘relevance’’ of proposed standards. Notably, we find FASB members with backgrounds in financial services are more likely to propose standards that decrease ‘‘reliability’’ and increase ‘‘relevance,’’ partly due to their tendency to propose fair-value methods. We find opposite results for FASB members affiliated with the Democratic Party, although only when excluding financial services background as an independent variable. Jackknife procedures show that results are robust to omitting any individual standard setter.

Factors Associated With Price Reactions And Analysts’ Forecast Revisions Around Sec Filings, Theodore E. Christensen, William G. Heninger, Earl K. Stice

Faculty Publications

We investigate the extent to which rapid accessibility of financial reports filed electronically through the Securities and Exchange Commission’s EDGAR system has affected the ability of investors and security analysts to use accounting data in pricing decisions and forecasting. Consistent with prior research, we find evidence confirming that stock price reactions to SEC filings are significant in the EDGAR period but not the pre-EDGAR period. We also find significant revisions in analysts’ one-quarter-ahead earnings forecasts around SEC filings dates in both the pre-EDGAR and EDGAR periods. The price and forecast revision evidence indicates that financial analysts have used SEC filings …

Exploring The Role Delaware Plays As A Domestic Tax Haven, Scott D. Dyreng, Bradley P. Lindsey, Jacob Thornock

Faculty Publications

We examine whether Delaware is a domestic tax haven. We find that taxes play an economically important role in determining whether U.S. firms locate subsidiaries in Delaware and that a Delaware-based state tax avoidance strategy lowers state effective tax rates by between 0.7 and 1.1 percentage points, on average. The tax savings represent a 15–24% decrease in the state income tax burden and translate to an increase in net income of 1.04–1.47%. However, we find that the tax benefits of Delaware tax strategies are diminishing over time in response to initiatives by state governments to limit multistate tax avoidance.

Journal Of Public Budgeting, Accounting And Financial Management [Abstract], Mary Fischer, Treba Marsh

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Accounting And Reporting Convergence [Abstract], Mary Fischer, Treba Marsh

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.