Accounting Law Commons^™

Does The Tax Law Discriminate Against The Majority Of American Children: The Downside Of Our Progressive Rate Structure And Unbalanced Incentives For Higher Education?, Lester B. Snyder

University of San Diego Law and Economics Research Paper Series

Our graduate income tax structure provides an incentive to shift income to lower-bracket family members. However, some parents have much more latitude to shift income to their children than do others. Income derived from services and private business-by far the majority of American income-is less favored than income derived from publicly traded securities. The rationale given for this discrimination is that parents in services or private business, as opposed to those in securities, do not actually part with control of their property. This article explores these tax broader (yet subtle) tax benefits and their impact on the majority of children …

Expensing Isn't The Only Option: Alternatives To The Fasb's Stock Option Expensing Proposal, Benjamin A. Templin

ExpressO

This paper reviews the arguments for and against the Financial Accounting Standard Board's (FASB) proposal to require that corporations expense options. It identifies two major goals of the proposed rule -- 1) clarity in financial statements and 2) a reduction of corporate fraud by removing the incentive of options. To address these two goals, I adopt a framework of Information Reforms v. Rules of the Game Reforms. The article starts with a history of FASB Statement No. 123 Accounting for Stock-based Compensation and also analyzes the Congressional legislation that attempts to block the measure, the Stock Option Accounting Reform Act. …

The Toothless Watchdog: Corporate Fraud And The Independent Audit - How Can The Public's Confidence Be Restored?, David F. Birke

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Comparisons Among Firms: (When) Do They Justify Mandatory Disclosure?, Sharon Hannes

ExpressO

Comparisons among firms play a major role in securities analysis. This essay asks if this fact justifies the mandatory nature of securities regulation. Once a firm approaches the public securities markets, federal securities regulations compel it to disclose financial information to the public. A seminal theory argues that firms would not otherwise commit to maintain optimal disclosure levels, since a disclosing firm bears all disclosure costs but does not gain all disclosure benefits.

This paper examines the robustness of this argument in relation to disclosure benefits which arise from comparisons among firms. Financial data of peer firms allows shareholders to …

Counting The Cash: Disclosure And Cash Balance Plans, 37 J. Marshall L. Rev. 849 (2004), Dana M. Muir

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Keeping Employees' Trust: The Rocky Road Ahead For Pension Plan Trustees, 37 J. Marshall L. Rev. 903 (2004), Nikolay A. Ouzounov

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Proportionate Liability Under The Cbca In The Context Of Recent Corporate Governance Reform: Canadian Auditors In The Wrong Place At The Wrong Time?, Poonam Puri, Stephanie Ben-Ishai

Articles & Book Chapters

In the recent Canada Business Corporations Act' amendments implementing a proportionate liability scheme, auditors appear to be winners. This is consistent with the trend in the past several years as a result of which Canadian auditors have been successful in narrowing the scope of their liability both through legislation and through common law. Going forward, however, it is fair to say that auditors will be losers unless the accounting profession re-evaluates its role and responsibilities to its stakeholders. Given the accounting and corporate governance scandals North America has witnessed in the past few years, as well as the actual and …

Was Arthur Andersen Different? An Empirical Examination Of Major Accounting Firm Audits Of Large Clients, Theodore Eisenberg, Jonathan R. Macey

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Enron and other corporate financial scandals focused attention on the accounting industry in general and on Arthur Andersen in particular. Part of the policy response to Enron, the criminal prosecution of Andersen eliminated one of the few major audit firms capable of auditing many large public corporations. This article explores whether Andersen's performance, as measured by frequency of financial restatements, measurably differed from that of other large auditors. Financial restatements trigger significant negative market reactions and their frequency can be viewed as a measure of accounting performance. We analyze the financial restatement activity of approximately 1,000 large public firms from …

Rules, Principles, And The Accounting Crisis In The United States, William W. Bratton

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Securities Exchange Commission move too quickly when they prod the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the standard setter for US GAAP, to move immediately to a principles-based system. Priorities respecting reform of corporate reporting in the US need to be ordered more carefully. Incentive problems impairing audit performance should be solved first through institutional reform insulating the audit from the negative impact of rent-seeking and solving adverse selection problems otherwise affecting audit practice. So long as auditor independence and management incentives respecting accounting treatments remain suspect, the US reporting system holds out no actor plausibly positioned …

Observations On The Role Of Commodification, Indpendence, And Governance In The Accounting Industry, Jonathan Macey, Hillary A. Sale

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Enron, Titanic, And The Perfect Storm, Nancy B. Rapoport

Scholarly Works

This article explores the contention of Jeffrey Skilling, former Enron CEO, that Enron's debacle was due to a perfect storm of events. It rejects his contention, arguing instead that Enron's downfall was more like Titanic's - hubris and an over-reliance on checks and balances led to Enron's downfall. The article then explores how character (especially of those at the top of an organization) can lead to Enron-like disasters, and discusses how cognitive dissonance can lead to very smart people making very stupid decisions. It ends with some musings about how lawyers can learn from Enron.

Proportionate Liability Under The Cbca In The Context Of Recent Corporate Governance Reform: Canadian Auditors In The Wrong Place At The Wrong Time?, Poonam Puri, Stephanie Ben-Ishai

Articles & Book Chapters

In the recent Canada Business Corporations Act amendments implementing a proportionate liability scheme, auditors appear to be winners. This is consistent with the trend in the past several years as a result of which Canadian auditors have been successful in narrowing the scope of their liability both through legislation and through common law. Going forward, however, it is fair to say that auditors will be losers unless the accounting profession re-evaluates its role and responsibilities to its stakeholders. Given the accounting and corporate governance scandals North America has witnessed in the past few years, as well as the actual and …

Is Silence Golden When It Comes To Auditing?, 36 J. Marshall L. Rev. 57 (2002), Darin Bartholomew

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Customary International Law And State Taxation Of Corporate Income: The Case For The Separate Accounting Method, Chantal Thomas

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Flying Solo - Ethical Traps And Tips For The Solo And Small Practitioner, Oregon Law Institute, Allen E. Gardner, Peter R. Jarvis, Scott Mcarthur, Bradley F. Tellam, Michael A. Greene, Helen T. Dziuba

Oregon Law Institute, 1995

Course Materials from the October 27, 1995 Program in Portland

China's New Vat System, 28 J. Marshall L. Rev. 619 (1995), Xiangyuan Jiang, Jack Huang

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Accounting And The New Corporate Law, Joel Seligman

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Thoughts Evoked By "Accounting And The New Corporate Law", Ted J. Fiflis

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Accounting For Mergers, Acquisitions And Investments, In A Nutshell: The Interrelationships Of, And Criteria For, Purchase Or Pooling, The Equity Method, And Parent-Company-Only And Consolidated Statements, Ted J. Fiflis

Publications

No abstract provided.

Accounting And Accountability: Overview Of The Accounting Provisions Of The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Of 1977, Thomas E. Baker

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Eliminating The Capital Gains Preference. Part Ii: The Problem Of Corporate Taxation, Michael J. Waggoner

Publications

No abstract provided.

Eliminating The Capital Gains Preference. Part I: The Problems Of Inflation, Bunching And Lock-In, Michael J. Waggoner

Publications

No abstract provided.

Income Tax Allocations And Dividends Under The Model Business Corporation Act, Michael D. O'Keefe

Washington Law Review

Modern dividend statutes, as exemplified by the Model Business Corporation Act, have incorporated many accounting terms. For aid in the complex process of construing such statutes, the courts and commentators have turned to generally accepted accounting principles. Although accounting principles may be helpful in statutory interpretation, they are not determinative. The accounting attitude toward a transaction must still be correlated with the dividend policies inherent in the statute.

Income Tax Allocations And Dividends Under The Model Business Corporation Act, Michael D. O'Keefe

Washington Law Review

Modern dividend statutes, as exemplified by the Model Business Corporation Act, have incorporated many accounting terms. For aid in the complex process of construing such statutes, the courts and commentators have turned to generally accepted accounting principles. Although accounting principles may be helpful in statutory interpretation, they are not determinative. The accounting attitude toward a transaction must still be correlated with the dividend policies inherent in the statute.

Section 341(D) And (E)- A Journey Into Never-Never Land, William M. Goldstein

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Federal Tax Aspects Of Non-Profit Organizations, Marcus Schoenfeld

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Trusts - The Fiduciary Aspects Of Estate Corporations, John P. Williams S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

It is the purpose of this comment to examine the existing law with regard to estate corporations, in the hope of providing a guide for persons contemplating contact with them.

Book Reviews, Alfred Conrad, Daniel J. Boorstin, Charles C. Callahan, Arnold C. Rood, Robert R. Wilson, Ella Cooper Thomas, I. Maurice Wormser, Louis Prashker, Cornelius J. Moynihan

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.