Accounting Law Commons^™

An Austrian Approach To Accounting Regulation: How Policy Intervention Distorts The Market For Assurance Services, Kyan Howe

Student Scholarship

This thesis applies the causal-realist method of the Austrian School of Economics to the market for assurance services in the United States. The central argument is that post-crisis accounting regulation has systematically distorted the incentive structures of independent public accounting firms in ways regulators do not predict and cannot fully control. Financial crises, properly understood through Austrian Business Cycle Theory, originate in monetary distortions rather than market failure. Post-crisis regulatory responses nonetheless target the profession rather than the underlying distortion, introducing rules that alter the institutional constraints within which auditors exercise professional judgment.

The thesis develops a judgment-based equation of …

Crypto Money Laundering, Jiaying Jiang

UF Law Faculty Publications

The crypto ecosystem has become a new frontier for money laundering, with criminals exploiting its anonymous and pseudonymous features. This Article explores how money laundering operates in the crypto space and highlights emerging trends. It then examines the existing legal and regulatory framework and argues that its core weakness lies in its reliance on trusted intermediaries. This approach conflicts with the philosophy that shaped the emergence of the crypto industry-one grounded in disintermediation and decentralized trust. To address this tension, this Article demystifies decentralization, showing that it is not a binary condition but instead exists on a spectrum. Across the …

Liability For Non-Disclosure In Ipos, Albert H. Choi, Kathryn E. Spier

Articles

A privately-informed entrepreneur may withhold material information from prospective investors who may sue the firm ex post for (alleged) non-disclosure. Absent liability, the entrepreneur has an excessive incentive to withhold bad news and pursue socially-wasteful projects. Liability deters inefficient non- disclosure and prevents capital misallocation. Any damage award received by investors is partially offset by a reduction in equity value. Depending on the likelihood of court error and litigation cost, the socially-optimal damage award may be either zero or the minimum necessary for full deterrence. The private incentive to waive liability may be socially excessive or insufficient. Positive and normative …

Ai Governance And Algorithmic Auditing In Financial Institutions: Lessons From Singapore, Nydia Remolina Leon

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This paper examines the role of algorithmic auditing as a mechanism for responsible AI development and deployment in the financial sector, with a particular focus on Singapore’s regulatory and institutional initiatives. Against the backdrop of fragmented global artificial intelligence (AI) governance frameworks, the study analyses how Singapore has developed operational tools — such as the Veritas Toolkit, AI Verify, Project Moonshot and Project Mindforge — that go beyond abstract ethical principles to provide measurable, use-case-specific standards for auditing AI systems. These initiatives contribute to standardising audit practices, enhancing transparency and bridging trust gaps between financial institutions, regulators and stakeholders. The …

Industry Peer Information And The Equity Valuation Accuracy Of Firms Emerging From Chapter 11, Bingxu Fang, Sasan Saiy, Dushyantkumar Vyas

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Valuation plays a central role in determining Chapter 11 reorganization outcomes. However, obtaining accurate valuation estimates of reorganized firms is challenging because of limited firm-specific market-based information and the oft-conflicting incentives of claimholders. We examine the role of industry peer information in reducing misvaluations and its implications for unintended interclaimant wealth transfers and postreorganization performance. First, we find that the availability of relevant industry peer information is negatively associated with equity valuation errors for firms emerging from Chapter 11. Cross-sectional results suggest that the relation between industry peer information and valuation errors varies substantially with debtors’ information environment and case …

Can Whistleblowing Improve Organizational Effectiveness? Evidence From Financial Reporting Misconduct, Hong Kim Duong, Sadok El Ghoul, Omrane Guedhami, Emmanuel Sequeira, Zuobao Wei

Accounting Faculty Publications

Background

While whistleblowing (WB) has attracted growing research interest in recent years, several critical WB-related issues remain underexplored.

Purpose

This study examines the impact of external WB allegations on a firm’s organizational capital (OC). Such allegations often indicate management’s failure to address employee concerns internally, spotlighting potential deficiencies in internal reporting systems, employee communication, training, and trust in organizational fairness. To mitigate reputational damage, restore employee trust, and prevent future incidents, we posit that WB firms respond by increasing OC investment.

Research design

We employ a difference-in-differences approach, comparing OC changes in WB-targeted firms with those in a propensity score-matched …

Regulatory Sandboxes: One Decade On, Hilary J. Allen

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Regulatory sandboxes have spread like wildfire since the U.K Financial Conduct Authority launched its sandbox for financial technology businesses (fintech) one decade ago. Despite widespread adoption, however, there is little empirical evidence available to assess whether the signature sandbox policy com- bination of regulatory rollbacks and regulatory guidance is in fact good policy. The empirical evidence that is available suggests that regulatory sandboxes are beneficial for the tech firms that participate in them, but tells us nothing about how regulatory sandboxes have impacted the broader enterprise of regulation, or whether the innovation generated by sandbox participants is beneficial for any- …

The Historical Evolution Of Corporate Social Responsibility: A Foreword To The Eli Guidance, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Other Publications

This issue includes the “ELI Report on Company Capital and Financial Accounting for Corporate Sustainability” and accompanying studies, including Anne Le Manh, https://doi.org/10.1515/ael-2021-0041, “Accounting Policies and Dividend Limitation: A European Comparison”, and country reports from Germany, Italy, France, Croatia, Japan, and the UK. The focus of the Report is on environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations, which “concern broad matters pointing to the sustainable and responsible long-term relationship of companies with stakeholders, society and nature … In this context, an important and timely debate is ongoing as to how companies could and should be sustainable and responsible for the benefit …

Trusting What You Can’T See: Audit Oversight And The Pcaob, J. Robert Brown Jr.

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

The paper discusses steps that the PCAOB needs to take to improve audit quality and investor trust in audits. This includes a different approach to standard setting, including a reduction in the use of requirements that are entirely principles based. The approach should also address more explicitly address the conflict between audit quality and commercial interests.

The focus of inspections needs to shift away from a primary emphasis on deficiencies to actual improvements in the quality of financial disclosure. In part this means inspecting audits of issuers that have a higher risk of fraud or GAAP violations and, in selecting …

The Untold Tale Of A Tax Rulings Haven, Leandra Lederman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

When the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) broke the “LuxLeaks” scandal, it revealed hundreds of billions of dollars in secret deals granted by the small country of Luxembourg to large multinational companies such as Apple, Disney, and Pepsi. These sweetheart deals, in the form of Luxembourg tax rulings, allowed many name-brand companies to dodge huge amounts of tax that would otherwise be due to the U.S. or other countries. Surprisingly, a tiny tax agency had produced thousands of tax rulings in the course of a few years.
This Article makes three major contributions. First, it explores where Luxembourg’s informal …

Taxation And Corporate Governance, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Ariel Siman

Law & Economics Working Papers

In recent years, legal and economic research has shown a growing interest in the interaction between corporate governance and taxation. Some specific aspects have drawn more interest, particularly the tax rules related to the remuneration of directors, measures taken by management in the context of market for corporate control, and the double taxation of inter-corporate dividends. However, there is still little legal literature on many other aspects of the interplay between the two systems, and several authors have identified this gap in the literature and the dire need for further study in this “fertile area of research.” The aim of …

Criminal Recordkeeping, Andrew K. Jennings

Faculty Articles

Business managers must create and keep records for decision-making. Yet doing so presents an obvious problem for those who manage illegal businesses: their records would make for powerful evidence in the hands of prosecutors. That problem raises a question—why would one knowingly create and keep such records when their mere existence risks detection and sanction? The answer, in short, is that the interaction of illicit activity’s complexity and continuity compels recordkeeping. A business, including a criminal one, cannot be managed without adequate information about its operations, obligations, and condition. Just how complex and long-lived its affairs are will drive the …

Brief Of Amicus Curiae Tax Professors In Support Of Respondent In Moore V. United States, Donald B. Tobin, Ellen P. Aprill

Faculty Scholarship

Petitioners in Moore v. United States have argued to the Supreme Court that the word “incomes” in the Sixteenth Amendment authorizes only the taxation of “realized” income. Thus, they assert, a repatriation tax (referred to as MRT) in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is invalid because it taxes unrealized gains. While other briefs in the case explain that, as properly understood, the tax at issue taxes only realized gains, this brief counters the petitioners’ Sixteenth Amendment argument. It explains that economists, accountants, and lawyers in the early twentieth century all defined income in broad terms, embracing the definition of …

The Sec Revolving Door And Comment Letters, Michael Shen, Samuel T. Tan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Government officials, advocacy groups, and the business press have raised concerns that former SEC employees may continue to influence the SEC after leaving the agency. Using hand-collected data on the characteristics of 1,384 lawyers who represented firms in responding to SEC comment letters between 2005 and 2016, we examine the impact of post-revolving SEC employees on the SEC comment letter process. Among other determinants, we find that older and larger firms with a history of litigation are more likely to hire former SEC lawyers over non-SEC lawyers. Relative to firms that involve only non-SEC lawyers, we find that firms that …

The Historical Origins Of The Multilateral Tax Convention, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Eran Lempert

Law & Economics Working Papers

This paper will survey the efforts to create a multilateral tax convention (MTC) from the beginnings of the international tax regime to the present day. The paper’s main contribution is to provide a historical analysis of the (failed) efforts to create a MTC from the beginnings of the ITR until the League of Nations (as contained in Part 1 to this paper). Part 2 of the paper serves to provide a brief modern context to the historical analysis from Part 1, covering why the multilateral instrument (MLI) that was included in BEPS 1.0 is not a true MTC, and secondly …

A New Framework For Taxing Cryptocurrencies, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Mohanad Salaimi

Articles

This Article explores the tax law challenges associated with the taxation of cryptocurrencies and offers proposals to address such challenges. The Article addresses the proper tax treatment of different cryptocurrency transactions and activities. It examines various aspects associated with the taxation of cryptocurrency through its life cycle, starting from earning cryptocurrency, through its disposal or exchange. The Article also examines the tax treatment of two special crypto events, hard forks and airdrops. Specifically, this Article describes a proposal to tax cryptocurrencies based on their unique features. It argues that various ways of earning or receiving crypto tokens (for example, mining …

Green, Or Greed? A Fresh Perspective On The Valuation Of Conservation Easements, Alan L. Feld, Jacob Nielson, Theodore S. Sims

Faculty Scholarship

Charitable contributions of "conservation easements" have since 1980 allowed high-income taxpayers to shelter income from taxation through overvalued deductions. Overvaluation has increased dramatically in the past 20 years: a 2016 study of all easement decisions since 1980 reported that while overvaluation had averaged by a factor of two before 1994, it averaged by a factor of ten for decisions between 1994 and 2016. SOI data disclose that aggregate easement contributions deducted on Schedule A grew from $2.26 billion in 2015 to $6.5 billion in 2018 (the most recent year available). A recent report by supporters of conservation easements acknowledges that …

Raw And Pure Education In The Society, Iwasan D. Kejawa

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

What does education mean to individuals in the world today? Education is a way one can attain or improve his or her ability to lead and survive in the society of ours. Without educational training of the mind, it may be impossible to realize the importance of adaptability of living in the environment. Without education, It may also be difficult to embellish the use of both the mental and physical attributes possessed by individual beings.

What really is education? Education is the training of the mind to perform desire functions or to perpetuate the modality of obtaining an end or …

Addressing The Auditor Independence Puzzle: Regulatory Models And Proposal For Reform, Martin Gelter, Aurelio Gurrea-Martinez

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Auditors play a major role in corporate governance and capital markets. Ex ante, auditors facilitate firms’ access to finance by fostering trust among public investors. Ex post, auditors can prevent misbehavior and financial fraud by corporate insiders. In order to fulfill these goals, however, in addition to having the adequate knowledge and expertise, auditors must perform their functions in an independent manner. Unfortunately, auditors are subject to conflicts of interest by, for example, providing non-audit services or the mere fact of being hired and paid by the audited company. Therefore, even if auditors act independently, investors have reason to think …

Australian National Audit Office: Evaluating Australian Army Program Performance, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) evaluates the management and financial performance of Australian government programs for the Australian Parliament, Australian government agencies, Australian taxpayers, and individuals interested in the performance of these programs globally. This article examines how ANAO has examined the performance of Australian Army programs and strengths and weaknesses found in these programs while recommending changes to improve program performance. It also examines how government agencies and corporations which have been the subject of ANAO analyses have reacted to ANAO findings. This assessment also examines how Plan B (the possibility that Australia might have to rely less …

Obduskey V. Mccarthey & Holthus Llp: Declining To Distinguish Between Judicial And Non-Judicial Foreclosure In Furtherance Of The Fdcpa’S Mission, Moshe Y. Gugenheim

Proxy

No abstract provided.

Law School News: Throw Out The Old Thinking 9-30-2019, Michael M. Bowden

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

The Professor Anthony J. Santoro Business Law Lecture Series Presents Becoming A Valued Business Lawyer, Roger Williams University School Of Law, Michael M. Bowden

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.

Regulating Offshore Finance, William J. Moon

Faculty Scholarship

From the Panama Papers to the Paradise Papers, massive document leaks in recent years have exposed trillions of dollars hidden in small offshore jurisdictions. Attracting foreign capital with low tax rates and environments of secrecy, a growing number of offshore jurisdictions have emerged as major financial havens hosting thousands of hedge funds, trusts, banks, and insurance companies.

While the prevailing account has examined offshore financial havens as “tax havens” that facilitate the evasion or avoidance of domestic tax, this Article uncovers how offshore jurisdictions enable corporations to evade domestic regulatory law. Specifically, recent U.S. Supreme Court cases restricting the geographic …

The Promises And Perils Of Using Big Data To Regulate Nonprofits, Lloyd Histoshi Mayer

Journal Articles

For the optimist, government use of “Big Data” involves the careful collection of information from numerous sources. The government then engages in expert analysis of those data to reveal previously undiscovered patterns. Discovering patterns revolutionizes the regulation of criminal behavior, education, health care, and many other areas. For the pessimist, government use of Big Data involves the haphazard seizure of information to generate massive databases. Those databases render privacy an illusion and result in arbitrary and discriminatory computer-generated decisions. The reality is, of course, more complicated. On one hand, government use of Big Data may lead to greater efficiency, effectiveness, …

Symposium: The Future Of The New International Tax Regime, Rosanne Altshuler, Fadi Shaheen, Jeffrey Colon, Michael Graetz, Rebecca Kysar, Susan Morse, Daniel Shaviro, Richard Phillips, Daniel Rolfes, Daniel Rosenbloom, Stephen Shay, Steven Dean

Faculty Scholarship

The symposium was held at Fordham University School of Law on October 26, 2018. It has been edited to remove minor cadences of speech that appear awkward in writing and to provide sources and references to other explanatory materials in respect to certain statements made by the speakers.

Individual Lawyers, The Sec Revolving Door, And Comment Letters, Michael Shen, Samuel T. Tan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Government officials, advocacy groups, and the business press have raised concerns that former SEC employees may continue to influence the SEC after leaving the agency. Using a hand-collected database of individual lawyers that represent firms in responding to SEC comment letters, we examine the impact of individual lawyers, and lawyers formerly employed by the SEC, on the comment letter process. We document significant differences between lawyers and law firms in their clients’ resistance to SEC comment letters, and find that firms that retain former SEC employees are larger, more profitable, and more likely to have received a comment letter raising …

Accounting Choices And The Legal Environment: The Impact Of The Ex Post Loss Rule, Teck Meng Junior Tan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Using a landmark Supreme Court decision as a natural experiment, I examine the impact of a fundamental requirement in securities litigation, the ex post loss rule, on income-decreasing accounting choices. Dura Pharmaceuticals v. Broudo (2005) established that plaintiffs must show that the alleged misrepresentations caused an actual economic loss. The case resolved a circuit split, allowing me to identify a treatment jurisdiction affected by Dura, and control jurisdictions in which the rule was already the prevailing legal standard. Motivated by legal analyses suggesting that Dura incentivizes firms to delay negative corrections, I hypothesize and find that treatment firms in high-litigation …

Shareholder Litigation And Corporate Disclosure: Evidence From Derivative Lawsuits, Thomas Bourveau, Yun Lou, Rencheng Wang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Using the staggered adoption of universal demand (UD) laws in the United States, we study the effect of shareholder litigation risk on corporate disclosure. We find that disclosure significantly increases after UD laws make it more difficult to file derivative lawsuits. Specifically, firms issue more earnings forecasts and voluntary 8-K filings, and increase the length of management discussion and analysis (MD&A) in their 10-K filings. We further assess the direct and indirect channels through which UD laws affect firms' disclosure policies. We find that the effect of UD laws on corporate disclosure is driven by firms facing relatively higher ex …

The Emerging International Taxation Problems, James G. Yang, Victor N.A. Metallo

Department of Accounting and Finance Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The problems of tax evasion and tax avoidance are as old as taxes themselves. Between 2015 and 2016 alone, many U.S. multinational corporations were involved in tax disputes with the European Commission. From a historical perspective, these disputes are unprecedented as they have resulted in tremendous amount of tax penalties. The most notable case was Apple for €13 billion of unpaid tax. This article discusses what tax strategies these corporations used that caused such disputes. It specifically investigates seven corporations: Apple Inc., McDonald’s, Starbucks, Fiat, Amazon, Google, and Ikea, and elaborates on the following tax strategies: high royalties, intercompany transfer …