A Gap Analysis of a CPA Tax Service and the Implications for Enhancing Service Quality

ABSTRACT

Certified Public Accounting (CPA) firms are “pure” services where the customer is buying the knowledge and expertise of the accounting professional. Marketing the “expertise” of certified public accounting firms is challenging because the client's expected and perceived levels of service quality is not clearly understood. This article presents a service blueprint of an income tax service and highlights potential failure points that can impact process and outcome qualities. Some recommendations are made for improving the tax service to achieve higher levels of service quality.     

论注册会计师的“四种力”

注册会计师在会计管理乃至整个社会经济体系中占据重要位置、具有重要作用。在会计造假成为公害、会计信息失真成为常态的国际丑闻势头不断、不减的情况下,注册会计师更要重塑信以立志、信以守身、信以处世、信以待人,毋意立信,当必有成的做人原则和公平、诚信、廉洁、勤奋的道德标准,积极培养和有效发展具有带领和影响社会各阶层、各方面人员打假维权、求真务实的领导力、执行力、服务力与和合力,以推动包括个人自身、会计本体在内的社会经济又好又快发展和生态平衡。     

会计师事务所规模与审计质量——基于审计意见视角的经验研究

文章利用沪深两市上市公司2007-2008年数据,以审计意见类型作为审计质量的替代变量,并分别以业务收入、CPA人数和从业人员人数来衡量事务所规模,检验事务所规模与审计质量之间的关系。结果发现,无论采用何种方法度量事务所规模,其与审计质量之间均未表现出显著的正向关系。进一步的研究发现,事务所规模与审计质量之间大体上呈倒U相似文献   

Ethics and self-regulation for CPAs in the U.S.A.

This paper explores three questions: (1) Why should Certified Public Accountants (CPAs), as a group, adhere to their code of ethics? (2) Why should an individual CPA adhere to the code? (3) Of what significance are the answers to these questions in regards to possible changes in the accounting curriculum and the CPA profession's present concern for self-regulation through quality control reviews? The paper concludes that all college accounting majors should be required to take an ethics course and that the current quality review program should be mandatory, not voluntary.     

自愿性会计政策变更与非标审计意见的相关性研究——来自1998～2002年深沪上市公司的经验证据

本文以 1 998～ 2 0 0 2年间进行了各种自愿性会计政策变更的上市公司为研究对象 ,考察注册会计师对企业自愿性会计政策变更行为所持的态度 ,并进一步分析导致不同态度的影响因素。结果表明 :利润影响程度、有无盈余管理动机、企业财务状况和审计客户规模是会计师事务所出具非标审计意见的主要考虑因素 ;会计师事务所的规模对非标审计意见的出具并没有显著影响 ,大事务所与小事务所的审计质量并无明显区别。     

论营销理念在我国会计师事务所中的运用

随着我国市场经济的发展 ,市场营销日益受到广泛关注。作为会计服务市场主体的会计师事务所 ,也开始意识到营销的重要性。现阶段我国会计师事务所运用营销思想尚有不足之处 ,分析会计服务市场营销理念的特定内涵 ,即会计师事务所营销的实质就是关系营销 ,通过协调、优化与内外各关系主体的关系 ,调动各种积极力量 ,以确立竞争优势 ,赢得市场先机。     

注册会计师审计与盈余质量关系研究综述

资本市场的发展使得会计盈余的重要性日益凸显,盈余质量反映了企业盈余的优劣程度,是评价公司经营状况的重要指标,如何分析和识别企业盈余的优劣程度是利益相关者所关心的问题。为此本文回顾了注册会计师审计与盈余质量关系研究结论,为以后研究提供了参考。     

Historical perspectives: Development of the codes of ethics in the legal,medical and accounting professions

Members of the legal, medical and accounting professions are guided in their professional behavior by their respective codes of ethics. These codes of ethics are not static. They are ever evolving, responding to forces that are exogenous and endogenous to the professions. Specifically, changes in the ethical codes are often due to economic and social events, governmental influence, and growth and change within the professions. This paper presents an historical analysis of the major events leading to changes in the legal, medical and accounting codes of ethics.Jeanne F. Backof is the Accounting Manager, McDonogh School, Baltimore, Maryland. She is a CPA in Maryland and serves as chairperson of the Maryland Association of CPA's Academic Relations and Members in Education Committees.Charles L. Martin Jr. is Professor of Accounting, Towson State University, Towson, Maryland. He is a CPA in Maryland and has published numerous articles focusing on accounting education, ethical issues in accounting, strategic planning by public accounting firms, and financial auditing.     

刍议我国会计诚信问题

财政部会计信息质量检查结果表明,我国会计诚信问题仍然存在。其原因是会计艺术属性的局限性;委托代理的信息不对称;公司治理结构的缺陷;企业内外部监督不完善。解决我国会计诚信问题,应采取开展会计人员的诚信宣传教育,加强注册会计师行业监督,建立会计人员诚信查询系统等对策。     

我国会计服务市场面临的挑战及其对策

我国加入WTO后,必须开放会计服务市场,以“保证我国与外国合作的事务所和职业人士享受与东道国同行同等的权利”;“消除市场准入的歧视性壁垒”。因此,加入WTO后的中国会计服务市场竞争将会日趋激烈。对此,我们应采取积极对策,例如,健全审计的法律法规制度,尽快与国际审计惯例接轨,提高注册会计师的职业道德和执业水平等措施。     

我国注册会计师行业面临的风险与对策

会计信息的公共信息职能的深入扩散,使注册会计师出具的审计报告成为判断获取会计资料可靠性的依据。注册会计师行业因为执业环境以及执业人员自身缺陷遇到越来越多的风险。应严格会计师市场进入约束,完善事务所退出机制,引导会计师事务所建立、健全内部治理结构,加强与政府监督的结合,提高注册会计师的专业胜任能力,以规避其行业风险。     

Performance evaluation of CPA firms in Taiwan from the perspective of industry-specific client groups

This paper explores the operating efficiency of certified public accounting (CPA) firms from the perspective of industry-specific client groups. The decision making units are 49 partnership CPA firms selected from the database of 2010 Public Accounting Firms Service Investigation Report. This paper integrates three analysis methods: Data envelopment analysis, an independent sample t test, and multiple regression analysis. It aims to offer the operators of CPA firms with a reference for improving operating efficiency. It also identifies important industry-specific client groups for the sustainable operation of the firms, and analyzes the impact of operating efficiency on operating revenue and total revenue. It is believed that the results of this paper could provide decision references for future client relationship management and exploitation of new client groups.     

Measuring the Perceived Quality of Professional Business Services

Professional firms serving business clients are recognizing the need for improved quality services. Unfortunately, measures of professional service quality have proven difficult to develop. This paper reports on the use of SERVQUAL, an instrument commonly used to assess consumer perceptions of service quality. This instrument was employed with a sample of business owners who were asked to rate the quality of service received from their accounting firm. Although several dimensions of the scale proved useful, additional quality related factors emerged from the analysis.     

Determinants of Client Expectations for Accounting Services

Abstract

As the market for accounting services becomes more competitive, accounting service providers must strive to continually improve service quality to attract new clients and retain existing clients. Client expectations provide a benchmark that must be met or exceeded for the client to perceive that high quality services have been delivered (Ades 1988; Aquila and Koltin 1992). Based on a review of accounting and service marketing literature, this paper developed a conceptual model that identified potential determinants of client expectations for accounting services. Hypotheses derived from this model were empirically tested using LISREL on survey data from 196 households.

The results of our analysis indicated that client satisfaction with prior services, prior service quality, word-of-mouth communication, and price were significantly related to accounting firm image. Firm image, in turn, was significantly related to client expectations for future accounting services. Importantly, several variables from the service marketing literature were not supported with our sample of accounting service clients. Hence, these results identify the critical determinants of client expectations for accounting services, provide insight into the expectation formulation process for accounting service clients, and offer guidance to accounting service providers who may wish to influence clients' expectations.     

虚假会计信息成因及其监管的理性思考

对上市公司虚假会计信息的成因及其监管等问题进行了深入的理性思考。认为委托代理制度下所派生的利益不一致是虚假会计信息产生的经济诱因,信息不对称是虚假会计信息产生的客观环境,而会计信息监管中存在的诸多误区是虚假会计信息得以存在的现实基础。进而提出应从完善公司治理机制、推进会计师事务所体制改革、健全民事赔偿机制等方面建立一套有效的监管机制。     

中美两国企业内部控制框架理论和实施的比较分析

许多企业兴衰的例子证明,内部控制的缺失往往导致企业低下的管理水平和扭曲的会计信息,良好的内部控制对于企业改善管理、提高会计信息质量具有重要意义。中美两国企业内部控制框架理论在控制环境、风险评估、控制活动、信息沟通与反馈及监控方面存在差异,我国应借鉴美国的先进经验,如重视财务报表审计和相关内部审计的整合、正确对待CPA追求审计成本效益最大化。     

Consumer rights of the elderly as vulnerable consumers in South Africa: some comparative aspects of the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008

Although consumer protection is not a new concept in South African law, the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 (CPA) now provides for a much more comprehensive and encompassing mechanism to protect consumers. Consumers are protected, not only in the provision of goods and services, the conclusion of contracts but also in the promotion and marketing thereof. The CPA further provides special protection to a particular type of consumer which is the vulnerable consumer and includes elderly consumers. Importantly, and for the first time in the history of South African law, the consumer is provided with eight core fundamental consumer rights. As this contribution is an attempt to provide an interdisciplinary analysis from a legal perspective, identification of what is considered to be an ‘elderly' consumer, needs to be assessed by referring to relevant empirical studies from both an international as well as South African perspective. The focus of this study is on the protection of the elderly as a category of vulnerable consumers in terms of the CPA. The investigation will attempt to show that the elderly is protected in terms of all eight of the fundamental consumer rights within the CPA. Special reference will be made to two fundamental rights of the consumer in terms of the CPA. First, the elderly consumer's right to equality in the consumer market (Part A of the CPA) which provides additional protection as the CPA also refers to the Constitutional right to equality. Second, the elderly consumer's the right to fair and responsible marketing (Part E of the CPA) which in terms of the research is compared with the EU Unfair Commercial Practices Directive. Certain problems regarding elderly consumers are identified and the importance of consumer rights as well as the implementation of the correct consumer policy is argued.     

事务所转制、法律风险与审计质量

文章以我国财政部、工商总局联合推动的会计师事务所向“特殊普通合伙组织形式”转制这一特色事件为契机,基于审计师法律责任的视角,选取2008-2013年我国A股上市公司及其主审会计师事务所为样本,动态实证分析事务所转制对审计质量的影响。研究结果表明：具备证券资格的事务所全部完成特殊普通合伙转制之后,审计质量的整体水平显著提升;而且有限责任制转换为特殊普通合伙制增加了审计师的法律责任,同时也提高了其法律风险意识。具体表现为：转制之后,审计师对高法律风险客户的盈余管理容忍度下降,也更倾向于对高风险客户出具非标审计意见。由此可见,我国会计师事务所特殊普通合伙转制方案取得了显著成效,这将有利于我国注册会计师行业的持续发展和做强做大。     

Ethical Exemplification and the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct: An Empirical Investigation of Auditor and Public Perceptions

This research applies the impression management theory of exemplification in an accounting study by identifying and measuring differences in both auditor and public perceptions of exemplary behaviors. The auditors were divided into two groups, one of which reported self-perceptions (A-S) while the other group reported their perceptions of a typical auditor (A-O). There were two separate public groups, which gave their perceptions of a typical auditor and were divided based on their levels of accounting sophistication. The more sophisticated public group was comprised of bank loan officers (LO) while the less sophisticated public group consisted of investment club members (IC). Comparisons were made on 30 behaviors contained in the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct, which served as the basis for the research instrument. Profile analysis, a special form of MANOVA technique, was used to analyze the results. A-S perceptions were the highest of the four treatment levels and were significantly higher (i.e., more exemplary) than the perceptions of both the A-O and LO groups. The more sophisticated user group (LO) provided the lowest perceptions of the four treatment levels. For at least four of the six measures, the LO treatment group perceived the typical auditor to be less exemplary than both the IC and A-O treatments. There were no differences in perceptions between the A-O group and IC. Additional analysis revealed that auditors overrated the degree to which the public relied on financial statements. However, both public groups reported a reasonably high level of reliance on financial statements when making decisions. Philip A. Brown is an Associate Professor and Directtor of the Accounting Program at Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas. He has a bachelor's degree from Harding University, an MBA from West Virginia University and a Ph.D. from the University of Mississippi. His research interests are in accounting ethics and in accounting education. He has published in Advances in Accounting, The Journal of Accounting and Finance Research, and others. He is a CPA in the State of Arkansas. Morris H. Stocks serves as the Dean of the Patterson School of Accountancy at the Universtiy of Mississippi. He received his undergraduate degree in accounting from Trevecca Nazarene University, his Masters degree from Middle Tennessee State University and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina. He is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Mississippi. He is a behavioral accounting researcher and has published in Accounting, Organizations and Society, Accounting Horizons, Behavioural Research in Accounting, Decision Sciences Journal, Advances in Accounting, Advances in Accounting Information Systems, Advances in Behavioral Accounting Research, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Advances in Taxation and others. W. Mark Wilder is KPMG Lecturer and Associate Professor of Accountancy at The University of Mississippi. His educational background includes a bachelor's degree in mathematics from The University of Alabama, an MBA from the University of South Alabama, and a Ph.D. in Accounting from Florida State University. He is a CPA in the State of Mississippi. Mark has published in Accounting Horizons, Advances in Taxation, the Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, the Journal of Computer and Information Systems, the CPA Journal, and others. In the past 2 years he has received several awards, including the top two campus-wide faculty awards at Ole Miss and also the MSCPA Outstanding Educator Award. In 2004 he was inducted into the Alabama Tennis Hall of Fame.