Men of steel: Voluntary accounting information disclosure in the first third of the twentieth century at U.S. Steel Corporation

Before the emergence of accounting regulation and broadly-based equity ownership in the US, corporations had a relatively free hand over financial information disclosure. Why information was disseminated was therefore a purer window into corporate strategy. This paper considers the case of U.S. Steel Corporation, a dominant industrial company for the good part of the 20th century in the world's largest economy. Two explanations, stewardship and legitimacy theory are offered as rationales for the company's relatively high level of voluntary disclosure. The results suggest that the stewardship model is the one most likely to explain the variation in the historical pattern of disclosure.     

Accounting Reforms in China: Cultural Constraints on Implementation and Development

There is considerable theory and evidence to suggest that culture is an important environmental variable influencing the development of accounting systems internationally. According to the Hofstede (1980) and Gray (1988) cultural models, China's accounting development and practice should be in the cluster that supports statutory control, uniform practices, a conservative measurement approach and secrecy in disclosure. A uniform and rigid system of financial reporting has been practised for decades in the People's Republic of China under the centrally controlled economy. The accounting reforms launched since the 1980s aim to establish a new framework for regulating financial reporting which is adaptable to China's recently emerged socialist market economy. The adoption of accounting standards in the later phases of the reforms marks a dramatic turning point in China's accounting history towards a more international Anglo-Saxon orientation in financial reporting. Based on an analysis of the authority for accounting systems, the accounting profession and accounting measurement and disclosure in China, it is argued that this development will be constrained by the influence of China's culture and its accounting subculture. While financial reporting will be governed by accounting standards, their development and enforcement will remain a governmental and legalistic function. Accountants will continue to rely heavily on detailed technical rules. This mixed orientation will constitute China's unique national identity in terms of its accounting and financial reporting system.     

Firm incentives,institutional complexity and the quality of “harmonized” accounting numbers

In this paper, we investigate how firm reporting incentives and institutional factors affect accounting quality in firms from 26 countries. We exploit a unique multicountry setting where firms are required to comply with the same set of international reporting standards. We develop an approach of cross-country comparisons allowing for differences between firms within a country and we investigate the relative importance of country- versus firm-specific factors in explaining accounting quality. We find that financial reporting quality increases in the presence of strong monitoring mechanisms by means of ownership concentration, analyst scrutiny, effective auditing, external financing needs, and leverage. Instability of business operations, existence of losses, and lack of transparent disclosure negatively affect the quality of accounting information. At the country level, we observe better accounting quality for firms from regulatory environments with stronger institutions, higher levels of economic development, greater business sophistication, and more globalized markets. More importantly, we find that firm-specific incentives play a greater role in explaining accounting quality than countrywide factors. This evidence suggests that institutional factors shape the firm's specific incentives that influence reporting quality. Our findings support the view that the global adoption of a single set of accounting standards in isolation is not likely to lead to more comparable and transparent financial statements unless the institutional conditions and the firm-specific reporting incentives also change.     

Value relevance of earnings: Evidence from Middle Eastern and North African Countries

Researchers as well as regulators are increasingly more interested in enhancing their understanding of the factors that influence value relevance of reported earnings in financial statements. In the light of globalization and increased exposure to international accounting practices, a better comprehension of factors contributing to or reducing value relevance of earnings is essential. This paper investigates the value relevance of earnings and its components for a number of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) countries. Additionally, the paper examines how differences in levels of mandated disclosures, source of accounting standards, and legal systems moderate the informativeness of earnings to investors. We find that mandated disclosure and source of accounting standard, (especially non-governmental source) are positively associated with earnings informativeness. Additionally, MENA countries with French civil law and systems have lower value relevance relative to countries in our sample with English and related legal codes. Further, the firms that have adopted international financial reporting standards have higher value relevance than firms in MENA countries which adhere to local standards.     

Meeting user information needs: The impact of major changes in FASB and GASB standards on financial reporting by colleges and universities

This longitudinal study reports the impact of changes in generally accepted accounting principles on financial statement disclosures for 100 public and private institutions of higher education. Disclosures from the period when all colleges and universities followed the same accounting standards are compared with disclosures in periods after major changes in accounting and reporting standards were made by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) for private institutions and by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) for public institutions. We find that an importance-weighted disclosure index shows that user needs are better met using the new reporting standards for public but not private institutions. An expanded unweighted index, however, shows improvement for both public and private colleges and universities. Using this disclosure index, the improvement for universities reporting under GASB standards exceeded the improvement for those reporting under FASB standards.     

Revisiting the relation between environmental performance and environmental disclosure: An empirical analysis

Previous empirical evidence provides mixed results on the relationship between corporate environmental performance and the level of environmental disclosures. We revisit this relation by testing competing predictions from economics based and socio-political theories of voluntary disclosure using a more rigorous research design. In particular, we improve on the prior literature by focusing on purely discretionary environmental disclosures and by developing a content analysis index based on the Global Reporting Initiative sustainability reporting guidelines to assess the extent of discretionary disclosures in environmental and social responsibility reports. This index better captures firm disclosures related to its commitment to protect the environment than the indices employed by prior studies. Using a sample of 191 firms from the five most polluting industries in the US, we find a positive association between environmental performance and the level of discretionary environmental disclosures. The result is consistent with the predictions of the economics disclosure theory but inconsistent with the negative association predicted by socio-political theories. Nevertheless, we show that socio-political theories explain patterns in the data (“legitimization”) that cannot be explained by economics disclosure theories.     

Determinants of the voluntary adoption of digital reporting by small private companies to Companies House: Evidence from the UK

This study examines the factors that influence the voluntary adoption of the digital reporting of the statutory accounts and returns to the company registry (Companies House) by small private companies in the UK. We analyse survey data from 343 members of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants working in small companies or in practices with small company clients in the UK. The data is examined using statistical methods, mainly PLS-SEM. Our results show the following factors positively influence the voluntary adoption of digital reporting by small private companies: the relative advantage from standardisation benefits, the company's technology competence and support from top management. We also provide evidence that the complexity of the company's accounting system and technology costs inversely influence this voluntary adoption. The study contributes to the emerging literature by expanding our understanding of how the standardisation of financial information flows benefits small private companies. The results should be of interest to small companies and their accountants, regulators in the UK and other jurisdictions planning digital reporting initiatives or seeking to reduce administrative burdens on smaller entities.     

Culture, Corporate Governance and Disclosure in Malaysian Corporations

Evidence from research conducted on corporate accounting indicates that the interaction of environmental factors in fluences disclosure practices. The purpose of this study is to examine the importance of various corporate governance and cultural (race and education) characteristics, in addition to firm–specific factors, as possible determinants of voluntary (non–mandatory accounting and non–accounting information) disclosures in the annual reports of Malaysian listed corporations. The results of the regression analysis indicate significant associations (at the 5 per cent level) between two corporate governance variables ( viz . chair who is a non–executive director and domination of family members on boards) and the extent of voluntary disclosure. This finding has implications for corporate governance policy formulation by the Malaysian Institute of Corporate Governance (MISG). One cultural factor (proportion of Malay directors on the board) is significantly associated (at the 5 per cent level) with the extent of voluntary disclosure suggesting that governmental focus on culture may solicit a response to secrecy from those who feel threatened.     

Green accounting: Reflections from a CSR and environmental disclosure perspective

In this commentary, we reflect on Thornton's (2013) extension to his original CA Magazine article on environmental accounting (Thornton, 1993) as well as the original contribution. Given our background in social and environmental disclosure research, we question Thornton's narrow focus on environmental accounting as it relates to the debits and credits of financial reporting, and we attempt to illustrate the problems that voluntary environmental disclosure creates with respect to reduced incentives for companies to improve environmental performance. We conclude by identifying our concerns with the future of environmental accounting given the recent ‘rediscovery’ of the topic by mainstream accounting researchers.     

会计国际化视野下的国有银行海外上市与金融稳定研究

本文主要研究会计国际化视野下的国有银行改制上市与金融稳定发展之间的相互关系.我们认为,在转型期的国有银行改制上市过程中,采用国际会计准则,尤其是公允价值计量,将会带来损益的剧烈波动.在中国特殊的银行信用制度下,银行系统会将很小的经济波动或者银行支付危机放大,最终极有可能酿成金融的剧烈震荡.因此,在国有银行改制上市过程中,应充分研究公允价值计量的影响,慎重地做出相关决策,将负面影响减少到最低限度之内.     

The Accounting Standard-Setting Process In Australia: A Preparer's Perspective

Preparers of financial statements have a vital interest in the development of the accounting standards which set out the requirements for disclosure. This paper discusses some elements of the standard-setting structure and focuses on the crucial question of international harmonisation of accounting standards.     

The Impact of Audit Committee Characteristics on CSR Disclosure: An Analysis of Australian Firms

This study examines the influence of audit committee (AC) characteristics on voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure in the corporate annual reports of Australian listed firms. It develops hypotheses about the relationship between voluntary CSR disclosure and AC characteristics such as size, frequency of meetings, independence, independent chair, financial expertise and gender diversity. Using multiple regression analysis on data collected from the corporate annual reports of 300 listed firms, the study finds that AC characteristics such as size, frequency of meetings, committee independence and gender diversity have a significant positive influence on the level of CSR disclosure. However, there is no evidence that AC characteristics such as independent chair and members’ financial expertise affect CSR disclosure in Australian firms. Based on an additional analysis, the study also sheds some light on the effect of AC characteristics on environmental disclosure. The findings of this study may be of particular interest to regulators, shareholders, investment analysts and managers in assessing CSR disclosure in annual reports, and in strengthening the monitoring and oversight role of ACs.     

Development of accounting in Iran

The main purpose of this paper is to show the origin, growth and practice of accounting in Iran plus analysis of influential factors such as financial markets, tax policies, privatization, membership in the World Trade Organization, foreign investment, and legal systems. Documents of ancient Iran show that in 550 B.C. (Achaemenid era), all records of public revenues and costs were kept soundly and with remarkable accuracy. These documents display the relentless progress and development of accounting in Iran up until now (pre-Islamic era, post-Islamic era, and contemporary era). During the past two decades, various measures have been adopted to promote and advance accounting in Iran via harmonizing the domestic accounting practices with International norms and standards. Although Iran has employed International Accounting Standards as the basis for developing its National Accounting Standards, there are still some differences between Iranian and international standards, and there are some certain International Accounting Standards that are not applicable in Iran. A host of endemic factors, such as existing laws and rules, religious beliefs, culture, economic and political conditions, have influenced the National Accounting Standards setting processes.     

The accounting treatment of intangibles – A critical review of the literature

Intangible investments have become the main value creators for many companies and economic sectors. However, these investments are rarely recognized as assets by current accounting standards. We provide a critical review of the literature on the consequences of this lack of accounting recognition of intangibles for the value-relevance of financial information, resource allocation in the capital market, growth of intangible investments, and the firm's market value. We then review recent empirical research on voluntary disclosure of information on intangibles. Our survey concludes that disclosure can considered as a solution to the negative consequences of non-recognition of intangibles in financial statements.     

Disclosure responses to mining accidents: South African evidence

Mining activities generate significant social concerns in terms of employee safety and stakeholder scrutiny has increased considerably in recent years. Social and environmental accounting research is largely dedicated to environmental issues and the study of other components of social accounting is limited. This study examines safety disclosures in the annual reports, sustainability reports, and reactive corporate press releases of South African mining organisations following two major mining accidents occurring at Harmony Gold and Gold Fields’ mines. Results show that organisations react to perceived legitimacy threats through increased safety disclosures. The entire mining industry evidences an increase in disclosure levels after the incidents, suggesting that organisations do respond to increased stakeholder scrutiny threatening their legitimacy. Furthermore, our results provide evidence of an association between safety disclosure levels and firm size, social performance, risk, and number of fatalities, while the media attention devoted to mining accidents appears to be unrelated to safety disclosure levels. It is possible that stakeholder pressure, which motivates corporate social disclosures according to legitimacy and stakeholder theories, consists of various factors, which combined form the motivation to report. Media attention, therefore, cannot be considered in isolation as a driver of disclosure. Rather, a combination of variables such as size, social responsibility performance, number of fatalities, risk, and media attention could serve as a proxy for social pressure.     

Regulatory impact on voluntary climate change–related reporting by Australian government‐owned corporations

This paper concerns voluntary climate change–related reporting of government‐owned corporations (GOCs). We investigate whether the Australian National Gresenhouse and Energy Reporting Scheme (NGERS), a regulation stipulating the disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions to government, subsequently made publicly available on a Website, has a positive impact on the voluntary disclosure of climate change–related information not required by the regulation. We find that implementation of NGERS has a positive effect on voluntary climate change‐related disclosures by GOCs. Hence, mandating disclosure of organisations’ negative environmental performance, such as greenhouse gas emissions, can influence voluntary disclosures of a broad range of related information particularly in organisations that are not subject to capital markets incentives. However, upon later but concurrent implementation of a Carbon Tax after a highly partisan and divisive political debate, climate change–related disclosures by GOCs reduce, consistent with the de Villiers and van Staden (2006) argument that when disclosures might increase awareness of sensitive issues, avoidance of attention to the issue might be the best strategy to retain legitimacy.     

Financial Reporting by Charities: Why Do Some Choose to Report Under a More Extensive Reporting Framework?

While voluntary disclosure theory posits that profit-oriented companies voluntarily disclose information to increase their market value, this does not explain why a charity would report in accordance with a more comprehensive financial reporting framework than required. Using a unique financial reporting framework choice available in Australia, our study examines factors associated with large charities’ choice of a General Purpose Financial Statements (GPFS) reporting framework, which encompasses expansive financial reporting requirements, versus a Special Purpose Financial Statements (SPFS) reporting framework, where management, within limits, effectively chooses that subset of accounting standards applicable to that charity. For those preparing GPFS, we then examine the factors that determine those charities that report in accordance with the complete set of Australian Accounting Standards (Tier 1) versus Reduced Disclosure Requirements (Tier 2). Using manually collected data from 11,471 large-registered charities for 2014–2016, we find that the economic importance of the charity, its funding sources, and level of indebtedness are significant in explaining charities choosing a more comprehensive financial reporting framework. Further, we find a substantial increase in the proportion of large charities electing to disclose GPFS-Tier 2 over this three-year window. The choice of a large audit firm (Big 4 and mid-tier audit firms) is significantly associated with charities both lodging more comprehensive GPFS, and also reporting GPFS in accordance with the less onerous GPFS-Tier 2 framework. Our results provide insights into voluntary reporting choices made by charities and inform charities, accounting firms, and regulators of factors influencing charities’ choice of financial reporting frameworks.     

Incremental Voluntary Disclosure on Corporate Websites,Determinants and Consequences

This study analyses the determinants and consequences of internet financial reporting (IFR). Our evidence indicates that firms use the internet to report complementary information on firm background, management forecasts, intangible assets and on social and environmental issues. Our results indicate that the decision to provide additional voluntary financial disclosures through corporate websites is mostly influenced by share turnover, the future profitability of the firm and the level of competition in the industry. Last, we find that the extent of voluntary disclosure on corporate websites is related positively to forecast accuracy, and negatively to the dispersion of analysts forecasts, suggesting that such disclosures provide useful information to analysts.     

The effect of more rules‐based guidance on expense disclosure under International Financial Reporting Standards

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are often described as principles‐based; however, we show that IFRS and Australian pre‐IFRS expense‐related standards are more rules‐based than pre‐IFRS expense disclosure in New Zealand. Thus, we examine expense disclosure in New Zealand and Australia around IFRS adoption to provide evidence on the effect of more or less rules‐based standards on voluntary disclosure. First, we add to the rules versus principles‐based standards debate by finding higher voluntary expense disclosure under more rules‐based standards (e.g. IFRS). This contrasts with expectations, as we would expect fewer voluntary disclosures under more rules‐based standards as there would be fewer possible voluntary disclosures. Second, we document that New Zealand firms have significantly less voluntary expense disclosure than size‐ and industry‐matched Australian firms in both the pre‐ and post‐IFRS period. However, all measures of expense disclosure significantly improved post‐IFRS for New Zealand, whilst little change occurred for Australian firms. Thus, there is greater financial statement comparability across these countries post‐IFRS, but not full harmonization. Third, we show that the relationship between most firm characteristics and expense disclosure is weaker post‐IFRS. In addition, cross‐listed firms and loss‐making firms have a higher level of expense disclosure, as contrasted with firms in the investment and property industry which have a lower percentage of unspecified expenses but also report fewer voluntary expenses.     

Advances in the Financial Reporting of Mexican Banks: An Evaluation of Post-Devaluation Reporting Practices

In 1994, Mexico underwent a severe peso devaluation. Thereafter, the country’s financial system experienced severe financial stress as loan defaults forced the government to undertake a program to rescue the country’s banks and obtain international financial assistance. One of the measures involved the reformulation of the financial reporting principles used by the country’s banks. The standards, which are contained in the Mexican National Banking and Securities Commission’s Circular 1343 (1997), were designed to provide Mexican banks with a comprehensive set of financial reporting standards and to bring the financial reporting practices of Mexican financial institutions closer to international standards. However, while the standards contain several improvements in the fundamental aspects of financial reporting for Mexican banks, they lack some important measurement and disclosure provisions contained in international standards. Given this tendency, this paper examines the post-devaluation (1998) financial reporting practices of Mexican banks. Emphasis is placed on comparing the reporting practices contained in the banks’ 1998 financial statements with the requirements of Circular 1343, the standards published by the Mexican Institute of Public Accountants (MIPA), International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) standards, and Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) rules.