Gender differences in information processing: An empirical test of the hypothesis-confirming strategy in an audit context

Accounting education research reports that female students outperform male students. We posit that different information processing styles may have accounted for this difference. We postulate that because male students tend to process information selectively, they would rate confirming information as more important than female students would. Female students would rate disconfirming information as more important. We also postulate that male students are hypothesis-confirming whereas the female students are not. Consequently, female students being comprehensive processors, would rate the task as more difficult compared to male students. To test these propositions, 36 male and 33 female students performed an evaluation task that contained equal numbers of confirming and disconfirming cues. The students were required to rate the importance of these cues to their hypothesis. The results support our propositions except that female and male students do not rate confirming information significantly differently from each other.     

基于新会计环境的营销会计理论体系构建研究

按照传统方法对营销费用的核算已经不能有效地反映企业的经营状况，不能为企业制定经营决策提供有效的会计信息。为了应对新的会计环境对会计实务提出的新的要求，依据新的营销会计概念，尝试构建营销会计体系的框架，以对以后的深入研究有所帮助。     

Updating and Estimating a Social Accounting Matrix Using Cross Entropy Methods

The problem in estimating a social accounting matrix (SAM) for a recent year is to find an efficient and cost-effective way to incorporate and reconcile information from a variety of sources, including data from prior years. Based on information theory, the paper presents a flexible 'cross entropy' (CE) approach to estimating a consistent SAM starting from inconsistent data estimated with error, a common experience in many countries. The method represents an efficient information processing rule-using only and all information available. It allows incorporating errors in variables, inequality constraints, and prior knowledge about any part of the SAM. An example is presented, applying the CE approach to data from Mozambique, using a Monte Carlo approach to compare the CE approach to the standard RAS method and to evaluate the gains in precision from utilizing additional information.     

论完善上市公司会计信息披露的管理——基于新会计准则等法规实施的背景

基于新会计准则等法规实施的背景,本文通过对中美上市公司会计信息披露的监管制度体系、指导规范与会计信息披露质量责任等内容进行分析研究,认为应从建立有效的公司内部制衡机制、加大培育机构投资者、增强个人责任的执法力度等方面入手,逐步完善上市公司信息披露制度,促进我国证券市场的健康发展。     

我国股票期权会计处理探讨

随着企业不断推行股票期权计划,股票期权的会计处理成为实践和理论界都极为关注的课题。本文在界定股票期权及其属性的基础上,探讨了股票期权的计量和处理方法。最后本文给出了改进我国股票期权会计处理的建议。     

上市公司会计信息披露及其监管博弈

本文运用博弈论原理系统分析了会计信息披露过程中导致会计信息失真的动因,并分别从内部监督和外部监管两个方面分析了所有者与经营者之间、经营者与会计人员之间以及上市公司与证监会之间的博弈关系,最后提出了上市公司信息失真的防治措施。     

Project Evaluation and Accounting Income Forecasts

It is shown that the economically justifiable criterion for project evaluation of maximizing current net market value is equivalent to maximizing the discounted net cash equivalent flow. It is argued that the appropriate income concept for project evaluation is therefore the one used in the system devised by Chambers, 'Continuously Contemporary Accounting'.     

George Hudson's financial reporting practices: putting the Eastern Counties Railway in context

George Hudson was the most important railway promoter of his time. He had a particular aptitude for visualizing and arranging spectacular company and line amalgamations and his activities helped to bring about the beginnings of a more modern railway network. In 1849 he exercised effective control over nearly 30 per cent of the rail track then operating in the UK, most of it owned by four railway groups, the Eastern Counties Railway, the Midland, the York, Newcastle and Berwick, and the York and North Midland, before a series of scandalous revelations forced him out of office. The economic, railway and accounting literatures have treated George Hudson as an important figure in railway history, although concentrating largely on the financial reporting malpractices of the Eastern Counties Railway, while Hudson was its chairman, which were incorporated into the influential Monteagle Committee Report of 1849. Relatively little attention has been paid, however, to events at Hudson's other major companies. This paper analyzes the available evidence, particularly that produced by the Committees of Investigation established at all four railway groups, in order to provide a more balanced assessment of George Hudson's approach to financial reporting and thereby place events at the Eastern Counties Railway in a broader context.     

In search of E. I. DuPont de Nemours & Company: the perils of archival research

The purpose of this paper is to describe the pitfalls of archival research into the bookkeeping records of a specific firm, E. I. DuPont de Nemours & Co., and how it may lead to misinterpretation and misdirection. Traditionally, the bookkeeping records of an individual or organization have provided a great deal of information to researchers who use the records for many different research projects. Such research is costly, however. The researcher is concerned with the analytical techniques of the historian, or even the detective; the time-consuming, methodical routine of familiarization with the records; and the analysis and interpretation of the significance of the techniques and trends evident in the data base. The sources for this traditional archival research project were many, varied, and often contradictory. For the record books of the DuPont Company, an early 19th century gunpowder manufactory, the process of understanding, interpreting, and validating the record keeping led to a number of misleading, confusing, and time-consuming issues which had to be resolved. These issues may have implications for other accounting historians since the need to search for the 'story' behind a particular research project will in all likelihood be encountered in the course of other research. Researchers must understand that they are able to rely on secondary sources, when they exist, only as long as they remain circumspect when depending on the secondary interpretation of primary sources, and that even the primary sources themselves may lead the researcher astray.     

Measuring International Harmonization and Standardization

This paper analyses six recent studies dealing with the measurement of international harmonization of financial reporting. Methodological issues and problems relating to the definition and operationalization of terms, sources of data, statistical methods and causation are discussed, and an alternative methodology for measuring harmonization suggested.