The web-based financial reporting adopted by the listed companies in the Athens Stock Exchange

Web-based corporate reporting is the provision of financial information through the Internet. Other companies prefer to disclose their financial information in order to satisfy their investors and to attract new ones while others prefer to provide as less information as possible. The purpose of this paper is twofold： first it provides a critical examination of the main reporting criteria followed by the Greek listed companies, in order to point out how many of these companies present these criteria. Second, it considers how the industry sector of the listed companies or their capitalization category is related with their disclosure degree of financial reporting.     

Major historical events affecting the accounting profession： An overview

The accounting result from science and technology innovation and the development of productivity, with management modes and financial reforms as its opportunity and the operation of international capital, as well as economic integration helping improve it. An invention, a president, the occurrence of an organization, a historical lesson may directly or indirectly change accounting regulations, and even trigger an accounting revolution. We will put a variety of significant impacts on an accounting, so as to get a fundamental understanding of the close relationship between such events and accounting events, including innovation of accounting theory, and accounting practice; we adopted the ＂table-style＂ form of papers, with many self-evident and intuitive tables, we compile a series of major historical events reasonably. Only in accordance with evolution of objective environment, can we design proper accounting practice, and thus innovate and develop accounting.     

The effect of earnings forecast precision on firm value and insider trading under voluntary disclosure in Taiwan

Taiwan changed its earnings forecast policy from mandatory to voluntary disclosure in 2005. In this study, the inferences of voluntary earnings forecast are examined based on forecasts issued by listed firms. This study suspects that insiders have a temptation to strategically manipulate financial forecast information to influence markets and thus receive extra rents. Under the new earnings forecast disclosure policy, the number of disclosing firm decreases but the precision of earnings forecast increases. The empirical result from dynamic panel data evidences the forecast error of voluntary disclosure may negatively impact firm values. Furthermore, there is a positive relationship between insiders＇ trading profit and manipulation of earnings forecasts. As volatility in insider manipulation increases, it is difficult for the investors to predict the real intention of insiders, and insiders may achieve greater benefits from trading. This study also observes that many listed companies hold investor conferences to provide earnings guidance in Taiwan. The reason may be that investor conference is more flexible and has less forecast error cost than the formal financial forecast. This study provides important insights into earnings forecast policy in emerging markets. The competent authority should improve corporate governance and develop monitoring functions to abate forecast manipulation.     

The defects of fair value under global financial crisis

With the advent of the economic crisis, fair value once again becomes a hot topic. This paper discusses the issues of fair value from three aspects including the meaning of fair value, its serious impacts and its inapplicability in China. As for this point, this paper stress that the rub of the fair value is its inaccurate recognition elements which will inevitably lead to the inaccurate measurement. Finally, the paper puts forward the viewpoint that China should be careful enough to apply the fair value accounting.     

The IAS/IFRS application on the intangible assets of non-listed companies

With the introduction of IFRS （International Financial Reporting Standards） most of the intangibles are expensed on the income statement and hence they ＂disappear＂ from the balance sheet, while investments in tangible assets are capitalized. Based on a sample of 128 firms, made up of 99 SMEs （Small and Medium Enterprises） and 29 large firms, and through a simulation of IAS （International Accounting Standards） transition, the authors＇ study finds that IAS 38 reduces the amount of intangible assets recognized on the balance sheet of SMEs, while large firms do not appear to experience such large reductions in their intangible assets. The differential effect of IAS 38 on SMEs and large firms can be explained by the different growth strategies of these firm types. SMEs largely depend on internal paths of growth and intangibles assets that typically arise from internal growth strategies are eliminated from the balance sheet under IAS 38. Larger firms are less exposed to such reductions in their intangibles assets, because they mostly follow external paths of growth and the treatment of those intangible assets that typically arise from external growth strategies requires the impairment test.     

Game analysis on the regulation of listed companies＇ accounting information-gaming between Internal Audit Department and Audit Office

Through the establishment of game model, this article formulates the intuitive and experiential understanding of regulation on listed companies＇ accounting information by using game analysis method, and from an economic point of view, it analyzes how various parameters affect Internal Audit Department＇s nonfeasance probability and Auditing Office＇s supervision probability. Hope that this article can provide a reference for regulation on accounting information.     

Dependencies between price duration,volatility, volume and return on the Warsaw Stock Exchange

The successive changes of asset prices are the most visible manifestation of financial markets dynamics. There exist different views about factors generating these changes, but many researchers and practitioners agree that the most important among them is the impact of information flow. According to the market microstructure theories, it depends mainly on the behavior of informed and uniformed traders. In the paper, we investigate dependencies between the possible proxies of information process： price duration and corresponding to it volume change and return. Our main objective is to answer the question about the most important factor in the process of discovering information by uniformed traders. We apply a set of models for volatility, volume and duration data. Our analysis is performed for selected equities listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and uses tick-by-tick data. The obtained results show that the stock liquidity on this leading stock market in Central and Eastern Europe is the most important factor influencing the process of discovering information by uninformed traders.     

The determinants of shareholders＇ wealth of acquiring firms in India

Corporate restructuring has become a major component in the financial and economic environment all over the world. Industrial restructuring has raised important issues for business decisions as well as for public policy formulation. Since 1991, Indian industries have been increasingly exposed to both domestic and international competition and competitiveness. The companies started restructuring there operations around their core business there M ＆ A. But M ＆ A is an area of potential good and harm in corporate strategy including manufacturing industry. Therefore, an attempt has been made to analyze the security returns and to find out the net wealth increase or decrease to the shareholders of acquiring firms. In India, there are totally 58 manufacturing companies which have undergone mergers and acquisitions during 2000, 2001 ＆ 2002. Thirty percentage from the total population was taken as sample size （i.e., 17 companies out of 58）. The present study is mainly based on secondary data. The Market Model and Market Adjusted Returns Model analysis are used as tools of analysis.     

Are Islamic incomes relevance to commercial banks in Malaysia？

A significant price-to-earnings relation is evident in many research findings, which includes study on Malaysia Stock Markets, that the strength, consistency and magnitude of the relation are not as large as those reported in institutionally more developed markets. However, the price adjustment is stronger if price reaction is measured over a long periods, which is consistent to speculative trading. Firm-specific variables such as revenue, firm size and debt-equity have no incremental information content beyond earnings implies that the market monitoring process in an emerging market focuses on earnings only during financial announcement. Therefore, this paper revisited the study on the relevant of accounting banks in Malaysia using the earnings response coefficients, earnings by looking at Islamic Income for commercial which are the earnings-to-share return coefficients that are estimated for sub earnings components by including Islamic banking incomes in the analysis. This paper discovered that though there is a positive effect, the earnings from Islamic banking operation are small. Thus, the total earnings as well as the sub-categories of earnings of banks appear to enter the pricing considerations of investors.     

Role of supply chain management in target costing

Standard costing is used as a control for product costing. But with life cycle becoming shorter, costing should be done at the design and development stage of a product. This is achieved through target costing.The implementation of target costing and target pricing is done with the ultimate purpose of cost reduction, cost understanding, continuous improvement, competitiveness, early purchasing and supplier involvement, and improved design and accountability by manufacturers. The study explores the participation of the purchasing and supply chain management＇s role in target costing and target pricing process. Supply management plays an active role in monitoring the ongoing cost and performance of suppliers during the early stages of product development. Implementation of target costing and target pricing in various organizations are also explored. Leading Japanese manufacturers have used target costing and target pricing systems to their advantage and the paper also examines the adaptation of the Western companies to these proactive cost management techniques to improve their product development processes.     

Financial statements in less developed countries： What do preparers demand？

This study reports on an empirical investigation of the characteristics, attitudes, and beliefs of preparers of external financial reports in a less developed country. The basic research instrument consisted of a questionnaire in two parts： the first addressing attitudes of professional accountants toward annual financial reports generally; the second, more specifically measuring the importance of the information items to preparers. Our results suggest that the independent auditor is the most influential group in decision-making processes. As in many developed countries, the auditor＇s report and the regulatory framework are considered to have a major influence on financial reporting practices. Preparers believe that a lack of knowledge of external users＇ needs and lack of reporting standards and accepted accounting principles are the main concerns with corporate financial reports in Iran. The results showed that the balance sheet, auditors＇ report, and income statement in that order are the three most important parts of the annual reports.     

An empirical study on information content of accounting earnings and cash flow

Based on deep analyzing the colluding and checking relation of income statement and cash flow statement, this paper chooses and designs the corresponding profit index, carries on the comparative study of information content between accounting earnings and cash flows. The paper utilizes the financial data of Chinese listed company in manufacturing industry from 2003 to 2005, adopts the price model and analyzes empirical study about two kinds of profit indexes and value relevance. Studies have suggested： accounting earnings and cash flows all have relevant relations to stock prices; however, the relevance between cash flow and stock price is stronger, and cash flows have higher information quality.     

Controversies over fair value accounting： The case of SMEs

This study analyses IASB＇s stipulations on fair value usage in its standard designed for SMEs and the reactions of national standard setters, preparers and users of financial reporting in this respect. It tries to clarify fair value applications such as market value and value in use and the appropriateness of their usage for the case on hand. This research determines the inconsistencies within IASB ED IFRSfor SMEs （2007） related to the usage of fair value, underlined by the respondents＇ comment letters. The content analysis of all the above, conducted according to the type of economy and nature of respondent, along with the statistical techniques applied, indicates a partial approval of fair value usage under the following conditions： clarification of the concept, details on its usage in relation to market liquidity and the nature of the asset, additional guidance regarding the measurement methods. We advocate for the value in use, an application of the fair value based on internal valuations, which offers an adequate cost-benefit rate. The final version ofIFRSfor SMEs highlights both the preference of market information over the internal valuations and the insufficient information regarding solutions suited for non-liquid markets. It may be appropriate for the IASB, maybe in collaboration with the IVSC, to provide guidance and details regarding the implementation and disclosure of the valuation techniques applicable to this type of entities.     

Control and its role in the process of ensuring knowledge continuity

With the commencement of the 21st century, the information age, knowledge economy and integration of information and knowledge among production factors, organizations show increasing interest in knowledge management. Managers are trying not only to preserve knowledge and transfer it efficiently within their organization, but also to ensure that it is not lost when a knowledge employee leaves the organization. Therefore, it is indispensable for organizations to monitor, record, transfer and preserve their knowledge. In order to ensure efficient preservation of knowledge by the organization, it is essential to integrate the area of the so-called knowledge continuity into the general management and ensure its maximum value. The goal of the article is to identify the role of control in the transformation process and its impact on ensuring knowledge continuity within the organization. A partial goal lies in identifying output quality control by means of productivity One of the conclusions of the article is that in today＇s economic situation, ignoring the existence of knowledge continuity could result in a crisis of management of knowledge and its loss.     

Research on environmental accounting information disclosure for thermal power enterprises in China： Current situation, countermeasure and implement way

Along with the unceasing expansion of the human society production and the economic activity scale, the influence and harm of the social economy to the global environment is more and more serious. As one of the high-polluting industries in China, the environment problems of the thermal power enterprises attract attention from the country and society. It is crucial for the country to improve the laws and regulations about the disclosure of environmental accounting information gradually, and the thermal power enterprises should also disclose more valuable environmental accounting information to the public. This paper analyzes and elaborates the current situation, countermeasure and implement way of the environmental accounting information disclosure systematically.     

The analysis of determinants of going concern audit report

Going concern is one of essential things for user to make a financial decision. This research aims to explore factors that caused the issuance of going concern audit report by auditor. This research adds two new variables, audit size and audit committee, besides the other factors that cause auditor issue a going concern audit report. This research uses a regression logistic analysis to determine the relationship of each variable （liquidity, solvability, profitability, cash flow, audit firm size and audit committee） to going concern audit report. Different from previous researches, the results of this research show that liquidity, profitability, cash flow, and audit committee are not significant to influence the issuance of audit opinion. Audit size has a more significant relationship to audit opinion, while solvability is the most significant factor.     

Research on the area which accounting calculated

Currently, accounting practices is restrained by the concept that financial accounting is based on the transaction. It excludes some important resources, like internal generated goodwill, from the accounting calculation system. So it fails to fully reflect the enterprise resource and their operating effects. Based on the analysis on recent demand and supply of accounting information, this paper proposes the view that financial accounting should be based on the value. In the authors＇ opinion, both the internal generated goodwill and the purchased goodwill have the same essence. They should be brought into the accounting system. Accounting should put the enterprise resource as its object, and the area of calculation should include enterprise resource＇s origin and composition of valuation, such as liabilities, equity and the remained of the rights, profit and comprehensive income and so on. Accounting should provide the information about the value and comprehensive income of the enterprise.     

Accounting variables and stock returns： Evidence from Istanbul stock exchange

The fundamental relationship between accounting variables and stock returns is a recurring theme in financial research. One of the major purposes of accounting is to help investors provide reliable, comparable and accurate information. If accounting data are informative about fundamental values and changes in values, they should be correlated with stock price changes. This study provides theory and evidence showing how accounting variables explain stock returns and examines the relationship between the stock returns and accounting variables of listed non financial companies in ISE-100 Indice for 2006-2008 period by using panel data methodology. Empirical analysis consists of 192 observations of 64 companies in years 2006-2008 to examine the effects of inventory, accounts receivable, gross margin, operating expense, return on assets, cash flow, leverage, liquidity, price/earnings, return on equity on stock returns. The results of the study confirm that the predicted roles of fundamental factors and stock returns are significantly related to gross margin, cash flow, leverage and equity variables. The model explains about 13.35 % of the variation of annual stock returns with the leverage variable with most of the significant power.     

International accounting system and its major challenges in time

The process of globalization is one of the biggest social processes which the humanity has faced ever. That＇s why its impact on the global economy is huge and due to this the accounting sector is very important. That＇s why one of the main international accounting processes on the actual period is the harmonization of the national accounting systems. The harmonization process is influenced by several factors like culture, politics, economy and sociological behaviors. The paper is trying to present the evolution of harmonization process during the time advantages and weakness generated by its solutions. The paper is trying to present also the efforts of the process to main accounting systems： US GAAP and IAS/IFRS, in order to achieve in the next period the convergence, in order to be able to propose to the financial world a unique accounting model.