Management's Preferences for FASB Statement No. 52: Predictive Ability Results

Research attempting to explain or predict preferences with respect to accounting rules is a relatively new branch of accounting research. Factors affecting a manager's welfare (e.g., political costs) are identified and then evaluated empirically to ascertain whether such factors are helpful in predicting a manager's decision to respond to proposed changes in the Financial Accounting Standards Board's (FASB's) rules on foreign currency translation. FASB Statement No. 52, issued December 1981, replaced FASB Statement No. 8 and required U.S. multinational corporations to switch from the 'temporal' to the 'current rate' method of translating foreign currency financial statements into U.S. dollars. The models use current economic data as well as information about managers' responses to earlier changes in the rules for translating foreign currency statements. While the models adequately describe management's behaviour, and hence are consistent with earlier research, their predictive ability is only a modest improvement over naive prediction rules.     

医保医疗款会计核算方法探讨

现阶段,我国基本医疗保险覆盖率达95%,全民医疗保险的制度框架已经建立,医保业务收入占业务收入的实际比重越来越大,未来或将取代现金医疗收入成为医院医疗收入核算的主体,因此,对这部分医保医疗款如何更清晰地核算成为了医院财务管理工作中一个重要的环节,正确、清晰地对这部分医疗收入进行会计核算,会有利于加强医院对医保医疗款的管理。     

CV Technologies/Cold-fX

The CV Technologies/Cold-fX case is based on real events at a Canadian company that attempted to enter the US market with a cold remedy called Cold-fX. CV shipped product to US retailers shortly before its fiscal year end of September 30. The product did not sell well in the US, and the company experienced a larger number of returns from US retailers than the company had historically experienced from their Canadian retailers. Many of these product returns occurred after the fiscal year end, but before the financial statements were issued. The case deals with auditing estimates related to the timing of revenue recognition and the auditor’s responsibilities to consider subsequent events. Another distinctive aspect of the case involves the effects of selling in foreign markets and how entering new markets can affect the appropriate timing of revenue recognition.     

Related Party Transactions: A Preliminary Evaluation of SFAS 57 and IAS 24 Using Four Case Studies

Transactions between related parties have been the subject of increasing concern in recent years. Corporate scandals, overseas and local, have typically involved non-arm's length transactions contrived between the reporting entity and related companies or affiliates. These scandals provided catalysts for the relatively recent development of accounting standards on related party transactions.
This paper considers whether the application of the new pronouncements, particularly the Financial Accounting Standards Boards' statement 57 and its international equivalent, International Accounting Standard 24, is likely to overcome the problems highlighted in several major scandals. The methodology adopted involves the hypothetical application of the two pronouncements to the pertinent facts in four case studies: (1) Continental Vending, a U.S. criminal court case; (2) Penn Central, a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation case; (3) Tarling (Haw Par), a Singapore criminal court case; and (4) Stanhill, an Australian case investigated by a government appointed Inspector.
In each hypothetical application, the resultant presentation is compared with the stated expectations found in the relevant findings of the case. In all cases, SFAS 57 and IAS 24 are found to be deficient.
While four case studies may not be sufficient for drawing general conclusions about either SFAS 57 or IAS 24 the conclusions of this study represent preliminary evidence for evaluating those standards.     

The Impact of the Definition of Inflation on the Effectiveness of Inflation Accounting Adjustments

In tests of inflation accounting methods, inflation is generally seen as a simple phenomenon: the prices of all elements change at the same rate. The example presented here deals with a different case: inflation is characterized by changes in the structure of prices. In particular, prices of articles bought and articles sold do not vary at the same rates.
In this context, it is observed that three types of adjustments are not effective, i.e. they do not have the potential to report real or nominal rates of return. This result should be considered as a criticism of the coherence of inflation accounting methods.     

The Relevance of Varieties of Accounting Information: A U.S.A. Survey

Diverse kinds of financial information have been claimed to be relevant, for one purpose or another. A survey by mailed questionnaire over seven professional groups in five large U.S. cities sought to discover whether certain valuation rules yielded serviceable amounts in specific problem settings or in representations of financial position and income. Most of the questions were posed in the form of simple problem situations. To questions relating to wealth, spending power and financial position, large majority responses rejected conventional accounting values and endorsed market selling prices. To questions on income calculation, majorities favouring use of the same principle were smaller. Cross-tabulations of answers on financial position and income showed substantial inconsistencies; a hypothetical explanation is given. A comparison is given of responses to some questions in similar surveys in Australia and South Africa.     

Boussard's 'Effectiveness of Inflation Accounting Adjustments': A Comment

Boussard's (1984) notion that Current Cost/Constant Dollar Accounting does not provide 'meaningful rates of return' when inflationary conditions are compared with non-inflationary conditions is based on a misleading example.     

Harmonization of Accounting in France and Britain: Some Evidence

The European Community's accounting harmonization initiative is intended to create harmonized reporting by Community companies. If the Community's programme is successful, measurement practices in each member state should be such that the same transactions receive broadly comparable treatment irrespective of the country where the accounts are prepared. This study sets out to test whether this is the case in France and Britain and the application of the Fourth Directive, and whether in practice there is any consensus even within each jurisdiction. An empirical test for harmony and uniformity is made by asking accountants within each jurisdiction to compile financial statements from a common set of data.
The results of the test show that in this sample there is relatively little harmony within each national group, let alone between one jurisdiction and another.