Country Effects and Sector Effects on the Harmonization of Accounting Policy Choice

This study assesses the extent of accounting harmony in Europe prior to the recent switch to IFRS, by presuming that accounting is harmonized when 'all firms operating in similar circumstances adopt the same accounting treatment for similar transactions regardless of their domicile'. The policies studied concern inventory, depreciation and goodwill, and the odds of using alternative accounting methods are predicted by logistic regression. The empirical results suggest that, while international exposure and firm size are significant factors, country effects are considerably greater than sector effects, which is inconsistent with harmonized accounting.     

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.     

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.     

Towards a Theory of Cultural Influence on the Development of Accounting Systems Internationally

Research has shown that accounting follows different patterns in different parts of the world. There have been claims that national systems are determined by environmental factors. In this context, cultural factors have not been fully considered. This paper proposes four hypotheses on the relationship between identified cultural characteristics and the development of accounting systems, the regulation of the accounting profession and attitudes towards financial management and disclosure. The hypotheses are not operationalized, and empirical tests have not been carried out. They are proposed here as a first step in the development of a theory of cultural influence on the development of accounting systems.     

Goodwill — An Example of Puzzle-Solving in Accounting

The nature of goodwill continues to be misunderstood by most accountants and confusion surrounding the measurement and reporting of goodwill persists. The rejection of official accounting standards on goodwill is a common occurrence. A dynamic open system perspective is used in this paper to re-examine the nature of goodwill. It is found that a meaningful economic interpretation can be developed for internally generated goodwill but not for 'purchased goodwill'. There is an inability to identify the stream of benefits specifically associated with goodwill arising on acquisition.     

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.     

会计政策选择的契约动因研究--来自我国上市公司低值易耗品摊销方法选择的经验证据

会计政策的可选择性为企业真实反映经济业务实质创造条件的同时,也为企业管理当局操纵会计盈余提供了机会.分析和检验会计政策选择的动因对企业会计准则的完善与企业会计行为的监管均具有十分重要的现实意义.本文以低值易耗品摊销方法选择为切入点,选取符合我国企业特征的契约变量,运用均值检验和Logistic回归方法对低值易耗品摊销方法的选择动因进行了实证检验,结果证实了实证会计理论中的政治成本假设和报酬契约假设.     

A Statistical Model of International Accounting Harmonization

This article shows how the difference between the observed frequencies of accounting policy choice and the outcome of a random policy choice, where each available method has an equal chance of being selected, may be fully explained with a statistical model. The process of harmonization is described in a way that identifies departures from equiprobable accounting policy choice as either: (a) the systematic effects of harmonization, or (b) the effects of systematic divergence from international harmony where the frequency of adoption of differing accounting methods varies across countries, or (c) the effects of company-specific accounting policy choices. The understanding of harmony that underlies previous attempts to measure harmonization is such that, with respect to a particular financial statement item, a situation of maximum harmony is reached when all companies in all countries use the same accounting method. From the standpoint of modelling the harmonization process. however, a different concept of harmony may be more useful. In this article, therefore, we posit a state of distributional harnzony in which, other things being equal, the expected distribution of accounting policy choices is the same in each country. In this theoretical state. the odds of selecting a given accounting method from those available for a particular financial statement item are identical for each country. A major advantage of this benchmark is that it provides a basis for distinguishing between two possibly conflicting components of the international harmonization process: between-country harmonization and within-country standardization. A hierarchy of nested statistical models is then used to describe accounting policy choices made by companies with an international shareholding and registered in Europe, where the European Union has been involved in a program of accounting harmonization. The accounting policies analysed in depth in this article comprise the treatment of goodwill and accounting for deferred taxation. The results are compared with the comparability index method used previously in harmonization research studies.     

Public Choice and Accounting Standard Setting in New Zealand: An Exploratory Study

Recent studies in accounting regulation have used either the capture argument or the pluralistic notion to describe the enactment of accounting regulations. This paper explores the nature of the impact of public choice in accounting standard setting in New Zealand using the pluralistic notion. To provide an insight into the standard-setting process, this paper involves an examination of the establishment, withdrawal and re-establishment of New Zealand's most controversial standard after current cost accounting — the standard on investment property accounting (SSAP 17). The investigation considers the nature of public choice in the agenda entrance, demand and supply factors influencing standard setting in New Zealand. The results indicate that the New Zealand accounting standard-setting process is pluralistic in a limited way. Like most other English-speaking countries, the scope of participation for certain groups has been institutionalized on the supply side by way of membership of standard-setting committees of the New Zealand Society of Accountants. On the demand side, however, consumers of accounting have been provided with only limited scope for participating in the formal process of standard setting. Nevertheless, other means (i.e., exogenous and informal ones) may be used to influence the process. Overall, from both the demand and supply perspectives of regulation, the Big-8 accounting firms (as they were previously known) followed by the preparers of financial statements, seem to have greater participatory capacity in the New Zealand standard-setting process.     

解析新会计准则对会计信息价值相关性的影响

本文研究了新会计准则对会计信息价值相关性的影响。我们发现,新准则实施后,会计信息总体的价值相关性显著提高,并且受新准则影响部分的价值相关性改善程度显著高于不受影响的部分。在此基础上,我们还分析了公允价值计量对受影响部分信息质量改善的贡献。研究还发现,对于非金融行业,非公允净资产比公允净资产更具有价值相关性;而对于金融行业,二者没有显著差别。本文的研究表明,新会计准则确实将原有准则的不合理部分做了修正,其实施有助于会计质量的整体提高。但是这种修正并不是简单地盲目采用公允价值,而是综合考虑各种计价方式的结果。本文的研究结果对中国乃至国际会计准则的改革提供了有意义的信息。     

论财务会计与管理会计的整合

文章主要就财务会计与管理会计整合的必然性及可能性（基础与条件）两方面进行了阐述。认为两者本质的同一性和目标的一致性是走向整合的必然。随着信息技术的不断发展,财务会计与管理会计的界限越来越模糊,整合的条件越来越成熟,整合的趋势日益明显。     

论我国企业会计政策的合理选择

企业选择不同的会计政策会产生不同的会计信息,它将影响不同利益集团的分配结果,影响社会资源的配置效率.因此,我们有必要通过研究导致我国会计政策选择产生问题的原因,探究解决问题的办法,以使我国会计政策选择更加规范、合理,会计信息更加真实、可靠.     

The Investment Opportunity Set and Capitalization versus Expensing Methods of Accounting Choice

This paper examines the effects of the investment opportunity set (IOS) on management's decision to capitalize or expense significant costs in two diverse settings: (1) in accounting for exploration and development (E&D) costs by firms in the oil-and-gas industry, and (2) in accounting for research and development (R&D) costs by firms (across industries) prior to 1974. We argue that the relation between the IOS and the decision to capitalize versus to expense is based upon managerial incentives to reduce the variance of accounting earnings. High-growth firms are more likely to have more variable earnings, which therefore creates greater incentives to reduce earnings variability. Because the capitalization method generally results in a lower variance of reported earnings than does the expensing method, high-growth firms are more likely to select capitalization. Our results show that, after controlling for firm size and for the indirect effects of the IOS mediated by debt contracts, high-growth firms (firms with fewer assets-in-place) are more likely than low-growth firms to select the capitalization method of accounting for E&D and R&D expenses.
JEL classification: M41; G31     

Accounting and the Construction of Taste: Standard Labour Costs and the Georgian Cabinet-Maker

The article examines the role of accounting in the dissemination of a classical taste in British furniture during the Georgian era. This is a celebrated period in furniture design, to which the fame of some of its key participants, such as Thomas Chippendale, still bears testimony. It is also a period in which the notion of interior decoration comes to prominence. Furniture and room arrangement began to mirror the taste in classical antiquity already evident in the architectural landscape. The dissemination of taste to the mass populace took the form of pattern books comprising easily replicated designs of household furniture. Regional versions of these books also contained detailed standard labour costs for every furniture design. In pre-empting conflict over piece-work pay these standards regulated the cabinet-making trade and, the article shows, encouraged a stability in labour relations conducive to the spread of a national taste in classicism.     

会计法视角下会计人员的权益保障

会计人员的权益保障对于会计人员依法独立履行职责以及会计职能的实现、会计职业道德的弘扬、经济领域职务违法犯罪的预防都具有不可替代的作用.在我国现行《会计法》中,已经初步形成了会计人员权益保障的制度体系,但由于立法经验的不足,会计人员的权益的切实保障仍存在若干障碍.完善会计人员的权益保障体系,我国《会计法》应强化对会计人员的倾斜性保护,增设权益救济的具体程序,设立会计行业性协会制度.     

我国高等学校教育成本核算探析

本文阐述了高等教育成本的概念和核算范围,列举了目前高等教育成本的核算方法,分析了当前我国高等教育成本核算的现状,强调了进行成本核算的重要性,并对今后进一步完善高校教育成本核算提出对策.     

The Impact of Non-Serial Publications on Research in Accounting and Finance

This study examines the role of books and official Publications in accounting and finance research. From an analysis of thirteen leading journals for the year 1987–8 we report on the characteristics of such non-serial materials used by authors to support their research. We find that the accounting discipline in particular has become more open to influence from other disciplines. The individual perspectives of these thirteen journals can be partially revealed by their use of non-serial materials. Using cluster analysis we examine inter-journal variations in the disciplinary pattern of book citations and the distribution of citations to official bodies. Several relatively homogeneous groupings are identified.     

The Development of Accounting and Reporting in Ghana

In this paper, we examine the economic, political, and legal systems as well as the institutional factors that influence the accounting and disclosure practices in Ghana. The impact of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on disclosure is also investigated, as Ghana has recently completed full adoption. We find that the accounting and reporting practices are significantly influenced by legal, political, institutional, and economic factors and that the regulatory environment is neither effective nor efficient due to the weak monitoring and enforcement of compliance. Although there has been some recent progress, the Companies' Code, which is the corporate legal framework of Ghana, must be updated to reflect the dynamic nature of world operations. This study advances the course of standards setters, regulators, accounting practitioners, and policymakers to improve the corporate reporting and accounting practices. Urgent measures need to be undertaken to reform and build the capacities of institutions charged with the responsibility of regulating and monitoring Ghanaian accounting and reporting practices to ensure best practices and build investors' confidence.     

Accounting Regulation and Management Discretion—A Case Note

This article explores the manipulation of published financial reports in order to counter the potentially unfavourable impact of newly introduced regulation. In this case the reported capital ratio of a major British building society was enhanced using a sale and leaseback transaction with a related party and a change in depreciation policy, methods which reflected limited alternatives. Analysis of the case is set in the context of the sector and addresses the questions of whether these manipulations were within then‐prevailing generally accepted accounting principles and why, despite disclosure in the society's financial statements, they failed to attract public comment or concern, regulatory action or an audit qualification. In examining a major British mutual financial organization we depart from traditional analyses of managerial discretion in accounting choices in British companies.