Developments in accounting regulation: A synthesis and annotated bibliography of evidence and commentary in the 2016 academic literature

In this paper key regulation-related findings and commentaries in the 2016 academic literature are synthesized in annotated form. This paper is one in a series of previously published annotated bibliographies published in this journal. Papers published in academic outlets including The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting Research, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Contemporary Accounting Research, Accounting Horizons, The Journal of Accounting, Auditing & Finance, Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Journal of Business, Finance & Accounting, The Journal of Financial Reporting, Auditing A Journal of Practice and Theory, and Research in Accounting Regulation were reviewed for potential inclusion. The 2016 literature featured strong regulation-related threads as follows: financial accounting regulation, analysis of individual pronouncements, SEC regulatory activity and its impact, international financial reporting standards, income tax reporting, and auditing.     

The role of annual reports in gender and class contradictions at general motors: 1917–1976

This paper argues that studies of female exploitation frequently pay too little attention to the broader social context; particularly alienation and crises in the development of late capitalism. This criticism applies with equal force to the domestic labor/housework studies and labor process studies and labor process studies where male domination is often advanced as the primary explanatory variable in accounting for female oppression. Even where labor process researchers have emphasized mediating affects on partiarchial influences (technology and control processes for instance; c.f. Milkman, Politics and Society, pp. 159–203, 1983), we argue that the broader context of alienated capitalist social relations is frequently understated.Female subordination under capitalism is traced to two primary sources in this study: First, that part of the labor process where the existence of female labor facilitates surplus value appropriation by playing the part of an “industrial reserve army” (sometimes “latent”, at other times “floating”). Second, in times of overproduction and underconsumption, capital has invented a consumerist ideology about women to help resolve its crisis of realizing surplus value. Only by seeing these different instances of female oppression as part of a larger, mutually reinforcing configuration of “instances” — emanating from capitalist social relations — are we likely to begin to adequately comprehend the resilience of social ideology concerning women and develop effective political and social counter-strategies.In this research, the above considerations are explored using evidence from a longitudinal study of General Motors where the annual reports are used to monitor the evolution of managerial ideology vis-a-vis women over some sixty years. We see in this study how the manner of women's exploitation changes with changes in the crises facing capitalism.The implications of the study are severalfold: Firwt, we see how a socially “unreflective” view of “management” and “management control systems” may lead to practices that are oppressive and exploitative. Second, we find “the labor process” to be an important but insufficient conceptual terrain for understanding women's oppression; instead we propose that the starting point of any analysis should be capitalist alienation. Third, this work has implications for the various controversies about class essentialism and the primacy of class. (Wright, New Left Review, pp. 11–36, 1983; Giddens, Central Problems in Social Theory: Action, Structure and Contradiction in Social Analysis, 1979; Miliband, New Left Review, pp. 57–68, 1983; Tinker, Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, pp. 1–20, 1984). as well as the relation between male domination and class oppression (Fox-Genovese, New Left Review, pp. 5–29, 1982, Goldelier, New Left Review, pp. 3–17, 1981) in that it examines the interplay between class and other forms of domination. Lastly, we see how annual reports may contribute to a general “world view” that aids social appropriation and domination.     

论我国证券监管机构的域外管辖权——以科创板开放红筹企业上市为视角

美国在反欺诈、反贿赂的域外管辖权等公法部分的证券立法经验,对于我国红筹企业在科创板上市的管辖权完善具有积极的借鉴意义。与SEC相比,我国证券监管机构在跨境执法权限上的立法层级不高,调查取证等原则性规定的实际指导意义有限,在司法与执法互动的制度上仍待完善,双边合作监管等“软法”性质的跨境执法合作也比较少。有必要通过赋予证监会更多独立性,建立以司法互动为核心的跨境执法机制,加强柔性跨境执法合作等方式,完善我国证券域外管辖与跨境执法。     

IFRS Developments in the USA and EU,and Some Implications for Australia

There have been several developments recently, both in the United States (US) and the European Union (EU), which will have consequences in Australia. The two major developments in the US are the decision by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to drop the reconciliation requirement for foreign registrants that adopt International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the serious consideration that the SEC is currently giving to allow US publicly traded companies to adopt IFRS. The developments in the EU involve its ever‐lengthening endorsement process and the increasing pressure being brought on the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and its oversight body, the International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation (IASCF) trustees, to alter their composition and the character of their operations. At the same time, there has been the FASB's appeal to the EU to accept IFRS without any endorsement process. The developments in the US have been lauded by the IASB and in Europe. They represent an impressive vote of confidence in the IASB and in the efforts being made by national standard setters and securities market regulators around the world. The US has already taken a long stride towards joining the more than 110 countries and other jurisdictions that have committed themselves to allow or require the use of IFRS for some or all reporting entities.     

The usefulness to individual and institutional investors of annual earnings announcements and SEC filings by non-U.S. companies

This study examines the information contained in annual earnings announcements and SEC filings by non-U.S. and non-Canadian companies listed on either the New York or American Stock Exchange. We extend previous research in this area by employing intraday trading data, which allows us to assess the relative informativeness of the earnings announcements and SEC filings across different classes of investors. In addition, analyzing trading data is advantageous in that abnormal trading volume on a U.S. exchange can reasonably be attributed to the usefulness of the information to U.S. traders. The results suggest that annual earnings announcements of non-U.S. companies provide information to both institutional and individual investors, as indicated by the abnormal trading activity surrounding this event, but the value of the information is greater and the time required to process the information is less for institutional investors. With respect to the SEC annual filings, abnormal trading activity was not detected surrounding the filing dates for the entire sample period (1983–1992) for either institutional or individual investors. We do, however, document some evidence that the information content of the 20-F has increased in post-1988 filings, which corresponds with a dramatic rise in the market value of non-U.S. equity securities listed in the U.S. market.     

Using a stakeholder-based process to develop and implement an innovative graduate-level course in management accounting

Accounting programs have been challenged (e.g., W.S. Albrecht, R.J. Sack, Accounting Education: Charting the Course Through a Perilous Future, Accounting Education Series, vol. 16, American Accounting Association, Sarasota, FL, 2000; AICPA Core Competency Framework for Entry into the Accounting Profession, AICPA, New York, NY, 1999) to create innovative, cross-disciplinary courses/curricula and to tie such offerings to institutional strategic plans (e.g., I.T. Nelson, J.A. Bailey, A.T. Nelson, Issues in Accounting Education, 13 (1999) 301; AACSB International, Standards for accounting accreditation (April 21, 2000), AACSB, St. Louis, MO, 2000; AACSB International, Final draft – Eligibility procedures and standards for accounting accreditation 2004). This paper provides details about both the process used to develop an innovative graduate-level accounting course and the modules (Strategic Cost Management, Planning, and Performance Measurement) comprising the course. The paper therefore describes how one accounting program responded to the aforementioned challenges.At a strategic level, the paper discusses a three-stage process (planning, implementation, and assessment) that guided new-course design. Of particular interest is the impact of our business school's Strategic Plan and the AICPA core competency framework for entry into the accounting profession. (AICPA, New York, NY, 1999) on the development of educational objectives for the new course. Selected implementation issues (e.g., resource commitments needed to support delivery of the new course) are discussed. We also provide details regarding an assessment plan for the course and how data collected for the first three offerings of the course have guided course improvements. Because of its focus on process, this paper should be of interest to other accounting educators, particularly those interested in a stakeholder-based approach to developing and implementing new courses and curricula.     

The accounting profession today: A poststructuralist critique

This paper addresses recent critiques of the accounting profession by the authors in Critical Perspectives on Accounting(CPA) (Vol. 9, No. 5, 1998); Briloff (1990), Briloff (1993), Briloff (1994); and Francis (1994), from Jean Baudrillard’s poststructural semiotics perspective. Relying on his phases of the image and orders of simulacra schemes, the paper concludes that (1) theCPA authors merely reiterate arguments and Whiggish remedies that have been around for a long time, (2) the profession no longer has any sacred covenant with society, (3) the Income sign produced by accountants no longer refers to nor has any rapport with any real referent, and (4) that auditing working papers are simply mirror images of other mirror images. The paper then draws out some of the possibilities of poststructuralist analyses for revitalizing the Critical Accounting project. In response to Moore’s (1991) observation that the project is “politically conservative" and has “placed nothing at stake," our analysis manifests the stake as no more nor less than the profession’s near-monopoly on accounting services.     

The impact of the Multi-jurisdiction Disclosure System on audit fees of cross-listed Canadian firms

The Multi-jurisdiction Disclosure System (MJDS), a treaty between Canada and the United States (U.S.), was intended to facilitate the cross-listing of a firm's securities in the neighboring country. Under this system, eligible Canadian companies are allowed to use home-country documents to meet U.S. disclosure requirements and these documents are generally not reviewed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). We posit that the single-reporting requirement and lower SEC scrutiny may result in lower audit fees for MJDS firms. Based on audit-fee disclosures mandated by the SEC rule-making authority granted by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, we find a negative association between audit fees paid by U.S. cross-listed Canadian companies and their use of the MJDS. This result suggests that the lower audit fees provide an economic incentive to use the MJDS. Thus, our study provides evidence that the implementation of the MJDS may help facilitate cross-border listings by reducing audit costs. Additionally, this study confirms, for Canadian firms, some of the audit-fee determinants reported in earlier studies.     

Summary of “evaluating your curriculum”: A report by the Federation of Shools of Accountancy Committee on Assessment of Curriculum Changes

The Accounting Education Change Commission (AECC) has called for change in the accounting curriculum “so that entrants to the accounting profession possess the skills, knowledge, and attitudes required for success in accounting career paths (AAA, 1986). Concluding that “change just for the sake of change may not bring any improvement,” the Federation of Schools of Accountancy (FSA) charged its Committee on Assessment of Curriculum Changes in January, 1991 “ to identify the theories and suggest methods to allow Departments and Schools of Accounting to measure the results of curriculum changes (FSA, 1991).” ¹ This paper summarizes the committee's findings and its recommendations regarding issues that should be addressed by accounting programs undertaking the development of an assessment program.²     

Developments in accounting regulation: A synthesis and annotated bibliography of evidence and commentary in the 2010 academic literature

In this article, we synthesize in annotated bibliography form, recent regulation-related findings and commentaries in the academic literature. This annotated bibliography is one in a series of bibliographies that summarizes regulation-related academic research. We reviewed academic outlets such as The Accounting Review, The Journal of Accounting Research, The Journal of Accounting and Economics, Accounting Horizons, The Journal of Accounting, Auditing & Finance, The Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, The Journal of Business, Finance & Accounting, Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory, and Research in Accounting Regulation. We annotate results of regulation-related research studies and key points from regulation-related commentaries.     

Modern slavery and the accounting profession

This first paper in the Special Issue on “Modern slavery and the accounting profession” considers how various branches and functions of the accounting profession in business operations and supply chains are implicated by the move to end modern slavery. Accounting has always been involved with slavery practices. When slavery was legal, accounting focused on reporting slaves as assets and expenses in the accounts. In these more humane times, now that ownership of slaves is illegal, the accounting profession has different functional responsibilities towards modern slavery. These include external reporting in line with and above and beyond requirements of legislation; internal management accounting to build awareness and support planning, control and decision making to reduce modern slavery risk and look for opportunities from mitigation; and audit and assurance to ensure credibility of claims made by business. The papers presented in this Special Issue touch upon some of the key aspects of the connection between modern slavery and management control systems, corporate disclosures and the historical role of professional auditors/the accounting profession, but much remains to be achieved in the research agenda ahead.     

IFRS in the United States: If,When and How

This paper provides an overview of the convergence efforts of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board. It begins with their 2002 Memorandum of Understanding and traces developments up to the December 2011 announcement by the IASB Chair that convergence has come to a close, and it is now time to incorporate IFRS into the US financial reporting system. The paper then assesses approaches being considered by the SEC for incorporating IFRS into the US financial reporting model. The conclusion calls on the SEC to ‘make a decision’ and set a date for US adoption of IFRS. Otherwise, the SEC effectively will have abandoned its goal of a single set of high quality global accounting standards.     

Developments in accounting regulation: A synthesis and annotated bibliography of evidence and commentary in the 2009 academic literature

In this article, we synthesize in annotated bibliography form, recent regulation-related findings and commentaries in the academic literature. This annotated bibliography is one in a series of bibliographies that summarizes regulation-related academic research. We reviewed academic outlets such as The Accounting Review, The Journal of Accounting Research, The Journal of Accounting and Economics, Accounting Horizons, The Journal of Accounting, Auditing & Finance, The Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, The Journal of Business, Finance & Accounting, Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory, and Research in Accounting Regulation. We annotate results of regulation-related research studies and key points from regulation-related commentaries.     

Convergence between US GAAP and IFRS: Acceptance of IFRS by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

Abstract

The world's capital markets stand to benefit significantly from widespread acceptance and use of global accounting standards that are high quality, comprehensive and rigorously applied. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced in April 2007 a series of actions it intends to take relating to the acceptance of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). To implement this, the SEC proposed in July 2007 amendments to Form 20-F and conforming changes to SEC Regulation S-X to accept financial statements prepared in accordance with IFRS without reconciliation to US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) when contained in the filings of foreign private issuers with the SEC. This paper analyses the forces driving convergence between US GAAP and IFRS and discusses the most recent activities by the SEC in relation to IFRS and international cooperation, including the SEC vote as of 15 November 2007, to allow foreign private issuers to prepare their financial statements using IFRS as issued by the IASB without reconciling to US GAAP.     

Incorporating real-options analysis into the accounting curriculum

In this paper, we argue that accounting curricula should be expanded to cover the topic of real options. Our argument relies on reference to the [American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) (1999) (Core Competency Framework, New York, NY: AICPA <http://ceae.aicpa.org/Resources/Education+and+Curriculum+Development/Core+Competency+Framework+and+Educational+Competency+Assessment+Web+Site/> Accessed 21.08.08], the framework for curriculum change espoused by [Arya, A., Fellingham, J. C., & Schroeder, D. A. (2003). An academic curriculum proposal. Issues in Accounting Education, 18(1) 29–35], a global study of core competencies for management accountants [International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), (2002). Competency profiles for management accounting practice and practitioners. New York, NY: International Federation of Accountants], a global capital-budgeting “best practices statement” [International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), (2008). International good practice guidance: Project appraisal using discounted cash flow. New York, NY: International Federation of Accountants], current specifications of the CMA exam [Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), (2008). Certified management accountant (CMA) learning outcome statements (effective 07/01/04), updated 07/2008. <http://www.imanet.org/pdf/CMA%20%20LOS.pdf> Accessed 29.10.08.], and elements of the Albrecht and Sack report [Albrecht, W. S., & Sack, R. J. (2000). Accounting education: Charting the course through a perilous future. Accounting education series, Vol. 16. Sarasota, FL: American Accounting Association]. We make special reference to the linkage of the topic of real options to two broad educational goals: decision-modeling and risk analysis. Existing resources that accounting faculty can use to incorporate real options into the curriculum are limited. As a response, we provide an extended example that accounting educators can use to cover the topic of real options. This example uses a set of binomial trees (one for cash inflows and another for cash outflows). The step-by-step approach presented in this paper allows students without a technical/mathematical background to extend discounted-cash-flow (DCF) decision models (e.g., NPV) to incorporate real options that are embedded in proposed investment projects.     

For the sake of serving the broader community: Sea piloting compared with auditing

Discussions concerning ethics and the auditing profession tend to end up in two different standpoints: create stronger regulations or increase individual morals. In this article we will argue for a third standpoint that emphasizes the importance of belonging to a community, to a broader society.The problem, as we see it, has to do with the separation of the aims of the auditing profession from those of the broader community that it is intended to serve. This is the result of the development of global auditing companies and standard-setting bodies that use bureaucratic control, regulatory frameworks, fragmentation and a codification of knowledge. Applying limited notions of community or virtue ethics on collectives like professions is of little help here since it tends to create self-justificatory professions disconnected from the broader society [Neu D, T’aerien R. Remembering the past: ethics and the Canadian Chartered Accounting profession, 1911–1925. Critical Perspectives on Accounting 2000;11(2):193–212].In our argumentation for a wider mission on serving the broader community we use the concepts “occupational community” and “organization” [van Maanen J, Barley SR. Occupational communities: cultures and controls in organizations. Research in Organizational Behavior 1984;6:287–365] together with the term “for-the-sake-of”. Actions taken “for-the-sake-of” has a point or meaning that is wider than what is good for the individual or limited community. We compare the auditing profession with the traditional sea piloting profession in Sweden, which is characterized by a strong occupational community and members who strive to act “for-the-sake-of” serving the broader society by facilitating safe sea travel. We wind up by discussing the possibilities the state, market and community have in encouraging acts “for-the-sake-of” serving the broader community.     

Did the banking sector foresee the financial crisis? Evidence from risk factor disclosures

Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting - Beginning in December 2005, the SEC required registrants to discuss “the most significant factors that make the company risky” under the...     

Professional accounting development in Nigeria: threats from the inside and outside

Over the years several, sometimes conflicting, theories attempting to explain the development of professions have emerged. The “functionalist” and “interactionist” theories have since lost the spotlight to a more critical approach based on the Weberian concept of closure. Limitations in the concept and practice of this neo-Weberain concept have led to suggestions that research into the sociology of professions, should also include historical analyses of professionalism that capture historical specificities with the aim of generating theory that sees beyond “just massive historical variation” [Collins, R. (1990). Changing conceptions in the sociology of the profession. In R. Torstendahl, & M. Burrage, The formation of professions: Knowledge, state and strategy. London: Sage Publications]. Such research should also investigate the structural conditions under which the professionalisation process takes place [Johnson, T. (1977). The profession in the class structure. In R. Scase, Industrial society: Class, cleavage and control. London: George Allen and Unwin.]. In order to achieve this, there is the need to critically study the relationship of the State and the profession [Klegon, D. (1978). The sociology of professions: an emerging perspective. Sociology of Work and Occupations, 5, 3, 259–283.] and to document more extensively, the process, rather than the product, of closure [Chua, W. F., & Paullaos, C. (1993). Rethinking the profession-state dynamic: the case of the Victorian Charter Attempt, 1885–1906, Accounting, Organizations and Society, pp. 128–691; Chua, W. F., & Paullaos, C. (1998). The dynamics of “closure” amidst the construction of market, profession, empire and nationhood: an historical analysis of an Australian Accounting Association. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 23 (2), 155–187; Ramirez, C. (2001). Understanding social closure in its cultural context: accounting practitioners in France (1920–1939), Accounting, Organizations and Society.]. Such is the approach of this article, which focuses on the development of the accounting professions in Nigeria. It critically examines the profession/ State dynamics that have helped shape the outcome of the various episodes in the history of the accounting profession in Nigeria. An important influence in this dynamics is the nature of government in place (i.e. military or civilian).     

Securities regulation,household equity ownership,and trust in the stock market

Review of Accounting Studies - Using aggregate data from national accounts, we study whether strengthening and harmonizing securities regulation across the European Union increases household equity...     

Developments in accounting regulation: A synthesis and annotated bibliography of evidence and commentary in the 2011 academic literature

In this article, we synthesize in annotated bibliography form, recent regulation-related findings and commentaries in the academic literature. This annotated bibliography is one in a series of bibliographies that summarizes regulation-related academic research. We reviewed academic outlets such as The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting Research, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Contemporary Accounting Research, Accounting Horizons, The Journal of Accounting, Auditing & Finance, Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Journal of Business, Finance & Accounting, Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory, and Research in Accounting Regulation. We annotate results of regulation-related research studies and key points from regulation-related commentaries.