Pirate Wireless: Revenue Recognition in the Telecommunications Industry

Pirate Wireless is a telecommunications company with stores and offices all over the globe. Jim Bayley is an extremely busy professional who enters into a contract with Pirate Wireless for the ultimate purchase of a smartphone with one‐year warranty, voice and data services, Cryptonite encryption software, and an extended warranty. The case requires students to act as Assistant Controller of Pirate Wireless Corporate and determine the appropriate revenue recognition for Pirate Wireless's contract with Jim Bayley. This mandates a thorough review of the five steps of revenue recognition set forth in Revenue from Contracts with Customers, the jointly converged standard issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in May 2014. The FASB's Accounting Standards Codification 606 is effective for all U.S. public entities for fiscal years ending after December 15, 2017. The IASB's International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) 15 applies to an entity's first annual IFRS financial statements for a period beginning on or after January 1, 2018. This case is appropriate for an undergraduate or graduate level Intermediate Accounting course.     

The impact of the new Accounting Standards for Business Enterprises (ASBE) on financial results of mainland Chinese listed companies

Effective 1st January 2007, 38 new Accounting Standards for Business Enterprises (ASBE) had become applicable to listed companies in mainland China. Research based on these latest standards will help us understand the current accounting harmonisation process in China. Previous studies, though rather scarce, had compared financial statements of companies simultaneously being listed on the mainland and Hong Kong. However, the very recent impact of the new ASBE has not been taken into account. Therefore, the present study focuses on domestic Chinese companies after implementation of the new ASBE. The financial figures of each item reported under the old Chinese Accounting Rules and Regulations and the new ASBE were collected in pairs and were analysed. Except for the test results on total assets and shareholders' equity, the other results revealed no significant differences between the paired figures of net assets per share, operating revenue, profit before tax, net profit, net profit after extraordinary gains and losses, basic earnings per share, net cash flow from operating activities and the per share value.     

Acknowledging the importance of BAI accounts

For hospitals, balance after insurance (BAI) refers to revenue from uninsured patients and from patients with patient responsibility after insurance. BAI is a rapidly growing share of hospital revenue as a result of substitution from high-deductible commercial insurance plans-revenue that tends to convert to cash relatively easily and quickly-meaning that an increasing share of hospital cash flow is now due from the patient. Hospitals should make sure that their self-pay patients receive excellent customer service: It not only improves the likelihood of a greater yield, but also-perhaps more important-helps ensure customer loyalty and willingness to recommend the facility to others.     

Optimal introductory pricing for new financial services

Financial services institutions often provide special introductory prices to new customers who sign up for their services such as credit cards, credit monitoring services and online stock trading. Despite their prevalence, the decision to provide introductory prices to new customers entails challenges for decision makers. Providing small incentives may not perceptibly affect the adoption of the service while providing a large incentive leads to the loss of revenue and profits. As a result, the effectiveness of such activities on firm profitability remains largely unexplored. This study seeks to address this gap in the literature by exploring optimal introductory pricing of a financial service. Employing agent-based simulation experiments, we find that offering introductory discounts significantly increases a firm’s net present value (NPV) of profits. Moreover, the findings suggest the amount of discount and the duration of time that a new customer receives the discount are critical factors in determining the NPV of profits. The research and managerial implications are discussed.     

The case for case management

An effective case management program can help healthcare organizations: Position the organization for changes under healthcare reform with coordination of care across the healthcare continuum. Enhance quality of care with an interdisciplinary team focus on the progression of the plan of care. Increase payment and decrease costs by expediting patient discharge. Improve the revenue cycle process by ensuring accurate coding for prompt billing, reducing denials, and improving contracting terms with managed care payers. Proactively prepare for Recovery Audit Contractor audits and protect against unfavorable results.     

Accounting Policies in the Extractive Industry: A Global and a Turkish Perspective

This paper investigates the influence of accounting standards on financial reporting for companies in the extractive industry. In Turkey, listed firms have prepared their financial reports according to the International Accounting Standards and the International Financial Reporting Standards (IAS/IFRS) since 2005, as has the European Union. The aim of this study is to determine the degree of compliance with IFRS 6, comparing global and Turkish extractive entities. We find that the entities reporting in accordance with IFRS 6 in Turkey are more likely to fail to declare their accounting policies, whereas global companies are more likely to be compliant with IFRS 6.     

‘Old Hens Make the Best Soup’: Accounting for the Earning Process and the IASB/FASB Attempts to Reform Revenue Recognition Accounting Standards

Abstract

By developing a synthesis of documents that have been released officially under the revenue recognition project jointly run by the International Accounting Standards Board and Financial Accounting Standards Board, this article points out that the earning generation and realization process over time (that is to say, the traditional accounting model) is in reality still playing an important role without losing its raison d'être. Although this model is supposed to have been consistently rejected since the outset on the premise of the adoption of the assets and liabilities approach amid the Boards' attempt to establish a new revenue recognition model, this article aims to reconfirm the significance and validity of this earning process – that is, the corporate process of generating and realizing earnings over time – as the representational focus of accounting for revenue recognition. Through an internal critique, our article summarizes and discusses successive Boards' proposals under the same asset–liability approach that they have been advocating for revenue recognition. Through a comprehensive comparative analysis (external critique), our article further criticizes the usefulness and feasibility of this approach, especially the transfer-of-control basis of revenue recognition which the Boards propose. It argues then for an alternative approach that combines asset–liability with revenue–expense accounting while re-establishing focus upon the earning process over time.     

Do non-profit hospitals provide more charity care when faced with a mandatory minimum standard? Evidence from Texas

Policymakers often question whether not-for-profit (NFP) hospitals provide enough charity care to justify tax advantages. In 1993, Texas enacted legislation requiring NFP hospitals to provide certain community benefits at levels set forth in specific criteria to retain tax-exempt status; this paper focuses on the effect of the legislation’s requirement that NFP hospitals spend a minimum of 4% of net patient revenue on charity care. We also study a modification of the law passed in 1995, which allows the deduction of bad debts expense when calculating net patient revenue. This change effectively lowers required charity care spending, and our study considers whether Texas hospitals responded by reducing charity care spending.     

Free Immigration and Welfare Access: The Swedish Experience

With the expansion of the European Union from 15 to 25 member countries in 2004, fears of migrants’ excessive welfare use led 14 of the 15 older member countries to impose restrictions on the access of citizens of the new member countries – the A10 countries – to their welfare systems. Sweden was the only exception. This paper evaluates the net contribution of post‐enlargement A10 immigrants to Swedish public finances in 2007. On average, A10 immigrants generate less public revenue than the population on average, but they also cost less. The net result is a zero or small positive net contribution. In particular, A10 immigrants do not benefit more from basic social welfare than the population on average. The discounted net contribution over the A10 immigrants’ lifetimes may be positive or negative depending, for example, on their income assimilation rates and on future real interest rates.     

German Reporting Practices: An Analysis of Reconciliations from German Commercial Code to IFRS or US GAAP

This paper presents the results of research analyzing reconciliations of net income and stockholders’ equity from reports prepared according to Germany's Commercial Code (HGB) to either International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) or US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP). We describe the distribution of the reconciling items and assess their value relevance to firm market values 3 months after the financial statement date. The work helps to identify many issues not apparent from research that focuses only on promulgated accounting standards. Among other things, the research presented in this paper demonstrates that, when reconciling to IFRS or US GAAP, German companies must reverse significant software and film licensing revenue. Other areas of significant difference, not surprisingly, show greater conservatism in reporting under HGB than IFRS or US GAAP, particularly in asset capitalizations and write-offs as well as in accruals of provisions and reserves. The latter category is value relevant to the firms’ market values after controlling for all other categories of reconciling items from HGB to either IFRS or US GAAP, indicating that German markets value these companies’ provisions and accruals under the German reporting system.     

A Reconsideration of Consolidation Accounting Requirements and Pre‐acquisition Dividends

This article considers the consolidation accounting consequences of the International Accounting Standards Board's decision to replace the cost method of accounting for investments in subsidiaries with a new model that requires the recognition of dividend revenue for distributions received or receivable from pre‐acquisition profits. The article shows that the recognition of pre‐acquisition dividends as revenue with a potential indication of impairment causes problems to consolidation accounting procedures and may reduce the information content of consolidated financial statements. The highlighted problems relate to the elimination of the investment asset against the equity of the subsidiary and the definition and measurement of non‐controlling interest. A review of the due process relevant to the replacement of the cost method indicates that the standard setter may have paid insufficient regard to accounting concepts and principles.     

Introducing More IFRS Principles of Disclosure – Will the Poor Disclosers Improve?

Abstract

The current paper was prepared for the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) Research Forum 2017 and evaluates the effects of introducing more principles of disclosure as part of the IASB Disclosure Initiative. We perform a literature review of academic research on how entities have complied with disclosure requirements in the past. The review shows high levels of non-compliance and high volatility across entities, including poor disclosers being far below the average. We find no clear pattern of higher compliance for International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) with more reliance on disclosure principles as compared to specific requirements (i.e. IFRS 7, IFRS 8), but note the methodological problem of measuring compliance with disclosure principles. Academic research suggests that the degree of compliance depends on entities’ incentives for providing or withholding information in combination with local conditions for primary users, auditors and regulators. Based on our review, we argue that increased reliance on entities to act in ‘good faith’ when complying with disclosure requirements, in capital-market contexts where entities may be in high-incentive situations and have low costs of non-compliance, is potentially risky in terms of how well the Standards protect primary users from poor disclosers. More emphasis is needed on ensuring that the disclosure requirements are enforceable and auditable in order to secure a certain minimum level of disclosure.     

The Relationship Among Market-Making Revenue, Payment for Order Flow, and Trading Costs for Market Orders

We study the division of market-making revenue among dealer, broker, and trader. When Knight Securities, a major Nasdaq dealer, interacts with market orders in actively traded stocks during the fourth quarter of 1996, we estimate that its revenue is $0.057 per share. Knight pays brokers at least $0.025 per share (44% of revenue) for orders. To examine whether brokers appear to share these payments with traders, we compare net trading costs (trade price net of commissions) for traders using brokers routing Knight orders with estimated net trading costs for traders using the only discount broker we can determine did not directly receive market-making revenue. We find that the net trading cost of the broker refusing order-flow payments does not dominate the net trading cost of all brokers selling order flow to Knight. This finding suggests that order-flow payments do not unambiguously harm traders and challenges the conclusions of extant studies using only trade prices to assess market quality.     

A Conceptual Framework for Accounting for Public-Benefit Entities

There is a renewed impetus in the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) to develop a conceptual framework for financial reporting for both private sector and public-benefit entities. This article takes stock of some of the key issues related to this endeavour with particular emphasis on what the objectives should be and whether it is possible to have one conceptual framework for all entities.     

Practical Problems In The Reporting Entity Concept

The concept of a reporting entity has been introduced into financial reporting in Australia through a number of statements and standards. These documents require reporting entities to prepare so-called general-purpose financial reports which comply with all statements of accounting concepts and accounting standards, whereas non-reporting entities are not bound to the same level of compliance. Unfortunately, little authoritative guidance on interpretation and application of the reporting entity concept has come from either the Australian Accounting Standards Board or the Auditing Standards Board, despite the fact that the reporting entity concept has applied since 30 June 1992. The solutions proposed here may be temporary, given that the Corporations Law could be amended. It would be in readers' interests to consider any further authoritative guidance which might become available.     

Empirical findings from the reconciliations in the first IFRS compliant reports prepared by Japanese-owned subsidiaries in Australia

In Japan, a Japanese version of International Financial Reporting Standards (J-IFRS or JMIS)² will be adopted from March-ending in 2016, but exactly when the IFRS mandate will start is still unknown. The Australian regulators required not only publicly listed companies but also private and foreign-owned entities to prepare their financial statements to comply with Australian IFRS (A-IFRS) on or after 1 January 2005. Around the time of the transition to A-IFRS, more than 400 local subsidiary companies in Australia operated businesses which were invested in by Japanese multinational corporations. Thus, Australia was in a unique place to explore the IFRS reporting practices for Japanese-owned entities. We examined the reconciliations of the accounting figures made under the prior Australian generally accepted accounting principles (AGAAP) to those made under A-IFRS, and explored explanations for the reconciliations stated in the first A-IFRS compliant annual reports. On average, the net profits reported under AGAAP were 13% higher than those measured by A-IFRS for the Japanese subsidiaries, while the matched sample Australian companies' profits were on average 2% lower under AGAAP than the accounting figures reported under A-IFRS. Moreover, we described the following four accounting standards which were most frequently cited in the explanations of the impacts of the A-IFRS implementation: financial instruments, income taxes, provisions and employee benefits. Firstly, this study found that the reporting practices of the Japanese subsidiaries and Australian matched sample firms were less likely to be similar in the same Australian institutional setting. Secondly, the differences of the institutional factors in the countries of origin somewhat influenced the financial reporting of the Australian subsidiaries. Finally, the strict and wide scope of recognition and disclosure requirements under A-IFRS led to a significant increase in assets and liabilities. The monetary values materially changed under AGAAP compared with those made under A-IFRS, but these reporting entities attempted to comply with the new accounting regulations on time. We expect that information disclosure will increase and become more standardised under A-IFRS, compared with under AGAAP.     

全球化和发展中国家财政改革的必要

全球化为发展中国家带来压力，促使他们增加公共支出以改善国家的基础设施，改进制度，弥补为了纠正错误政策而支付的最终成本，补偿某些在迅速的全球化中受到最大影响的群体，对其中的一些人进行再培训，用最基本的现代保障网络去取代传统的简单无效的社会保障体系。各国应首先努力提高公共税收的使用效率，然后改革其税制，通过征收个人所得税和增值税，尤其是后者，来提高税收。     

对《债务重组准则》实施中应注意的几个问题的探讨

从1999年1月1日至2000年12月31日，《企业会计准则－债务重组》在企业执行过程中，由于准则对债务重组业务会计处理规定上的某些缺陷，导致了某些企业尤其是某些上市公司利用此法律上的便利，随意调节度利润，粉饰财务报表，给国家在会计信息失真的治理工作方面制造了障碍，国家财政部审时度势，及时修订了《企业会计准则－债务重组》准则，克服了原准则的缺陷，进一步规范了企业债务重组务和会计核算办法，使中国的会计准则体系进一步得到了完善，但新准则的实施由于新经济情况的情况，难免有不妥当的表现，笔者从六个方面提出了应注意的和改进的问题，希望能与同仁进行商榷并在该准则实施和执行过程中引起关注，对该准则的有效实施产生一些进步的影响。     

The potential impact of new technology and European mail deregulation on financial services marketers

This paper identifies the problems and opportunities presented to financial services marketers by European mail deregulation and the advent of new document technology in 2003. It explains the theory and current reality of mail deregulation in the UK and explains the timetable for its introduction. It goes on to explore the opportunities deregulation will create for more targeted direct marketing and even one-to-one marketing through new services and technology. It concludes that the financial services companies that utilise these new opportunities earliest to meet the needs of their customers will benefit most in both brand and net revenue terms.     

Gemini Communications: A case applying revenue recognition standards

Gemini Communications (Gemini) is a case study on revenue recognition criteria. You will take on the role of an audit manager for the public accounting firm that audits Gemini. Your client, Gemini, is a US company that recently expanded operations into China through the acquisition of Apollo Man. Gemini prepares its financial statements in accordance with US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP) while Apollo Man prepares its financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS GAAP). Your assignment is to research, compare and contrast the technical criteria for revenue recognition under US GAAP, IFRS GAAP, and the proposed revenue standard. You will apply the various criteria to an Apollo Man sales transaction to determine the timing and amount of revenue Apollo Man should recognize. The case is designed to develop your research and written communication skills.