Residual Income: A Review Essay

Over the past decade, residual income has attracted considerable attention in the academic and professional literature. During this time, many leading businesses have adopted proprietary variants of residual income as a measure of their corporate success. This essay analyses the utility of residual income as a performance measure. We focus on two themes: (i) the relationship between the stream of ex-ante residual incomes and the net present value of a project; and (ii) the association between reported ex-post residual income and change in shareholder wealth. We conclude that residual income lacks theoretical support as a measure of wealth created. We suggest possible reasons for executives adopting residual income and why it has the potential to result in increased organisational performance.     

国有股份制银行的无形资产及其投资活动分析

无形资产投资是企业长期投资活动的重要组成部分,具有"双刃剑"效应.本文全面分析国有股份制银行的无形资产及其投资活动.研究发现:从表内无形资产来看,无形资产占总资产的比重偏低,且呈下降趋势;土地使用权仍是最主要的表内无形资产.从投资活动来看,国有股份制银行在人力资本投资、组织结构资本投资和关系资本投资方面已有初步发展,但总体呈现出投资不足的特征,更缺乏系统性的无形资产投资战略与投资效率评价体系.本文最后提出了若干建议.     

Accounting for Intangibles: A Theoretical Perspective

This paper uses a transactions theory approach to analyse some of the measurement and disclosure issues involved in accounting for goodwill and other intangibles. The recent professional and academic literature is reviewed and the traditional economic theory approach to interpreting accounting issues in these areas is criticised. A form of transactions theory called ‘Statistical Transactions Theory’ is then used to investigate several conceptual problem areas, notably: the definition of goodwill and fair values; the distinction between goodwill and other intangibles; and capitalisation, amortisation and valuation issues. The authors conclude that the most fruitful course of action in dealing with these issues would be a substantial research effort designed to investigate the distributional properties of accounting numbers relating to the subject of intangibles measurement, including goodwill as defined in this paper. They call for more analytic and empirical work in this field.     

Capitalisation of Intangibles — A Review of Current Practice and the Regulatory Framework

This paper reports on capitalisation practices of Australian managers for a large sample of firms in the 1993–97 period, and on accounting regulatory issues in relation to intangibles during and after this period. The data show diversity in capitalisation practices in 1993–97, which we suggest is a consequence of abstract conceptual bases for capitalisation decisions under the Australian regulatory framework. The analysis indicates the framework retains traditional emphasis on conservatism and reliable measurement while providing managers with substantial accounting discretion to capitalise intangible assets. We conclude there is an imperative for research investigating capitalisation decisions for intangibles to guide any further regulation.     

新市场动向:无形资产、动产与企业价值评估

商誉、品牌、商标、网址和客户名单等无形资产的价值在本性上是难以捉摸的,评估起来也比较困难.这类资产的产权缺乏明确界定,带有具体企业的个性.因此,它们通常具有较高的风险和不确定性,缺乏有序的交易市场.此外,对这类资产我们很难进行量化和跟踪.     

审计职业怀疑研究综述

职业怀疑是注册会计师从事审计工作应有的重要素质,也是影响审计质量的重要因素,尤其是审计职业界日益强调在审计计划和执行工作中应该保持职业怀疑态度的今天,这一问题就显得更为重要。然而,国内外关于这一问题的研究都相对比较薄弱。本文首先对已有的关于审计职业怀疑内涵的不同观点进行了分析,按照时间脉络介绍和分析了在发展过程中逐步形成的四个审计职业怀疑模型,在此基础上从审计职业怀疑与审计人员的个体特征、审计职业怀疑与职业怀疑行为两个方面,梳理和评述了目前国外对审计职业怀疑的研究成果,最后结合上述研究成果和审计实践,指出了这一领域未来可能的研究方向,以期为我国审计职业怀疑的理论研究和实践活动提供借鉴和参考。     

关于无形资产作用空间与运作环境理论的研究和探讨

无形资产自身的获利潜力与无形资产得以发挥作用的空间和条件共同构成了无形资产评估价值的基础.无形资产的评估价值与有形资产的评估价值之间的最大区别在于:同一无形资产的评估价值可以是其潜在获利能力的全部或部分转化.对于同一无形资产,在其潜在获利能力一定的前提下,如果评估人员选择不同的评估条件、评估环境和评估假设前提,其评估价值可以有较大的差别.无形资产的潜在获利能力取决于无形资产发挥作用的空间范围、外部条件以及无形资产潜在获利能力可转化为现实获利能力的程度.     

Corporate Lobbying,Visibility and Accounting Conservatism

In this study, we examine the relationship between a firm's lobbying activities and financial reporting quality using a US setting where public scrutiny of corporate political activities is high. More importantly, we examine whether and how a firm's visibility shapes the relationship between its corporate lobbying activities and accounting conservatism. Adopting annual lobbying expenditure data to measure firms’ lobbying activities, and using a propensity‐score‐matching methodology to control for differences in firm characteristics between lobbying and non‐lobbying firms, we find a positive relationship between a firm's lobbying intensity and the degree of accounting conservatism in its financial reporting. We further find this positive relationship to be more pronounced in lobbying firms with a higher level of visibility. These results are robust after controlling for a firm's political connections, across various conditional conservatism measures, and across a number of visibility measures including firm size, the number of analysts following the firm, the age of the firm, the number of foreign stock exchanges that the firm is cross‐listed in, and the level of the firm's media coverage. Together, our findings add to the literature on how firms’ political activities shape their accounting practices in general, and accounting conservatism in particular. More importantly, our findings suggest that the heightened public attention paid to political activities in the US yields incentives for firms to be more conservative in their accounting practices.     

Nonprofit Lobbying: Museums and Collections Capitalization

This research examines the museum characteristics associated with lobbying on the 1990 FASB Exposure Draft (FASB, 1990) that would have required US museums to capitalize their collections. A sample of 103 museums that lobbied on the Exposure Draft is compared to a matched sample of museums that did not choose to lobby. The results reveal that museums which lobbied are larger, older, and members of or accredited by the American Association of Museums. Also, proportionately more private museums and art museums than exist in the overall US museum population chose to lobby on the proposed requirement.     

The Purpose of the Firm,Valuation, and the Management of Intangibles

This article provides a different way of thinking about, and responding to, four important issues that confront most public companies. First, in articulating the overarching corporate purpose, the author suggests a middle ground between shareholder value maximization and stakeholder theory that aims to achieve the end result of value maximization while taking a “holistic” view that meets most of the demands of stakeholder advocates. As described by the author, there are four critical steps for management and boards in creating such companies: (1) communicating a vision of the company and its purpose to employees as well as investors (and other key outsiders); (2) organizing to survive and prosper through efficiency and innovation; (3) working continuously to develop win‐win relationships with stakeholders and other companies; and (4) taking care of the environment and future generations. Second, in thinking about the corporate purpose and how to evaluate success in achieving it, managements and boards need a valuation model that provides a clear and insightful connection between long‐term corporate performance and market valuation, and how both might be expected to change as the firm matures. A strong case is presented for the life‐cycle valuation model, widely used by money management organizations, in which a company's projected cash flows reflect an expected “fade” in both economic returns on capital and reinvestment rates. The potential uses of this model are illustrated using lifecycle corporate performance data for 3M during the past 50 years. Third, in an effort to capture the value of innovation and investment in intangible assets, the author presents an alternative to the accounting approach of capitalizing and amortizing such assets that attempts to capture their expected future benefits by using more favorable forecasts of long‐term fade rates. Fourth, the author shows how incorporating Life‐cycle Reviews for each of a company's business units as part of its Integrated Reporting could improve management's resource allocation decisions, help build a shareholder base of long‐term investors, and provide management with the support and confidence to resist Wall Street's excessive emphasis on quarterly earnings.     

Some Implications of Auditor and Client Lobbying Activities: A Comparative Analysis

This paper examines the degree to which auditor and client lobbying is related in a UK context. This may help to identify any linkage between the wealth of clients and auditors that is affected by accounting standards, as propounded in the ‘economic consequences’ literature. It also might have some implications for the independence question. Three tests are conducted to see if auditors tend to support the lobbying position of the majority, or the most financially influential, of their clients. The third test is also used to identify any evidence that the comments of smaller clients tend to follow the lead of their audit firms/professional advisors. Auditor and corporate client written submissions on 22 proposed accounting standards are included in the study. The analyses are conducted both at an aggregated and also at a disaggregated level. The results do not indicate that auditor and client collusion took place. In particular, the results are consistent with the view that auditors are independent of their clients. Some suggestions are made for further research.     

Corporate Lobbying on Accounting Standards: Methods, Timing and Perceived Effectiveness

There is a long-standing concern in the literature about the potential importance of non-observable forms of lobbying that may be used by corporate managers to influence accounting standard setting bodies. To date, however, no study has documented their nature or their volume. This study provides such evidence in the context of the U.K.'s Accounting Standards Board (ASB) standard setting process for the period 1991–96. It also provides evidence with respect to the timing at which lobbying activity takes place and its perceived effectiveness by corporate managers. The findings suggest that companies use a variety of lobbying methods, including appeals to their auditors and private meetings with ASB members and staff. Importantly, however, the use of these methods is significantly associated with the use of comment letters; companies which submit comment letters are much more likely to use other methods than companies which do not. Other findings suggest that more companies lobby during the stages of the ASB process at which public consultation takes place (e.g., exposure period of a discussion paper) than at the earlier stages of the process (e.g., agenda formation) which are considered in the literature as the stages at which lobbying can be most effective. With respect to the perceived effectiveness of lobbying, companies which lobbied the ASB considered lobbying to be more effective than companies which did not.     

Intangibles and accounting classifications: in search of a classification strategy

The present paper is concerned with classification of ‘intangibles’ and what classification theory can teach us about a ‘good classification’. The present study led to three conclusions about the classification of intangibles. One is that the value of classification lies in its function as a heuristic device, i.e. as a help construction. Accounting becomes the art of background design. Another conclusion is that if we choose to account for intangibles it does not need to change the transaction base of financial accounting. Rather, it is an issue how to classify and label a universe of transactions. Finally, the dichotomy tangible–intangible should not be acknowledged as a supposition. Depending on perspective, purpose and type of financial accounting model, other concepts may do a better job in classifying the accounting world.     

审计职业判断研究介绍

20世纪70年代以前,对审计判断领域的科学研究很少。此后,由于对审计效率和效果问题的日益强调以及职业判断质量问题日益受到重视,相关研究文献开始涌现。在过去20年里,许多研究考察了审计师是如何就审计任务作出判断并进行决策的。大多数研究集中在财务报表审计上。通过这些学术研究,人们对审计师如何进行职业判断有了更多的认识。     

职业会计师能力框架研究

会计教育与实践的目标是培养胜任的职业会计师。多年以来 ,一些国家政府或职业团体对于职业会计师的胜任能力进行了深入的研究。本文首先回顾相关文献 ,并归纳了胜任能力框架的研究成果。在此基础上 ,本文论述了这些研究对我国职业会计师能力框架研究的启示。