A Proposal for Teaching Introductory and Intermediate Accounting in an Environment of International Financial Reporting Standards and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles for Private Enterprises*

Teaching introductory and intermediate financial accounting in an environment of international financial reporting standards (IFRS) and generally accepted accounting principles for private enterprises (GAAP for PEs) is an issue facing faculty at Canadian universities and colleges. We present a number of options and then propose an approach that we believe provides a balanced treatment of accounting standards for both publicly accountable and private enterprises. This approach focuses on the concepts and principles that are common to both IFRS and GAAP for PEs. We argue that this approach encourages deep learning resulting in students’ better understanding of accounting standards and their application.     

Developing Students' Technical Knowledge and Case‐Based Reasoning Skills: Three Short Cases in Financial Accounting

The following three cases require you to identify and evaluate alternative accounting methods that can be applied to independent case scenarios. In the first scenario, you will evaluate alternative accounting methods relating to revenue recognition for a theatrical production. In the second scenario, you will evaluate alternative accounting methods relating to capitalizing or expensing costs associated with renovations at a golf course. In the third scenario, you will evaluate alternative accounting methods relating to capitalizing or expensing the cost of a signing bonus paid to a professional athlete.     

Fair Value Accounting and Stewardship*

Current standards define fair value as the market price at which an asset could be sold or a liability could be settled in the normal course of business. Setting aside measurement issues, assessing the relevance of exit values has intensified in recent years as fair value becomes a pervasive component of accounting regulation. The current debate about accounting measurement is framed in terms of making a choice between fair value and historical cost. In this article I argue that this is not a correct framing of the issues; knowledge of fair value alone cannot help investors to evaluate stewardship, because they would not know how much resources the management had sacrificed to obtain that fair value. To properly evaluate stewardship, investors need both types of information, historical cost and fair value.Using this information, a rate‐of‐return‐like index of stewardship quality is proposed. This commentary concludes with a statement about three significant drawbacks of relying solely on fair value accounting.     

IFRS within the Multi‐GAAP Canadian Reality: A Teaching and Learning Imperative for Intermediate Financial Accounting

Intermediate accounting instructors need to be engaged in the specific complexities and challenges of the new international financial reporting standards (IFRS) reality within the Canadian multi‐GAAP environment. Intermediate accounting courses are directly affected because they represent substantive coverage of the corporate reporting environment. In this article I make the case that these courses should primarily reflect IFRS standards in order to entrench IFRS competencies in students who wish to pursue a professional designation, to prepare students for the global environment, and to concentrate IFRS expertise issues in a robust instructor group. The competency maps of each of the three Canadian professional accounting bodies clearly reflect IFRS. Students can analyze the implications of major areas of policy differences between IFRS and private enterprise GAAP (PEGAAP) through specific targeted course coverage, but also through active learning elements, particularly research elements. This commentary reflects some of the active debate occurring regarding postsecondary curriculum as Canada adapts to IFRS and PEGAAP, and encourages action.     

Thunder Bay Transportation: A Case of Business Valuation and Negotiation*

Thunder Bay Transportation (TBT) is a very versatile case that can be used in several milieus and at various levels of difficulty. The case describes the process involved in the purchase and sale of a private business. Mr. Getzko, owner/manager of TBT, is attempting to sell his business to pursue retirement. Sudbury Systems (SS) is pursuing an acquisition of TBT. Students are required to assume the role of either Mr. Getzko’s accountants (seller) or Sudbury Systems’ accountants (buyer) to: (1) develop a preliminary business value, (2) negotiate adjustments, and (3) arrive at an agreed‐upon business value to finalize the sale. Students will explore both business valuation approaches (earnings based and asset based) and various business valuation concepts (e.g., normalized earnings, sustaining capital reinvestment, earnings multiple, redundant assets, etc.).     

An Assessment of the Psychometric Properties of the Perceived Stress Scale‐10 (PSS10) with Business and Accounting Students

Using a sample of 557 undergraduate business students from three U.S. comprehensive universities, this study examined: (a) the factor structure of the Perceived Stress Scale‐10 (PSS10; Cohen and Williamson, 1988); (b) the invariance of its factor structure; (c) the scale's reliability; and (d) its convergent and divergent validity. Confirmatory factor analyses supported a structure with two primary factors, General Distress and Ability‐to‐Cope, loading on a single second‐order factor, Perceived Stress. Furthermore, this model was confirmed for designated subpopulations including the 264 accounting majors who participated in the study. Notably absent in prior research, this study found two items, numbers 2 and 9, to load significantly on both the General Distress and Ability‐to‐Cope factors with men and the full sample, respectively. Item–total correlations, coefficient alphas, and Spearman‐Brown reliability coefficients supported the reliability of the items loading on the full scale as well as on each of the two primary factors. Combined, these findings provide compelling evidence in support of the PSS10 as a stress assessment measure for business students in general, and accounting students in particular. In fact, given its practical expediency in terms of administration and scoring, the PSS10 appears to be a tool that could be used by university administrators and potentially by human resource personnel at accounting and business organizations to assess student/employee perceived stress levels before the onset of burnout tendencies, thus facilitating more timely and cost‐effective intervention strategies.     

Accounting and Auditing Activities of the Ontario Securities Commission, 1960s to 2008 Part 3: The Fifth Chief Accountant, 1996–2008

We present Part 3 of a historical review and analysis of the role played by the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) in accounting and auditing from the 1960s onward. Part 1 dealt with the period from the 1960s to 1985 (Zeff and Radcliffe, 2010a). Part 2 reviewed the work of the first four chief accountants, from 1986 to 1996 (Zeff and Radcliffe, 2010b). This third and final part reviews the work of the fifth chief accountant, John A. Carchrae, from 1996 to 2008. It began with the reorganization of the OSC and the reassignment of functions. The chief accountant position was now that of a permanent employee, albeit still as head of a very small department. The second part of Carchrae's tenure was dominated by the need to respond to the financial crises of the early 21^st century with extensive regulatory change as well as addressing the shift to international accounting standards in Canada.     

Audit Quality and the Market Valuation of Banks’ Allowance for Loan Losses*

The recent banking crisis has led market participants to focus on the adequacy and quality of banks’ balance sheet items such as the allowance for loan losses. Beaver and Engel (1996) document that the capital market prices the nondiscretionary component of loan loss allowance negatively and the discretionary component less negatively. Using data from the pre‐crisis period and three measures of audit quality, auditor type (i.e., Big 5 versus non–Big 5), auditor industry specialization/expertise, and audit and nonaudit fees paid to auditors, we examine the effect of audit quality on the market valuation of the discretionary component of the allowance for loan losses. We find that, relative to the nondiscretionary component, the market valuation of the discretionary component of loan loss allowance is higher for banks audited by Big 5 auditors than for banks audited by non–Big 5 auditors. We also find that the relative market valuation of the discretionary component of loan loss allowance is increasing in auditor expertise. Regarding the impact of fees paid to auditors, we find that banks paying higher audit fees have higher relative market valuation of the discretionary component of the allowance for loan losses, but banks that pay higher nonaudit fees do not.