A Study of Accountants' Judgments With Respect to the Provision of Consolidated Financial Statements

The release of the Australian Accounting Standards Board AASB 1024. Consolidated Accounts. in September 1991 represents a fundamental shift in concept, criteria and approach. The Standard is based on the entity concept and adopts 'capacity to control' as the sole criterion for identifying related entities for the purpose of preparing consolidated financial statements. A conceptual (substance-over-form) approach is used to implement the control criterion. In essence, this approach requires accountants to make professional judgments about the existence of control based on the substance of group structures and arrangements rather than their legal form. Concerns about the subjectivity and possible variability of accountants' judgments cast some doubt on the operational effectiveness of the conceptual approach. In response to these concerns, this paper reports the results of an experiment that examines the consolidation judgments accountants make in response to a number of hypothetical scenarios. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to provide some insights into the likely quality and reliability of consolidation judgments under the conceptual approach adopted by AASB 1024. The results indicate that accountants can be expected to exhibit broad consensus in their consolidation judgments. In addition, an analysis of the variables suggests that the degree of share ownership is the most significant factor in making such judgments. Nevertheless, other factors including the composition of the board of directors, the existence of a special arrangement, and interactions with the other variables also proved to be significant. Overall, the study provides tentative support for the conceptual approach adopted in AASB 1024.     

THE STRUCTURE AND CONTENT OF EXECUTIVE AGENCY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

This paper reports the results of a survey of the published financial statements of executive agencies entering the Price Waterhouse Best Agency Report and Accounts Competition. The survey illustrates the application of GAAP designed for one environment in a different context and the difficulties that result under these circumstances from the absence of direct analogies for some classes of event. Some suggestions for improvements in reporting are made, includ- ing: the publication of standardised, sector-wide, guidance; standardisation of formats and terminology; the use of the 'expenditure less income' format for the operating statement in appropriate cases; and the clarification of insur- ance arrangements.     

基于事项凭证的会计报表生成流程探析

在转轨经济时代,会计报表依然承载着记录会计信息的历史使命,而信息使用者则愈加关注会计信息的具体内容,事项信息的地位逐渐提升,使得会计报表的生成流程有待改进。本文基于传统会计核算流程的缺陷之处,并结合目前XBRL财务报告体系中的启示,对基于事项凭证的会计报表生成流程进行了探讨,为事项信息的充分运用提供合适的平台。     

Corporate domicile and average effective tax rates: The cases of Canada,Japan, the United Kingdom,and the United States

We use financial statement information to estimate three alterantive average effective tax rates for firms domiciled in Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States during the period 1982 to 1991. While many of the firms we examine operate worldwide, we use the termdomicile to refer to the legal residence or site of incorporation of the parent company. Our objective is to determine themarginal impact of a company's domicile on its worldwide tax burden, with controls for industry and year. We find both among domestic-only companies and among multinational companies the domiciles are consistently ranked in descending order by average effective tax rates as Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada. In comparing domestic-only companies and multinationals domiciled in the same jurisdiction, only U.S. multinationals consistently face a greater tax burden than their domestic counterparts.     

Sources of Bank Interest Rate Risk

We investigate bank stocks'sensitivity to changes in interest rates and the factors affecting this sensitivity. We focus on whether the exposure of commercial banks to interest rate risk is conditioned on certain balance sheet and income statement ratios. We find a significantly negative relation between bank stock returns and changes in interest rates over the period 1991–1996. We also find that bank characteristics measured from basic financial statement information explain bank stocks'sensitivity to interest rate changes. These results suggest that bank managers, analysts, and regulators can use this information to assess the relative risk exposure of banks.     

IPSAS and local government consolidated financial statements—proposal for a territorial consolidation method

This paper presents a new consolidation method to improve local government accountability. After a brief review of consolidated financial statements in the public sector, the International Public Sector Accounting Standards approach to consolidation is described. The authors explain why this approach does not adequately consider the distinctive features of local governments. A case study is presented to illustrate the principles underlying the new method.     

Does Financial Openness Matter in the Relationship Between Financial Development and Income Distribution in Latin America?

This article examines the effect of financial development on income distribution by analyzing a sample of Latin American countries according to their degree of financial openness for the 1990–2011 period. The period includes the time before and after financial liberalization for most of the countries in the region. As the literature provides inconclusive results regarding the relationship between financial development and income inequality, we aim to determine whether financial openness plays a role in this relationship. Our results provide an explanation for why some countries regardless of their degree of financial openness cannot achieve a reduction in income inequality.     

The Usefulness of Financial Reporting in Spanish Local Governments

Since 1992, accounting for Spanish local governments has been undergoing substantial change. The application of a new regulation has introduced the double entry system, an approximation to the accounting terminology used in the private sector and the presentation of financial statements beyond the purely budgetary reporting. In this context, the paper attempts to examine the extent to which the new regulation has achieved the objectives of financial reporting, who the users of the information could be, what the usefulness of the financial statements is and what they are used for in local governments. The results prove that the financial reporting of local governments can be useful for potential users like audit institutions, financial institutions or creditors. However, there is a long way to go before we can say that the information is used to the maximum. This implies that further progress is necessary in the use of financial information in local governments, and fundamentally it is necessary to introduce techniques of financial analysis traditionally used in business entities.     

Application of Anglo-American Principles of Consolidation to Corporate Financial Disclosure in Japan

The adoption by Japan of consolidated corporate reporting in 1977 may be viewed as an instance of the international transfer of Anglo-American practices of corporate reporting, and as a step towards international harmonization of accounting. Consolidation practices in Anglo-American nations are based on assumptions about the nature of corporate group associations. This paper examines the applicability of these assumptions to the corporate context in Japan. Personal interviews and analyses of group associations of listed Japanese corporations support three principal findings: (i) that historical and cultural determinants provide significant contrasts between corporate group associations in Japan and Anglo-American nations; (ii) that Anglo-American methods of consolidation fail to reflect adequately the nature of corporate group associations in Japan; and (iii) that the adoption of consolidation in Japan represented a response to situation-specific change stimuli rather than a general acceptance of the intrinsic merit of consolidation. The findings have implications for international accounting.     

A case against the consolidation of foreign subsidiaries’ and a United States parent’s financial statements

Generally accepted accounting principles in the United States usually require that companies which own more than 50% of the voting stock of foreign corporations prepare consolidated financial statements. The foreign financial statements must be recast into US GAAP and the foreign currency financial statements must be translated into US dollars. Alternative methods of translating foreign currency have major impacts on consolidated financial statements and on the behavior of management. Further, foreign subsidiary financial statements which are recast into US GAAP are less useful than the originals, and US users cannot analyze them without reference to the foreign environment. The interests of financial statement users are better served by alternative presentations of foreign currency denominated accounts rather than by consolidation.     

金融生态环境质量的资金“洼地”效应——基于空间计量模型的检验

在理论上,金融生态环境的改善能够提高本地区对外来资本的吸引力,从而促进本地区的资本积累。本文以外商直接投资实际利用额作为外来资本的代理变量,基于中国分省面板数据,采用空间计量模型检验了金融生态环境质量的资金"洼地"效应。结果发现,金融生态环境的改善具有显著的资金"洼地"效应,并且实证结论具有稳健性。     

区域金融发展收敛性的空间经济计量研究

本文以中国31个省份1978-2009年数据为样本,以金融相关比率作为衡量指标,采用空间计量经济方法对中国金融发展的收敛性进行了实证研究。Moran’s指数的测算表明,中国金融发展在大部分年份存在显著的全局空间相关性;Moran散点图表明中国金融发展空间辐射作用呈现下降趋势,且存在空间异质性。     

集团关联企业信用风险的财务监测

从财务的角度预警集团客户的信用风险可以使商业银行防患于未然,减少资产损失。基于授信业务实践中的集团客户是由核心企业、紧密层企业、半紧密层企业和松散层企业四个不同层次所组成的联合体,本文从商业银行信用风险管控的角度,提出对于集团客户应对合并会计准则为依据所编制的合并财务报表进行调整,即应将非完全集团成员企业与完全集团成员企业之间的关联交易所产生的财务影响纳入到合并财务报表。本文还结合全国主要商业银行信用风险的管理经验,论述了集团客户的财务预警方法,重点阐述了集团客户表内项目分析中的财务比率分析方法。     

Walter Mahlberg's Valuation Theory: An Anomaly in the Development of Inflation Accounting

Walter Mahlberg's inflation-accounting treatise of 1921, Bilanztechnik und Bewertung bei schwankender Währung , contains the first book-length price-level-adjustment model in the literature. As the title of the book indicates, Mahlberg treated the matter of restatement technique and the matter of asset valuation during inflation as distinct topics. Mahlberg's restatement technique was not without immediate influence in Germany and has been addressed previously in English-language publications. His valuation theory, on the other hand, had little effect on contemporary developments and remains an anomaly in the literature today. In particular, Mahlberg saw the effect of certain specific price-level changes—those whose rate of change exceeded general inflation—as giving rise to unavoidable future losses; losses, he maintained, that should be recognized currently. Since Mahlberg's theory is generally unknown outside Germany, the present paper first provides English-speaking audiences with an explication of the logic that led Mahlberg to his unique conclusion. It then argues that although Mahlberg's valuation theory represents a cul-de-sac in the development of inflation accounting itself, it ironically may have contributed to Henry Sweeney's 1936 concept of 'unrealized appreciation', which is an early conceptualization of a holding gain, net of inflation.