The Fourth International Symposium on Intelligent Systems in Accounting,Finance and Management

The Fourth International Symposium on Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management ranks as the oldest, on-going meeting on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in business. The conference spotlights a wide range of issues with both theoretical/practical and behavioral/technological dimensions.     

Downloads and citations in Intelligent Systems in Accounting,Finance and Management

This paper summarizes the papers downloaded most from the years 2000–2002 and traces the number of citations from Google Scholar (beta) for those papers at the beginning of 2008. It is found that the number of downloads and citations are highly correlated, suggesting that downloads is a leading indicator of citations, even years into the future. In addition, this paper assesses which of the papers from the journal have been cited most over the history of the journal, using both ISI–Social Science Citation Index and Google Scholar. It is found that the numbers of citations using both approaches are highly correlated. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

AI in Accounting,Finance and Management

This paper summarizes the contributions to the International Journal of Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management over its first four years. A taxonomy of papers by functional area and methodology is developed. Rankings of contributions by author, institution and country are summarized.     

Intelligent Systems in Accounting,Finance and Management: ISI journal and proceeding citations,and research issues from most‐cited papers

This paper analyses the citations from Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management that have occurred in ISI's Web of Knowledge in February 2010. I found roughly 1000 citations to the journal under 10 different journal name abbreviations, with roughly 25% of the citations occurring during 2008–2009, associated with 27 of the more frequently cited papers. Using that citation data, the H‐index and the 40 (42 with ties) most‐cited papers are presented. I found that ISI's new proceedings data appear to have a different citation pattern than ISI's journal citation data, resulting in citations to more sources, but fewer citations per source. I also examine the research methodologies and applications of the most‐cited papers in an attempt to determine what areas have been cited most and where there are potential gaps in the research. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Implementation of Innovative Management Accounting Systems

This paper reports on innovations in management accounting systems (MAS) in three Australian manufacturing enterprises. The study is based on the premise that systems characteristics of the MAS innovations develop in response to triggers for adoption, and the outcomes achieved from the innovative systems will depend on the effective implementation of the costing systems. The MAS innovations implemented include activity-based costing, activity-based management, benchmarking, integrated budgetary system, key performance indicators and balanced scorecards. Five factors influencing the successful implementation of innovative MAS are proposed: commitment to the initiatives; a successful pilot application; incremental development; appropriate training; and integration with other processes and systems.     

实证会计研究与系统会计研究

实证会计研究渊源于哲学中的实证主义。本文试图在厘清实证会计相关概念的基础上,分析实证会计研究的作用与局限。提出对实证会计研究和规范会计研究分别进行整合,形成实证会计研究与系统会计研究;主张以马克思主义为指导,开展实证会计研究和系统会计研究。     

Accounting Regulation and Management Discretion—A Case Note

This article explores the manipulation of published financial reports in order to counter the potentially unfavourable impact of newly introduced regulation. In this case the reported capital ratio of a major British building society was enhanced using a sale and leaseback transaction with a related party and a change in depreciation policy, methods which reflected limited alternatives. Analysis of the case is set in the context of the sector and addresses the questions of whether these manipulations were within then‐prevailing generally accepted accounting principles and why, despite disclosure in the society's financial statements, they failed to attract public comment or concern, regulatory action or an audit qualification. In examining a major British mutual financial organization we depart from traditional analyses of managerial discretion in accounting choices in British companies.     

Finance, Politics, and the Accounting for Stock Options

The politics of option accounting crosses party lines, reflecting both the interests of the affected constituencies and the desire for power over standard setting. House Bill HR-3574, which mandates an assumption of zero stock price volatility, runs counter to the recently passed Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) rule requiring fair-value expensing of stock options. For any option issued at or out of the money, where strike prices are normally set, expense recognition is zero under this bill's mandated assumption.
Besides excessive use of stock options, the lack of a "final peace" in the option accounting war appears to have encouraged another questionable corporate practice. This article examines a sample of "six-and-one restructurings," exchanges of options in which expensing of re-priced (deep out-of-the-money) options can be avoided if employees wait at least six months and one day before receiving new options. The authors found that market-adjusted stock prices tend to decrease during the six-month period before the strike price is reset. This result provides one more reason why companies should be required to use fair-value option pricing models to expense options.     

The Impact of Non-Serial Publications on Research in Accounting and Finance

This study examines the role of books and official Publications in accounting and finance research. From an analysis of thirteen leading journals for the year 1987–8 we report on the characteristics of such non-serial materials used by authors to support their research. We find that the accounting discipline in particular has become more open to influence from other disciplines. The individual perspectives of these thirteen journals can be partially revealed by their use of non-serial materials. Using cluster analysis we examine inter-journal variations in the disciplinary pattern of book citations and the distribution of citations to official bodies. Several relatively homogeneous groupings are identified.     

关于我国会计制度和会计准则的制定问题

本文包括三个主要部分。首先阐述会计规范的必要性。然后 ,立足于我国的实际情况 ,提出会计规范的目标是依存于不同的经济体制特点的、会计规范的内容和形式则取决于会计规范的目标 ;通过区分会计确认、计量、记录和报告在不同会计行为中的差别揭示了会计准则和会计制度两种规范形式在我国的并存性和各自的侧重点 ,即会计准则侧重于确认和计量 ,会计制度侧重于记录与报告。最后 ,对我国会计准则、会计制度的关系问题 ,未来会计规范问题提出作者的观点。     

Financial Systems, Corporate Finance and Corporate Governance

Financial systems of industrialised countries are usually classified as being either capital market- or bank-dominated. This paper tries to shed some light on the validity of this distinction. In order to do this, it analyses two specific roles of the financial sector vis-à-vis the enterprise sector: the role of financing or funding business and the role of capital markets and banks, respectively, in the context of corporate governance. Our analysis of the relevant findings in the literature shows that financing patterns are quite similar between countries, while corporate governance systems are quite dissimilar. The paper discusses how these divergent findings could be made compatible with existing theories and what implications they may have for the question of whether there is a tendency for corporate governance systems in different countries to become as similar as corporate financing patterns seem to be.     

The Effects of Management Accounting Systems and Environmental Uncertainty on Small Business Managers' Performance

This study examines the interacting effects of management accounting systems (MAS) and perceived environmental uncertainty on small business managers' perceptions of their performance. Results obtained from using a multiple regression and partial derivative analyses of responses to questionnaires distributed to a sample of 42 managers/owners of light engineering manufacturing firms in Australia, confirmed the hypothesis that the effects of MAS on performance were dependent on environmental uncertainty. Under high levels of uncertainty, sophisticated MAS had a positive effect on performance but under low levels it had a negative effect.     

试论公司财务治理和财务管理的关系与对接

本文从公司财务治理和财务管理的概念和内涵入手,对财务治理和财务管理的关系进行分析,并从经济学、企业管理学和财务学等方面对二者对接的基础做了探讨,最后指出了二者协调和对接的途径。     

Risks from self-referential peer review echo chambers developing in research fields: 2018 Keynote Address presented at The British Accounting Review 50th Anniversary Celebrations,British Accounting and Finance Association Annual Conference,London

Denigration of academic experts and expertise, amid a resurgence of political populism, poses a challenge to the legitimacy of academic research. Addressing this challenge requires us to continually demonstrate the importance of basing policy interventions on reliable evidence, rather than unevidenced assertions that gain traction through communication echo chambers. However, unconscious confirmation biases in collection and analysis of evidence can impair the reliability of our research insights. A key source of such confirmation biases are unchallenged ideologies and other taken-for-granted assumptions underlying any research (sub)field. This essay argues that informal and formal peer review processes at many stages of research need to highlight and challenge both conscious selectivity bias and unconscious confirmation bias. However, they are unlikely to do so where researchers only take on board feedback from peers in the same (sub)field who share ideological commitments and taken-for-granted assumptions. In such circumstances, self-referential peer review echo chambers can develop that entrench rather than challenge weaknesses in a research (sub)field. This can be a major risk to the effectiveness and reputation of any academic research (sub)field; a risk we need to confront.