This study examines whether superior Informational Technology Capability (ITC) is associated with a shorter financial closing time for publicly traded companies. We also compare patterns of late-year adjustment of quarterly earnings between ITC and non-ITC companies. ITC firms appear to have shorter financial closing times and seem to have a reduced probability to exhibit late-year earnings reversals.

Botsourcing is the augmentation or replacement of human jobs by robots or other computing systems. Despite its growing popularity, much uncertainty and even fear exists about its use. This paper summarizes considerations expressed by both sides of this issue.

We provide practical considerations to guide auditors in performing a preliminary assessment of the design of the auditee’s control structure related to income tax account balances and their related disclosures which should contribute to more reliable financial reporting. While our process is specifically designed for use in performing an integrated audit under PCAOB Auditing Standard No. 5 (PCAOB, 2007), the internal control objectives and related control activities we present are also useful in performing other types of audits or limited engagements.

As organizations continue to implement new technology solutions, the need for both technology training and examining technology acceptance of new implementations are necessary to determine the success or failure of a project. Unfortunately, instructional design considerations generally do not address technology acceptance, and leading technology acceptance models only classify training as an external variable or facilitating condition, with limited consideration in prior research. In this paper, we examine potential integration points between instructional design theory and technology acceptance. Specifically, we examine prior research on self-efficacy, Kirkpatrick’s Model for Evaluating Training, Merrill’s Component Display Theory, and Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction.

While regulators criticize auditors for lacking appropriate professional skepticism (SEC, 2010, 2013; PCAOB, 2012), auditing standards lack a clear, consistent definition (Nelson, 2009; Hurtt, Brown-Liburd, Earley, & Krishnamoorthy, 2013), leaving application of professional skepticism “open to interpretation” (Glover & Prawitt, 2013, p. 2). If individual auditors view professional skepticism as open to interpretation (i.e., subjective), auditors may believe they are appropriately applying standards on professional skepticism based on their individual interpretations. However, if regulators apply a different definition of professional skepticism when reviewing auditors’ work, this may help explain ongoing criticisms from regulators stating auditors lack appropriate professional skepticism. The author reports insights of 66 auditors’ perceptions and finds the majority believe professional skepticism has a subjective (as opposed to uniform) definition. This finding is consistent across auditor rank and firm size, suggesting the potential for variations in application of professional skepticism in practice. Supplemental analyses indicate tax practitioners are more likely than auditors to view professional skepticism as subjective, particularly at the partner rank. The author presents professional skepticism training practices for 25 firms that suggest most firms recognize the importance of professional skepticism training and its regular reinforcement. However, there are concerns surrounding the fact that mentoring is listed as the most common training method, which lacks benefits of more formal training activities. Overall, this study provides relevant insights from practitioners and strengthens recent calls for developing a “common definition and shared understanding” of professional skepticism and a framework for evaluating application of professional skepticism (Glover & Prawitt, 2014, p. 5-6).

While prior literature has examined the EQ of accounting students and Chinese business student limited research has examined both. This paper examines the self-reported emotional intelligence scores of accounting majors, undergraduate and graduate, at a Chinese university and compares these scores with their parents’ assessment. Our findings suggest that Chinese accounting students have high EQ. Further, the parents’ perceptions of EQ is significant in the determination of the EQ score. This finding is consistent with Goleman’s (1998) comments and has implications for any organization that uses an emotional intelligence instrument as part of the evaluation process.

Although business faculty have an important teaching responsibility to prepare students for professional positions in industry, very few have any formal training in instructional design. Analogical problem construction and advance organizers are powerful design techniques used to link prior knowledge to new material. Unfortunately, the use of analogies as a formal teaching strategy is disappointingly low. This study examines the use of analogical problem constructions as an advance organizer strategy to teach advanced database (SQL) concepts.

Big data and data science have experienced unprecedented growth in recent years. The big data market continues to exhibit strong momentum as countless businesses transform into data-driven companies. From salary surges to incredible growth in the number of positions, data science is one of the hottest areas in the job market. Significant demand and limited supply of professionals with data competencies has greatly affected the hiring market and this demand/supply imbalance will likely continue in the future. A major key in supplying the market with qualified big data professionals, is bridging the gap from traditional Information Systems (IS) learning outcomes to those outcomes requisite in this emerging field. The purpose of this paper is to share an SQL Character Data Tutorial. Utilizing the 5E Instructional Model, this tutorial helps students (a) become familiar with SQL code, (b) learn when and how to use SQL string functions, (c) understand and apply the concept of data cleansing, (d) gain problem solving skills in the context of typical string manipulations, and (e) gain an understanding of typical needs related to string queries. The tutorial utilizes common, recognizable quotes from popular culture to engage students in the learning process and enhance understanding. This tutorial should prove helpful to educators who seek to provide a rigorous, practical, and relevant big data experience in their courses.

The issue of the destruction of documents raises many ethical and legal problems for the auditing profession. Such an issue needs to be examined more closely to explore its ethical and legal implications, and to address the more technical issue of how to retrieve the destroyed electronic documents. The purpose of this research paper is twofold. The first is to examine the auditors’ ethical responsibilities regarding the retention of the electronic and paper documents related to an audit engagement, using the Enron case as a practical case for analysis. The second is to discuss methods of retrieving different types of destroyed electronic documents.

Botsourcing is the augmentation or replacement of human jobs by robots or other computing systems. This practice is growing in popularity for reasons both economic and technical. Botsourcing will seriously challenge the human workforce, and in some cases humans will find themselves working alongside robots or other “intelligent’ computer systems. In other cases, botsourcing will eliminate jobs and will force impacted humans to retrain. This paper discusses the nature and appeal of botsourcing, as well as the challenge to human employment.