Accounting Research Journals Research Articles

The Determinants of Bankruptcy for Chinese Firms

The global financial crisis in 2008 increased the number of business failures in the U.S. as well as in China. The Chinese economy has also been affected by the recent global financial crisis given the fact that the Chinese economy depends heavily on international trade. Our study tries to find the determinants of bankruptcy in Chinese firms. Both logit and survival model analyses provide consistent results on the determinants in predicting distressed firms in China. Our results suggest that firms with liquidity problems and firms experiencing a decline in profits are more likely to file for bankruptcy. In addition, we find that, compared to state-owned enterprises (SOEs), collectively-owned enterprises, private-owned enterprises, and foreign-owned businesses are more likely to file for bankruptcy. This conclusion is robust after controlling for regional differences. The findings of this study show that the financial variables developed by Altman [Financial ratios, discriminant analysis and the prediction of corporate bankruptcy. Journal of Finance, 23(3), 589–609] and Ohlson [Financial ratios and probabilistic prediction of bankruptcy. Journal of Accounting Research, 18(1), 109–131] perform reasonably well in determining business failures of Chinese firms even though SOEs and shadow financing exist in China.

JUST HOW GOOD ARE THE TOP THREE JOURNALS IN FINANCE? AN ASSESSMENT BASED ON QUANTITY AND QUALITY CITATIONS

The paper is concerned with ranking academic journal quality and research impact in Finance, based on the widely-used Thomson Reuters ISI (2013) Web of Science citations database (hereafter ISI). The paper analyses the 89 leading international journals in the ISI category of "Business–Finance" using quantifiable Research Assessment Measures (RAMs). The analysis highlights the similarities and differences in various RAMs, all of which are based on alternative transformations of journal citations and impact. Alternative RAMs may be calculated annually or updated daily to determine the citations frequency of published papers that are cited in journals listed in ISI. The RAMs include the classic 2-year impact factor including journal self citations (2YIF), 2-year impact factor excluding journal self citations (2YIF*), 5-year impact factor including journal self citations (5YIF), Immediacy including journal self citations, Eigenfactor (or Journal Influence), Article Influence (AI), h-index, Papers Ignored-By Even The Authors (PI-BETA), Self-citation Threshold Approval Rating (STAR), 5YD2 (namely, 5YIF divided by 2YIF), Escalating Self Citations (ESC) and Index of Citation Quality (ICQ). The paper calculates the harmonic mean (HM) of the ranks of up to 16 RAMs. It is shown that emphasizing 2YIF to the exclusion of other informative RAMs can lead to a misleading evaluation of journal quality and impact relative to the HM of the ranks. The analysis of the 89 ISI journals in Finance makes it clear that there are three leading journals in Finance, namely Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics and Review of Financial Studies, which form an exclusive club in terms of the RAMs that measure journal quality and impact based on alternative measures of journal citations. The next two journals in Finance in terms of overall quality and impact are Journal of Accounting and Economics and Journal of Monetary Economics. As Accounting does not have a separate classification in ISI, the tables of rankings given in the paper are also used to rank the top 3 journals in the sub-category of Accounting in the ISI category of "Business – Finance", namely Journal of Accounting and Economics, Accounting Review, and Journal of Accounting Research.

A Profile of Accounting Research in Morocco: A Review of Major Journals Over the Period 2005-2013

The purpose of this paper is to examine the profile of accounting research in the leading academic accounting research journals in Morocco during the last-year period from 2005 to 2013. This research is based on the identification of 237 articles published between 2005 and 2009 in the three main journals management in Morocco: Moroccan Journal of management control, the Moroccan Journal of Business and Management and the Moroccan Journal of Research in Management and Marketing.The archival research method is applied. The research method used to analyse the related articles in the Moroccan accounting research journals is based on various international studies. The following dimensions are assessed: authorship; research field; the nature of the research; and research methods. Authorship is classified by institution, and the top seven authors by relative contribution are also identified. Knowledge of the profile of accounting research in Morocco could provide opportunities for scholars to expand identified research areas and explore methods that are currently under-developed in the Moroccan accounting research field.

Constructing a Research Field: A Reflection on the History of Social and Environmental Accounting

Social and environmental accounting (SEA) research has experienced significant developments over recent decades. Based upon Lee Parker's published study (2011. “Twenty-One Years of Social and Environmental Accountability Research: A Coming of Age.” Accounting Forum 35 (1): 1–10), this paper reviews and critiques 21 years of research in the field published in four leading interdisciplinary accounting research journals in the years 1988–2002. It considers a number of seminal papers on the field, and offers an analysis of SEA publication that extends Parker's earlier findings (2005. “Social and Environmental Accountability Research: A View from the Commentary Box.” Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal 18 (6): 842–860). Social and environmental research now show signs of a more even balance in researcher attention to these two subject areas. Additionally methodological approaches have been exhibiting content analysis/statistical relationships research and case/field/action/ethnograpic tendencies. Leading subject areas include national practices/comparisons and regulations. Researchers have also been addressing attitudinal studies, external disclosure, and theoretical frameworks. The paper highlights leading and emerging scholars in the field. Finally it reflects upon the current state of thinking in the field and anticipates strategic issues and directions for the future.

Some Methodological Deficiencies in Empirical Research Articles in Accounting

SYNOPSIS This paper uses a sample of the regression and behavioral papers published in The Accounting Review and the Journal of Accounting Research from September 2012 through May 2013. We argue first that the current research results reported in empirical regression papers fail adequately to justify the time period adopted for the study. Second, we maintain that the statistical analyses used in these papers as well as in the behavioral papers have produced flawed results. We further maintain that their tests of statistical significance are not appropriate and, more importantly, that these studies do not—and cannot—properly address the economic significance of the work. In other words, significance tests are not tests of the economic meaningfulness of the results. We suggest ways to avoid some but not all of these problems. We also argue that replication studies, which have been essentially abandoned by accounting researchers, can contribute to our search for truth, but few will be forthcoming unless the academic reward system is modified.

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Audit Fees in a Joint Audit Setting

This paper uses the uniqueness of the French audit environment to conduct an in-depth study of audit pricing issues associated with the requirement to hire two independent auditors (joint audit). I use a model derived from Simunic's [(1980). The pricing of audit services: Theory and evidence. Journal of Accounting Research, 18(1), 161–190] seminal work to examine to what extent audit fees are influenced by the number of Big 4 joint auditors (zero, one, or two). After controlling for well-known drivers of audit fees that are specific to audit client firms (size, complexity, and risk), for governance characteristics and for auditor selection, the paper shows that the decision to hire two Big 4 auditors as joint auditors does not require the payment of a higher Big 4 premium compared to the choice of one Big 4 auditor paired with a smaller auditor, other things being equal. The choice of two Big 4 auditors thus appears to be a rational economic choice for large and international firms.

Industry classification and the efficiency of intra-industry information transfers

Purpose – Motivated by recent studies that demonstrate the superiority of the Global Industry Classification System (GICS) relative to the Standard Industry Classification (SIC) system in capital market research, the authors revisit the stock market anomaly documented by Thomas and Zhang (TZ) (“Overreaction to intra-industry information transfers?” Journal of Accounting Research, Vol. 46, pp. 909-940) and analyze whether the anomaly based on SIC remains evident when intra-industry information transfers are based on the GICS. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The authors first replicate TZ and test whether stock prices of late announcers in response to earnings reported by early announcers in the same SIC industry are significantly related to subsequent price responses of late announcers to their own earnings reports. In the multivariate setting, the authors then evaluate whether the magnitude and significance of the overreaction anomaly changes under the more comprehensive GICS and across different time periods. Findings – The authors first confirm the over-reaction anomaly based on SIC as documented by TZ. Utilizing a larger sample of firms based on the GICS and extending TZ for a new time period, the authors then demonstrate that the overreaction anomaly disappears during recent years, a period that is characterized by markedly higher trading activity. Research limitations/implications – The findings provide new insights and contributions to the debate on whether or not market significantly misprices information transfers. Originality/value – The authors are first to utilize the GICS in evaluating intra-industry information transfers.

Some Methodological Deficiencies in Empirical Research Articles in Accounting

This paper uses a sample of the regression and behavioral papers published in The Accounting Review and the Journal of Accounting Research from September 2012 through May 2013. We argue first that the current research results reported in empirical regression papers fail adequately to justify the time period adopted for the study. Second, we maintain that the statistical analyses used in these papers as well as in the behavioral papers have produced flawed results. We further maintain that their tests of statistical significance are not appropriate and, more importantly, that these studies do not – and cannot – properly address the economic significance of the work. In other words, significance tests are not tests of the economic meaningfulness of the results. We suggest ways to avoid some but not all of these problems. We also argue that replication studies, which have been essentially abandoned by accounting researchers, can contribute to our search for truth, but few will be forthcoming unless the academic reward system is modified.

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Richard Brief's Contributions to Accounting Thought: Enlivening Accounting History

This is a personal appreciation of Richard Brief, the accounting historian and professor, who died in 2013. Dick served as a member of my doctoral dissertation committee in 1975–1976. The author of a number of provocative articles on the evolution of accounting practice in the United States and abroad, he published in The Journal of Accounting Research, The Accounting Review, and Business History Review. Brief was well-known for editing numerous books on accounting history in the United States and abroad. Additionally, his papers on the application of statistics to accounting issues and financial statement ratios were forerunners in the mathematical modeling of accounting research.

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Topics and Methods in Forensic Accounting Research

Purpose: The purposes of this paper are to (1) highlight those topics of forensic accounting that have received little or no attention in the forensic accounting research that has been published in forensic accounting research journals; (2) discover what research methods have been most commonly used; and (3) identify research methods that have been infrequently used.Design/methodology/approach: This is a descriptive study that explores the topics and methods used in forensic accounting research published in forensic accounting journals.Findings: Fraud and quantitative methods make up largest percentage of topics and research methods published in forensic accounting journals.Research limitations/implications: Results suggest forensic accounting researchers are using mimetic topics and methods of accounting research. The absence of diversity in forensic accounting research topics and methods has the potential to compromise the overall contribution of forensic accounting research.Practical implications: Identifies gaps in topics and research methods in forensic accounting research to encourage research in diverse topics using diverse methods that will be valuable to forensic accountants.Social implications: Results should encourage more research into forensic accounting topics using a variety of research methods.

Anthony G. Hopwood: Academic Iconoclast and Entrepreneur 1944–2010

A nthony Hopwood was born on May 18, 1944 in Stoke-on-Trent in England and died on May 8, 2010 in Marlow, England. He was a pioneer in behavioral accounting research. He contributed to that area with both his research and as the founding editor of Accounting, Organizations and Society (AOS), the leading behavioral accounting research journal, the reason for which he likely is best well known by scholars internationally, both in and outside of accounting. He held that position for 35 years. As Zeff (2008, 3) described it, in his remarks introducing Anthony at his Hall of Fame induction:

Social Networks in Accounting Research

This study explores collaborative research that is published in four accounting journals: the Accounting Review, the Journal of Accounting Research, the Journal of Accounting and Economics and Accounting, Organizations and Society. We employ social network analysis in order to discover the relational structure of co-authorship in accounting research. We find that that the network of authoring accounting academics has become increasingly integrated over time. The co-authorship network exhibits "small-world" properties: a giant component that covers the biggest part of the network of collaborating authors and collaborating institutions, small average distance within the giant component and a high clustering coefficient.

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