Use Of Accounting Information Research Articles

Are the cultural accounting values a relevant issue for the SMEs’ financing options?

This paper aims to examine the financing options of the managers/owners of SMEs (small and medium-sized companies) from a point of view that incorporates cultural values, namely, conservatism and secrecy. Data were collected with the use of a questionnaire conducted for managers/owners of a sample of 1629 Portuguese SMEs, and with the use of accounting and financial information from the period 2009 to 2011. 438 managers/owners provided valid answers, corresponding to a response rate of 27%. Using multivariate regression techniques as a basis, the results showed that a significant number of managers/owners supported the negative relationship between conservatism/secrecy and the business financing options associated with a higher risk (debts with costs). The results also showed that a more significant number of managers/owners of national SMEs choose sources of financing in light of the pecking order theory.

Determining Factors of The Use of Accounting Information on Small and Medium Enterprises with Good Corporate Governance as An Intervening Variable

Penelitian bertujuan untuk mengetahui bagaimana pengaruh pendidikan pemilik, umur perusahaan dan skala usaha terhadap penggunaan informasi akuntansi pada usaha kecil dan menengah dengan good corporate governance sebagai variabel intervening. Sampel yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini sejumlah 250 responden. Pengambilan sampel menggunakan teknik simple random sampling. Pengambilan data dilakukan dengan survey lapangan.Instrumen yang digunakan dalam pengambilan data adalah kuesioner. Analisis data dalam penelitian ini menggunakan analisis jalur dengan AMOS 21. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pendidikan pemilik terhadap good corporate governance, skala usaha dan good corporate governance terhadap penggunaan informasi akuntansi dinyatakan berpengaruh positif dan signifikan. Sedangkan umur perusahaan dan skala usaha tidak berpengaruh positif yang signifikan terhadap good corporate governance. Good corporate governance terbukti memediasi pengaruh pendidikan pemilik, umur perusahaan dan skala usaha dalam penggunaan informasi akuntansi pada usaha kecil dan menengah di Kabupaten Kendal. The study aims to determine how the educational influence of the managers, a company's age and scale of the use of accounting information on small and medium enterprises with good corporate governance as an intervening variable. The sample used in this study a number of 250 respondents. Sampling using simple random sampling technique. Data were collected by field survey. The instruments used in data collection was a questionnaire. Analysis of the data in this study using path analysis with AMOS 21. The results showed that the managers education to good corporate governance, business scale and good corporate governance of the use of accounting information revealed positive and significant impact. While the age of the firm and the business scale is not a significant positive effect on good corporate governance. Good corporate governance shown to mediate the influence of managers education, the age of the company and the business scale in the use of accounting information on small and medium enterprises in Kendal.

The Impact of Narrative Disclosure Readability on Bond Ratings and the Cost of Debt Capital

Prior research on the determinants of credit ratings has focused primarily on rating agencies’ use of quantitative accounting information, but the impact of financial disclosures, particularly textual attributes, on the bond rating process has gone relatively unexplored. This study examines the potential impact of the financial disclosure narrative on various bond market outcomes. We find that less readable financial disclosures are associated with less favorable ratings (higher default risk), greater bond rating agency disagreement, and a higher cost of debt capital. To address the potential confound that our results may be influenced by some underlying firm characteristic (e.g., firm complexity), we take advantage of a regulatory intervention provided by the 1998 Plain English Mandate requiring a subset of firms to exogenously improve the readability of their filings. Using a difference-in-differences design, we find that the firms required to improve the readability of their filings experience more favorable ratings (lower default risk), lower bond rating disagreement, and lower cost of debt capital. Collectively, our evidence suggests that textual financial disclosure attributes appear to not only influence bond market intermediaries’ opinions, but also firms’ cost of debt capital.

Editorial: Politicians and accounting information—a marriage of convenience?

This Public Money & Management theme is dedicated to the stimuli and hindrances of accounting information use by politicians. In his debate paper for our theme, Donald Moynihan (p. 479) argues that...

Cost object in accounting

In Polish literature in the field of accounting there are many synonymous terms such as the object of cost calculation, cost unit, or cost driver. Their definitions are often very similar, and their use in certain cir-cumstances unclear. This article aims to answer the question whether the term costs object meaning „something whose cost is of interest to accounting information users”, can replace previously used terms. The analysis applies to literature in Polish, in which different schools have developed their own terms, which is connected with the tradition of schools of accounting in Poland and the evolution of the con-cepts. The analysis aims to verify the hypothesis that for many synonymous terms used in publications in the field of accounting a universal solution can be proposed, taking into account the technological pro-gress and changing user needs. The research methods used include a systematic review of literature in Polish from the period 1966 to 2016 and an analysis of the terms.

Assets Impairment Testing: An Analysis of IAS 36

The primary objective of accounting is to provide information about the economic resources of an enterprise, the claims to those resources, and the effects of transactions, events, and circumstances that change the resources and claims. It is therefore considered important to inform users of financial statement of any asset or cash generating unit that lose its capacity to recover its cost. This is necessary so as to provide accounting information users with relevant information about the change in value of the firm’s resources. An asset that loses its capacity to recover cost is said to be impaired and accounting for asset impairment is faced with a few challenges. It can be difficult to determine which measure of value should be used when assessing impairment. Options include current cost (replacement cost), current market value (selling price), net realizable value (selling price minus disposal costs), or the sum of the future net cash flows from the income-generating unit. More so, there is little guidance by IAS 36 on accounting for asset impairments: when to recognize impairments, how impairments should be measured and how impairment should be disclosed. Since assets impairment can distort the usefulness of accounting information for decision making, adequate attention should be made to ensure that the judgment and estimates made by managers are verified by auditing the estimates.Key words: Asset impairment, testing, IAS 36.

Can overseas investment improve earnings quality?

Nowadays, globalization of local firms is an important topic for every country. The international firms seem to have a high reputation, but does it really work for investors? Historically, several international firms that had a high reputation among investors have been involved accounting scandals before the exposure of terrible news. These cases raise investors’ suspicion that international firms do not always have high quality accounting information. Investors should focus on some important indexes of earnings quality, helping themselves to decide the quality of companies’ accounting statements which lead to a better decision. This paper tries to answer the following 3 questions: what kind of companies make overseas investment? Can overseas investment improve all types of earnings qualities? Do the legal systems and degree of development of the invested countries effect earnings qualities? In this paper, we hypothesize that firms under greater influence of common law and developed countries have higher earnings qualities. Then we use the propensity score matching model to control for differences in firms’ characteristics between overseas investment Japanese firms and non-overseas investment Japanese firms. After that we examine the correlation between overseas investment and three types of earnings qualities (earnings management, value relevance of accounting information, and reporting conservatism), using two dimensions (quantity and percentage) to represent the extent of influence of common law countries and developed countries. We test out 6 hypotheses with the propensity score matching sample of 6,973 firm-year data for the year 2005 to 2014. Based on the results, we find that Japanese firms with lower advertisement expenditure, lower quick ratio, higher capital ratio, higher R&D expenditure, higher interest expense, higher intangible assets rate, higher ROA, and larger size, have a higher tendency to make overseas investment. In addition, we find that overseas investment can improve earnings quality by reducing earnings management risk. We also find that firms under greater influence of common law countries or developed countries have lower (higher) level of earnings management risk (value relevance). Lastly, we find that overseas investment can damage earning quality by impairing the reporting conservatism, but firms under greater influence of common law countries or developed countries have higher level of reporting conservatism. The findings of this study have implications not only for investors but also for security analysts, auditors, policy makers, and other accounting information users in enhancing their understanding of legal systems and degree of development differences, and their impact on earnings qualities.

Accrual based accounting implementation: An approach for modelling major decisions

Over the last three decades the main issues of implementation of accrual based accounting government institutions in Indonesia. Implementation of accrual based accounting in government institutions amid debate about the usefulness of accounting information for decision-making. Empirical study shows that the accrual based of accounting information on a government institution is not used for decision making. The research objective was to determine the impact of the implementation of the accrual based accounting to the accrual basis of accounting information use for decision-making basis. We used the survey questionnaires. The data were processed by SEM using statistical software WarpPLS. The results showed that the implementation of the accrual based accounting in City Government Semarang has significantly positively associated with decision-making. Another important finding is the City Government officials of Semarang have personality, low tolerance of ambiguity is a negative effect on the relationship between the implementation of the accrual based accounting for decision making.

Retraction: Is Analyst Forecast Accuracy Associated With Accounting Information Use?

In 1994, the AICPA?s Special Committee on Financial Reporting recommended that participants in business reporting can improve the reporting process by focusing on user needs and finding cost-effective ways of aligning business reports with those needs. The Committee noted that professional financial analysts are among the most important users of business reporting and that an examination of their accounting information needs would provide useful insight to the profession. Further, the Committee suggested that an investigation of the link between information usage and decision quality could provide a starting point for determining whether currently reported business information is relevant. The current study examines the relation between the forecast accuracy of financial analysts and specific accounting information items used during financial statement analysis. Findings indicate that relatively more accurate analysts tend to emphasize different information items prior to issuing an earnings forecast than do less accurate analysts. Study results also provide evidence of an association between specific accounting information items and decision quality.

Teorias da Firma como fundamento para formulação de teorias contábeis

This paper develops an essay concerning the conceptual extension derived from the theory of the firm and its relationship to prevailing accounting theories, summarizes the main currents that try to explain the firm and seeks to establish a relationship with changes of direction in the object and purpose of accounting, as expressed in current accounting research. It is argued that the actual concept of “firm” ends up guiding an informational logic that is deep-rooted in accounting by means of the interpretations absorbed by accounting theory. The discussion centers on the object of accounting theory (registration and disclosure of economic aggregates) as intended for accounting information users. The neoclassical theory of the firm, the contractual theory of the firm and the New Institutional Economics (NIE) are used for support, focused on transactional costs, property rights and measurement costs. The concepts of business economics direct the actual conceptual logic of accounting theory, with the main intention being to provide efficient information to stakeholders. It has been observed that accounting theory has its roots in the neoclassical theory of the firm; and, by means of the contractual theory of the firm, where the monitoring of agents and of contracts is discussed, it goes beyond the limited vision of the assets control function (stewardship), expands the focus of providing information, in addition to the restricted function of accountability. And, finally, although not all elements of the new NIE are comprehended by accounting theory, the NIE withholds elements of instrumental importance for the consolidation of accounting theories concerning its institutionalization.

Prioritize activists in Iran information accounting system based on the actor's network theory (ANT)

Abstract. Nowadays it is safe to say that every management decision has the financial implications in the following and due to this the management needs financial information to take any decision. The task of preparing this information and processing them on financial issues is due to the informational accounting systems. The issue that why managers accept a series of accounting information and use them, or on the contrary, don't accept it and don't use it, is the most important information issues of managers. On the other hand a large group of users of accounting information rely on the information that is provided by the managers in the form of financial statements and explanatory notes. In many cases, the purpose of financial information providers is not the same as their users and these issue origins from conflicts of interest among stakeholders in the company. Therefore, to reduce the conflict of interest groups benefit, users of accounting information, they needs the services of competent and independent experts for the accreditation of the accounting information and identifying the way of communication between systems components so that they will believe the above information. In this study, the effect of the 5 main instrument to form a network of activists is including the organization's rules and regulations, financial resources, human resources and technology as a main means of influencing on the accounting information system of Iran was reviewed and prioritized. According to the results of this study it was determined that the actor network theory as a theory of social science information system is capable to examine and explain the accounting system of Iran. As well as in the implementation and successful implementation of accounting information systems, prioritizing organizational actors first and then to the technical, economic actors, social-political actors located reactive technology.

Factors Affecting the Propensity to Create Budgetary Slack Evidence from Vietnamese Enterprises

Budgeting is widely advertised as an effective managerial accounting tool but has been criticized mainly for budgetary slack reason. The purpose of this article is therefore to empirically examine relationships between budget participation, budget emphasis, risk awareness, private knowledge and the propensity to create budgetary slack. This study also extends the previous research by testing the hypothesized effect of the nonfinancial managerial accounting information use on various factors associated with the propensity to create budgetary slack. A survey data from 243 Vietnamese enterprises was used to conduct a structural equation modeling analysis. The results indicate that budget participation and budget emphasis incrementally affect the propensity to create budgetary slack while nonfinancial managerial accounting information is fairly useful to limit human aspects of budgeting. In addition, no correlation between private knowledge and creation of budgetary slack by subordinates was found. Once again, the results of this research confirm the effects of human factors in budgeting, which measured in a Vietnamese business environment and extended the understanding of the role of nonfinancial managerial accounting information in improving the budgeting process.

Does Information Traffic Matter to Accounting Information Usefulness? Evidence from Internet Search Data

Accounting information can generate economic and social welfare effects through its various impacts on the investor community and the function of the capital market. How to improve the usefulness of the information has long been one of the major concerns of accounting policy makers. This study initiates the concept of information traffic to capture investors’ online keyword information search frequency and explore whether such search frequency contains any ability to predict the usefulness of accounting information. The investigation of information traffic on 59 accounting and accounting-derived information items reveals that information items with more traffic (i.e., higher online users’ search frequency) are associated with higher observed usefulness. Further analysis yields results that indicate varying traffics associated with different information categories, which provides explanations for the cross-category variation in observed usefulness. The proposed integrated measure of information traffic and usefulness suggests an order in importance of the 10 information categories we investigate from standard setting’s point of view. Dynamics analysis of information traffic sheds light on the understanding of changes in investor information interest and need. This study suggests a new angle for accounting policy makers and researchers to understand and further improve the usefulness of accounting information.

Conditional Conservatism of Aggregate Accounting Earnings

We examine whether or not conditional conservatism is observed at the aggregate level. Using both the Basu (1997) model and the Ball and Shivakumar (2006) models, we find some evidence consistent with conditional accounting conservatism at the aggregate level. Our results show that the interactive slope coefficient measuring the difference in sensitivity for aggregate accounting earnings is approximately three times as sensitive to negative returns as it is positive returns. Our results also demonstrate that the inclusion of macroeconomic indicators and discount rate variables to the conditional conservatism models improves model specification significantly. For example, when equal-weighted return is used as a gain or loss proxy the inclusion of macroeconomic indicators and discount rate proxies into the regression model increases the adjusted R 2 from 5% to 53%. Based on empirical evidence from this study we recommend that researchers who study the relation between aggregate accounting earnings and the fundamental characteristics of accounting information use both macroeconomic indicators and discount rate variables as explanatory variables in regression models.

Conditional Conservatism of Aggregate Accounting Earnings

We examine whether or not conditional conservatism is observed at the aggregate level. Using both the Basu (1997) model and the Ball and Shivakumar (2006) models, we find some evidence consistent with conditional accounting conservatism at the aggregate level. Our results show that the interactive slope coefficient measuring the difference in sensitivity for aggregate accounting earnings is approximately three times as sensitive to negative returns as it is positive returns. Our results also demonstrate that the inclusion of macroeconomic indicators and discount rate variables to the conditional conservatism models improves model specification significantly. For example, when equal-weighted return is used as a gain or loss proxy the inclusion of macroeconomic indicators and discount rate proxies into the regression model increases the adjusted R 2 from 5% to 53%. Based on empirical evidence from this study we recommend that researchers who study the relation between aggregate accounting earnings and the fundamental characteristics of accounting information use both macroeconomic indicators and discount rate variables as explanatory variables in regression models.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY REPORTING: EVIDENCE FROM SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED ENTERPRISE IN THAILAND

ABSTRACT The objective of this study to investigate the effects of corporate social responsibility reporting on firm sustainability through mediating influences of accounting information usefulness and competitive advantage. Corporate social responsibility reporting consists of human resources reporting orientation, community involvement disclosure awareness, and environmental disclosure quality. Data were collected by survey questionnaires administrated to the heads of accounting departments of small and medium sized enterprise (SMEs) in Thailand, 67 completed questionnaires are used in the analysis. The results show that corporate social responsibility reporting in dimensions of human resources reporting orientation related to accounting information usefulness and competitive advantage. While, corporate social responsibility reporting is related to competitive advantage. In addition, the environmental disclosure quality is the last dimension of corporate social responsibility reporting related to accounting information usefulness. Moreover, accounting information usefulness and competitive advantage have a positive significant effect on firm sustainability. The implication, suggestions for further research, and limitations are discussed. Keywords Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting; Human Resources Reporting Orientation; Community Involvement Disclosure Awareness; Environmental Disclosure Quality; Accounting Information Usefulness; Competitive Advantage; Firm Sustainability

Review of Accounting and Economic Standards in Predicting Stock Returns in Tehran Stock Exchange

Share return is one of those complicated abstraction which is interested by investors and decision makers the share return prediction is a vital issue which has involved the financial analyzers mind to itself. Various theories include capital assets pricing model (CAPM), factorial models (FM), Arbitrage model, Technical model (TM), and fundamental analyses (FA) for purpose of share return prediction and recognition have been discussed. The share return fundamental analyze is a function of massive economical condition, Industry position, and particular conditions of the firm. The particular conditions of the firm are consist of financial position and performance which presented in the essential financial statement from. The accounting science acclaims it prepares useful information for decision makers, so one of the information usefulness criteria of accounting and economical information usefulness through return share choice for prediction. Communication creation between economical and accounting criteria is the other goal, thus in the case of this result obtaining it can use of economical and accounting analyses for economical return and value extraction. The research location zone includes of accepted firms in Tehran exchange market, the temporality zone is the gap between 1386 and 1390, too. The research is consist of two independent varieties (economical criteria and accounting criteria), dependent variety (share return). This research is consisting of a direct hypothesis and 6 indirect ones. in the consideration of presented statistical analyses and total summery of research hypothesis assessment, stood over research independent varieties meaningful relation with share return prediction in existing firm performance measurement in Tehran capital exchange market during 2007 and 2011 is existed, between this research proportion is return of assets, earning per share, economical add value ratio, retained earning ratio with positive quantity market add value with negative quantity which statistically shows a meaningful relation with active firms share return in Tehran market. The economical add value ratio has the biggest relation with the share return prediction. So the first hypothesis in this research is (return of assets ratio), secondly (earning per share), thirdly (economical add value), fourthly (market add value) and sixthly (retained earnings) being emphasized.

"The Use Of Accounting Apps Via Mobile Cloud Computing In Romania "

In a world in perpetual motion and transformation, mobile devices tend to be communications universal remedy applicable throughout many spheres of activity. Mobile devices are different from each other, depending on the information processing capacity, storage capacity, keyboard, screen, battery life and communication bandwidth. As cloud-based accounting solutions are serving consumers and users of financial accounting information we chose to evaluate the user experience of SaaS financial applications accessed from mobile devices from the perception PhD students participating in doctoral programs organized by the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest.

Non-compensation-related consultant service and CEO compensation

This study examines how consultants’ non-compensation-related consulting service (NCS) affects the contractual usefulness of accounting and stock information in executive compensation, as reflected in pay-performance sensitivity. The hypothesis is based on anecdotal evidence suggesting that consultants’ provision of NCS is likely to adversely affect the quality of CEO compensation plans. We investigate whether the consultants providing NCS are involved in potential conflicts of interest. The results show that CEO pay is higher in companies where consultants provide NCS and have a higher NCS fee ratio. The pay-performance sensitivity in CEO compensation decreases when consultants engage in NCS. The overall results are consistent with NCS representing a conflict of interest and compromising the quality of compensation committees.

Did the Mandatory Adoption of IFRS Affect the Earnings Quality of Canadian Firms?

This study examines whether the mandatory adoption of IFRS affected the earnings quality of Canadian public firms. We compare the pre-IFRS versus the postIFRS earnings quality, as measured by discretionary accruals, small positive earnings, earnings persistence, and earnings response coefficient. Using a sample of 461 firms that have the data availability in both the pre-IFRS and the post-IFRS periods, we find that income-increasing discretionary accruals have declined subsequent to the IFRS adoption, and that firms are less likely to have small positive earnings in the post-IFRS period than in the pre-IFRS period. We also find that earnings are more persistent after the IFRS adoption. Overall, our findings suggest that the mandatory adoption of IFRS in Canada leads to higher earnings quality to benefit accounting information users. We thank participants at the 2013 ASAC Annual Conference for their helpful comments on the earlier version of this paper. This research was supported by the CICA/CAAA Research Grant.