Accounting Perspectives最新文献

The globalization of the world economy has brought drastic changes to institutions of work and the structures that support them. This paper analyzes the evolving public accounting profession in China. We constructed a unique qualitative data set by conducting two rounds of on-site interviews with public practice accountants in Chinese domestic and international firms in 2015 and 2016. Through narrative analysis of accountants' careers, we find that domestic accountants form a distinct group based on their role in supporting the Chinese accounting profession and the pressures, challenges, and opportunities they face in career choice and work conditions. Our study reveals how the well-known distinctions of language, training, and international experience are further entwined with strong ties to state policy and the “transmission belt” of information flowing between regulatory bodies and workplace institutions. The accounting profession in China shares much in common with the “Western” form of the profession, evidence of the institutional isomorphism documented in the literature on Big 4 firms. Our study highlights additional nuances surrounding regulation and control of the accounting field, notable in domestic firms, which distinguish the Chinese profession within the global field.

This paper reviews how the accounting literature has investigated accrual-based earnings management (AEM) in relation to regulation. After describing the development of accrual-based models to measure earnings management, I provide evidence that the accounting literature has investigated AEM and regulation to answer six types of research questions. First, researchers investigate whether firms manage earnings before a regulatory event to benefit from it or to avoid its negative consequences. Second, they look at whether firms engage in AEM after the implementation of a new regulation to avoid the regulatory costs associated with lack of compliance or to respect regulatory industry ratios. Third, researchers use accruals quality metrics to investigate the change in quality of accounting after a change in regulation. Fourth, they use accruals quality metrics to analyze the impact of differences between regulatory environments. Fifth, researchers exploit Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Releases to clearly identify samples of low-quality firms in order to develop new earnings management models, test the specifications of existing models, or identify new patterns linked to earnings management. Sixth, the accounting literature employs regulation to investigate potential complementarity or substitution effects between accrual-based and real earnings management. I also discuss how the emergence of new technologies such as machine learning, the ongoing debate between single-accrual and aggregate models, regulatory events other than laws, and recent regulations create opportunities for future research into AEM in relation to regulation.

With the rise of the #MeToo movement, workplace harassment has become an important board issue. Despite this, little has been written on the role that boards, and governance in general, should play in reducing the potential for employee harassment in the workplace. This compact, in-class teaching case, which is based on an actual employee lawsuit in Canada, fills this gap by reviewing the role of the board in addressing employee workplace harassment. The case takeaways focus on the steps boards should take once they receive an employee harassment complaint, the policies and procedures boards must ensure are in place to protect their employees from workplace harassment, and the options available for students if they encounter workplace harassment in their future careers. The case concludes by reviewing best practices for recruiting board members as well as deciding on the future of the organization's president.