In this paper we summarize International Accounting-related research published in Research in Accounting Regulation (RAR). RAR was a peer-reviewed academic accounting journal published from 1987 through 2018. We identify and discuss the main research areas, sub-topics, methods, research foci, and major conclusions. Additionally, we provide citation counts from google scholar and then provide more detailed analysis of those most influential articles. Our results suggest that financial accounting is the dominant focus of inquiry in RAR international studies. We also find that qualitative research methods, such as essays and documentary analyses, are most frequently used by non-US scholars publishing international accounting research. However, archival methods gain more prominence over time. In addition, we document the emergence in international accounting research using other research methods, including surveys, mathematical modeling, and experiments. Overall, our findings highlight the important role of RAR in advancing knowledge about international accounting and global auditing regulation, as well as about the crucial impact of culture on evolution of the accounting profession.
Existing research documents a fee premium for audits led by female partners (Ittonen and Peni, 2012, Hardies et al., 2015, Burke et al., 2019, Lee et al., 2019, Hardies et al., 2021). We take this work forward by investigating a possible justification for the observed premium by examining how auditor gender is related to audit report lag and whether the female partner audit fee premium is driven by audit report lag. We find that United Kingdom companies audited by a female lead auditor have a significantly shorter audit report lag but pay a significantly higher audit fee. In further analysis, we find that the fee premium for female partner–led audits is higher for clients receiving a more timely audit opinion. Our findings are consistent with female lead auditors delivering more timely audits and with audit clients being prepared to pay a premium for such timeliness. Our study extends our understanding of the importance of gender in the auditing process and the value clients see in audits led by female auditors. Given the relatively low proportion of female lead auditors, our findings should also encourage audit firms to appreciate the economic value of female lead auditors and to actively facilitate their progression to senior roles.
This paper examines the economic consequences of adopting the International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) from a diffusion of innovation theory perspective. Using a very extensive dataset with 160 countries over 20 years and generating 3,200 country-year observations, this study examines the impact of ISAs adoption on the economic consequences of adopting countries. Our findings are threefold. First, we show that early ISAs adoption has positively and significantly influenced three economic indicators of the adopting countries: (i) economic growth, (ii) foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows, and (iii) exchange rate. Second, our results show that late ISAs adoption has positively and significantly influenced two economic indicators: (i) exports and (ii) interest rates, but negatively with imports. Third, we find a significant positive association between ISAs adoption with amendments or translation and two economic indicators: (i) FDI and (ii) exchange rate, but negative with inflation. Finally, and by contrast, we find a negative link between early ISAs adoption, economic growth rate, and exports. Our findings have implications for theory and practice.
Beyond the recent research on related party transactions (RPTs), we study the impact of regulatory environment on RPTs and earnings management. Using a sample of United Kingdom (UK) public firms listed on the lightly regulated Alternative Investment Market (AIM) and the heavily regulated Main Market (Main) of the London Stock Exchange, we find evidence that firms on the Main Market use more efficient and less opportunistic RPTs than those in the AIM market. In addition, efficient RPTs are used as a substitute for the costly real earnings management in the Main Market. Our findings support the efficient contracting hypothesis under the stricter regulation of the Main Market which reduces information asymmetry and enhances internal resource optimization. Our results are robust controlling for endogeneity and selection bias problems.
The dynamic changes in the European Union (EU) regulations for sustainability reporting present a challenge for corporate report users and academics to keep pace with the new developments. This study reviews the process of developing sustainability standards in the EU, shedding light on the contrasting and significantly different approaches of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) and European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) through their pronouncements, comment letters, and commentators’ responses. A key study contribution is its support for stakeholders’ and academics’ efforts to stay current with the evolving sustainability reporting landscape worldwide, which is now becoming more fragmented. The study also explores the implications of these differences and suggests potential areas for future research.
Building upon prior studies that explore the impact of competition on financial reporting quality, this paper investigates the influence of industry-level competition on the value relevance of goodwill impairments. Additionally, it examines whether this impact is more pronounced for firms operating in countries with rich information environments. We analyze 21,224 firm-year observations from companies in 21 countries that reported under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). We find that companies facing higher product market competition tend to report impairment losses that are relevant to investors’ equity valuation decisions. This is consistent with the notion that companies in competitive industries are subject to greater scrutiny and have fewer incentives to manipulate their impairment reporting. We also find that the impact of industry competition on the value relevance of goodwill impairments is more pronounced in the rich information environments of market-based economies than bank-oriented economies. These findings underscore the impact of competition and its interplay with the information environment on the market perception of accounting information that is subject to managerial discretion.