Journal of International Accounting Auditing and Taxation最新文献

This paper presents the first empirical test of a hypothetical classification of financial reporting in Africa based on de facto or actual practices as opposed to de jure rules. Three multivariate techniques (principal component analysis, cluster analysis, and multidimensional scaling) were used to analyze the accounting policies of large, listed companies in Africa that are required by law to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). It was found that there is a dichotomy between the IFRS policy choices of companies in Francophone and Lusophone countries, on the one hand, and those in common law jurisdictions, on the other, thus, confirming the two-group classification schemes proposed by Elad (2015) and Nobes (1983). These findings have important policy implications, particularly in the context of recent recommendations of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund that large entities in Africa adopt IFRS.

This study uses a unique dataset from listed German companies that helps identify a granular measure of board-level codetermination to examine whether board-level codetermination (inclusion of employee representatives on the board) reduces aggressive financial and tax reporting, i.e., tax aggressiveness and earnings management. To the extent codetermination allows for effective employee monitoring of management, then it should be negatively associated with tax and financial reporting aggressiveness because prior research hypothesizes that employees prefer lower tax aggressiveness and less earnings management. Our analysis also highlights the mechanisms through which employees can monitor and influence firms’ decisions and outcomes. We find employee representation on audit committees is the most consistently influential codetermination mechanism associated with reduced tax aggressiveness and earnings management. We contribute to prior and current discussions of stronger employee rights and influences on management decisions from a board-level perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a literature review analysing the effects arising from the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in former Soviet Union countries (FSUC). The benefits and challenges identified through international accounting studies are applied as a conceptual framework to analyse the existing literature on the effects of IFRS adoption in transition economies. The article adopts a mixed-method approach that explores content by performing a qualitative analysis with quantification using NVivo software. By integrating findings and perspectives from 46 academic papers published in the English language literature from 2005 to 2020, the study highlights key achievements and limitations in FSUC, making findings readily available for scholars, policymakers and practitioners. Although adoption of IFRS is shown in the article to have a non-significant impact on practices in FSUC, the study’s conclusions contribute to the international debate on the relevance of IFRS to the national needs of different countries, particularly for those transition economies with a strong codified legal tradition rooted in the previous administrative system associated with Soviet accounting.

We investigate an important corporate governance mechanism that provides a monitoring function to facilitate the growth and development of international capital markets. Specifically, we investigate the relationship between Hofstede’s cultural values and the audit deficiencies of non-US companies listed on US equity markets, as measured by the number of audit deficiencies found by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) from 2005 to 2017. We find evidence supporting a conclusion that audit deficiencies are lower in countries with lower Uncertainty Avoidance scores, higher Individualism scores, and lower Power Distance scores. We conclude that countries with cultures more accepting of ambiguity and uncertainty, having more flexible business practices, and being more tolerant of individual contributions are associated with higher quality audits, as measured by fewer audit deficiencies.

We analyze the effect of macroeconomic instability on earnings management and the moderating role of country-level institutions, examining how these phenomena differ in developed and emerging market countries. Focusing our analysis on macroeconomic instability instead of specific periods of financial crisis, we provide a more comprehensive view of the macroeconomic environment’s role as a key determinant of accounting quality. The empirical study relies on a worldwide sample from 34 countries throughout the period 1998–2018. Using several variables related to the macroeconomic environment, we construct a comprehensive macroeconomic instability index for each country that allows for changes over the years. Our findings suggest that when facing greater macroeconomic instability, firms from developed (emerging market) countries decrease (increase) the level of accruals-based earnings management, and firms from both types of countries decrease the level of real earnings management. We also find that in both developed and emerging market countries, the association between macroeconomic instability and accruals-based earnings management is lower in countries with stronger institutions.

This study investigates accounting policy choices for intangible assets and their determinants within the framework of positive accounting theory (PAT). A composite income strategy measure of five accounting policies is calculated. Determinants of an income strategy are analyzed with a cross-sectional sample of 117 Polish-listed companies for the year 2018 in a setting that is highly susceptible to managerial opportunism. The results indicate firms use more income-increasing policies and emphasize that income strategy incentives differ depending on firms’ proportion of intangible resources measured by the market-to-book ratio. Contrary to the PAT hypotheses, accounting choices in firms with high market-to-book value do not seem self-serving. Instead, they are informative and correspond to the actual intangible value created by those companies. Moreover, common opportunistic incentives do not explain the accounting choices of low market-to-book value firms.