Accounting - Research Publications
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ItemQualitative management accounting research: rationale, pitfalls and potential A comment on Vaivio (2008)(EMERALD GROUP PUBLISHING LTD, 2008)Purpose This paper's purpose is to provide a commentary on “Qualitative management accounting research: rationale, pitfalls and potential,” a paper by Juhani Vaivio. Design/methodology/approach The approach is to draw on alternative research paradigms to expand the definition and discussion of qualitative research in management accounting. Findings The paper endorses many of the prescriptions in Vaivio but expands the definition and discussion of qualitative research in management accounting to recognize the blurred boundaries with field research more generally, and to be more inclusive of qualitative field research from a positivist/functionalist perspective. Similarly, the need for qualitative research to challenge textbook, economics and consulting representations of management accounting is acknowledged, but the range of catalysts is expanded to highlight the potential for qualitative research building on both qualitative and quantitative extant research. This paper also seeks to broaden the discussion of legitimate study design characteristics and data collection methods, and to stress the importance of matching research design with research question. Originality/value The paper stresses the value of pluralism and inclusiveness in both methodological and method choices.
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ItemScale Effects in Capital Markets-Based Accounting Research(WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC, 2009-04-01)Abstract: Based on data simulated using a modified Ohlson (1995) valuation model, we investigate effects on inferences of five potential scale‐related effects: multiplicative and additive omitted scale factors, scale‐varying coefficients, survivorship, and heteroscedasticity. We find that diagnostics identified in prior research are not successful in detecting or distinguishing these scale effects. Thus, we investigate the effectiveness at mitigating scale effects of six specifications of regressions of equity market value on equity book value and earnings: undeflated, share‐deflated, equity book value‐deflated, lagged price‐deflated, returns, and equity market value‐deflated. For each specification, we compare frequency of correct rejection that the coefficients equal zero, coefficient bias and absolute error, and regression explanatory power. We find that share‐deflated and undeflated specifications generally perform the best, regardless of the type of scale effect.
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ItemSeasonality in fund performance: An examination of the portfolio holdings and trades of investment managers(WILEY, 2006-09-01)Abstract: This study examines the extent to which seasonal variation arises across calendar months in the performance of active Australian equity managers. While it is well documented that there is seasonality in equity market returns, it is unknown whether calendar month variation in managed fund performance exists. Employing a unique database of monthly stock holdings, we find evidence consistent with systematic variation in the risk‐adjusted performance of active investment managers over the calendar year. Specifically, we find fund performance is higher in the months when corporate earnings are announced. We also document that the performance of fund managers is lower in the months preceding the tax year‐end. Finally, we report evidence that investment manager performance is greater than normal in December, possibly due to both window dressing and the Christmas holiday effect. These findings have important implications for investors attempting to exploit anomalies in fund returns by timing their entry and exit points from active equity funds.
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ItemThe Value of Assurance on Voluntary Nonfinancial Disclosure: An Experimental Evaluation(AMER ACCOUNTING ASSOC, 2009-05)SUMMARY: This study examines whether assurance on the voluntary provision of nonfinancial performance indicators affects the stock price estimates of a group of sophisticated financial report users. We conducted an experiment where participants were provided with a case study containing excerpts from a hypothetical company's annual report. Nonfinancial performance and assurance were manipulated in a 2 (positive and negative nonfinancial performance indicators) ×2 (assurance and no assurance) +1 (control condition) between-subjects design. After reading the case materials, the participants indicated whether they believed the company's stock price would increase or decrease based on the information provided. As expected, we found that the nonfinancial performance indicators had a significant effect on stock price estimates. In addition, consistent with attribution theory, an assurance report on the voluntarily disclosed nonfinancial performance indicators only had a significant effect on stock price estimates when the nonfinancial performance indicators were positive, suggesting that the value of assurance is context-specific. Our research contributes to the discussion on the value of expanded assurance services and also on the value of enhanced corporate disclosure.
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ItemAppropriate Audit Support System Use: The Influence of Auditor, Audit Team, and Firm Factors(AMER ACCOUNTING ASSOC, 2009-05)ABSTRACT: I use Adaptive Structuration Theory (DeSanctis and Poole 1994) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen 1991) to model the factors influencing whether auditors use audit support systems appropriately. Understanding the factors that influence appropriate use is important for audit firms to achieve efficient and effective audits from deploying audit support systems. Using a unique data set obtained from 569 auditors, I provide evidence that intention to use the system appropriately and external control increase appropriate use. I find that audit support system restrictiveness and the effectiveness of the audit review process are antecedents of external control. Team and firm consensus on appropriation are antecedents of perceived normative pressure, which, along with an auditor's attitude and self-efficacy, influence an auditor's intention to use the system appropriately. The model is relatively stable across different audit support system designs, but differences are evident across the audit team hierarchy.
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ItemProfits versus Losses: Does Reporting an Accounting Loss Act as a Heuristic Trigger to Exercise the Abandonment Option and Divest Employees?(American Accounting Association, 2007)The binary classification of firms into profits or losses represents a powerful heuristic. The literature that has examined the impact on the firm of this earnings heuristic has focused on the earnings management actions of small profit firms. The impact of this earnings heuristic on the actions of firms reporting accounting losses and the decision-making effects the heuristic may have other than earnings management have not been examined. In this study we hypothesize that reporting an accounting loss acts as a heuristic trigger for firms to exercise the abandonment option and discard unproductive investments. The results are consistent with the hypothesis. We find that there is a sharp and economically significant discontinuity around zero in the level of investment in labor between small profit and small loss firms. The discontinuity is due to loss firms having a lower-than-expected level of investment in labor, given their economic fundamentals. Further tests show that this discontinuity is due to the exercise of the abandonment option. We find that firms switching from a profit to a loss cut labor to a greater extent than other firms with similar changes in earnings that do not pass the loss threshold. Taken together the results are consistent with the accounting loss heuristic acting as a major disciplinary or incentive altering event that resolves agency problems.
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ItemDifferent interpretations of a “fixed” concept(Emerald, 2008-03-28)Purpose This paper aims to examine the reasons why introducing a “fixed” management accounting technique, such as Juran's cost of quality technique, results in different, rather than similar outcomes. Design/methodology/approach Actor‐Network Theory (ANT) was used to examine events in a longitudinal case study where Juran's cost of quality technique was introduced into two manufacturing plants of the same organisation. Findings Both plants developed the cost of quality in significantly different ways to Juran's “fixed” cost of quality technique. In addition, significant differences were also found between the plants, despite the intention to replicate the cost of quality from one plant to the other. Research limitations/implications Although the precise circumstances of the plants in the case study are unique, the principles of ANT that describe how the cost of quality was introduced and the differences that were observed, are likely to be relevant to other organisations and techniques. Practical implications The practical implications of this study are that “fixed” techniques – such as Juran's cost of quality – are not fixed and are unlikely to be implemented in “textbook” fashion. To manage the innovation process better, practitioners need to understand the heterogeneity of actors' interests, the variety and complexity of the context and the iterative, recursive nature of the innovation process. Originality/value Although the cost of quality is an important management accounting technique, this is one of the few studies to have empirically examined it.
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ItemPerformance Measurement System Design in Joint Strategy Settings(AMER ACCOUNTING ASSOC, 2008-12)ABSTRACT: This study examines empirically the association between joint strategies and the design of manufacturing performance measurement systems. Drawing on data collected from production managers in 84 industrial firms, the study seeks evidence of links between the implementation of differentiation, low-cost and joint strategies in production, and reliance on efficiency, financial, and customer-focused performance measures. The results indicate the paradoxical situation where virtually all units in the sample pursue competitive advantage in differentiation yet many rely intensely on efficiency and financial measures to measure manufacturing performance. Reliance on efficiency measures is observed to be associated with the pursuit of low-cost and differentiation strategies jointly. Reliance on financial measures, on the other hand, appears to be related to differentiation and not related to the strategic importance of low cost. The findings suggest that financial measures may have a role in monitoring the financial impact of differentiation and curbing excessive differentiation. However, efficiency measures are primarily related to the extent of strategic focus on low cost and may be observed in differentiating units when differentiation is pursued jointly with low cost.