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Este trabajo aborda el análisis de la literatura contable en España, limitado temporalmente a la segunda mitad del siglo XX y algo más. Después de una introducción, en la cual se plantean los cambios fundamentales ocurridos en esta materia a lo largo del periodo referenciado, el trabajo presenta una primera parte en la que se ofrece una visión concisa de publicaciones sobre teoría de la contabilidad, en general. El siguiente epígrafe acomete cuestiones más especializadas, desde estados financieros consolidados y precios de opciones, hasta el tratamiento de contratos y contabilidad social, cuentas contables así como contabilidad pública. Continúa con el epígrafe dedicado a diversos aspectos de auditoría, y prosigue con temas metodológicos que abarcan desde la axiomatización de la contabilidad hasta la teoría positiva. El siguiente epígrafe cubre el amplio espectro de la contabilidad de costes y de gestión, incluyendo cuestiones conductuales y de medioambiente, así como la utilización de la inteligencia artificial. Las dos secciones siguientes tratan sobre historia de la contabilidad (tema muy aceptado entre los contables españoles) e instituciones, respectivamente, abordando las principales instituciones académicas contables y revistas de España. La gran cantidad de literatura existente nos ha obligado a limitar el espacio destinado incluso a los trabajos más significativos, y a realizar sólo un boceto o una mera clasificación de otras importantes publicaciones, como “ejemplos representativos” de determinadas líneas de investigación.

Research background: Deteriorating economic conditions and a negative outlook increase the pressure on financial management and the need to show high financial performance. According to Positive Accounting Theory, the growing risk of bankruptcy is associated with the phenomenon of earnings management. Bankruptcy risk and the quality of reported profits, along with other aspects of financial performance, vary throughout the company's life cycle. Nevertheless, these factors or their interactions are investigated only to a very small extent. Purpose of the article: The aim of this study is to clarify the impact of corporate life cycle and bankruptcy on earnings management, in order to describe behaviour of companies at different stages of corporate life cycle. Methods: A hierarchical mixed model with a random time and industry effect was chosen as appropriate because it allows the investigation of multilevel data that is not independent. The sample covers the financial indicators of more than 33,000 Central European companies from 2015?2019. The non-sequential Dickinson model, company age, and three models of accrual earnings management were used as proxies for the company's life cycle and quality of reported profit. Findings & value added: Earnings management and bankruptcy risk have a U-shape, indicating that financially distressed firms reduce reported accounting profit at the Introduction, Decline and, to a lesser extent, at the Growth stage. Slovak and Czech companies manipulate profits to a similar extent, Hungarian companies increase accounting profit to a greatest extent than the surveyed countries by controlling bankruptcy ? life cycle effect; however, the variability of accounting manipulations across industries has not been demonstrated. These findings imply that start-ups and declining businesses provide crooked financial statements to obtain more favourable debt covenants, and estimating discretionary accruals using life-cycle subsamples can improve the predictive power of accrual earnings management models.

PurposeThis paper explores how the text complexity and content of management discussion and analysis (MD&A) relate to earnings management in Baltic listed companies.Design/methodology/approachUsing a panel data set of 250 firm-year observations from the Baltic markets in the period 2012–2016, this paper uses linear regression analysis to examine the relation between earnings management and reporting complexity.FindingsThe results show that earnings could be managed in about 6–11% of firm-years, depending on specification, and there is a positive relationship between earnings management and reporting complexity; however, this relationship is confined to more liquid companies. The authors argue that higher scrutiny by market participants in more liquid companies incentivizes managers to obfuscate negative financial results through report complexity.Originality/valueThis paper presents a novel application of the opportunistic perspective of positive accounting theory (PAT) in relation to managers' choice of reporting complexity. The findings of this paper contribute by providing empirical evidence for strategic reporting by managers and can be useful for regulators and investors that should monitor the level of reporting complexity in the listed companies.

We analyse in detail conservative accounting practices in seventeen European countries, taking into account institutional factors. In addition, we examine the impact of IFRS adoption and the influence of changes in economic conditions on conditional conservatism. Specifically, we study the level of accounting conservatism before and after IFRS adoption detailing for the pre and crisis period and post-crisis period surrounding the 2007/2008 financial crisis. Our findings are consistent with a conservative accounting practice in Europe as a whole and in each country individually. Besides, opposite to that expected, the results provide evidence of more conservative accounting practice in Anglo-Saxon countries, but we find no significant differences in conservatism in Nordic countries. Another finding is a significant decrease in the level of conservatism after IFRS adoption. Regarding the joint impact of IFRS adoption and economic conditions, we find a decrease in conservatism in the pre and crisis period, followed by a substantial increase in the post-crisis period. Our results seem to be in line with the positive accounting theory when suggesting that conservatism plays a fundamental role as corporate governance and efficient contracting mechanism between managers and other stakeholders of the firm. Furthermore, the results suggest that the flexibility provided by IFRS allows adjusting the level of conservatism when economic conditions change., The authors would like to thank all organisers, referees, and discussant of the 17th International Conference on Finance and Banking, in particular Daniel Stavárek. We also would like to acknowledge the Reviewers of Review of Economic Perspectives for their careful reading of this paper and helpful suggestions.

Positive accounting research is the one that addresses the informational perspective of accounting (Watts & Zimmerman, 1990). In this scenario, studies on the relevance of accounting information in the capital market stands out. Some of these surveys consider the effects of firms’ extrinsic variables on the ability of accounting information to predict stock prices. Considering the apparent inverse relationship between Bitcoin and the capital markets, being this cryptocurrency able to be used as hedge for investors in these markets (Bouri et al., 2017), the purpose of this study was to analyze the influence of the Bitcoin price in the market value of the companies listed on the [B]³ in conjunction with the accounting information. Panel data regressions were performed considering the stock price and return as dependent variables and Net Income, Equity and Bitcoin quotation as regressors. From 356 observations concerning 89 different companies, it was possible to verify, with a 95% confidence level, that the companies’ market value is negatively influenced by Bitcoin’s price increase. This suggests a preference for investments in the cryptocurrency market over the capital market when the first one is on the rise, corroborating Bouri et al. (2017). In addition, Equity loses significance and Net Income is reduced when Bitcoin is included in the model, indicating a potential risk to accounting information in terms of relevance. The research has limitations regarding the use of a single cryptocurrency in the face of several existing ones and also in the selection of only one exercise as sample cut. Keywords: Blockchain; Bitcoin; Value Relevance; Stock Market. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21714/2446-9114RMC2020v21n1t04

PurposeThis study suggests an alternative to confirmatory content analysis (CA) and empirically demonstrates that explorative CA enables new insights into the mechanism of intellectual capital (IC) disclosure. In so doing, this research contributes to both methodological and empirical advancements in IC disclosure research.Design/methodology/approachEmploying the assumptions of positive accounting theory and taking book value of intangible assets as a reference, our research design utilizes well-established text-mining (TM) tools based on a least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression. We assume that the degree of cohesion between officially disclosed and evaluated intangible assets on balance sheets and those contextually delivered in narrative form may affect how IC is ultimately disclosed in annual reports.FindingsOur main finding is in line with the results and criticism of previous studies. We show that companies do not extensively disclose IC in their annual reports. However, some narrative forms for IC disclosure are identified and confirmed by several robustness checks.Research limitations/implicationsFirst, the findings provide internal validity only for large US enterprises. These firms have similar, well-structured reporting requirements. This analysis might be enriched by an examination and a comparison of different institutional contexts, such as emerging countries. Second, following previous studies, annual reports serve as the source of data. Consequently, the findings are relevant only for mandatory and voluntary disclosure of IC, mitigating the relevance of this study for contexts of involuntary disclosure.Originality/valueThis study makes two contributions. First, we add to the empirical literature by offering one more piece of evidence on whether and, if so, the extent to which companies disclose IC in their annual reports. Second, we provide further examination of confirmatory CA by proposing a number of statistically validated codes and tokens that are indicators of IC communication by companies.

The purpose of this research is to empirically prove the effect of executive compensation on the accounting fraud and the influence of directors' gender in moderating the effect of executive compensation on accounting fraud. The sample of this study is obtained from a manufacturing sector public company listed in the Indonesia Stock Exchange. The analysis technique uses multiple regression methods and moderated regression analysis (MRA). There are 394 observations of data obtained during 2016-2018 by using the purposive sampling method. The results of this study indicate that executive compensation has no effect on accounting fraud and the directors' gender does not moderate the effect of executive compensation on accounting fraud. The implication of this research theory shows that accounting fraud is not related to Positive Accounting Theory and Gender Socialization Theory. The practical implication of this research is that to prevent accounting fraud in companies, there is no need to pay attention to executive compensation and the directors' gender

In a democratic state, citizens expect that those currently in power be obliged to justify the way they spend and manage public funds. The enforcement of accountability has seve-ral preconditions. At the same time, the accounting system constitutes one part of the public sector’s infor-mation system. Thus, studying the information system in a systematic manner is important. The information system must meet diverse needs. The present paper aims at showing those requirements.When considered in a comparative perspective, different public accountancy systems implemented internationally show different form. Every country can decide in which area and how the cash-flow approach and accrual based accounting can be used. The purpose of this paper is to verify whether and how could the usage of accrual based accounting influence the public accounting methods and the functions of public accountancy

The goal ofthis study is to examine the extent ofearnings management activity and its effect on the consistency of financial reporting released by listed and unquoted Algerian firms in the Algiers Stock Exchange following the introduction of IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) in 2009 and to test the influence of positive accounting theory on earnings management practices. In order to determine the appropriate model, we gathered datafrom 42 companies in various sectors ofactivity for the period 20112015 and, with these data, we were able to retrieve 3 companies due to the issue of discontinuity of their results. This relation was measured and analyzed using the multiple regression test established in scientific literature used to assess the use of discretionary accruals. The findings of the study indicate that Algerian companies have practiced earnings management over various years of study and we ended up choosing a Jones model.

Nowadays the users of financial reports are more demanding and requesting better information of a company’s performance. With the sophistication in the business environment, disclosure is becoming more important to business communities. The impact of information disclosure in the annual reports to the cost of equity capital is of significant interest to managers. This paper review literatures from many theoretical papers and empirical studies the effect information disclosure on cost equity capital. Many theories being discuss in this paper such as agency cost theory, signaling theory, capital markets transaction hypothesis, and positive accounting theory. Many empirical studies proved that disclosure reduce cost equity capital by reducing the information asymmetry and increasing the companies’ liquidity.

The study critically evaluates the theory of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) implementation in an attempt to provide directions for future research. Using the extensive structured review of literature using the Scopus database tool, the study reviewed 79 articles, and in particular the topic-related 57 articles were analysed. Nine journals contribute to 51% of articles (29 of 57 articles). In particular, the three journals published 15 articles: Critical Perspectives on Accounting (7), Accounting, Organizations and Society (4), and Journal of Applied Accounting Research (4). In total, 83% (47 of 57) of the articles were published 2009–2018. A total of 1,168 citations were found from 45 articles since 12 articles were without citations. The highest cited authors were Ball (2006) – 410 citations, Kothari, Ramanna, and Skinner (2010) – 135 citations, and Napier (1989) – 85 citations. In particular, five theories have been used widely: institutional theory (13), accounting theory (6), agency theory (3), positive accounting theory (3), and process theory (2). Future studies’ focus could be on theory implications in IFRS adoption/implementation studies in a country or a group of countries’ experience. Future studies could also focus on various theories rather depending on a single theory (i.e. institutional theory).

The purpose of this research is to test whether there is influence of Corporate Social Responsibility disclosure and leverage on tax aggressiveness. The theories used in this research are Stakeholder Theory and Debt Covenant Hypothesis from Positive Accounting Theory. The type of this research is quantitative research. The population in this research is all main and manufacturing sector companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange for the period 2014-2016. The total of companies selected as samples are 75 companies with the period research for three years, so the total of samples in this research are 225 samples that have been selected using purposive sampling technique. The data used in this study is secondary data in the form of annual reports of main and manufacturing sector companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange for the period 2014-2016. Data collection technique used is documentation. The data analysis technique used is panel data regression. The results of this research showed that Corporate Social Responsibility disclosure has no influence on tax aggressiveness while leverage has negative and significant influence on tax aggressiveness.

This study aims to determine the financial performance of cigarette manufacturing companies listed on the BEI by using EVA analysis, and prove positive accounting earnings will have or do not have a positive EVA value. By using sample 4 (four) cigarette manufacturing companies listed on BEI, the result of this research mention that there are 3 of 4 or (75%) cigarette manufacturing companies listed on BEI experiencing EVA > 0 value, and profit positive accounting does not necessarily make the EVA value positive as well. This is due to an increase in the cost of equity capital that contributes the largest cost to the WACC figure which results in high capital charger borne by the company.

This study aimed to determine the effect of leverage and firm size toward earnings management. This study used a sample of the financial report data from manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia stock exchange for the 2013-2017 period. The data analysis testing in this study employed EViews (Econometric Views). The results showed that the best panel regression model in this study was random effect model. Consistent with agency theory and positive accounting theory, leverage and firm size has a positive effect on the earnings management for manufacturing companies in Indonesia. The empirical results showed that leverage and firm size increases provide encouragement for managers to manipulate earnings.

Young, high growth internet/online companies are an attractive topic for market analysts and hot shots of Initial Private Offerings. At the same time, it is very complicated to provide a robust valuation for such companies, as shown by often unpredictable paths of share prices, resulting in the dot.com bubble burst in the past. This paper aims to explain why traditional valuation techniques fail to identify the value of a company with a fair degree of probability and tries to identify new metrics reported by managerial accounting that should be included in the valuation procedure. Assuming the condition of technological interchangeability of processes and practices, the presented paper concludes that using the New Economy specific metrics, such as traffic and various conversion factors explaining top-line traffic monetization, it is possible to adopt a conventional valuation technique, i.e. the DCF, with a very high degree of confidence for the incremental revenue and profit estimations. The interchangeability is also a proof of an innovative potential of the newly introduced technologies and explains the high frequency of strategic acquisitions on this market. Needless to say, the key information sources for valuation of companies under consideration are not financial statements, but managerial records instead, especially web analytics and search algorithm entries.

The article describes the bonus plan, debt/equity and political cost hypotheses, based on a positive accounting theory, with reference to opportunistic approach, explaining the reasons for choosing accounting methods. Research based on these hypotheses has revealed the main types of financial information manipulation - earnings management and creative accounting. After conducting the analysis of scientific sources, the article presents the definitions of earnings management and creative accounting of various authors, distinguishes the types of earnings management – accrual-based earnings management and real earnings management. After analyzing the manipulation methods indicated in the literature, a comprehensive list of profit management and creative accounting methods are presented. The methods are structured and classified according to their compliance with accounting standards, types of profit management and their impact on accounting areas. The provided list and classification of methods is useful in a scientific sense for further research on this phenomenon.

This chapter aims to entice scientists and philosophers to make contributions to accounting thought by examining the fascinating problems that are the direct result of the unique subject matters of accounting. Instead of reporting the amount paid, accountants usually report a calculated amount. The emphasis on social science provides the first clue as to the subject matter of accounting theory: it is the study of the behaviour of people, often people who are accountants or managers making accounting decisions. The predominant subject matter currently being studied by accountant-researchers is the behaviour of accountant-practitioners, broadly conceived to include auditors and managers when they are making accounting decisions, and often called ‘positive accounting theory’ as well as ‘social-recorder’, both of which are offsprings of the old ‘inductivist’ theories. C. Lyas provides an illustration of both the multiple meanings of the term in accounting and how non-accountants usually interpret it.

The Committee to Prepare a Statement of Basic Accounting Theory' was charged "to develop an integrated statement of basic accounting theory which will serve as a guide to educators, practitioners, and others interested in accounting. The statement should include adequate support for any position taken and sufficient explanation to provide clarity, yet be as concise as feasible." (p. v) This is indeed a large order, so large that hardly anyone would be surprised if the committee failed. The ideas presented in the Statement can readily be traced to the literature but this is not a criticism; instead it is the nature of a committee effort. A committee will report only what is "generally accepted" by its members and often general acceptance of ideas requires previous exposure. We are told that the committee met eight times for a total of twenty days (p. vi) and this lends further support to the previous exposure hypothesis. Radically new ideas would have probably required much longer. Thus, the accounting theorist will find little that is new in the Statement. He may disagree with parts or all of it but he will find nothing to shock or stimulate. Nevertheless, this document is a revolutionary one when its contents are compared to contemporary practice and education. The differences are not only in the specific suggestions on valuation, e.g., current cost, non-transaction data, but also in two more important respects: (1) methodology and (2) world-view.

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of institutional ownership on accounting quality and cost of capital. This research is quasi-experimental in the field of positive accounting research and based on real information in the financial statements of companies. It is also of correlational type and, it is a descriptive (comparative / analytical) research in terms of data collection method. The research methodology is post-event due to the use of historical information in terms of time, and because it can be used in the process of using information and can be used in practice, it is a kind of applied research. The statistical population of the present study includes all companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange, with the exception of banks and financial and credit institutions, investment companies, financial intermediaries, holding companies and leasing companies (which have different financial structure and management principles than other companies). The information of these companies for the 7-year period from 2011 to 2017 has been studied. In order to examine the relationship between institutional ownership and quality of accounting information and cost of capital debt and to examine the moderating role of institutional ownership in the relationship between quality of accounting information and cost of capital debt, regression analysis was presented. Also, in the regression analysis, the generalized regression model was fit, and the coefficients of regression variables were estimated. In addition, the test of zero regression coefficients for the significance of the model and each of the variables was performed. The test results of the research hypotheses showed that there is a significant relationship between institutional ownership and quality of accounting information and cost of capital debt, but institutional ownership has not been able to moderate the relationship between quality of accounting information and cost of capital debt.

The reasons driving companies to use accounting standards are also related to benefits resulting for managers and shareholders. In this regard, Watts and Zimmerman have proposed the Positive Accounting Theory, useful theory to explain the use of accounting standards (Watts and Zimmerman 1978, 1979, 1986). In fact, the authors of the Positive Accounting Theory claim that “management plays a central role in the determination of standards” and “one function of financial reporting is to constrain management to act in the shareholders’ interest,” thereby, this theory became an academic theory which helps in explaining and predicting practices in accounting. This theoretical framework highlighted also how the importance of adopting new and good accounting standards, specifically for large companies, can help to solve classic problems related to the agency theory (i.e., problems related to the difference in interests between shareholders and managers). In this context, Brown (2011) states that “accounting standards are important in a well-developed capital market because they help to resolve a serious agency problem. Insiders (managers) are better informed than outsiders (shareholders) about their firms’ investment opportunities, how hard they, the managers, will work and the perks they will consume and how well the firm is doing overall.” Therefore, uniform accounting and auditing standards are necessary because they are a relatively low-cost solution to a serious agency problem and providing clear and transparent information within the financial statements, allowing the interests of managers to be aligned to those of shareholders. Indeed, the issuance of new accounting standards should take into consideration all of these aspects: better quality information (more accurate, comprehensive, and timely financial statement information); the minor difference in the knowledge of information between small investors and professionals (adverse selection); greater comparability, eliminating many international differences in accounting standards and standardizing reporting formats (Ball 2006; Brown 2011). According to Ball (2006), higher-quality information “should reduce both the risk to all investors from owing shares and the risk to less-informed investors due to adverse selection. In theory, it should lead to a reduction in firms’ cost of equity capital.”

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The research is aimed to analyze the influence of debt covenant, political cost and implementation of IFRS toward firm value. The population in this research are non public companies in the period 2016, 2017 and 2018. Non public companies are used as the population in this research to see the level of implementation of IFRS that have been applied by non public companies. The sample selection by using a random method and obtaining a sample of 46 companies or 138 observation data. The analysis used in this research is a Panel Data Regression by using Eviews 10.00. The partial result showed that political cost and implementation of IFRS affect firm value, while the debt covenant does not affect firm value. And the simultaneous result showed that debt covenant, political cost and implementation of IFRS affect firm value.

Aquaponics involves the simultaneous production of plants and fish and it is increasingly being used with a self-consumption purpose. However, there are uncertainties and little information about the economic sustainability of small-scale self-managed aquaponic systems. The objective of this study was to obtain economic information about these systems, including the level of commoditization of food production as a measure of their autonomy. For this purpose, two small-scale aquaponic systems (SAS) based on FAO models were self-constructed using cheap and easy-to-obtain materials and monitored for a year. A total of 62 kg of tilapia and 352 kg of 22 different vegetables and fruits were produced, with an average net agricultural added value of 151.3 &euro, Results showed positive accounting profit but negative economic profit when labor costs were included. The degree of commoditization was around 44%, which allows a certain autonomy, thanks to the use of family labor force.

The Routledge Companion to Accounting History shows how the seemingly innocuous practice of accounting has pervaded human existence in fascinating ways at numerous times and places; from ancient civilisations to the modern day, and from the personal to the political. Placing the history of accounting in context with other fields of study, the collection gives invaluable insights to subjects such as the rise of capitalism, the control of labour, gender and family relationships, racial exploitation, the functioning of the state, and the pursuit of military conflict. An engaging and comprehensive overview also examining geographical differences, this Companion is split into key sections, which explore: * changing technologies used to represent financial and other data * historical development of accounting theory and practice * accounting institutions and those who perform accounting * accountancy and the economy * accounting, society, and culture * the role of accounting in the government, protection and financing of states including chapters on the important role played by accountancy in religious organizations, a review of how the discipline is portrayed in fine art and popular culture, and analysis of sharp practice and corporate scandals. The Routledge Companion to Accounting History has a breadth of coverage that is unmatched in this growing area of study. Bringing together leading writers in the field, this is an essential reference work for any student of accounting, business and management, and history.

A better understanding of how human factors may shape risk perception and risk-taking is key to improve investment performance. This chapter draws on research on the psychology of risk and decision-making under uncertainty to shed light on these issues. The first part focuses on the evaluation of risk and uncertainty. After outlining the different psychological concepts of uncertainty, we review the different factors influencing individuals’ subjective perception of risk as well as the heuristics they may use to gauge risk and uncertainty. The second part of this chapter focuses on the different factors influencing human risk-taking behaviour, ranging from attitudes to risk to the contexts in which risky decisions take place, and the role of emotions in risk-taking.

In 2014, Brazil’s Federal Police launched an investigation (‘Car Wash’) on the country’s largest state-controlled companies, exposing a kickback scheme related to overpriced contracts. The alleged corruption required these companies to engage in real earnings management (REM) to hide the excessive costs of these contracts. We predict and find that these companies reduced their REM activities after the investigation’s launch, confirming prior study’s findings that companies under investigation curb their REM activities. Our contribution lies in examining whether the investigation also resulted in a reduction in REM for companies facing similar public scrutiny (a contagion effect). We find evidence of the contagion effect with other large state-owned companies as well as with other large publicly-scrutinized companies, in line with Positive Accounting Theory. The results of our study suggest that such investigations are effective in not only enforcing corruption statutes on those investigated, but also effective in deterring corruption.

This research is intended to know whether Indonesian State Owned Enterprises (BUMN or Badan Usaha Milik Negara) having income smoothing pattern. This study also testing the determinant factors for income smoothing behavior. Positive Accounting Theory is used with its three hypothesis: bonus plan, debt covenant, and political cost. The samples are BUMN that listed in Indonesian Stock Exchange in 2018 which issued completed audited financial statements from 2010-2018. Data then analyzed using logistic regression. The results shows that stock values, bond values, and company size have positive effect on income smoothing practice. The results is consistent with Positive Accounting Theory’s hypothesis of bonus plan, debt covenant, and political costs hypothesis.

The paper investigates and determines the profile of misrepresenting firms by suitable accounting ratios. It moreover measures the impact of the misrepresentation on the accounting characteristics. Unlike prior literature, it splits the dataset by the reason of the managers for conducting the misrepresentation. The reason is therefore hand-collected from SEC-investigation reports and verified by further sources. This allows to identify the characteristics and quantify the impact of the misrepresentation depending on the reason for the misrepresentation. The research is conducted with statistical tests for significance and a firth logistic regression (Firth 1993). The results show that there are indeed differences in the characteristics of misrepresenting firms depending on the reason for the misrepresentation. In total three different main categories of these reasons for misrepresentations could be identified. In one category are small well-performing firms. Here data shows that the main reason for the misrepresentation is the enrichment of the managers (greed) e.g. through bonusses. In another category are small almost bankrupt firms. Here data shows that the managers typically misrepresent to avoid bankruptcy. In the third category are bigger and established firms. Here data shows a misrepresentation to handle capital market pressure e.g. through analyst forecasts. Moreover, the results suggest that depending on the reason (and consequently the category) the misrepresentation was done through different accounting components (earnings, total assets, sales, current assets, current liabilities, inventory). The results are in general in line with the positive accounting theory as defined by Watts and Zimmerman (1986) since the results underline the importance of accounting in various contracting situations e.g. in negotiating managements’ remuneration system.

This paper reviews the positive accounting theory. The article also discusses development in accounting theory and research. The philosophical objective of positive accounting theory is to explain and predict current accounting practice. Positive accounting theory seeks to understand why accounting practices are employed by accountants in different circumstances and by different firms. Three hypotheses in positive accounting theory: bonus plan, debt covenant and political cost. Criticisms of positive accounting theory (1) methodology, philosophy and economics approach. This study will discuss PAT as seen from several perspectives, including the history of the rise of PAT, the shift from normative to positive approaches, then the development of PAT, research on PAT and criticism of PAT. The paper also describes the economic consequences related to the emergence of new accounting standards which of course will affect the selection of the method of accounting by management.

This study provides descriptive evidence on how the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) sets Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). Based on 211 financial accounting standards issued between 1973 and 2014, we summarize the reasons that the FASB adds or removes projects from its agenda, the entities most frequently bringing issues to the FASB's attention, and commonly recurring topics across different standards over time. We find that reducing diverse practices and inconsistent guidance is the most frequent reason cited by the FASB to take on a project and more than half of the standards are intended to enhance comparability. We find that the SEC, AICPA, and large public accounting firms are identified most frequently by the FASB as the parties bringing issues to its attention. Accounting for financial instruments is the most frequent recurring topic across accounting standards, which potentially explains the growth in fair value measurement in U.S GAAP over time. We analyze the dissenting opinions written by Board members and find some evidence that the stated reasons for disagreements are associated with their professional backgrounds. However, our analyses indicate Board members' positions on fair value accounting are context-specific and cannot be fully explained by their professional backgrounds.

This study aims to determine whether earnings power, leverage, and firm size affect earnings management and whether institutional ownership moderate the effect of earning power, leverage, and size of the company on earnings management. The theory underlying this research is agency theory and positive accounting theory. Based on both theories, the conflict of interest that occurs between the owner and the manager where each will tend to emphasize personal interests or certain parties. The sample in this study consists of 93 manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange for the period 2014-2016. Sampling was done by purposive sampling method. The data analysis technique used to test the hypothesis is Moderated Regression Analysis. The results of this study indicate earnings power, leverage, and firm size have a positive effect on earnings management. Institutional ownership weakens the effect of earning power on earnings management. Keywords : Earning management, earning power, leverage, company size

Purpose The purpose of this study is to shed light on how accounting, which has been recognised as a contributor to the modernity problem, has been influenced by secular anthropology, which hinges on the concept of “self”. Based on Akbar S. Ahmed’s concept of Islamic Anthropology, Islamic Accounting Anthropology (IAA) is proposed as an answer to shift the accounting paradigm. Design/methodology/approach A case study in Indonesia was conducted by studying the development of the nation’s Shariah accounting from the perspective of diffusionism as an approach to anthropology. Following the constructivist tradition, IAA, which rejects the Social Darwinism notion of the superiority of the West over the East as the basis of the evolution of civilisation, is used as tool to realise Islamic norms through synchronic-diachronic study, constructing an accounting concept and invoking accounting transformation through accounting education. Findings This study finds that accounting has been greatly affected by secular Western culture through education and educators as agents that find their legitimation in country policies. Standard setters have also taken the same stance by siding with the capital market. By proposing IAA, it is hoped that Islam will replace the concept of “self-interest” as the faith of accounting and promote welfare for the ummah. Research limitations/implications The problem of modernisation lies in the newfound faith of self-interest. In accounting, self-interest is ingrained in accounting theories such as Positive Accounting Theory, Entity Theory and Agency Theory, and thus accounting has become a tool to support neoliberal society. IAA will help produce accounting that is rooted in local wisdom and necessity yet very much embedded in Islamic values. Practical implications IAA suggests that accounting education must be geared towards anthropology detached from the Orientalism-secularism concept. This shift can be accomplished by integrating IAA into the accounting education curriculum. Social implications Based on IAA, accounting practices can be designed under the guidance of the Quran and result using a synchronic-diachronic approach. By changing the ontological view through accounting education, accounting can drive societal consciousness towards the welfare of society instead of self-happiness. Originality/value Islamic accounting and anthropology are two subjects that are rarely discussed concurrently.

In government, the challenges of governance and anti-corruption are exacerbated by accounting not being fit for purpose. In developing countries, many governments adopt accrual accounting as a panacea. Drawing on Goffman's frame analysis, and rhetorical appeals to logic, credibility and emotion, this paper examines the adoption of accrual accounting in Malaysia. It was found accrual accounting has potential for keying governance and anti-corruption. However, rhetorical appeals that attempt to legitimate neo-liberalism and engender public support in the name of progress were hindered by perceptions of endemic corruption and relatively weak democratic institutions of ‘good’ governance common to developing countries.

SUMMARY Regulators, standard setters, and the accounting profession maintain that complexity in accounting standards is a significant issue. However, it is unclear what complexity means in the context of accounting standards. This study examines, via comment letter submissions, the accounting profession's engagement with complexity in accounting standards. We analyze comment letters submitted to the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) over a 12-year period and find the profession characterizes complexity through three dimensions—multiplicity, diversity, and interrelatedness. We examine the Big 4's discourse on these dimensions and observe consistency between audit firms in their discourse on several features. For instance, we find that firms primarily oppose proposed FASB changes when firms perceive those changes to increase rather than decrease complexity. Additionally, firms perceive proposed changes to affect financial statement preparers more often than other stakeholders. However, the Big 4 do not hold universal opinions as to the root causes of complexity. At the cross-firm level, we find inconsistencies that imply heterogeneity in the Big 4's discourse on root causes. Such inconsistency may, in and of itself, construct accounting complexity. Ultimately, we maintain that the Big 4's engagement with accounting standards has consequences for how complexity is thought about and acted upon in accounting standards.

This paper examines, within the Australian market, the extent to which legal insider trades are information driven, premised on a disconnect between the market's assessment of firm value, and that of more informed insiders. I address the notion that insiders, endowed with superior information about their firm, are contrarian, reflecting disagreement with the market's current perception of firm value, and also use this knowledge by trading in advance of future performance indicators not known to the market. I find that insiders, directors in particular, are contrarian traders; they buy when their firm is in the bottom tercile according to prior returns (losers), and sell if their firm is a prior winner. Further, this behaviour is exacerbated if the firm is a value (glamour) stock. Finally, I show that even after controlling for the aforementioned factors, directors engage in net buying prior to positive accounting performance changes in the subsequent and following 12 month periods.

Purpose This paper aims to explore the notion of communication in accounting and in doing so elucidates the wider connotation of accounting frontiers offered in the Islamic philosophy, reflecting upon the Islamic doctrines that are indicative towards and offer a variety of implications for communication and accounting. Design/methodology/approach Drawing from the Islamic sources – Quran and other key texts – and other relevant preceding literature, the paper deliberates key Islam principles of significance and outline what they suggest for communication in accounting. Findings Islam has a profoundly embedded concern of the communicative aspect from a holistic viewpoint that is clear within its accounting implications as well. This paper illustrates the social aspects of Islamic accounting through its stance on communication, thereby opening up the more enabling potentials of Islamic accounting informed by wider and more facilitating dimensions of Islam’s teachings: Islam’s holistic approach to life; its attentiveness on society and its various groups; and its emphasis on behavioural conduct and emotional aspects. Consideration on these principles throws into questions the Western ways, develops and hones the existing stand of hegemonic positions and submits new ways forward. Research limitations/implications Aspiring organisations and larger entities such as nations who encourage the development of Islamic economy can benefit from the added accountability of entities to encompass the social and ethical responsibilities. Practical/implications The paper highlights Islamic doctrines as a basis of just and responsible accounting communication via incorporating the macro-societal elements and the behavioural communicative aspects. Originality/value The Islamic communication principles open up the inclusion of the missing behavioural aspect from accounting communication. This paper provides the necessary theoretical framework on how to include the humane side within accounting communication.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify and evaluate the role and influence played by the discipline of accounting through its association with the multiple logics of government reforms to transform the public tertiary education sector in New Zealand. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts a case study approach utilising multiple data collection methods. Neo-institutional theory provides an insightful complement to neo-liberalism and enhances the understanding of institutional logics driving government reforms and the transformation of public tertiary institutions. Findings The findings reveal that accounting has become a powerful conduit for the exercise of the neo-liberalism reforms by government and implemented by managerial control over public tertiary education institutions. Research limitations/implications By addressing a gap in the literature, the paper shows how political and economic neo-liberal policies have been implemented in tertiary education with the discipline of accounting being adopted as a prime driver of these reforms. The paper has significant implications for educational management, academics and learners in understanding how and why the inherent nature, objectives and processes of the overall educational experience have undergone a radical reformation. Originality/value New Zealand is one of the first countries to implement these educational reforms and adopted “accounting technologies” to reduce costs and improve performance. But the reality has often been very different. Most of the government’s original objectives have not been fulfilled and the reforms have been costly for the academic profession. This paper provides a valuable source of learning for academics, managers and politicians.

It is well documented that institutional development has greatly enhanced bank stability by reducing risk-taking. We examine the causal effect of accounting system development on bank risk-taking based on difference-in-difference (DID) models in the context of institutional reforms. By creating two distinct measures of the accounting system: the distance to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS Index) and the domestic accounting law enactment (Accounting Law Index), we show that the accounting system has a significant impact on bank risk-taking in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. Specifically, compliance with the IFRS induces large drop in bank risk, while increased domestic accounting laws lead to greater risk-taking. We also show that European Union membership reinforces the effect of the IFRS Index on bank risk-taking for those transition countries.

This paper explores the deployment of rhetorical legitimation strategies during public-sector accounting reforms by investigating how organizational actors justify related changes in the central governments of the United Kingdom (UK), Italy and Austria. The study shows that changes are largely legitimated (and rarely delegitimated) by key actors, with authorization strategies dominating. Country differences and actors’ professional backgrounds also impact upon the use of legitimation strategies, with those from an accounting background and working in the UK being more likely to justify change in terms of rationalization and normalization. Italian and Austrian actors more frequently resort to authorization strategies to explain accounting change.

In describing peoples’ conceptions of phenomena, most phenomenography/variation theory research does not distinguish between generalised aspects of conceptions and contextualised aspects. This study suggests this approach may have limitations. The concepts of the external and internal horizon are used to provide evidence that graduates’ conceptions of price consist of a combination of generalised and contextualised elements, where each horizon can be described in terms of qualitative differences. This way of approaching conceptions allows for a crisp delimitation of a phenomenon from its context, captures their relationship, and is consistent with the principles of phenomenography/variation theory. Findings raise questions about connections between internal and external horizons and the ‘correct’ way to sequence variation in order to trigger conceptual change.

Positive Accounting Theory (Watts and Zimmerman, 1978) stipulates that financial reporting has two dimensions: market signaling and monitoring managerial behaviors. Through these signaling and stewardship means, a better financial reporting quality would have significant economic consequences in terms of efficient resources allocation, which results in improving firms’ investment decision. In this paper, we examine the impact of financial reporting quality on corporate investment efficiency. Our sample is based on 25 Tunisian listed companies for the period 1997–2013. The findings confirm that some characteristics of the financial information, namely, reliability and smoothness, appear to increase the investment inefficiency, while others, i.e., conservatism and relevance, seem have no significant effect on investment decisions. We attribute such results mainly to the contextual specificities of the Tunisian environment, such as, the institutional bodies and settings, the cultural values and some characteristics of the corporate governance system.

This paper recasts the debate over whether accounting research is relevant to accounting practice by asking the more fundamental question of whether modern academic accounting is an applied discipline. Using an institutional theory template, we argue that academic accounting only purports to be an applied discipline relative to the professional practice of accounting. We study the human capital of personnel inflows into academic accounting in terms of practice work experience. We conclude that pre-academia practice experience is counterproductive to academic success in terms of research productivity and movement in academic labor markets. Implications pertaining to the broadly based schism between “town and gown” in accounting are drawn.

We analyzed publication trends in six accounting education journals published during the 20-year period 1997–2016: (1) Accounting Education, (2) Advances in Accounting Education, (3) Global Perspectives on Accounting Education, (4) Issues in Accounting Education, (5) Journal of Accounting Education, and (6) The Accounting Educators’ Journal. Our objective is to inform academicians about the overall development of accounting education research, empirical article topical trends, the extant knowledge base, and directions for future accounting education scholarship. Our analysis shows that the number of articles per year has increased over time and that the proportion of articles in four categories (empirical, descriptive, instructional resources, and cases) has changed over the 20-year period. The body of literature we analyzed shows the beginnings of a knowledge base that can be used as the foundation for future accounting education research.

This paper explores the relationship between accounting and taxation through the recent proposals for curbing corporate tax avoidance advanced by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Union (EU). The OECD is content to tweak pricing and fails to address the faultlines of accounting. The EU is promoting ‘unitary taxation’ and advocates a major reform of the way taxable profits are to be calculated. As IFRSs have reduced the usefulness of accounting numbers for taxation purposes, the EU has sought to recalibrate basic elements of accounting. This has considerable implications for the development of accounting.

As an extension of our previous work (Wu et al., 2019b), this study uses a positive accounting manner to track the circulation of energy use via interregional trade, by taking a full account of indirect energy usage related with primary inputs as well as intermediate inputs. The aggregate amount of interregional shift of energy use is about six times larger than that recorded in the preceding work, revealing the robust flows of energy use associated with intermediate products traded across global supply chains. The United States is a crucial sink of energy use in the world, serving the leading net importer of energy use in final trade and the second biggest net importer in intermediate trade. Around 60% of the energy use initiated by its final consumption stems from other regions. For Mainland China as the third largest net importer of energy use in intermediate trade and the leading net exporter in final trade, around 60% of local primary energy exploitation sinks into final consumption abroad. For sustainable economic growth and efficient energy management, countries are recommended to be further integrated in the international supply chains by accurately pinpointing their roles in the trading market of energy use.

The purpose of this study is to test positive accounting theory by analyzing the effect of audit committees, independent commissioners on earnings management through debt hyphothesis testing, bonus motivation on earnings management, by adding the firm size variable as a control variable on earnings management in banking companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange 2015-2020. The results of the study confirm that the independent commissioners partially have a significant influence on earnings management. The audit committee has a significant effect on earnings management and bonus motivation has no effect on earnings management and debt motivation has no effect on earnings management. While the firm size variable has no effect on earnings management. Simultaneously independent commissioners, audit committee, bonus motivation, and firm size have a significant effect on earnings management. This findings indicates that the motivation developed in positive accounting theory in earnings management.