Search results

This study aims to explore the intelligibility of communication with stakeholders as a result of accrual accounting adoption. It focuses on changes in the use of visual forms and the readability of text that occurred immediately after the adoption of accrual accounting in performance reports of Italian public universities.

The authors collect the stakeholder section of performance reports published before and after accrual accounting adoption. Then, the authors use manual and computer-assisted textual analysis. Finally, the authors explore the data using principal component analysis and qualitative comparative analysis.

This study demonstrates that switching from cash to accrual accounting provokes immediate changes in communication patterns. It confirms the significant reduction of readability and increase in visual forms after accruals accounting adoption. The results indicate that smaller universities especially put effort into increasing intelligibility while implementing a more complex accounting system. This study also finds a relation between the change in readability and the change in visual forms that are complementary, with the exception of several very large universities.

The findings underline the possibility of neutralising the adverse effects of accounting reform associated with its complexity and difficulties in understanding by the use of visual forms and attention to the document’s readability.

This paper adds a new dimension to the study of public sector accounting from the external stakeholder perspective. It provides further insight into the link between accrual accounting adoption and readability, together with the use of visual forms by universities.

This paper develops and tests a theoretical model that draws on the Diffusion Contingency Model and the Theory of Human Behavior to explain the factors influencing users’ acceptance of accrual accounting in terms of two distinct dimensions: behavioral intention and usage behavior.

Based on surveyed data from financial departments and directorates of different Greek general government entities, the paper uses factor analysis to build a theoretical model that assesses the factors influencing behavioral intention to adopt and usage behavior of accrual accounting. Then, it tests the relationship between behavioral intention and usage behavior through structural equation modeling.

The theoretical model suggests that the expected improvement of the quality of financial information and political and financial support are the most important determinants of behavioral intention. Usage behavior is mainly influenced by the compatibility between the existing legal framework and the new accounting system. The structural equation modeling identifies a statistically significant positive influence of behavioral intention on usage behavior.

The study provides valuable insights regarding the timing and focus of the actions taken by policymakers when designing accounting reforms. Special attention is drawn to the factors influencing behavioral intentions, as these are found to influence usage behavior significantly.

The study extends prior research on the diffusion of accounting innovations by breaking down the diffusion process into intentions-oriented actions aiming to promote accrual accounting and increase acceptance and implementation-oriented actions aiming to facilitate successful implementation.

This paper documents the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) 34 literature, primarily in the areas of (1) accountability and improved reporting, (2) government-wide financial statements and accrual accounting and (3) infrastructure asset capitalization and the modified approach. The paper also evaluates the state of the research, recognizes implications for practice and standard setting, identifies knowledge gaps and proposes avenues for future research.

The authors identified the articles in this narrative review by searching Google Scholar and EBSCO for the years 2000 through 2023, using the keywords GASB 34, government-wide financial statements, government fund statements, infrastructure assets and modified approach.

This review finds that GASB 34 requirements improved accountability and reporting, but GASB can still make improvements. The addition of the MD&A section requirement improved readability but placed a burden on preparers. Analysis of government-wide statement research indicates that the accrual-based Statement of Net Assets provides value in credit decisions, while the accrual-based Statement of Activities does not. The research on infrastructure accounting requirements shows limited adoption of the modified approach and some comparability issues with choices involving capitalization thresholds, baselines and asset management systems (AMSs). Based on this review, the authors also present suggestions to further this line of research.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first article that reviews over 20 years of GASB 34 related literature. The review and suggestions for future research are timely as GASB is in the process of reexamining some of GASB 34's requirements.

This paper aims to assess the factors that may explain the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) convergence, considering Hofstede’s cultural dimensions as the theoretical reference for the cultural approach proposed. Additional factors include countries’ contextual and macroeconomic characteristics.

Logistic and probit regression models were used to identify the factors that may explain the IPSAS (fully or adapted) use by countries, including 166 countries in this assessment (59 for those whose cultural dimensions are available).

The findings consistently indicate collectivism and indebtedness levels as explanatory factors, providing insights into cultural dimensions along with macroeconomic characteristics as a relevant factor of countries’ convergence to IPSAS.

There are different levels of IPSAS convergence by countries that were not considered. This aspect may hide different countries’ characteristics that may explain those options, which could not be distinguished in this paper.

As a result of this paper, the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board may gain insights that can be applied within the IPSAS due process to overcome the main challenges when collaborating with national authorities to achieve a high level of convergence. This analysis may include how to accommodate countries’ cultural differences as well as their contextual and macroeconomic characteristics.

There is a trend of moving toward accrual-based accounting standards by countries. Because the public sector embraces a new culture following the IPSAS path, it is relevant to assess if there are cultural factors, besides contextual and macroeconomic characteristics, that may explain the countries’ convergence to those standards.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first cross-country analysis on the likely influence of cultural dimensions on IPSAS convergence as far as the authors’ knowledge.

This study aims to investigate earnings management practice of classification shifting of revenues in Chinese-listed firms.

The study employs a dataset of 2,920 A-listed firms from Chinese stock exchanges of Shanghai and Shenzhen for the period of 2003–2019. We apply both univariate and panel regression analysis by using fixed effect estimation with robust standard errors.

Our findings reveal that firms misclassify revenues by taking advantage of the flexibility provided by applicable financial reporting standards. The empirical evidence obtained through regression analysis suggest that managers reclassify non-operating revenues as operating revenue to alter the economic reality while seeking the advantage of financial reports users’ vulnerability for valuing the upper half of income statement items more as compared to lower part. The results further indicate that international financial reporting standards adoption inhibits the earnings management practices using classification shifting of revenues. It is also concluded that firms, which are suffering losses or having low growth, are more persistently involved in misclassification of revenues.

The study is unique from the point of view that it investigates earnings management from the prospective of revenue’s classification in an emerging market characterized by various market imperfections such as lower investor protection and higher information asymmetry.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between tax avoidance and earnings persistence in the light of a developing economy, with the main focus on China.

In the analysis, the author conducts a survey on the tax avoidance situation of Chinese listed companies from 2012 to 2020. Then, a multivariate regression analysis is performed in order to analyse the relationship between corporate tax avoidance and earnings persistence.

The findings of the present study show that tax avoidance has a significant positive effect on earnings persistence. However, when the degree of tax avoidance is high, the “risk effect” of tax avoidance exceeds the “value effect”, and tax avoidance will reduce the persistence of earnings. This conclusion is even more prominent when the company is non-state-owned. Further research shows the increase of institutional investors’ shareholding ratio can improve “value effect” of tax avoidance, lessen “risk effect” of tax avoidance, and positively affect the relationship between tax avoidance and earnings persistence.

This study provides evidence for investors to understand the dual effect of tax avoidance on earnings persistence. The results may have implications for regulatory bodies. They can provide a better understanding of the corporate governance role of institutional investors in curbing opportunistic tax avoidance.

This study enriches the research on tax avoidance effects by analysing the impact of tax avoidance on earnings persistence. This study also compensates for the shortcomings of analysing earnings persistence mainly from the perspective of tax differences in the past, and promotes the study of the corporate governance effects of institutional investors under different levels of tax avoidance.

There has been limited research on why football clubs contribute to charity. This paper examines how football clubs and their charitable conduits report information when discussing their connectedness. In addition, it explores reasons why, and the extent to which, football clubs support altruism via such charitable vehicles.

Case studies of four major football teams (Manchester City/Manchester United in England and AC Milan/Inter Milan in Italy) are discussed, with formal reports of the clubs and their associated charitable conduits being analysed.

Boundaries between the clubs and their charitable conduits are frequently blurred. Evidence suggests that acknowledging the co-existence of different factors may help to understand what is reported by these organisations and address some of the caveats in terms of autonomy and probity of their activities and reporting practices.

The research uses case studies of four major ‘powerhouses’ of the game and their associated charitable spinoffs. While this is innovative and novel, expanding the research to investigate more clubs and their charitable endeavours would allow greater generalisations.

The study provides material that can be used to reflect on the very topical subject of ‘sportswashing’. This has the potential to input to deliberations relating to the future governance of the game.

The paper explores relationships between businesses and charities/nonprofits in a sector so far little investigated from a charitable accountability perspective. It suggests that motives for engaging in charitable activity and highlighting such engagement may extend beyond normal altruism or warm-glow emotions.

This study aims to evaluate Islamic bank compliance with the accounting and auditing organisation for Islamic financial institutions (AAOIFI), assess the impact of multiple accounting standards in Islamic banking, examine the need for private accounting standards and assess international financial reporting standards (IFRS) compatibility with Islamic banking and analyse financial leasing accounting in Islamic banking compared to IFRS 16.

A combination of comparative theoretical analysis, physical examination, and semi-structured interviews has been used as a research methodology. These methods are interconnected and complement each other to provide a comprehensive approach to address the research questions.

Islamic banks in various countries show varying compliance with AAOIFI accounting standards. Some fully comply, while others adopt a hybrid approach combining AAOIFI and IFRS. Differences in accounting treatments can result in conflicts, asset inflation and financial statement discrepancies. Challenges and criticisms faced by AAOIFI standards include violating the matching principle and lacking faithful representation. Collaboration among academics, standards-setting bodies and organisers is crucial for guiding the reporting of Islamic financial statements.

The research identifies gaps in implementing Islamic accounting standards and proposes strategies to enhance compliance, improve performance and increase transparency in Islamic financial institutions. It highlights the importance of a harmonised and universally accepted accounting framework for Islamic banking, considering the compatibility between IFRS and Islamic principles.

Social implications have arisen regarding the global acceptance of Islamic finance, which leads to an increase in socially Islamic finance exchange.

This research examines the consequences of using multiple accounting standards in the Islamic banking industry and discusses the need for private accounting standards and compatibility with IFRS.

This systematic literature review presents the evolution of accounting-related research in the Indonesian context. We examine 55 academic articles from the initial 296 records of accounting and finance research in the Q1 Scopus-indexed journals from 1995 to 2022. This study sheds light on Indonesia’s main research streams, unique settings and urgent future research agenda.

This study adopts a systematic approach for a comprehensive literature review. We select articles according to a series of criteria and compile the metadata for the bibliographic mapping.

Our bibliometric analysis suggests five main research streams, namely (1) political connection, (2) capital market, (3) audit and accountability, (4) firm policy and (5) banking. We identify the following distinctive country settings, which are well discussed in extant literature: political connection, two-tier board system, weak accounting profession, information opacity and cultural impact on accounting. We outline prospective agendas to examine the institutional mechanisms’ role in addressing major environmental challenges through accountability.

This study offers unique contributions to the literature by comprehensively reviewing accounting-related research in Indonesia. Despite Indonesia’s economic and environmental importance, it has received limited attention from scholars. Using dynamic topic analysis, we highlight the need to examine the role of informal institutions, such as political connections and culture and formal institutional mechanisms, such as corporate governance and environmental disclosure.

Scholarly interest in the business effects of organised crime (OC) has recently increased. This study aims to conduct a systematic literature review (SLR) on the conditions under which OC could pose a threat to or take control of firms within a particular context.

We use narrative synthesis and thematic analysis, with a sample of 46 theoretical and empirical studies published over the past 30 years on the relationship between OC and firms within the disciplines of Business, Management and Accounting (BMA).

SLR and thematic analysis show that scholarly interest has focused on four key domains: OC as a firm, the impact of OC on firms, firms’ efforts to counter OC’s influence and governmental interventions. Using medical metaphors, we also develop a diagram depicting the interplay between OC and firms within the BMA literature.

This study contributes to the literature shaping an agenda to steer future research towards these four key themes. The effectiveness of anti-OC tools and measures depends on a thorough understanding of local norms, behaviours and business practices. In addition to measurement and methodological challenges, several grey areas remain, including the distinction between criminal enterprises and legitimate businesses. Ambiguities also surround the circumstances under which the OC preys upon firms or employs them to establish dominance over a territory.