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This study aims to verify the circumstances under which managing the allowance for uncollectible accounts is used as a tool of earnings management.

The authors investigate whether bad debt expense, which is an income statement counterpart of allowance for uncollectible accounts, is adjusted downward when pre-managed earnings is slightly above zero earnings, prior year’s earnings or analysts’ forecasts.

The findings of this study show that firms manage bad debt expense downward to avoid losses, sustain the prior year’s earnings and meet or beat analysts’ forecasts. The authors also find that the understatement of bad debt expense to meet earnings benchmarks is pronounced for firms with high tax costs.

Standard setters and auditors can gain a better understanding in detail of the practices and methods of managing earnings via the allowance for uncollectible accounts.

This study is the first to examine earnings management via the allowance for uncollectible accounts in non-financial Korean firms. In addition, the findings provide the evidence that firms prefer to use the allowance for uncollectible accounts as a strategic tool to meet benchmarks, especially when their tax costs are high.

Sex discrimination is embedded in the personal income tax system of the UK which favours married men and operates against married women. The view that women are men's dependants, institutionalised in the tax system, offends very many women and should have no place in a society committed to equality between the sexes.

This paper explores the value relevant information of future income taxes under The Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) handbook section 3465. CICA handbook section 3465 requires Canadian companies to use the asset and liability method to account for income taxes. Consistent with prior studies, this paper shows that future tax assets are positively associated with share prices, suggesting that they are valued as assets. Future tax liabilities are negatively associated with share prices, suggesting that they are valued as liabilities. Future tax value allowance, which is created for future tax assets, is negatively associated with share prices. This study also explores the value relevant information of future tax asset and liability categories. In addition, this paper explores what determines the valuation of future tax assets and liabilities. It is argued that future tax assets are more (less) valuable if (no) sufficient future income will be generated in the near future to utilize these tax assets; future tax liabilities will reduce share prices more (less), if there is a higher (lower) likelihood of reversal in the short run. The results support this argument. It is shown that (1) future tax assets are less valuable if the firm's value allowance is higher (i.e., the management does not expect the firm will generate sufficient taxable income in future years to utilize these tax assets), or the firm's leverage is higher (another proxy for no sufficient future taxable income), and (2) future tax liabilities reduce share prices less if the firm's investment in capital properties is increased.

Extant research examining the determinants of deferred tax asset valuation allowances finds that the evidence provisions outlined in SFAS 109 explain a significant portion of both levels of and changes in recorded valuation allowances. In addition, there is evidence of a stock price reaction around the time of announcements of valuation allowance information. The present study extends existing research in two ways. First, extant research on determinants of valuation allowance changes does not incorporate the asymmetry in the evidence provisions of SFAS 109. Accordingly, we separately examine the determinants of increases versus decreases in valuation allowances and find that the evidence provisions of SFAS 109 explain a much greater portion of valuation allowance increases than decreases. Second, we examine the association between annual stock returns and reported earnings resulting from valuation allowance changes. While the earnings effect of valuation allowance changes is found to be significant in the expected direction, the stock price reactions do not occur in the period the earnings effect is reported. This is consistent with low earnings “quality” under SFAS 109.

The paper deals with the child benefits system in the Czech Republic, Slovak Republic and Sweden.

The authors describe the systems as the key baseline for subsequent qualitative and quantitative comparison. An essential element is the quantitative comparison of child benefits using their statistically stationarised values.

The Czech and Slovak systems provide a comparable rate of coverage as the Swedish system regarding the payment of both types of benefits, i.e. child benefits and tax allowances, for the first and second child; however, from the third child, the individual differences are considerable. Albeit the concepts of Czech and Slovak systems are framed by the same historical origins and conceptual approach, they differ significantly, with Slovakia providing the lowest aggregate level of child benefits.

The paper provides insight into the child benefit systems in the respective countries. These systems are at the centre of attention of policymakers who are attempting to maintain birth rates and reduce child poverty. The Czech Republic has the lowest level of at-risk-of-poverty rates for persons under 16 years of age, while natality rates are comparable.

Preamble Taxation does not escape the effects of inflation. It too is distorted by the fall in value of the national currency. No problem would arise where a tax is applied to a simple base at a single rate, with no exemptions or allowances and without a significant time lag. This is however a rare case. Certainly so far as the British direct tax system is concerned there are usually multiple rates, thresholds and other allowances and, particularly in capital taxation, there may be significant gaps in time between the date of the imposition of the tax and the time when the tax becomes payable. For example the new rates of capital transfer tax announced on 26 October 1977 would apply to the estate of a person who dies in 1978, 1998 or in the next century or would do so but for the inevitable review which will be required mainly because of inflation arising between 1977 and the date of death. If this were not adjusted the heirs of the deceased would manifestly be required to pay more capital transfer tax than the Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1977 intended them to pay. A simple example will illustrate this.

One form of property development incentive is the provision of tax shelters by way of tax depreciation allowances for buildings and parts of buildings. Since a tax depreciation allowance can only be claimed against income from the subject property, or from another source, in order to assess the effect of the allowance, some form of after tax analysis is required. After tax analysis for both capitalisation and cash flow techniques is described and illustrated. Furthermore, slices of equated yield attributable to the main components of return from real property are demonstrated.

Industrial profitability in Britain has suffered badly in recent years—and is still suffering—from the effects of rapid inflation coupled with rigorous price controls. This in turn has led to widespread liquidity problems aggravated by increasing capital needs to meet the ever mounting costs of stock and plant replacement. The survival and growth of firms depend on the ability of management to adapt to the changing business environment. Under today's conditions an acquaintance with the various forms of assistance to industry offered by the Government, and their implications, is essential for those concerned with the financial aspect of management. Intelligently used, these incentives can increase the profitability, after tax, of investment in fixed assets, as well as reinforcing the cash flow needed to finance them. The available fiscal incentives fall into two main classes: those given by way of “capital allowances” on fixed assets in taxing profits; and the range of government grants and other help available to firms operating in, or moving into, the “areas for expansion”.

Although tax relief on pensions is a controversial area of government expenditure, this is the first study of the tax effects for a real-world defined benefit pension scheme. First, we estimate the tax and national insurance contribution (NIC) effects of the scheme's change from final salary to career average revalued earnings (CARE) in 2011 on the gross and net wealth of the sponsor, government, and 16 age cohorts of members, deferred pensioners, and pensioners. Second, we measure the size of the twelve income tax and NIC payments and reliefs for new members and the sponsor, before and after the rule changes. We find the total subsidy split is roughly 40% income tax subsidy and 60% NIC subsidy. If lower tax rates in retirement and the risk premium effect of the exempt-exempt-taxed (EET) system are not viewed as a tax subsidy, the tax subsidy to members largely disappears. Any remaining subsidy drops, as a proportion of pension benefits, for high earners, as does that for NICs.

The America Rescue Plan (ARP) transformed the Child Tax Credit (CTC) into a more generous, inclusive monthly payment from July through December 2021. However, the expansion has been terminated and the annual CTC has been reinstated. The United States is one of the few OECD countries that do not have a child allowance system and South Korea has recently adopted child allowance in 2018. This study aims to comprehensively review the existing literature and evidence on ARP-CTC in the United States and Universal Child Allowance (CA) in Korea.

The researchers completed a database search between July 1, 2022 and July 20, 2022. For the United States, the search keywords were child tax credit OR expanded child tax credit OR CTC OR child allowance. For Korea, the search keyword was child allowance. Searches were conducted using 79 databases. A total of 36 US studies and 7 Korean studies met all the inclusion criteria and proceeded to the extraction process. A narrative thematic synthesis approach was employed to identify themes in the findings. The results were organized based on the characteristics of the studies and the post-intervention outcomes.

Studies in the United States focused primarily on economic outcomes, including poverty and material hardship, reflecting the concern policymakers and researchers have about child poverty. On the other hand, Korean studies examined employment, economic well-being, psychological well-being and expenditures in a relatively balanced share. Overall, studies found that both ARP-Child Tax Credits and Universal Child Allowance reduced child poverty and improved material hardship. Also, studies in both countries suggested that both policies had positive impacts on parental psychological well-being.

To the authors knowledge, this paper is the first to comprehensively review the impact of the US ARP-CTC in comparison with the Korean child allowance. Two studies reviewed and updated the literature on US ARP-CTC as a round-up paper. Moreover, the authors conduct cross-national comparative analyses between the United States and Korea. The contexts of the child allowance system in the two nations have both similarities and differences, thereby offering a unique opportunity for a comparative study.