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An Analysis of Corporate Accounting and Reporting Practices in Bahrain (open access)

An Analysis of Corporate Accounting and Reporting Practices in Bahrain

The primary objective of this dissertation is to determine the factors that have shaped the corporate financial reporting practices in Bahrain. Prior researchers have offered two explanations, environmental factors and cultural importation, for the emergence of financial reporting practices in developing countries. The environmental explanation suggests that a nation's financial reporting practices will be shaped by its socioeconomic structure. The cultural importation explanation states that the desire for international legitimacy creates incentives for developing nation to adopt Western financial reporting practices. Bahrain provided an excellent environment in which to examine the two explanations since its public and closed corporations have similar economic characteristics. Only public corporations are legally required to publish financial reports. I posited that public corporations would try to gain legitimacy for their published reports by adopting Western standards, while closed corporations would not have a similar incentive. I used an interpretive framework to analyze the Bahrain socioeconomic environment and to examine the general financial reporting practices of Bahraini corporations. I found that closed corporations provided data responsive to the Bahraini environment. Public corporations, however, adopted International Accounting Standards. My analysis supported prior researchers7 findings that colonialism, the need for international legitimacy, and international audit firms were important …
Date: December 1993
Creator: Abdul-Rahim, Hassan M.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Impact of the Ceiling Test Write-off on the Security Returns of Full Cost Oil and Gas Firms (open access)

The Impact of the Ceiling Test Write-off on the Security Returns of Full Cost Oil and Gas Firms

This study examined the impact of the ceiling test write-off on the stock prices of affected full cost (FC) oil and gas firms.
Date: May 1992
Creator: AlDiab, Taisier F. (Taisier Fares)
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Analysis of the Incremental Information Gain in Combining Economic, Socio-Political, and Joint-Decision Characterizations in a Study of Accounting Choice: the Case of SFAS 106 (open access)

An Analysis of the Incremental Information Gain in Combining Economic, Socio-Political, and Joint-Decision Characterizations in a Study of Accounting Choice: the Case of SFAS 106

Typical accounting studies attempting to explain accounting method choice employ positive theoretical hypotheses and test for association between adoption method or adoption timing and economic measures that focus upon specific firm stakeholders. Such studies addressing the adoption and impact of SFAS 87, "Employer's Accounting for Pensions," yield mixed and contradicting results. Various researchers have suggested that traditional economic analysis often fails to capture important explanatory variables and is far too simplistic. The purpose of this study is to expand analysis by evaluating a particular accounting choice by means of three different characterizations. SFAS 106, "Employers' Accounting for Postretirement Benefits Other than Pensions," allows management to choose between two very different methods of adopting the standard. The principal question explored in this study is: why did managers of firms that employ defined benefit postretirement plans for benefits other than pensions choose to adopt SFAS 106 using a particular method? The research question is explored by means of three different characterizations: 1) a traditional economic characterization; 2) a sociopolitical characterization); and 3) a joint decision characterization. Logit methodology is used with method of SFAS 106 adoption as the binary dependent variable of interest. Results indicate that all three characterizations are important in …
Date: August 1996
Creator: Baker, Pamela Smith (Pamela Smith Elaine)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Accounting Measurement Bias and Executive Compensation Systems (open access)

Accounting Measurement Bias and Executive Compensation Systems

This dissertation presents empirical evidence intended to help answer two research questions. The first question asks whether executive compensation systems appear to exploit the bias in accounting-based performance measures in order to reduce the volatility in executive compensation and to allocate incentives more effectively across the range of activities performed by the executive. The second question asks whether compensation systems systematically differ between firms that use alternative accounting methods and whether any such systematic difference helps explain accounting choice. Parameters estimated in fixed-effects endogenous switching regression models were used to test the risk-shielding and incentive-allocation hypotheses. The models were estimated across a dataset consisting of 1151 executive-year observations of annual compensation paid to 222 top-level executives in 40 oil and gas firms. The dataset was partitioned by accounting method and separate models estimated for the full cost and successful efforts partitions. The tests provided modest support for the risk-shielding and incentive-allocation hypotheses, revealing that accounting measurement bias is used to focus incentives for effort in the exploration activity and to reduce executives' exposure to production risk. The design also allowed an estimate of the proportional change in compensation that was realized from the accounting choice actually made.
Date: December 1994
Creator: Boone, Jeffery Paul
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Impact of the 1986 and 1987 Qualified Plan Regulation on Firms' Decision to Switch from Defined Benefit to Defined Contribution for Plans Larger than 100 Participants (open access)

The Impact of the 1986 and 1987 Qualified Plan Regulation on Firms' Decision to Switch from Defined Benefit to Defined Contribution for Plans Larger than 100 Participants

The purpose of this research was to examine the United States population of plans with over 100 participants to determine the extent of the reaction away from defined benefit plans resulting from the 1986 and 1987 legislation.
Date: December 1993
Creator: Bradley, Linda Jacobsen
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Relationship between Privatization, Culture, Adoption of International Accounting Standards, and Accounting in Egypt (open access)

The Relationship between Privatization, Culture, Adoption of International Accounting Standards, and Accounting in Egypt

This study explores how the Egyptian socioeconomic factors impacted the implementation of International Accounting Standards (IASs) in Egypt. Prior research concluded that developing nations have special needs when it comes to accounting and financial reporting and recommended nation-specific analysis. The author adapts Gray's (1988) model, which connects Hofstede's cultural dimensions with accounting practice, to fit the Egyptian environment.
Date: December 1998
Creator: Dahawy, Khaled M.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Financial Reporting in Poland: Privatization of Select Firms Traded on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (open access)

Financial Reporting in Poland: Privatization of Select Firms Traded on the Warsaw Stock Exchange

Poland's transition from a centrally-planned economy (CPE) to a market economy began in 1989. Building a market economy out of the failures of a CPE represents an unprecedented process in the history of economic development. At the core of the transition is the privatization of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Many problems encountered during privatization are accounting related, and before privatization can occur valuation issues must be resolved. What has been the role of accounting in Poland's transition? Accounting is an interactive process that reflects and creates reality. The accounting process facilitates the calculation of the value created by a firm by attempting to trace the flow of resources through the value-creating process, and it identifies, measures, records, summarizes, and reports transactions. How these transactions are internalized determines how they flow through the accounting process, and, because the former SOEs are complex organizations in transition, decisions concerning when and how to record events can be diverse. The primary objective of this study is to provide insight into the accounting transition in Poland by addressing issues of ownership rights, valuation, financial reporting, and disclosure. The research question is: How is accounting transforming and being transformed in Poland? The research question is addressed in …
Date: December 1996
Creator: De la Rosa, Denise M. (Denise Mary), 1949-
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Impact of Ambiguity and Risk on the Auditor's Assessment of Inherent Risk and Control Risk (open access)

The Impact of Ambiguity and Risk on the Auditor's Assessment of Inherent Risk and Control Risk

The purpose of this study was to try to identify the impact of ambiguity and risk on the auditor's judgment about inherent risk and control risk when planning the audit. A second purpose was to determine how ambiguity tolerance/intolerance affects judgment.
Date: August 1993
Creator: Guess, Aundrea Kay
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Effects of Interactions with IRS Employees on Tax Practitioners' Attitudes toward the IRS (open access)

The Effects of Interactions with IRS Employees on Tax Practitioners' Attitudes toward the IRS

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of interactions with IRS employees on tax practitioners' attitudes toward the IRS. The mission of the IRS is to inspire the highest degree of public confidence as it collects the proper amount of tax revenues at the least cost to the public. The IRS believes it must project a favorable image to tax practitioners in order to foster a high level of support for its mission. Prior surveys of tax practitioners found that practitioners have generally unfavorable attitudes toward the IRS and its employees. This study examined whether the unfavorable attitudes result from interactions with IRS employees, and provides empirical evidence of the effects of interactions with IRS employees on tax practitioners' attitudes toward the IRS.
Date: December 1992
Creator: Gutierrez, Theresa Kay
System: The UNT Digital Library
Fluency Training as a Pedagogical Tool to Improve Performance of Undergraduate Students Enrolled in the First Financial Accounting Course at a Regional Oklahoma University (open access)

Fluency Training as a Pedagogical Tool to Improve Performance of Undergraduate Students Enrolled in the First Financial Accounting Course at a Regional Oklahoma University

This study contributes to the debate on accounting pedagogy in the basic financial accounting course by examining the pedagogical tool of fluency training as a way to improve student performance. Fluency training has been shown to improve performance of students in other academic disciplines.
Date: December 1998
Creator: Huffman, William E. (William Eugene)
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Comparison of Cognitive Moral Development of Accounting Students at a Catholic University with Secular University Accounting Students (open access)

A Comparison of Cognitive Moral Development of Accounting Students at a Catholic University with Secular University Accounting Students

Previous research has shown that accountants may be inadequate moral reasoners. Concern over this trend caused the Treadway Commission (1987) and the Accounting Education Change Commission (1990) to call for greater integration of ethics into the student's training. Ponemon and Glazer (1990) found a difference in cognitive moral development (CMD) between accounting students at a public university and a private university with a liberal arts emphasis. This study expands Ponemon and Glazer's research by examining two liberal arts universities, one a private, secular institution and one a Catholic institution. The primary research question asks if Catholic university accounting students manifest greater CMD growth than secular university accounting students. Additionally, this study examines and compares the priority that accounting students from the different institutions place on ethical values versus economic values. It was expected that Catholic university accounting students would manifest both greater CMD growth and a greater concern for ethical values over economic values when compared with non-Catholic university accounting students. The study utilized a two-phase approach. In the first phase, an organizational study of two institutions was made to determine how each strives to integrate moral development into their accounting students' education. In the second phase, lower-division and senior …
Date: April 1998
Creator: Koeplin, John P. (John Peter)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Examination of the Effects of Experience and Missing Information on Tax Preparer Judgment (open access)

Examination of the Effects of Experience and Missing Information on Tax Preparer Judgment

This research examines how experience and missing information affect judgments of tax return preparers. Tax return preparers may often be faced with the problem of incomplete information, and their responses to this problem may be conditioned by whether or not they recognize information is missing. Based on the Holland et al.'s cognitive theory of induction as applied to tax judgment by Marchant et al., it was hypothesized that experienced tax preparers would correctly classify more items as to their relevance to a specific tax issue than novice tax preparers. Additionally, it was hypothesized that the strength of recommendations of tax preparers who had no relevant information missing would be greater than the strength of recommendations of tax preparers who had relevant information missing and were prompted that information was missing. Lastly, it was hypothesized that prompting that relevant information was missing would have a greater effect on the strength of recommendations of tax return preparers with lesser specific experience than it would on the strength of recommendations of tax return preparers with greater specific experience. The results suggest that experienced tax preparers do recognize the relevance of information to a greater degree than novice tax preparers. There was no significant …
Date: August 1996
Creator: Lewis, Judy D. (Judy Dianne)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Accounting Regulation and Information Asymmetry in the Capital Markets: An Empirical Study of Accounting Standard SFAS no 87 (open access)

Accounting Regulation and Information Asymmetry in the Capital Markets: An Empirical Study of Accounting Standard SFAS no 87

This study uses both basic and self-selection regression models to test three hypotheses about the effect of SFAS 87 disclosures on information asymmetry during 1985- 1987. Both types of models test the hypotheses after controlling for changes in the inventory holding and order processing costs of the spread, while the self-selection models also control for potential self-selection bias.
Date: August 1994
Creator: Lin, Wen-shan
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Analysis of the Accounting System of the Quincy Mining Company: 1846-1900 (open access)

An Analysis of the Accounting System of the Quincy Mining Company: 1846-1900

This historical study examines the evolution of the accounting system of the Quincy Mining Company between 1846 and 1900. The external financial reporting practices and internal accounting procedures of the firm are defined and interpreted in the context of three time periods that portray the formation, growth and maturation of the firm. Each period reflects unique economic and social conditions that are associated with changes in the firm's accounting system. A cross temporal analysis of these changes highlights three factors: the relationship between the accounting system and the labor force, the emergence of accounting as a control mechanism and the diminishing informational content of the firm's annual reports. Primary sources are used to document the perspectives of the Quincy management and to assess the motivations for accounting processes such as internal control, auditing procedures, responsibility centers and other managerial practices. This study addresses the inherent nature of accounting information and its relationship to the economic and social environment of an individual firm in the nineteenth century.
Date: December 1992
Creator: Michael, Rodney R. (Rodney Richard)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Environmental Accounting: The Relationship Between Pollution Performance and Economic Performance in Oil and Gas Refineries (open access)

Environmental Accounting: The Relationship Between Pollution Performance and Economic Performance in Oil and Gas Refineries

A research study is undertaken to determine if economic incentives exist for noncompliance with regulatory standards, and if accounting related disclosure of regulatory enforcement actions is a determinant of environmental performance.
Date: August 1997
Creator: Mobus, Janet Luft
System: The UNT Digital Library
Cultural Influences on the ABC Implementation Under Thailand's Environment (open access)

Cultural Influences on the ABC Implementation Under Thailand's Environment

This study examines the influences of culture on the implementation of a U.S.-based Activity-Based Costing (ABC) in three Thai organizations.
Date: May 1999
Creator: Morakul, Supitcha
System: The UNT Digital Library
Earnings Management and the Independence or Interdependence of Accounting Choices: the Decision to Adopt Mandated Accounting Changes (open access)

Earnings Management and the Independence or Interdependence of Accounting Choices: the Decision to Adopt Mandated Accounting Changes

This research examines whether firms managed earnings in the year they adopted SFAS 109, Accounting for Income Taxes (or its predecessor SFAS 96), by combining the choice to adopt SFAS 109 with other accounting choices in an interdependent rather than independent manner. Prior literature generally analyzes only one specific accounting choice, assuming that the decision is independent of other accounting procedure choices. However, it is unlikely that managers act in this manner. When attempting to achieve certain income goals, managers have numerous accounting tools available to them including the choice of accounting procedures and the exercise of judgment as to accrual amounts. This study investigates five choices consisting of: (1) the adoption of SFAS 109/96; (2) the adoption of SFAS 106; (3) the reporting of a restructuring of operations and/or a write-down of assets; (4) the reporting of asset sales; and (5) the choice of discretionary accruals. The study adopts both a portfolio and joint decision approach. The portfolio approach combines the earnings effects of the five choices into a single dependent variable and tests income smoothing, big bath, and debt hypotheses. The joint decision approach utilizes simultaneous equation methodology to investigate the interdependence of the five choices and the …
Date: December 1997
Creator: Nichols, Nancy Brown
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Effect of Auditor Knowledge on Information Processing during Analytical Review (open access)

The Effect of Auditor Knowledge on Information Processing during Analytical Review

Auditors form judgments by integrating the evidence they gather with information stored in memory (knowledge). As they acquire experience, auditors have the opportunity to learn how different patterns of evidence are associated with particular audit problems. Research in experimental psychology has demonstrated that individuals with task-specific experience can match the cues they encounter with patterns they have learned, and form judgments without consciously analyzing the individual cues. Accounting researchers have suggested that auditors develop judgment templates through task-specific experience, and that these knowledge structures automatically provide decisions in familiar situations. I examined whether auditor knowledge leads to reliance on judgment templates. To test this thesis, I synthesized a theoretical framework and developed research hypotheses that predict relationships between task-specific experience (my surrogate for knowledge) and (1) measures of cognitive effort, (2) accuracy of residual memory traces, and (3) performance with respect to identifying potential problems. To test these predictions, I provided senior auditors with comprehensive case materials for a hypothetical client and asked them to use analytical procedures to identify potential audit problems. Subjects acquired information and documented their findings on personal computers using software that I developed to record their activities.
Date: February 1995
Creator: O'Donnell, Ed
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Examination of the Accounting Debate over the Determination of Business Income: 1945-1952 (open access)

An Examination of the Accounting Debate over the Determination of Business Income: 1945-1952

George O. May's (1952) prescient statement that "if accounting had not already become, it was well on its way to becoming a political phenomenon" provides the motivation for this study. Changing socioeconomic relationships in the post-World War II period make it an ideal period to examine the politicalization of accounting. Keynesian economic policies justified active government intervention in the economy to manage demand and ensure full employment. No longer could it be assumed that competitive market forces would ensure that corporations produced goods and services at a socially optimal level or that income would be distributed equitably. Claims that accounting profit provides a measure of managerial efficiency are based on these premises. This dissertation examines the political dynamics of one particular accounting measurement debate--the debate over the determination of business income. Policies, such as wage/price controls, the excess profits tax, and the undistributed profits tax, brought the accounting income determination debate to center stage. The perseverance of the historic cost allocation model in the face of significant economic changes presents a fascinating glimpse of the important role accounting played in justifying continued reliance on the private property rights paradigm. I use retrodiction (reasoning from present to past) to examine why …
Date: December 1996
Creator: Pence, Diana Kay
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Process Analysis of Lenders' Use of FAS 95 Cash Flow Information (open access)

A Process Analysis of Lenders' Use of FAS 95 Cash Flow Information

This study uses concurrent verbal protocol analysis to examine the decision processes of lenders as they evaluate the financial information of a loan applicant. Of specific interest is the lenders' use of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards Board No. 95 (FAS 95), Statement of Cash Flows, in that decision process.
Date: May 1994
Creator: Reither, Cheri L. (Cheri Lynn)
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Analysis of Confidence Levels and Retrieval of Procedures Associated with Accounts Receivable Confirmations (open access)

An Analysis of Confidence Levels and Retrieval of Procedures Associated with Accounts Receivable Confirmations

The study addresses whether differently ordered accounts receivable workprograms and task experience relate to differences in judgments, confidence levels, and recall ability. The study also assesses how treated and untreated inexperienced and experienced auditors store and recall accounts receivable workprogram steps in memory in a laboratory environment. Additionally, the question whether different levels of experienced auditors can effectively be manipulated is also addressed.
Date: December 1993
Creator: Rogers, Violet C. (Violet Corley)
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Test of Alfred Chandler's Theory of Corporate Control (open access)

A Test of Alfred Chandler's Theory of Corporate Control

Alfred Chandler, in Scale and Scope: The Dynamics of Industrial Capitalism (1990), suggests that the acquisition of targets is an alternative to direct investment in research and development (R&D). Chandler suggests that the failure of accounting to recognize investment in R&D as an asset may have made R&D less attractive. This study focuses on the relationship between investment in R&D and capital expenditures and a set of partitions based on Chandler's three technology types ("hightech," "stable-tech," and "low-tech") and three possible merger activity classes (acquirer next year, target next year, and neither acquirer nor target next year). Chi-square contingency tables are used to test the independence of merger class and technology type, a frequency test. Regression is used to test the relationship between R&D and sales and between capital expenditures and sales, with the sample partitioned by technology type and by merger class in a 3-by-3 research design. The sample is 23,146 firm years from 1974-1988 for 2,659 firms categorized into industry groups based on Chandler's criteria. The financial data are from COMPUSTAT data files. The frequency of being an acquirer is the same for high-tech and stable-tech firms (11.2 versus 11.5 percent of firm years) and higher for low-tech …
Date: August 1996
Creator: Schmidt, George Leo
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Effect of Different Forms of Accounting Feedback, Cost Aggregation and Pricing Knowledge on Profitability and Profit Estimation (open access)

The Effect of Different Forms of Accounting Feedback, Cost Aggregation and Pricing Knowledge on Profitability and Profit Estimation

This study extends a research stream calling for further research regarding pricing and accounting feedback. Marketing executives rely heavily on accounting information for pricing decisions, yet criticize accounting feedback usefulness. To address this criticism, this research integrates the cognitive psychology and accounting literature addressing feedback effectiveness with pricing research in the marketing discipline. The research extends the scope of previous accounting feedback studies by using a control group and comparing two proxies of subject task knowledge; years of pricing experience and a measure of the cognitive structure of pricing knowledge. In addition, this research manipulates task complexity by using two different accounting systems. These systems vary in the number of cost pools used in allocating overhead, resulting in differentially projected cost and profit information. A total of 60 subjects participated in a computer laboratory experiment. These subjects were non-accountants with varying amounts of pricing knowledge. Subjects were randomly assigned to six experimental groups which varied by feedback type (no accounting feedback, outcome feedback only, or a combination of outcome and task properties feedback) and task complexity (high or low number of overhead cost pools). The subjects attempted to (1) maximize profits for a product during 15 rounds of pricing decisions, …
Date: May 1997
Creator: Smith, David M., 1961-
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Early Adoption of Accounting Standards as an Earnings Management Tool (open access)

The Early Adoption of Accounting Standards as an Earnings Management Tool

Many corporate managers elect to adopt a new Statement of Financial Accounting Standard (SFAS) early instead of waiting until the mandatory adoption date. This study tests for evidence that managers use early adoption as an earnings management tool in a manner consistent with one or more positive accounting theories.
Date: December 1993
Creator: Smith, Pamela Ann, 1959-
System: The UNT Digital Library