Kostas Pappas, Martin Walker, Alice Liang Xu, Cheng (Colin) Zeng
{"title":"Government subsidies and income smoothing","authors":"Kostas Pappas, Martin Walker, Alice Liang Xu, Cheng (Colin) Zeng","doi":"10.1111/1911-3846.12947","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1911-3846.12947","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This study examines the relationship between government subsidies and income smoothing using a sample of US-listed firms. We find that subsidized firms smooth their earnings more aggressively than their unsubsidized peers. This finding is consistent with the reasoning that subsidized firms bear higher political costs and have more incentives to smooth earnings to avoid public attention. In addition, smoothing by subsidized firms is more pronounced when the subsidies are granted through non-tax-related channels than through tax-based channels, and the positive association between government subsidies and income smoothing is stronger for firms under higher public scrutiny and with less transparent information environments. Further analysis shows that smoothing by subsidized firms serves mainly to obfuscate earnings and that subsidized firms that smooth earnings tend to continue receiving subsidies in the future. Overall, our results help explain the role of government subsidies in shaping firms' accounting and disclosure choices.</p>","PeriodicalId":10595,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Accounting Research","volume":"41 3","pages":"1477-1512"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-05-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1911-3846.12947","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140936268","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Oligarchy in professional accounting bodies: Challenges for governance and leader-member relations","authors":"Conor Clune, Paul Andon","doi":"10.1111/1911-3846.12946","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1911-3846.12946","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Drawing on Robert Michels's “iron law” of oligarchy, this study examines a governance crisis that unfolded at one of the world's largest professional accounting bodies (PABs)—CPA Australia. We leverage Michels's century-old contribution to the social sciences to explore how this crisis sheds light on the challenges that PAB governance arrangements can pose when PAB leadership and membership priorities conflict. By applying Michels's seminal work to theorize the origins, escalation, leadership collapse, and eventual resolution of this PAB governance crisis, we illuminate how governance arrangements fueled conflict and fostered a democratic deficit that frustrated sections of the membership in their attempts to debate issues, exercise accountability on leadership matters, and become involved in governance reform. Overall, our analysis reveals that despite espoused principles of equity and participation, PABs are vulnerable to oligarchy impacting how their leaders relate to the interests of their members. Implications for the capacity of PABs to accommodate member conflict and for member participation in the current-day professional context are discussed.</p>","PeriodicalId":10595,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Accounting Research","volume":"41 3","pages":"1419-1448"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1911-3846.12946","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140153969","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Michael P. Donohoe, Brian T. Gale, Michael A. Mayberry
{"title":"Shareholder perceptions of external tax advisors in corporate tax planning","authors":"Michael P. Donohoe, Brian T. Gale, Michael A. Mayberry","doi":"10.1111/1911-3846.12945","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1911-3846.12945","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We examine shareholders' perceptions about how external tax advisors contribute to corporate tax planning. As residual claimants of corporate tax planning, shareholders benefit from lower corporate taxes, but also bear the financial and reputational costs of subsequent tax enforcement. Despite the influential advisory role of external tax advisors in corporate tax planning, existing research on how shareholders perceive this role is limited. Using event study methods and exploiting the heightened regulation of tax advice through the covered opinion rules as a setting, we observe average and cross-sectional stock returns consistent with shareholders perceiving external tax advisors as contributing unfavorably to tax planning by promoting excessively risky strategies. We further find that risky and overall tax planning declined across firms after the enactment of the rules, consistent with shareholders' perceptions about tax advisors' contributions to firms' tax planning. Overall, our findings contribute to research on shareholder perceptions and valuation of tax planning, and have important implications for practice, where regulatory oversight of external tax advisors remains a significant concern.</p>","PeriodicalId":10595,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Accounting Research","volume":"41 2","pages":"1311-1345"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-03-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1911-3846.12945","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140098972","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Caecilia Drujon d'Astros, Jérémy Morales, Bernard Leca
{"title":"Accounting and silence: The unspeakable, the unsaid, and the inaudible","authors":"Caecilia Drujon d'Astros, Jérémy Morales, Bernard Leca","doi":"10.1111/1911-3846.12944","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1911-3846.12944","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This paper studies accounting and silence. Building on studies of accounting talk and introducing theories of “silencing,” we highlight the role of accounting silences in the production of engaging organizational conversations. Through a qualitative case study, we identify three forms of silence—the unspeakable, the unsaid, and the inaudible—and their links to accounting. Silences create motivations to engage in further accounting talk, but they also deny certain groups a voice in those conversations. An impression of participation, openness, and transparency emerges despite unequal access and the silencing of certain groups. Accounting itself can be silenced to avoid uncomfortable topics, potential problems, and anxiety-inducing uncertainties. This silencing may serve to preserve a useful ignorance, avoid being in the know, and build alluring narratives and engaging conversations. Accounting silences sustain such conversations by protecting them from alternative voices, unsettling knowledge, and narratives that are incompatible with the organization's preferred story.</p>","PeriodicalId":10595,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Accounting Research","volume":"41 3","pages":"1449-1476"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-03-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1911-3846.12944","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140098977","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"CAR Ad Hoc Reviewers 2023/RCC Réviseurs ad hoc 2023","authors":"","doi":"10.1111/1911-3846.12939","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1911-3846.12939","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":10595,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Accounting Research","volume":"41 1","pages":"E1-E11"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-03-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140053138","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Data analytics strategy and internal information quality","authors":"Katie W. Lem","doi":"10.1111/1911-3846.12942","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1911-3846.12942","url":null,"abstract":"<p>I examine whether a strategic focus on data analytics is associated with improvements in firms' internal information quality. Using textual analysis of firm disclosures to identify a data analytics strategy, I first document that firm, leadership, and operating environment characteristics are all important determinants of the decision to adopt a data analytics strategy. I next use operating and financial reporting outcomes to infer whether a data analytics strategy improves internal information quality. I find that a data analytics strategy is associated with enhanced operating efficiency, as adopting firms invest and utilize existing resources more efficiently. I also find that a data analytics strategy is associated with more accurate management forecasts. These results, collectively, are consistent with a data analytics strategy improving firms' internal information quality. Lastly, I corroborate and extend my findings with job postings data, and the results suggest that firm leadership signals their support for data analytics initiatives through disclosure.</p>","PeriodicalId":10595,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Accounting Research","volume":"41 2","pages":"1376-1410"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1911-3846.12942","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140055431","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Alexander Edwards, Michelle Hutchens, Anh V. Persson
{"title":"Third-party reporting and cross-border tax planning","authors":"Alexander Edwards, Michelle Hutchens, Anh V. Persson","doi":"10.1111/1911-3846.12943","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1911-3846.12943","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In 2018, the European Union (EU) introduced a new mandatory reporting requirement for a wide range of cross-border tax arrangements (EU Directive 2018/822, also known as DAC6). Unlike prior corporate transparency initiatives, which put the reporting responsibility primarily on the taxpayers, this directive puts the initial reporting responsibility on the third-party intermediaries who are involved in the reportable arrangement at any stage during the planning and execution process. We exploit the adoption of DAC6 in the EU to examine the effectiveness of third-party reporting in curbing cross-border tax planning by multinationals. Using a difference-in-differences research design, we find that affected firms reduce income shifting and report higher effective tax rates in the post-adoption period. The reduction in income shifting is stronger for affiliates operating in countries without legal professional privilege extensions and in countries where noncompliance penalties are higher. Our results highlight the importance of strong third-party reporting requirements in constraining cross-border tax planning.</p>","PeriodicalId":10595,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Accounting Research","volume":"41 2","pages":"1248-1283"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1911-3846.12943","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140055512","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Can artificial intelligence reduce the effect of independence conflicts on audit firm liability?","authors":"Robert Libby, Patrick D. Witz","doi":"10.1111/1911-3846.12941","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1911-3846.12941","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In this study, we examine whether the use of artificial intelligence (AI) can reduce the effect of independence conflicts on audit firm liability. In two experiments, we manipulate (1) whether procedures are performed by a human auditor or with AI and (2) whether the audit firm was careful in maintaining the appearance of independence from the audit client. Results of both experiments indicate that the use of AI significantly reduces the impact of the appearance of independence conflicts on jurors' judgments of audit firm liability. When concerns relating to the appearance of independence conflicts are present, the use of AI helps maintain the perceived objectivity of the auditor, which results in jurors maintaining higher overall trust in the audit process. Our study contributes to literature on determinants of auditor litigation risk and how technological change that is likely to grow in prominence might affect audit firm liability.</p>","PeriodicalId":10595,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Accounting Research","volume":"41 2","pages":"1346-1375"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139978934","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A comparison of direct listings and IPOs","authors":"Anna Bergman Brown, Donal Byard, Jangwon Suh","doi":"10.1111/1911-3846.12940","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1911-3846.12940","url":null,"abstract":"<p>IPOs and direct listings (DLs) offer two different mechanisms for firms to go public. In contrast to IPOs, DLs do not employ an underwriter or raise new capital. Using a sample of IPOs and DLs on major stock markets in the European Union, we document that firms that choose to go public via DLs are larger, more profitable, and less levered, on average, than IPO firms. These pre-listing differences suggest that DL firms should be less risky than IPO firms; however, controlling for this selection effect, we find that DLs have higher aftermarket price volatility than IPOs. This is consistent with some policy-makers' concerns that, because they lack an underwriter, DLs expose investors to higher risk than IPOs in the immediate post-listing period. We show that this heightened price volatility persists, on average, for the first 20 trading days after listings, and is larger in industries where listed peer firms provide relatively low-quality disclosures. Our results provide new evidence regarding the types of firms that choose to list via DLs versus IPOs and the riskiness of IPOs versus DLs in the immediate post-listing period; additionally, our results are consistent with underwriters improving the quality of information available to investors for IPO firms in the pre-listing period.</p>","PeriodicalId":10595,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Accounting Research","volume":"41 2","pages":"1186-1215"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139978667","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Local information advantage and stock returns: Evidence from social media","authors":"Yuqin Huang, Feng Li, Tong Li, Tse-Chun Lin","doi":"10.1111/1911-3846.12935","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1911-3846.12935","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We examine the information asymmetry between local and nonlocal investors with a large dataset of stock message board postings. We document that abnormal relative postings of a firm, that is, unusual changes in the volume of postings from local versus nonlocal investors, capture locals' information advantage. This measure positively predicts firms' short-term stock returns as well as those of peer firms in the same city. Sentiment analysis shows that posting activities primarily reflect good news, potentially due to social transmission bias and short-sales constraints. We identify the information driving return predictability through content-based analysis. Abnormal relative postings also lead analysts' forecast revisions. Overall, investors' interactions on social media contain valuable geography-based private information.</p>","PeriodicalId":10595,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Accounting Research","volume":"41 2","pages":"1089-1119"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139656371","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}