Franklin Nakpodia, Rilwan Sakariyahu, Temitope Fagbemi, Rasheed Adigun, Oluwatoyin Dosumu
{"title":"Sustainable development goals, accounting practices and public financial management: A pre and post COVID-19 assessment","authors":"Franklin Nakpodia, Rilwan Sakariyahu, Temitope Fagbemi, Rasheed Adigun, Oluwatoyin Dosumu","doi":"10.1016/j.bar.2024.101466","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bar.2024.101466","url":null,"abstract":"Previous studies have highlighted the importance of policy interventions in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, there is limited understanding within accounting literature about strategies to enhance sustainable development initiatives and address the challenges faced in varieties of capitalism. This study investigates the influence of accounting practices and public financial management on SDG attainment, focusing on their interactions. Drawing on a global dataset from 96 countries, we find that both accounting practices and public financial management positively impact human development and environmental sustainability, specifically in relation to SDGs 3, 7, and 13. Additionally, our study uncovers significant differences in these impacts before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings, which are robust to endogeneity and heterogeneity tests, suggest that policymakers should prioritise the enhancement of accounting practices and public financial management to achieve the SDGs.","PeriodicalId":501001,"journal":{"name":"The British Accounting Review","volume":"6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142144492","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Substitutes or complements? Use of trade credit and bank credit by family SMEs","authors":"Xianzhe Jin, Jialong Li, Yefeng Wang, Yuan Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.bar.2024.101464","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bar.2024.101464","url":null,"abstract":"This research examines the intricate relationship between trade and bank credit, with a specific focus on family and nonfamily small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Our analysis of a sample of 3690 US SMEs reveals a distinctive pattern: Trade credit and bank credit act as substitutes for each other for family firms, but they serve as complements to each other for nonfamily firms. Furthermore, our findings highlight that this distinctive pattern is particularly pronounced in the contexts of low-performing SMEs and smaller SMEs. The results provide a nuanced understanding of the relationship between trade and bank credit and underscore the importance of considering the impact of a governance structure on an SME's financing behaviors.","PeriodicalId":501001,"journal":{"name":"The British Accounting Review","volume":"20 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142045855","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Alexander C.A. van Slooten, Paula M.G. Dirks, Sebastian Firk
{"title":"Digitalization and management accountants’ role conflict and ambiguity: A double-edged sword for the profession","authors":"Alexander C.A. van Slooten, Paula M.G. Dirks, Sebastian Firk","doi":"10.1016/j.bar.2024.101460","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bar.2024.101460","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigates the relationship between the anticipated digitalization of the finance and control function and management accountants' (MAs') role conflict and ambiguity. Drawing on role theory, we argue that digitalization is associated with increases in MAs' role conflict and ambiguity because digitalization leads to adaptations in the established role templates of MAs and also introduces new templates for the digital age. We further argue that digitalization is associated with a stronger (weaker) increase in role conflict and ambiguity the more MAs have a watchdog (business partner) orientation. The reason is that the role templates for the digital age are less coherent and clear for watchdog-oriented MAs than for their business partner counterparts. We test our predictions using survey data from 242 MAs in Dutch for-profit firms. While we do not find that digitalization is associated with MAs’ role conflict and ambiguity per se, it is associated with more (less) role ambiguity and conflict for MAs with a relatively stronger watchdog (business partner) orientation. Digitalization may thus act as a double-edged sword for the management accounting profession. MAs focusing on the watchdog role may struggle in the digital age, while their business partner counterparts are set to benefit from digitalization.","PeriodicalId":501001,"journal":{"name":"The British Accounting Review","volume":"40 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141994710","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Digitalization tensions in the management accounting profession: Boundary work responses and their consequences","authors":"Claudio de Araujo Wanderley, Kate E. Horton","doi":"10.1016/j.bar.2024.101455","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bar.2024.101455","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines senior finance professionals' experiences and responses to digitalization tensions by applying a boundary-work theoretical lens. Based on interview data, we find that individuals use six boundary work strategies to respond to digitalization, namely, 1. Expansion into business partner roles; 2. Expansion into other specialisms; 3. Defensive boundary work; 4. Cross-functional collaborative boundary work; 5. Boundary spanning/bridging work; and 6. Organizational restructuring work. We also examine finance professionals’ different perceptions regarding the permeability of accounting boundaries and the effects of digitalization, which underpin the use of different strategies. Finally, we shed light on the unintended consequences of these boundary work activities for inter-professional competition, for the nature and scope of accounting roles, and for the future of the management accounting profession, more broadly.","PeriodicalId":501001,"journal":{"name":"The British Accounting Review","volume":"43 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141910576","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Uncovering interfirm links through textual topic similarity: A comomentum analysis in financial markets","authors":"Zhiyu Zhang, Zheng Qiao, Yao Ge, Zhe Shen","doi":"10.1016/j.bar.2024.101446","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bar.2024.101446","url":null,"abstract":"Using an unsupervised topic modelling methodology, we construct a cross-firm similarity measure based on the various topics extracted from Management Discussion and Analysis texts. Our findings indicate that the returns of firms with similar textual topics predict the focal firms’ future stock returns. A long-short portfolio constructed on this basis yields an annualised alpha of 17.03%. Further analyses show that the return predictability is stronger for stocks subject to limited investor attention and limits to arbitrage. Additionally, our textual linkage measure can also predict future earnings surprises. Overall, mispricing due to sluggish information incorporation acts as a potential explanation for return predictability.","PeriodicalId":501001,"journal":{"name":"The British Accounting Review","volume":"40 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141994713","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A real effects of climate-related shareholder proposals: Diversification","authors":"Greg Tindall","doi":"10.1016/j.bar.2024.101450","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bar.2024.101450","url":null,"abstract":"To date, the literature has not discovered diversification to be a firm policy that shareholders can influence through their proposals at annual meetings but has explained contexts in which diversification can defend. I contemplate and test diversifying responses to shareholder proposals made in the context of climate change. By following 440 shareholder-initiated proposals in the United States that contain “climate change” – from the first instance in the 1994 proxy season until 2020 – I find that firms in receipt of such proposals diversify more, mostly into related industries. Further, diversification prompted by climate proposals generally leads to wealth enhancements. Beyond correlations and the main results of ordinary least squares regressions, I address the endogenous nature of corporate policies in a variety of ways: a matching estimator, fixed effects, and an instrumental variable, along with a placebo and a GMM estimator. Robustness tests confirm prior results and expose a subtle difference between sales and asset diversification. Climate-related proposals appear to influence sales diversification slightly more than asset diversification, suggesting that agents may be less responsive to owner concerns than customers. Overall, shareholder proposals related to climate change can have the real effect of prompting firms to diversify.","PeriodicalId":501001,"journal":{"name":"The British Accounting Review","volume":"191 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141910572","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Accounting research for the digital age","authors":"Bin Ke","doi":"10.1016/j.bar.2024.101443","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bar.2024.101443","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":501001,"journal":{"name":"The British Accounting Review","volume":"133 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141841987","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ly Pham, David Hay, Antti Miihkinen, Emma-Riikka Myllymäki, Lasse Niemi, Jukka Sihvonen
{"title":"Climate risk disclosures and auditor expertise","authors":"Ly Pham, David Hay, Antti Miihkinen, Emma-Riikka Myllymäki, Lasse Niemi, Jukka Sihvonen","doi":"10.1016/j.bar.2024.101439","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bar.2024.101439","url":null,"abstract":"Many jurisdictions are establishing requirements for corporations to disclose climate-related risks, and for those disclosures to be audited. One of the first jurisdictions to do so is Australia, where the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) and Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (AUASB) issued a Joint Bulletin in 2018 stating that both preparers and auditors should consider the impact of climate risks on the company's financials. Utilising the Australian setting, this paper introduces a new measure of audit partner expertise, namely , and examines whether it is associated with the client company's climate risk reporting. We define audit partner expertise in climate-related issues based on their client portfolio composition in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. We find that the likelihood and quality of climate risk disclosures is higher when the audit partner has climate risk expertise, and this finding is driven by clients in industries with material climate risks.","PeriodicalId":501001,"journal":{"name":"The British Accounting Review","volume":"72 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141783765","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Does analyst ESG experience matter?","authors":"Anastasia Kopita, Zacharias Petrou","doi":"10.1016/j.bar.2024.101438","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bar.2024.101438","url":null,"abstract":"We examine the relationship between analysts' task-specific experience in the context of ESG information and the informativeness of their stock recommendation revisions. While sell-side analysts incorporate ESG information in their valuation process and research reports, previous studies have indicated that the increased availability of ESG information in the market poses challenges for analysts to issue incrementally informative reports. Building upon existing literature that highlights systematic differences in analysts' performance that is attributed to their experience, we introduce a measure of financial analysts' ESG experience. We document a positive association between our proxy of analyst ESG experience and market reactions to their recommendation revisions. Our findings also show that analysts' ESG experience contributes to the interpretation of information included in firm ESG reports. We further find support for a stronger association between the market reaction and our ESG-experience proxy when firms exhibit lower levels of ESG disclosure and when they face higher external scrutiny due to their exposure to ESG-related risks. Our results are robust when considering analysts' innate and forecasting ability and when additional specifications are applied.","PeriodicalId":501001,"journal":{"name":"The British Accounting Review","volume":"40 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141783766","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Why do banks acquire FinTech? The role of board cultural diversity","authors":"Reghezza Alessio, Chrysovalantis Vasilakis","doi":"10.1016/j.bar.2024.101424","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bar.2024.101424","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines the role of cultural diversity in bank boardrooms for the acquisition of innovation financial technology – or “FinTech” – firms. Using a sample of 808 banks from 2008-18 in 65 countries, we find that culturally diverse boards are more likely to pursue the acquisition of FinTech firms. We also show that bank-, country- and corporate governance-specific characteristics matter for FinTech acquisition. In particular, banks with older and more gender diverse boardrooms are more likely to acquire FinTech firms. Our paper assumes particular relevance for banks seeking to invest in digital technologies and to adapt to the new digital era.","PeriodicalId":501001,"journal":{"name":"The British Accounting Review","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141615186","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}