{"title":"Online Toxic Communication about the Accounting Academic Job Market","authors":"Cristina T. Alberti, Landi Morris","doi":"10.2308/horizons-2022-066","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2308/horizons-2022-066","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This study explores the use of online toxic communication and how it impacts perceptions of DEI in the accounting academic community. During a recent job market season, we observed the use of toxic communication, including racism, sexism, and hate speech, in the form of anonymous posts made to two online job market forums. Using qualitative methods, including analysis of the online forums and a survey of job market participants, we find that forum language implies that unqualified candidates receive preferential treatment in the job market based on their race or gender, often referring to these individuals as “diversity hires.” Forum language also states that candidates from historically marginalized communities face discrimination in this process. Importantly, we find that toxic communication negatively impacts candidates’ views of DEI within the accounting academy. Overall, this study serves as a call to action to leadership to identify and denounce toxic communication within our community.\u0000 JEL Classifications: M40; M49.","PeriodicalId":51419,"journal":{"name":"Accounting Horizons","volume":"16 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139457073","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jeff Zeyun Chen, Karen K. Nelson, Yanyan Wang, Lisheng Yu
{"title":"What Does the Auditor Say? Auditors’ Disclosures of Critical Audit Matters and Audit Fees","authors":"Jeff Zeyun Chen, Karen K. Nelson, Yanyan Wang, Lisheng Yu","doi":"10.2308/horizons-2022-125","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2308/horizons-2022-125","url":null,"abstract":"We examine whether critical audit matter (CAM) disclosures contain information about material misstatement risks that is priced in audit fees. We find that textual features of auditors’ risk descriptions and the types of risks identified capture fee-relevant information. Further, the results are incremental to other determinants of audit fees considered in prior research and to managements’ disclosures in the related notes to the financial statements. Overall, we provide evidence that auditors’ perceptions of audit risks revealed in the newly expanded audit opinion capture information relevant for understanding audit pricing decisions. Data Availability: All data are publicly available from the sources identified in the paper. JEL Classifications: M41; M42; M48.","PeriodicalId":51419,"journal":{"name":"Accounting Horizons","volume":"2 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139291236","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Customer Analytics in Performance Measurement and Reporting Systems","authors":"M. Bonacchi, P. Perego","doi":"10.2308/horizons-2021-016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2308/horizons-2021-016","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines how firms deploy customer analytics in their performance measurement and reporting systems. Firstly, we synthesize insights from the literature on customer analytics in accounting and marketing and conduct interviews with experts in the field. We then present the results of an online survey conducted among a sample of subscription-based firms known for their early adoption of customer analytics. Our findings reveal that the use of customer analytics varies significantly by metric type, with traditional indicators (e.g., number of customers) showing higher levels of integration compared with more advanced metrics, such as customer lifetime value and customer equity. The extent of adoption in performance measurement and reporting systems appears to depend on the ability of a firm to fit customer analytics into its organizational architecture. We conclude by identifying research avenues reflecting current trends that will likely shape the emerging literature on customer analytics.","PeriodicalId":51419,"journal":{"name":"Accounting Horizons","volume":"238 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139295413","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Perceived Organizational Inclusion: Evidence from Neurodivergent Accountants in the U.S.","authors":"Loreal Jiles, Qi Duong, Roopa Venkatesh","doi":"10.2308/horizons-2022-082","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2308/horizons-2022-082","url":null,"abstract":"To address talent attraction and retention challenges with respect to diverse talent in the accounting profession, this study examines the intersection of neurodiversity and the accounting employment experience. Through interviews and online questionnaires of neurodivergent accountants in the U.S., we found a general lack of perceived organizational inclusion among neurodivergent accountants in our study, evidence supporting the existence of a positive impact of perceived organizational inclusion on individuals’ perceptions of their job performance, and key antecedents to perceived organizational inclusion. We report the lived experiences of neurodivergent accountants by amplifying their voices through presentation of oral histories and 37 actionable practices informing future strategies for organizations and leaders in practice. JEL Classifications: M14.","PeriodicalId":51419,"journal":{"name":"Accounting Horizons","volume":"127 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139302006","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A. Rose, Jacob M. Rose, Kristian Rotaru, Ikseon Suh, Jay Thibodeau, Axel Schulz
{"title":"Can Thinking about Alternative Explanations Promote Professional Skepticism?","authors":"A. Rose, Jacob M. Rose, Kristian Rotaru, Ikseon Suh, Jay Thibodeau, Axel Schulz","doi":"10.2308/horizons-2021-092","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2308/horizons-2021-092","url":null,"abstract":"We conduct an experiment with practicing Big 4 audit seniors and demonstrate that generating counterexplanations for an event in an unrelated task prior to completing audit planning tasks activates a counterfactual mindset that enhances auditors’ professional skepticism. This approach to activating professional skepticism can be implemented without auditor training and can be deployed across many different audit tasks. Overall, the experiment indicates that activation of a counterfactual mindset has significant potential to enhance audit quality.","PeriodicalId":51419,"journal":{"name":"Accounting Horizons","volume":"192 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139306180","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
J. G. Jenkins, Tina M. Loraas, Jonathan D. Stanley
{"title":"Auditors’ Remote Work Experiences during the Early Days of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Implications Going Forward","authors":"J. G. Jenkins, Tina M. Loraas, Jonathan D. Stanley","doi":"10.2308/horizons-2022-140","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2308/horizons-2022-140","url":null,"abstract":"We document auditors’ remote work experiences during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. We surveyed U.S. auditors to explore their communications with engagement team members and clients and to understand the perceived benefits and challenges of working remotely. Our findings reveal that not all auditors fared equally during remote work. We find that remote work did not generally diminish the initiation or frequency of communication with clients or audit team members (including socially oriented communication); however, the effectiveness of communication with colleagues and/or clients was the most frequently cited challenge. Clients were perceived as being less cooperative and responsive to information requests (especially by less experienced auditors). On the other hand, remote work did provide benefits including no commute, enhanced work/life balance (especially for more experienced auditors), and greater schedule flexibility. We discuss implications of our results as firms continue allowing auditors to work remotely and under hybrid arrangements.","PeriodicalId":51419,"journal":{"name":"Accounting Horizons","volume":"208 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139300908","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
F. Anderson-Gough, C. Edgley, Keith Robson, Nina Sharma
{"title":"Diversity and the Evaluation of Talent in the Accounting Profession: The Enigma of Merit","authors":"F. Anderson-Gough, C. Edgley, Keith Robson, Nina Sharma","doi":"10.2308/horizons-2022-103","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2308/horizons-2022-103","url":null,"abstract":"While accounting firms are facing recruitment and retention problems, regulatory bodies are calling for efforts to improve diversity to be more effective, especially at senior levels. In this paper, we discuss “merit” and assumptions about “meritocracy” in processes of performance evaluation and career progression. Based on interviews in medium and large professional services firms in the United Kingdom, we explore how the language/practices of merit can inhibit moves to improving diversity. Merit has two aspects: “technical” notions of core competencies associated with merit and cultural notions of social fit, which have the effect of favoring the progression of the elite groups embedded within firms. The latter creates a loop in understanding merit, enacted within firm culture over time, that is difficult to disrupt. As such, efforts to improve diversity are unlikely to bring about change without considering how organizational beliefs about merit have unintended consequences.","PeriodicalId":51419,"journal":{"name":"Accounting Horizons","volume":"26 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139296469","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Length of IPO Prospectus and Individual Investors’ Demand for IPO Shares","authors":"Meeok Cho, Sunhwa Choi, Sehee Kim, Woo-Jong Lee","doi":"10.2308/horizons-2021-024","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2308/horizons-2021-024","url":null,"abstract":"SYNOPSIS Prior studies on readability suggest that lengthy corporate reports are difficult to process and may discourage investors’ capital market participation. However, longer reports that contain additional information may actually benefit individual investors, who typically rely on public information. Using a regulatory change that requires firms to disclose additional items in the IPO prospectus, we find that the new regulation increased individual investors’ demand for IPO stocks with longer prospectuses. These results suggest that lengthy reports do not always reduce investor demand, highlighting a potential trade-off between the costs and benefits of longer corporate reports. Data Availability: All data are publicly available from the sources identified in the text. JEL Classification: G18; M41; M48.","PeriodicalId":51419,"journal":{"name":"Accounting Horizons","volume":"210 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136153042","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Parent-Only Balance Sheet Information and Credit Risk Assessments","authors":"Jennifer W. Tucker, Ying Zhou, Jigao Zhu","doi":"10.2308/horizons-2021-102","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2308/horizons-2021-102","url":null,"abstract":"SYNOPSIS General-purpose financial statements prepared under GAAP are for a consolidated reporting entity—a collection of legal entities that includes the parent and any subsidiaries it controls. This reporting model results in a loss of information about the individual legal entities within the consolidated reporting entity. Our study examines the role of parent-only balance sheet information in assessing the credit risk of the parent when it is a bank holding company. We obtain evidence from three trading platforms: credit default swaps (CDS), outstanding bonds, and new bonds. We find that parent-only leverage is useful for debtholders to assess the parent’s credit risk even after considering consolidated leverage. Moreover, in CDS markets, parent-only leverage is more useful for firms without downstream guarantee than for firms with guarantee and is less useful for firms with a stronger internal capital market. Our study raises the awareness of parent-only financial information for credit risk assessments. Data Availability: All data are available from the identified public sources. JEL Classifications: M2; M4; G3.","PeriodicalId":51419,"journal":{"name":"Accounting Horizons","volume":"138 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135662302","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Options Trading and Earnings Management","authors":"Xin Dai, Zheng Qiao, Chongwu Xia","doi":"10.2308/horizons-2020-062","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2308/horizons-2020-062","url":null,"abstract":"SYNOPSIS This study examines how options trading plays a unique role in curbing firms’ earnings management. We find that options trading volume deters managers’ earnings manipulations, and the effect can be explained by unique characteristics of the options markets. Our results remain unchanged when using both an instrumental variable approach and difference-in-differences analyses to mitigate endogeneity concerns, and after controlling for investors’ short-selling activities. This study adds to the literature by documenting a real impact of options trading on financial reporting. Our results suggest that the options markets promote price efficiency not only by incorporating private information from informed traders, but also by incentivizing managers to disseminate less manipulated information. Data Availability: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request. JEL Classifications: E44; G3; M41.","PeriodicalId":51419,"journal":{"name":"Accounting Horizons","volume":"52 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135815292","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}