Accounting Auditing & Accountability Journal 2018年第1期目录摘要

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CONTENTS

1.Achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: An enabling role for accounting research

Jan Bebbington, Jeffrey Unerman

2.Enron, fair value accounting, and financial crises: a concise history

Stephen Haswell, Elaine Evans

3.Effects of goal orientation, self-efficacy and task complexity on the audit judgement performance of Malaysian auditors

Zuraidah Mohd Sanusi, Takiah Mohd Iskandar,

Gary S. Monroe,  Norman Mohd Saleh

4.The role of local accounting standard setters in institutional complexity: “Explosion” of local standards in Japan

Saori Matsubara, Takahiro Endo

5.The impact of accounting standards on hedging decisions

Bernard Gumb, Philippe Dupuy, Charles Richard Baker, Véronique Blum

6.The early evolution of corporate control and auditing: the English East India Company (1600-1640)

Dorota Dobija

7.Practice variation in Big-4 transparency reports

Sakshi Girdha, Kim K. Jeppesen

ABSTRACT1

Achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: An enabling role for accounting research

Jan Bebbington (University of St Andrews)

Jeffrey Unerman ( University of London)

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to establish and advance the role of academic accounting in the pursuit of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are regarded as the most salient point of departure for understanding and achieving environmental and human development ambitions up to (and no doubt beyond) the year 2030.

This paper provides a synthesis of interdisciplinary perspectives on sustainable development and integration of this with the accounting for sustainability literature. In addition, potential accounting research contributions are proposed so as to support the development of new research avenues. Existing research in accounting that is relevant to individual SDGs serves as an initial link between them and the accounting discipline. At the same time, the SDGs focus highlights new sites for empirical work (including interdisciplinary investigations) as well as inviting innovation in accounting theoretical frameworks. Moreover, the SDGs provide a context for (re)invigorating accounting’s contribution to sustainable development debates.

This is the first paper to explore the roles academic accounting can play in furthering achievement of the SDGs through enhanced understanding, critiquing and advancing of accounting policy, practice and theorizing. It is also the first paper to propose a research agenda in this area.

Keyword: Social and environmental accounting,  Accounting and sustainable development,  Accounting for sustainability

2

Enron, fair value accounting, and financial crises: a concise history

Stephen Haswell (Macquarie University)

Elaine Evans (Macquarie University)

Abstract:

While the debate about fair value accounting (FVA) and the global financial crisis (GFC) of 2008-2009 has been explored in the academic and professional literature, there has been little debate about the consequences of FVA being implicated in the crash of Enron around 2001, and the effect of this on later FVA developments and the GFC. The purpose of this paper is to examine how well regulators, political actors, and other commentators may have understood the use, misuse, effects and consequences of FVA at the time of Enron, and to examine how this collective understanding (or lack thereof) has influenced later accounting policy, especially that going into and arising from the GFC. Using content analysis, the commentary about FVA is traced through documents, primarily the US Congressional Hearings’ examination of the collapse of Enron that took place between December 2001 and December 2002. An assessment of the knowledge of and attitudes toward FVA is made from these and is then traced through later developments including policy responses before, during and after the GFC.

Links are found between the collapse of Enron and adjustments to FVA in the mid-2000s, which in turn became implicated in the GFC. These linkages are explored in the context of a fair value world view held by global standards setters in the mid-2000s. During the timeline from the 1990s to the mid-2000s, those advocating and adopting FVA as part of this world view, may have had collectively an insufficient understanding of the consequences or effects of FVA technology.

The study provides evidence of a direct link between Enron, the response of global standard setters, and the GFC controversy.

Keyword: Enron, GFC, politics, standard setting, fair value accounting

3

Effects of goal orientation, self-efficacy and task complexity on the audit judgement performance of Malaysian auditors

Zuraidah Mohd Sanusi, Takiah Mohd Iskandar

(Universiti Teknologi)

Gary S. Monroe

(UNSW Australia)

Norman Mohd Saleh

(Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia)

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of self-efficacy, goal orientation and task complexity on audit judgement performance in correctly linking audit procedures to audit objectives and types of misstatements.

The authors conducted an experiment audit with 154 auditors from small and medium audit firms in Malaysia as participants. The experimental task required them to link audit procedures to audit objectives and types of misstatements.

For sample of auditors from small and medium audit firms in Malaysia, the authors found that learning goal orientation has a stronger effect on audit judgement performance than performance-approach and performance-avoidance goal orientations. Self-efficacy mediates the effect of goal orientation when an audit task is less complex compared to when the task is more complex.

These results highlight the importance of social cognitive factors in explaining variations in audit judgement performance for audit judgement tasks with different levels of complexity.

The incorporation of individual psychological differences as explanatory variables in audit judgement studies may lead to a better understanding of auditors’ judgement and decision-making processes in small and medium audit firms located in developing economies.

Keyword: Self-efficacy, Goal orientation, Social cognitive theory, Audit judgement performance, Financial misstatement

4

The role of local accounting standard setters in institutional complexity: “Explosion” of local standards in Japan

Saori Matsubara (Tokai University)

Takahiro Endo (Kobe Daigaku Keizai Keiei Kenkyujo)

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to locate the role of local standard setters in institutional complexity, where multiple sources of pressure for change and continuity coexist. The existing research does not fully explore this since it tends to illustrate the way in which a particular interpretation concerning certain accounting standards prevails over time (Archel et al. 2011; Murphy and O’Connell 2013; Pelger 2016; Young 2014).

It empirically examines and critiques the Japanese experience through the concepts of institutional complexity and translation that specify the relationship between the name and types of practice of accounting standards in the local context (Czarniawska and Sevón 1996, 2005; Erlingsdóttfr and Lindberg  2005; Røvik 2016; Sahlin and Wedlin 2008). Data sources are texts produced (between 2001 and 2015) by the local accounting standard setter and relevant organisations that represent firms, the certified public accountants and regulatory agency, respectively.

The local accounting standard setter in Japan was exposed to competing pressures between change and maintenance, which was translated by the standard setter in Japan. Consequently, the translation led to an “explosion” of local accounting standards (“pure” International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), Japanese Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), modified IFRS and US GAAP).

This paper is the first attempt to systematically examine the role of a local standard setter under institutional complexity. It illustrates how institutional complexity is turned into divergent outcomes against the assumption of previous research that indicates multiple interpretations of particular accounting standards finally merging into a specific one.

Keyword: Translation, Institutional perspective, Local standard setter, IFRS

5

The impact of accounting standards on hedging decisions

Bernard Gumb, Philippe Dupuy

(Grenoble Ecole de Management)

  Charles Richard Baker

(Adelphi University)

Véronique Blum

(Universite Grenoble Alpes)

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of financial accounting standards on the economic decisions of managers. The primary research question addressed in the paper is whether the hedging behavior of corporate treasurers in France has been affected by the issuance of International Accounting Standard No. 39 and International Financial Reporting Standard No. 9 dealing with financial instruments and hedging.

In all, 48 semi-structured interviews were conducted with French corporate treasurers. The interview instrument is included as an exhibit to this paper. The interviews were recorded and transcribed. In addition, three interviews were conducted with representatives of Big 4 audit firms who are experts in accounting for financial instruments. The empirical findings are interpreted using a theoretical framework derived from Jean Baudrillard who argues that the “map” (accounting results) tends to define the “territory” (economic decision-making) in a period of “hyperreality” (when the underlying economic reality is confused). In other words, accounting standards, and the reported numbers that result from such standards, can influence the economic decisions of managers and not merely represent the outcome of economic decisions already taken.

This paper is a qualitative research study conducted in an area of research where there have previously been only quantitative studies. The access to a large number of French corporate treasurers is unique. The study supports prior findings regarding the influence of accounting standards on managerial behavior, but with an added theoretical interpretation related to Baudrillard’s arguments regarding the nature of the “map” and the “territory” in complex economic systems.

Keyword: IFRS, Territory, Accounting standards, Hedging, Corporate treasurers, Map

6

The early evolution of corporate control and auditing: the English East India Company (1600-1640)

Dorota Dobija (Kozminski University)

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to explain the origins and evolution of auditing and control by linking the changes in the manner in which the audits were conducted with the changes in the institutional function and development of the English East India Company (EIC).

Using Sunder’s contract theory of a firm as an interpretive framework, this paper introduces to the debate material documenting the evolution of the auditing practice during a period of 40 years using the single case of the EIC.

Auditing in the EIC evolved from a simple adjudication on allowable expenditures to ex post verification of transactions, and from using volunteers to paid auditors. Initially, the company was organized into a series of separate, terminable stocks, and simple verification by volunteer auditors chosen from among the shareholders was sufficient to secure the latter’s interests. When the increasing number, size, and complexity of transactions by the EIC rendered the adjudication approach insufficient, ex post verification of financial transactions was added. With a clearer separation between ownership and control at the time of the introduction of permanent joint stock, the audit function assumed a more professional form.

This paper contributes to the research on the early modern period at a time of the formation and rapid development of the first joint-stock organization. It offers a dynamic picture of the evolution of control and auditing as a response to the growth of business, organizations, and the attendant challenges of governance.

Keyword: Governance, Accounting history, Auditing, Corporate control, East India Company

7

Practice variation in Big-4 transparency reports

Sakshi Girdha (University of Groningen)

Kim K. Jeppesen (Copenhagen Business School)

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to examine the transparency reports published by the Big-4 public accounting firms in the UK, Germany and Denmark to understand the determinants of their content within the networks of big accounting firms.

The study draws on a qualitative research approach, in which the content of transparency reports is analyzed and semi-structured interviews are conducted with key people from the Big-4 firms who are responsible for developing the transparency reports.

The findings show that the content of transparency reports is inconsistent and the transparency reporting practice is not uniform within the Big-4 networks. Differences were found in the way in which the transparency reporting practices are coordinated globally by the respective central governing bodies of the Big-4. The content of the transparency reports is particularly influenced by the national institutional environment in which the Big-4 member firms operate, thus leading them to introduce practice variation and resulting in cross-national difference.

This is the first study to analyze how transparency reporting practices are developed within the networks of Big-4 firms, thereby influencing the content of transparency reports.

Keyword: Legitimacy, Institutional logics, Accounting firms, Cross-country difference, Practice variation, Transparency reports

本期编审人员

资料整理 | 厦门大学 在读会计硕士生   钟依倩

执行编辑 | 吉林建筑大学   在读会计本科生   暴庭玮

审核编辑 |英国纽卡斯尔大学 博士研究生 Li Jing Claire

终审 |  西北师范大学   在读会计硕士生    杨   阳

主编｜北京交通大学会计系博士生  水皮（李高波）

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