Worldcom, Enron, Parmalat...a succession of financial scandals have made front page news throughout the world in recent times. In this book, the author investigates the origin of creative accounting and explains how and why some companies use these shortcuts to cover different needs. "Creative Accounting Exposed" is written in a clear, enjoyable style with a wealth of case studies.

Hardbound. This series rose out of the belief that the international accounting literature should devote more attention to the study of the accounting problems and issues of emerging economies (developing and newly industrialized countries).The desire of the series is to raise the level of interest in the specific problems of accounting in emerging economies and raise the awareness of the real issues, so that accounting in these countries will not be seen as a matter of copying what is done in industrialized countries. Through an increasing awareness of the real issues and the accounting practices advocated in it, the annual has become relevant to actual needs, and is making a real contribution to the accounting development process of emerging economies.

Once considered an intruder into the academic community, accounting has developed into a full fledged social science, with fierce competition among its different paradigms. Riahi-Belkaoui explains that these paradigms, each striving for primacy through publications, conferences, and other means of self-exposure, are characterized by their exemplars, their image of the subject matter, their theories, and finally the methods they use. In doing so they have given accounting a certain, new cachet. Riahi-Belkaoui thus provides a critical examination of each of these paradigms in an effort to guide researchers and policymakers in their search for proper interpretations and positionings of the products of accounting research. A stimulating discussion for academics and knowledgeable professionals alike.

In six chapters each devoted to a specific paradigm, the book elucidates each paradigM's contribution to accounting thought and practice. Covered are the anthropological/inductive paradigm, the true income/deductive paradigm, the decision usefulness/decision model paradigm, the decision usefulness/decision maker/aggregate market behavior paradigm, and the decision usefulness/decision maker/individual user paradigm. The result is a book that makes unique use of philosophy of science concepts in accounting, and a book that will also have applications in university graduate-level courses in research methodology and accounting theory.

This volume describes the construction method for a global accounting framework, referred to as the world accounting matrix (WAM). The WAM allows for the consistent presentation of international trade and finance figures in relation to domestic saving and investment. The book aims to show how a WAM can be used for the analysis of trade and finance in a global context. It also seeks to show how WAM can contribute to the solution of the large statistical problems in national and global macroeconomic data.

This is a collection of eleven essays authored by prominent accounting historians and designed to aid potential as well as experienced researchers in the methodologies and resources available for scholarly work in accounting history. The project, of which this book is the end product, has the full endorsement and backing of the Academy of Accounting Historians. Chapters on resources include the finding and utilization of archival materials (including ancient forms); the growing importance of the Internet in historical research and the Accounting Research Database as a vital, contemporary finding aid; the possibilities for joint venturing with accounting practitioners and their organizations; and the pivotal influence and immediacy of oral history. Methodological chapters explore the advantages and pitfalls of archival research; the synergistic relationships that exist between accounting and economic history, including business history and capital-markets research; the techniques for doing biography; and the issues involved in writing to historical paradigms.

Advances in International Accounting is a referred, academic research annual, that is devoted to publishing articles about advancements in the development of accounting and its related disciplines from an international perspective. This serial examines how these developments affect the financial reporting and disclosure practices, taxation, management accounting practices, and auditing of multinational corporations, as well as their effect on the education of professional accountants worldwide.
Advances in International Accounting welcomes traditional and alternative approaches, including theoretical research, empirical research, applied research, and cross-cultural studies.

Effective Management Control deals with a critical but relatively neglected and misunderstood aspect of organizational effectiveness: the process of controlling the behavior of people in organizations. The issue of organizational control and the design of an optimal control system is essential for the long term effectiveness of an organization: too little control can lead to confusion and chaos; conversely, too great a degree of control can result in the erosion of innovation and entrepreneurship. This monograph presents a conceptual framework for approaching these issues, and examines the role accounting can play in a successful control system. The author works towards an understanding of the nature, role, elements and functioning of organizational control and control systems in organizations. The book posits and discusses the features of a core control system and its component parts, including: planning, measurement and feedback, evaluation and reward sub-systems. It also discusses the ways in which a core control system operates within a larger organizational structure and culture. The theory is illustrated through its application to a particular case study.

This is the fifth volume in a series dealing with such topics as information systems practice and theory, information systems and the accounting/auditing environment, and differing perspectives on information systems research.

Can corporate social awareness be translated into positive and predictable financial outcomes? Yes. Riahi-Belkaoui covers the two main components of corporate social awareness--corporate reputation or organizational effectiveness and socio-economic accounting information--and ties them directly to what happens on the corporation's bottom line. Presenting a thorough investigation of the models and results of the connection between desirable corporate behavior and economic performance, he shows not only that the outcomes are positive but that they are also predictable. A provocative and assuring study, this is intended for corporate management concerned with finance and accounting, and their colleagues with similar interests in the academic community.

There has been an increased interest in social and environmental issues in recent years as more consideration is given to the idea of sustainability and social accounting. Social accounting can be considered a straightforward manifestation of corporate enforcement to legitimize, explain, and justify the organization's activities or an ethically desirable component of any well-functioning democracy. Social accounting can also include environmental accounting, which is focused on environmental issues. Additional study is required to better understand the relevancy of social and environmental accounting in today's modern business world. Modern Regulations and Practices for Social and Environmental Accounting discusses social and environmental accounting and considers regulations, norms, organizational practices, and the challenges of education. Covering a range of topics such as non-financial reporting and corporate social responsibility, this reference work is ideal for industry professionals, researchers, academicians, managers, practitioners, instructors, and students.

This annual publication is devoted to the advancement of ethics research and education in the profession and practice of accounting. It aims to advance innovative and applied ethics research in all accounting-related disciplines on a global basis; to improve ethics education in and throughout the professional accounting and management curricula at the undergraduate and graduate levels; and to provide a source of information for the professional eccounting and auditing community for integrating ethics and good business practices in public firms, business corporations, and governmental organizations. This annual's primary objective is to provide a forum for business leaders and educators to discuss and debate the plethora of ethical issues that affect accounting organizations and the financial community in the USA and abroad. It includes commentary and editorials from accounting practitioners, standard setters and regulators. Papers are empirical or theoretical in nature, and draw upon paradigms in related disciplines such as philosophy, psychology, theology, economics and sociology. Volume 2 includes a section on the public interest considerations of ethical obligations of CPAs in advertising and solicitation. Other subjects covered include: ethics violations in the accountancy profession; applying behavioural models as prescriptions for ethics in accountancy practice and education; auditor's responsibility to the public; and the impact of ethics education in accountancy curricula.

Advances in Accounting Behavioral Research promotes research across all areas of accounting, incorporating theory from, and contributing knowledge to, the fields of applied psychology, sociology, management science, ethics and economics. Focusing on research that examines both individual and organizational behavior relative to accounting, the series provides a unique opportunity for the exchange of peer reviewed knowledge across all areas of accounting behavioral research and the development, discussion and expansion of theories from psychology, sociology and related disciplines.

Research on Professional Responsibility and Ethics in Accounting is devoted to publishing high-quality research and cases that focus on the professional responsibilities of accountants and how they deal with the ethical issues they face. The series features articles on a broad range of important and timely topics, including professionalism, social responsibility, ethical judgment, and accountability. The professional responsibilities of accountants are broad-based; they must serve clients and user groups whose needs, incentives, and goals may be in conflict. Further, accountants must interpret and apply codes of conduct, accounting and auditing principles, and securities regulations. Compliance with professional guidelines is judgment-based, and characteristics of the individual, the culture, and situations affect how these guidelines are interpreted and applied, as well as when they might be violated. Interactions between accountants, regulators, standard setters, and industries also have ethical components. Research into the nature of these interactions, resulting dilemmas, and how and why accountants resolve them, is the focus of this series.
*Focuses on the professional responsibilities of accountants and how they deal with the ethical issues they face
*Volume 11 of the series consists invited papers, articles and instructional cases

Providing the most up-to-date tools and techniques for pricing interest rate and credit products for the new financial world, this book discusses pricing and hedging, funding and regulation, and interpretation, as an essential resource for quantitatively minded practitioners and researchers in finance. This book will be required reading for quantitative practitioners who need to keep up-to-date with the latest developments in derivatives pricing, and will also be of interest to academic researchers and students interested in how instruments are priced in practice.

All too often, books on accounting are written for accountants. In this unique book, accounting is used as a means, not as an end unto itself. Heely and Nersesian have written a guide for managers of multinational companies who wish to better understand the complex workings of a global business.

The book describes the globalization of business, the increasing complexity and related accounting treatments of doing business internationally. Recent developments in the standardization and harmonization of accounting practices around the world are discussed, accompanied by numerous examples from annual reports of both foreign and domestic companies. The process by which a parent company consolidates its results from foreign affiliates is described, along with the accounting which would accompany typical business transactions. Emphasis is placed on the connection between transfer pricing and taxation, including a discussion of the considerations which management must face when setting transfer prices. Accounting practices for inflation, along with currency exchange fluctuations, are dealt with from both accounting and risk management perspectives.

Advances in Accounting Education is a refereed, academic research annual whose purpose is to meet the needs of faculty members interested in ways to improve their classroom instruction. It publishes thoughtful, well-developed articles that are readable, relevant and reliable. Articles are peer-reviewed and may be either empirical or non-empirical. They emphasize pedagogy, i.e., explaining how faculty members can improve their teaching methods, or how accounting units can improve their curricula/programs. The series examines diverse issues such as software use, cultural differences, perceptions of the profession, and more.

In the two years since the publication of the last volume of this series, the planet has witnessed some devastating environmental events some of which can be attributed to human causes. However, we have also seen the world uniting (except mainly for the United States and Australia) to reduce greenhouse gases and hopefully slowdown global warming. Recognizing that sustainable development is a way that can lead to well being of the society in the long run, most of the world has therefore agreed to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.
There is hope that the USA and other industrialized countries will ratify the Protocol and all countries including China and India, which are exempt from emission cuts, will make efforts to reduce pollution emissions beyond the limit set by the Protocol. Economic growth in China and India is resulting in a rapid increase in the greenhouse gas emissions in those countries. It is especially important that plants in India and China use newer pollution technologies in generating electricity to meet their energy needs. Their continued participation in the dialogue is important to control pollution emissions beyond the Kyoto Protocol.
Environmental issues are multi-faceted and they are being debated in several disciplines. These issues may be technical, legal, economical, measurement, managerial, or ethical in nature, and different disciplines focus on the issues of interest to them. Accounting is primarily concerned with measurement of pollution-related performance and cost, and reporting of this information to stakeholders. Consistent with the goals of Sarbanes-Oxley Act, it is important that accounting regains its lost credibility and provides reliablepollution-related information to the stakeholders so that they evaluate their risk properly. This volume contains papers which deal with some of the important issues related to pollution information and should of interest to investors, management, regulators and other individuals interested in environmental accounting.
Several papers contained in this volume deal with disclosure of environmental information. Some papers examine what motivates environmental disclosures, whereas other examine whether environmental reporting reflects any real commitment or it is merely a propaganda ploy. While some firms may be genuinely interested in reporting their environmental performance correctly, others may use it as a tool to look good. Another paper in this issue shows that an alignment of management commitment, strategic planning and proactive managerial actions result in better environmental performance and this leads to better return on investment. Though there is no uniform format for reporting environmental information, the last paper in this issue provides discussion on integrating the living systems theory with the accounting disclosure model. In brief, this issue contains several interesting articles dealing with different aspects of environmental disclosures.
*Addresses the Kyoto Protocol on an international level
*Discusses how an accountant measures pollution-related performance and cost
*Investigates the motive behind disclosure of environmental information

This series is dedicated to developments in accounting information systems. Each volume is structured into three sections: information systems practice and theory; information systems and the accounting/auditing environment; and perspectives on information systems research. This volume includes evidence from three experiments relating to the effect of socioeconomic background on computer anxiety and performance. Other areas covered include audit expert system development, users affective responses to information systems through an empirical comparison of four operationalizations, articulating accounting database queries, audit decision aids and integrating group support systems into the accounting environment.

This is the sixth volume in a series dealing with such topics as information systems practice and theory, information systems and the accounting/auditing environment, and differing perspectives on information systems research.

Italian accounting has a long and honourable tradition of theoretical and applied analysis of the accounting and reporting function, perceived and defined much more broadly than in the Anglo-Saxon tradition. The high point of this perhaps, is the creation of what is known as Economia Aziendale (EA). The antecedents, genesis and later developments are presented here in detail by highly knowledgeable specialists in the field. EA takes as a prerequisite the necessity of the business (entity/azienda) to ensure its own long-run survival. This requires that the necessary resources are retained and preserved, so operating capital maintenance, by definition future-oriented, is essential. It requires a focus on the particular business organization, entity-specific and consistent with today's notion of the business model. Entity-specific information relevant to current and future cash flows is a necessary pre-requisite for ensuring long-run survival, which historical cost accounting, or fair value (being market-specific not entity-specific) satisfactorily achieve. Flexibility of valuation and of reporting, always relevant to the specific asset at the specific time in the specific place, is a necessary condition for effective management. This is exactly the focus of EA and its analysis and tradition. Scholars and advanced students of international regulation and accounting, as well as accounting history, will find this an invaluable guide to a vibrant, scholarly tradition of great practical relevance today.

Can the needs of capital ever be reconciled with the needs of people? To what extent can social policies bridge the gap between social rights and human welfare, and economic competitiveness in a global world? Building on his previous writings on political economy and human need, Ian Gough throws new light on these perennial questions in a series of penetrating and original essays. The conclusion is upbeat: social policy still has the potential to narrow (though never close) the gap between the drive of capital and the universal needs of people.

The field of social accounting and social responsibility of business has grown considerably in recent years in both the educational and professional context and has taken on an interdisciplinary aspect. This can be attributed to the numerous financial scandals and often ruthless activity of the corporate world in the pursuit of profit that demonstrate questionable ethical and moral behaviour from business and professional practice. This important and timely new text introduces and explains the key ideas of accounting for society, the historical development of corporate social responsibility, accountability and ethics and their importance to everyday life. It then goes on to consider in detail: * What constitutes social accounting and why it's important * The applicability of social accounting and social responsibility in the private sector, public sector and third sectors. * Examples of critical issues when determining socially responsible investments, the role of tax in a fair society and global economy and ensuring professional integrity. * Further examples that demonstrate questionable ethical and moral behaviour from both business and professional practice are threaded throughout the book. The book concludes with a discussion of the realities and myths of social accounting in relation to tomorrow's accounting and society's future. It will be an essential guide for students of business and accounting at all levels as well as a powerful reference resource for professional and managers in the financial and other business sectors. Accompanying the text is a fully worked suite of tutor resource materials consisting of solutions to in-text exercises and PowerPoint slides for each chapter.

There are as many views on audits and auditing auditing as there are people who have ever thought about the subject and the process. Any author writing about it is faced with some common problems, such as how to make a description of a technical process anything less than dry to read. How to deal with the general belief that anyone can conduct an audit without any specific training or experience. Auditing is often viewed as a waste of time, money and resources with little, if any, real value to an organization. It is seen as something of a judgemental process. People see themselves as being under scrutiny and examination and as very few of us enjoy such a process, audits are not generally welcomed at first. I cannot claim to have found solutions to these problems or to have come up with an easy five-minute way of understand ing the detailed points that make up this whole subject. As with any form of technical textbook, this work must not be viewed as a volume to be read in one sitting from cover to cover but used to dip into as and when required. Thankfully the practice of auditing, in real life has compensa tions for those involved. Those being audited, the auditees, if sensible, will be able to learn from what is hoped will be an objective and skilled overview of the areas and subjects being audited."

Hardbound. Foundations for the Future documents the many significant events that impacted the accounting profession during the years 1980-1995. This time period was critical for our profession. The AICPA membership doubled and the nature of services offered to clients was dramatically transformed. The profession was on the cutting edge of the tremendous changes that occurred within the American business community during this time period.This book tells the story of how the profession adapted to these changes and the challenges that accompanied them. It not only lays down the facts for future generations, but also portrays our profession as an important and exciting field in which to work.