Countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), most of them former components of the communist bloc, have suffered diverse influences over time. Historically, the advent of communism in the 1950s has stopped the economic and political development of these countries. Its fall during the late 1980s and early 1990s triggered severe changes in the economic and social environment, with profound consequences on the countries' accounting and business models. The accounting regulatory process of these countries has mostly been a public one, although some countries also involved private sector and professional bodies. With economic and political reforms these countries are now reforming their accounting systems with for example the adoption of International Accounting Standards/International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Additionally, the CEE countries' political will to join the European Union compelled the regulators to ensure a high level of harmonization with the European Directives. This volume present theoretical and empirical papers that will further our understanding of accounting issues in CEE countries.

This study investigated the management of intellectual capital (observed as internal capital, external capital, and human capital) as a tool for non-financial organizational performance (observed as effectiveness, efficiency, and reputation). The study used self-administered survey questionnaires to collect data on both the intellectual capital and non-financial organizational performance aspects of the Malaysian public sector which has undergone a radical transformation through New Public Management Reforms. The total number of participants was 1,092 covering the three levels (federal, state, and the local governments) of the government. The results of the survey questionnaire were analyzed using a multivariate Structural Equation Model, and revealed that there is a significant and positive relationship between intellectual capital and performance. Findings provide useful input to policymakers into the review of the relevant intellectual capital resources, and on improving the public sector performance. From a practical perspective, one way of increasing the level of public sector performance is to tie performance to intellectual capital.

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, corporate responsibility, ethical judgments, 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 situation 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 journal.

This book advances the understanding of corporate sustainability and challenges and roles of sustainability accounting in the Asia-Pacific region. The Asia-Pacific region has shown fast economic growth for several decades which is expected to continue. In this context, Asia has become the "production engine" of the global economy. At the same time scientific reports reveal that some planetary boundaries are crossed, for example relating to biodiversity and climate change. Companies in the Asia-Pacific region are therefore increasingly challenged to reduce their environmental impacts, to document their social contribution and to contribute to sustainable development. Key approaches to identify sustainability problems and challenges, to support improvement processes and to back up sustainability contributions include accounting and reporting. In contrast to the high relevance of accounting and reporting for corporate sustainability for the Asia-Pacific region, academic research has so far been dominated by Western researchers and pre-dominantly dealt with Western and Japanese cases and approaches. It is thus time to take account of Asian perspectives on accounting and reporting for sustainability in the Asia-Pacific region.

Volume 16 exemplifies this focus by including nine different chapters spanning topics such as auditor liability, ethical decision-making of accounting professionals, taxpayers' perceptions of tax policy, and the effect of auditor changes on commercial lenders' decision-making. The first three chapters focus on liability effects of accounting information: the effect of web disclosure of environmental information on liability assessments, the effect of identifying and investigating fraud risks on assessments of auditor liability, and the effect of offshoring audit tasks on assessments of auditor liability. The next four chapters relate to ethical aspects of judgment and decision-making: the influence of peer honesty in a managerial accounting setting, the influence of individual characteristics in a financial accounting setting, the influence of moral reasoning in a tax setting, and the relationship between political ideology and moral reasoning of accounting professionals. The next chapter investigates taxpayers' perceptions related to innocent spouse provisions and the final chapter considers the role of auditor changes on commercial lenders' decisions to extend credit.

Interest in longevity and longevity risk management is burgeoning, as government and regulatory agencies are increasingly conscious of the potential risks and benefits of longer lifespans. Commercial and industrial organizations, especially within the financial sector, are awakening to the opportunities presented by population aging, along with the new array of financial insurance instruments to manage longevity risk, which more sophisticated markets are making possible. This volume explores three main themes: the need for products to manage longevity risk; the structure and safety of financial products on the market that help manage longevity risk; and the role of policy in stimulating and strengthening longevity insurance products.
This edited volume brings together leading international experts to evaluate the challenge posed by trends in longevity risk and draws out the implications and constraints of this new reality for insurance companies and annuity providers. It discusses both emerging economies (India, Chile) and many of the older nations (Sweden, Canada, the US, Australia, Japan, the UK and Switzerland). It aims to instigate new thinking among retirement planners, plan sponsors, academics, and industry leaders seeking to manage retirement payouts and longevity risk.

Advances in Accounting Education: Teaching and Curriculum Innovations publishes both non-empirical and empirical articles dealing with accounting pedagogy. All articles explain how teaching methods or curricula/programs can be improved. Non-empirical papers are academically rigorous, and specifically discuss the institutional context of a course or program, as well as any relevant tradeoffs or policy issues. Empirical reports exhibit sound research design and execution, and develop a thorough motivation and literature review, including references from outside the accounting field, where appropriate. Topics included in Volume 14 are ways to increase student interest in the accounting major, challenges and implications associated with integrating transfer students into accounting programs, a techniques for improving performance in intermediate accounting classes, exercises for incorporating divergent and evolving standards in the audit class, guidance for incorporating the use of the tax code and regulations in introductory classes, and challenges educating the millennial generation offers to accounting educators.

The Enron and WorldCom scandals and other less high profile scandals ushered in several regulatory overhauls including those provided for under the law widely known as Sarbanes-Oxley. Indeed, this was the most dynamic period save possibly the 1930s in terms of regulatory reforms to the accounting and financial reporting environment. This monograph summarizes and synthesize a decade of academic research to develop an evolving dominant explanation around these myriad changes. The overarching themes and topics in the literature that form the paradigm for this monograph include the evolving accounting and reporting model in the U.S. and internationally, the individual accounting pronouncements that support the evolving model, the scandals themselves, and the public and private sector responses to those scandals.

The objective of "Research in Accounting in Emerging Economies" is to raise the level of interest in the specific problems of accounting in emerging economies; and increase awareness of real issues, so that accounting in these countries will not just be seen as a matter of copying what is done in the industrialized countries. "RAEE" is intended to provide an authoritative overview of accounting research and progress in emerging economies.

The African context provides a unique environment for accounting research: the stage of economic and market development is low, corruption is rife and politics often meddles in corporate affairs. Such an environment can affect the nature of accounting and indeed the manner in which accounting is used, which makes accounting research in Africa important and interesting. The 10 papers in this volume were presented at the inaugural African Accounting and Finance Association (AAFA) in 2011 and are based on data from Ghana, Mauritius, Nigeria, Uganda and South Africa. Motivated by the AAFA vision, this special volume provides a source of rich data for academics, practitioners and policy makers with interest in accounting research in Africa to draw upon to inform accounting debate and help provide better understanding of accounting in Africa and beyond.

Advances in Accounting Education is a refereed, academic research annual whose purpose is to help meet the needs of faculty members interested in ways to improve accounting classroom instruction at the college and university level. We publish thoughtful, well-developed articles that are readable, relevant, and reliable. Articles may be either empirical or non-empirical, and should emphasize pedagogy, i.e., explaining how faculty members can improve their teaching methods or how accounting units can improve their curricula/programs. In this volume, a special section addressing the impact of international financial reporting standards (IFRS) on accounting education features pedagogical research designed to contribute to more effective teaching of IFRS related content.

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 situation 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 journal.

The Global Accounting History four volume set aims to establish a benchmark reference source that covers the evolution of accounting, financial reporting and related institutions for all major economies in the world in a comparable way. Volume Four examines seven nations from Eurasia, the Middle East and Africa, including Egypt, Iran, Israel, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and Turkey. Each chapter is authored by a specialist from its respective country.

Advances in Accounting Behavioral Research publishes high-quality research encompassing all areas of accounting and addressing issues that affect the users, preparers, and assurers of accounting information. This research incorporates theory from, and contributes knowledge and understanding to, applied psychology, sociology, management science, and behavioral economics. The first chapter investigates how nonprofessional investors react to risk disclosures within management discussion and analysis (MD&A) sections of financial statements. The next three chapters focus on professional accountants' work experiences, respectively investigating how the need for cognition influences audit sampling judgment, role stress and job outcome experiences for public accountants, and the role of fraud training in improving auditors' ability to detect fraud risk factors. The next two chapters focus on methodological issues that can be useful for future researchers; one develops and validates a psychometric scale measuring worry and rumination, while the other provides a tutorial for accounting researchers who would like to develop their own experiments using z-tree. The final chapter provides a comprehensive literature review on the topic of sales and uses tax research including implications for future behavioral research in the area.

This research monograph critically examines convergence of financial reporting in Germany by taking into account the influence of political, social and economic factors on accounting. This study makes an original and significant contribution by examining issues and biases in the convergence process that may challenge the assumption of superiority, global comparability and universal applicability of International Financial Reporting Standards. Specifically, this monograph critically evaluates convergence by taking into account German accounting development and examines issues concerning the application of professional judgment, which has increasingly been recognized as an important and controversial topic in international accounting. By applying a holistic approach with an emphasis on multiple perspectives, this study shows that accounting research will be enhanced by a critical examination of contextual environments of countries rather than a focus on measurement, quantification, simplification and categorisation.

This concise volume evaluates the cause and significance of recent corporate failures and financial scandals, and how they reflect on the fitness for purpose of the external auditors, financial reports, financial watchdogs, boards, directors and senior management. Failures like the disastrous collapse of Carillion, examined at length, have ultimately led to a crisis of confidence not only in the audit process but in the entire process of financial reporting. Revealing the shortcomings in audit quality, independence, choice and the growing expectation gap, Financial Failures and Scandals questions if the profession, its regulators or government watchdogs, are adequately prepared for the challenges of increasing regulation, public outcry and political scrutiny in the face of inevitable future financial failures. The fundamental structures of financial reporting, annual reports, boards of directors and senior management are often found to have failed. Tighter regulation and new requirements for reporting will inevitably result. Drawing on extensive research and interviews with insiders, users and experts, this unique book provides a compelling account of the profoundly disruptive impact of financial failures on corporate and financial accountability. Topical and readable, this book will be of great interest to students, researchers and professionals in accounting and auditing, as well as to policy makers and regulators.

"This thematic volume covers issues such as Executive compensation and corporate governance with special reference to Bangladesh; leading companies in India; Fraudulent Financial Reporting; Non-financial performance measures and performance relationship in the Bangladeshi manufacturing firms; Fair value accounting usefulness and implementation Obstacles; Funding organisations: the conflict between the creative versus scientific approach of allocating funds in New Zealand; and more.

The objective of "Off-Balance Sheet ActivitieS" is to gain insights into, and propose meaningful solutions to, those issues raised by the current proliferation of off-balance sheet transactions. The book has its origins in a New York University conference that focused on this topic. Jointly undertaken by the Vincent C. Ross Institute of Accounting Research and New York University's Salomon Center for the study of Financial Institutions at the Stern School of Business, the conference brought together academic researchers and practitioners in the field of accounting and finance to address the issues with the broad-mindedness requisite of a group whose approaches to solutions are as different from each other as their respectively theoretical and applied approaches to the disciplines of finance and accounting.

The essays are divided into two sections. The first covers issues surrounding OBS activities and banking and begins with a brief introduction that places the essays into context. OBS activities and the underinvestment problem, whether loan sales are really OBS, and money demand and OBS liquidity are examined in detail. Section two, which also begins with a brief introduction, focuses on issues of securitized assets and financing. A report on recognition and measurement issues in accounting for securitized assets is followed by three separate discussion essays. Other subjects covered include contract theoretic analysis of OBS financing, the use of OBS financing to circumvent financial covenant restrictions, and debt contracting and financial contracting. The latter two contributions are also followed by discussion essays. This unique collection of papers will prove to be an interesting and valuable tool for accounting and finance professionals as well as for academics involved in these fields. It will also be an important addition to public, college, and university libraries.

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Advances in Accounting Education: Teaching and Curriculum Innovations is a refereed, academic research annual that aims to meet the needs of faculty members interested in ways to improve their classroom instruction. It includes both non-empirical and empirical articles dealing with accounting pedagogy at college and university level. Non-empirical papers are academically rigorous and specifically discuss the institutional context of a course or program, as well as any relevant trade offs or policy issues. Empirical reports exhibit sound research design and execution, and develop a thorough motivation and literature review. Thoughtful, well-developed articles describe how teaching methods or curricula/programs can be improved. Advances in Accounting Education: Teaching and Curriculum Innovations serves as a forum for sharing generalizable teaching approaches ranging from curricula development to content delivery techniques. Readable, relevant and reliable this volume is of interest to all instructors, researchers and administrators committed to improving accounting education at the college and university level. This volume presents relevant, readable articles dealing with accounting pedagogy at college/university level. It serves as a forum for sharing generalizable teaching approaches ranging from curricula development to content delivery techniques and is of interest to instructors, researchers and administrators committed to improving accounting education.

"Advances in Accounting Behavioral Research" publishes high-quality research encompassing all areas of accounting that incorporates theory from, and contributes knowledge and understanding to applied psychology, sociology, management science, and behavioral economics. Research published in this series encompasses all areas of accounting and covers a broad range of issues that affect the users, preparers and assurers of accounting information. This volume focuses primarily on developing psychometric measures that can be useful for future research. This includes research focused on developing an instrument for measuring taxpayer locus of control, developing a scale for examining social norms related to tax compliance, identifying characteristics of audit partners that might predict 'risky' behavior, and identifying facets of culture that influence employee satisfaction. Further, the quality of auditors' decisions as judged by engagement quality reviewers and jurors are examined. Finally, an investigation of the factors that influence coauthorship provides interesting insight into the habits of the most productive accounting researchers.

This is the second in a four volume set which addresses Global Accounting History developments, focusing upon financial reporting, and related institutional aspects of disclosures for accountability and decision making purposes. This volume addresses five countries of the Americas, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the United States of America. Chapters are authored by specialists knowledgeable about each of the subject countries.