Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Glasgow, 1992. / Ph.D. submitted the Department of Accounting and Finance, University of Glasgow. Includes bibliographical references. Print version also available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1971. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 166-171).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 2002. / Title from title page screen, viewed March 7, 2006. Dissertation Committee: Dianne E. Ashby (chair), Patricia Klass, John Rugutt, David J. Larkin. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 143-149) and abstract. Also available in print.

Motivated by ongoing worldwide efforts to improve the comparability of reported accounting numbers, this study examines the temporal trend in global financial reporting comparability and the factors that explain its variation. Despite regulatory interest in improving comparability, numerous frictions can limit the effectiveness of these efforts; examples include firm-specific incentives, investor protections, regulation, and enforcement. Using a broad cross-country sample focusing on the largest economies during 2000 to 2014, I first develop a firm-level measure of global financial reporting comparability.  Next, I document—consistent across numerous specifications—that comparability is increasing over the sample period.  Finally, I provide evidence of predictable cross-sectional variation: the increase in comparability is greater for firms that are smaller, using local GAAP, or domiciled in countries with weaker regulation and reduced for firms that are less profitable or have higher information asymmetry. Overall, the results are consistent with comparability increasing over time reflecting systematic regulatory efforts and/or increasing economic integration—with the increase driven by firm- and country-level characteristics.

Despite technology's growing presence in society, accounting classrooms have lagged behind other disciplines in utilizing educational animations. This is primarily due to inconclusive research and institutional resistance. In this thesis, I cover existing research on the benefits of visualizations as well as the significance of educational animations. To supplement my arguments for how these studies are lacking, I have made two educational animations covering introductory concepts of financial statements and the time value of money.

This thesis examines the opinions of a sample of partners in accounting firms within the Republic of South Africa on the advertising of professional accounting services. The advertising of professional accounting services has become a highly contentious and complex topic. This thesis identifies eight issues related to the topic and examines the partners' opinions on these issues. In addition, the partners' opinions are examined in relation to the possible placing, means and methods of advertising of professional accounting services as well as the possible content of advertisements for professional accounting services. A methodology was designed to obtain the opinions of partners from all provinces of the Republic, from varying sizes of accounting firm, of varying ages and experience, and from both official language groups. The opinions were then analysed . The research findings show that a number of major differences of opinion exist within the profession, and that generally the present rules and regulations pertaining to advertising are in need of revision. This thesis makes a number of recommendations for revision as part of what should be an ongoing process. This thesis is only part of what needs to be done in this field. A great deal more research is imperative if a satisfactory set of rules and regulations for the advertising of professional accounting services is to be maintained.

No description available.

This dissertation evaluates the economic and ethical considerations underlying the outsourcing of professional services such as finance and accounting. The dissertation is comprised of three separate, but related studies. The first study explores the adequacy of the disclosure rules recommended in the revised ethics rulings regarding disclosure of outsourcing relationships and the resulting ethical and economic repercussions for both, the AICPA members and their clients. The second study analyzes the disclosure rules recommended in the AICPA ethics rulings regarding disclosure of outsourcing relationships from an ethical standpoint. The third study adopts the perspective of the third party service provider. The third study analyzes the factors that provide a competitive advantage to leading service providers in accounting outsourcing markets in India. Taken together, these studies address issues that have not been addressed previously in accounting literature and will advance our understanding of a fast-growing phenomenon, the outsourcing of accounting services. Finance and accounting outsourcing may strongly influence the choice of future organizational form and structure thus making it important to develop an early understanding of this industry.

No description available.

George O. May's (1952) prescient statement that "if accounting had not already become, it was well on its way to becoming a political phenomenon" provides the motivation for this study. Changing socioeconomic relationships in the post-World War II period make it an ideal period to examine the politicalization of accounting. Keynesian economic policies justified active government intervention in the economy to manage demand and ensure full employment. No longer could it be assumed that competitive market forces would ensure that corporations produced goods and services at a socially optimal level or that income would be distributed equitably. Claims that accounting profit provides a measure of managerial efficiency are based on these premises. This dissertation examines the political dynamics of one particular accounting measurement debate--the debate over the determination of business income. Policies, such as wage/price controls, the excess profits tax, and the undistributed profits tax, brought the accounting income determination debate to center stage. The perseverance of the historic cost allocation model in the face of significant economic changes presents a fascinating glimpse of the important role accounting played in justifying continued reliance on the private property rights paradigm. I use retrodiction (reasoning from present to past) to examine why the historic cost allocation model has been so enduring. In my examination, I use personal correspondence, transcripts of Congressional hearings, published financial statements, and relevant journal articles. My analysis indicates that, while accountants empathized with managers who claimed that inflation distorted reported earnings and recognized that a serious measurement scale issue existed, they also recognized that abandonment of historic cost would not be politically feasible. If accountants had adopted a strongly partisan position that favored management with respect to bargaining with labor, this could have undermined the profession's claim to neutrality and opened the standard-setting process to closer political scrutiny. Accountants responded to management in a less visible way. Standard setters adopted techniques that gave managers maximum flexibility in managing income while retaining the aura of objectivity that attached to historic cost.