by Szeto Kam-fai, Peter, Lee, Wai-wah, Viva. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-84). / ABSTRACT --- p.ii / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iv / LIST OF FIGURE --- p.vii / ACKNOWLEDGEMENT --- p.viii / CHAPTERS / Chapter I. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- The Soviet Accounting Model for Centrally Planned Control Economy --- p.2 / Chapter 1.2 --- Impact of the Open Door Policy --- p.2 / Chapter 1.3 --- Joint Venture Accounting --- p.3 / Chapter 1.4 --- Joint Stock Reform Program --- p.4 / Chapter 1.5 --- Accounting Regulations for Pilot PRC Joint Stock Companies --- p.4 / Chapter 1.6 --- Accounting Standards Regulations for Enterprises --- p.5 / Chapter 1.7 --- Objective and Methodology --- p.6 / Chapter 1.8 --- Organization of the Report --- p.6 / Chapter II --- GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CHINESE ACCOUNTING SYSTEMS AND REGULATIONS --- p.8 / Chapter 2.1 --- Uniform and Rigid Accounting Regulations --- p.8 / Chapter 2.2 --- Concept of Fund Application and Fund Source --- p.10 / Chapter 2.3 --- Rule-oriented Regulations without Conceptual Framework for the Accounting Regulations --- p.12 / Chapter 2.4 --- Tax-driven Approach for Measuring Accounting Profit --- p.13 / Chapter III. --- JOINT VENTURES ACCOUNTING IN PRC --- p.15 / Chapter 3.1 --- Differences between the Old and the New PRC Joint Venture Accounting Regulations --- p.17 / Chapter 3.1.1 --- Wider Scope of Coverage --- p.17 / Chapter 3.1.2 --- More Comprehensive Accounting Definitions --- p.18 / Chapter 3.1.3 --- Recognition of Probable Losses --- p.21 / Chapter 3.1.4 --- Introduction of New Accounting Treatments --- p.22 / Chapter 3.1.5 --- Additional Disclosure Requirements --- p.27 / Chapter 3.2 --- Differences between the New PRC Joint Venture Accounting Regulations and the International Accounting Standards --- p.29 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Rigid Pre-defined Accounting Rules Not Consistent with the IASs --- p.30 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Probable Losses Not Fully Accounted for in the Light of the IASs --- p.32 / Chapter 3.2.3 --- Accounting Treatments Not Consistent with the IASs --- p.34 / Chapter 3.2.4 --- Major Topics or Information Not Adequately Covered or Disclosed by the New Regulations in the Light of IASs --- p.38 / Chapter IV --- ACCOUNTING REGULATIONS FOR PILOT JOINT STOCK COMPANIES --- p.42 / Chapter 4.1 --- Areas of Inconsistencies Removed by the Addenda --- p.44 / Chapter 4.2 --- Major Inconsistencies Not Resolved in the Light of IASs --- p.51 / Chapter 4.3 --- Conclusion - the 'Joint Stock Accounting Regulations' --- p.56 / Chapter V. --- ACCOUNTING STANDARDS FOR ENTERPRISE IN PRC --- p.58 / Chapter 5.1 --- Development of Accounting Standards in PRC --- p.60 / Chapter 5.2 --- Relationship between the 'Accounting Standards' and the 'Financial Regulations' --- p.61 / Chapter 5.3 --- Relationship between the 'Accounting Standards' and the 'Accounting Regulations' --- p.63 / Chapter 5.4 --- Improvements in the New 'Accounting Standards' --- p.65 / Chapter 5.5 --- Difference between the 'Accounting Standards' and the IASs --- p.70 / Chapter VI. --- FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF ACCOUNTING STANDARDS AND REGULATIONS IN CHINA --- p.74 / APPENDICES / Chapter A. --- BALANCE SHEET FOR STATE INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES --- p.79 / Chapter B. --- BALANCE SHEET FOR STATE COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISES --- p.80 / Chapter C. --- FUND APPLICATION FOR STATE INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES --- p.81 / Chapter D. --- FUND SOURCE FOR STATE INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES --- p.82 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.83

The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants recently made a decision to adopt accounting standards issued by the International Accounting Standards Committee rather than continuing to develop standards locally. Reasons used to justify this policy change include: the lack of resources to develop accounting standards from a zero base and, with what has been classified as the sub-standard financial reporting that occurs in South Africa. By adopting International Accounting Standards, amending the standard-setting process and providing legal backing for these standards, the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants aims to improve the standard of financial reporting. It will be argued that this decision will effect the contribution preparers of financial statements make to the standard-setting process. Corporate management as preparers of financial information participate in this process by reacting to proposed statements of generally accepted accounting practice in a number of ways, including lobbying the standard-setting body. This thesis aims to establish the views of South African corporate managers to the proposed changes to the accounting standard-setting process which incorporates the adoption of international accounting standards. To achieve this objective, the responses of South African corporate managers to the first six exposure drafts issued by the Accounting Practices Committee based on International Accounting Standards are examined to supply evidence that is descriptive in nature and which provides additional support for the findings of the empirical study. Forty hypotheses were developed and tested in an attempt to establish the views of executives to various issues relating to the accounting standard-setting process, corporate managers as the producers of firm specific financial information, the regulation of accounting, management incentive schemes and the international harmonisation of accounting standards. The tests of the hypotheses together with the findings of the individual case studies, provide evidence to suggest that this new disposition effectively marginalises South African corporate managers from the accounting standard-setting process. Finally, it is concluded that the existence of a management compensation/incentive scheme, is unlikely to influence corporate management's reaction to a proposed accounting standard. / Auditing / D. Compt. (Applied Accountancy)

The Statement of Auditing Standards 220 (Materiality and the audit, 1995) requires auditors to assess both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of materiality. However, the SAS has not specified the quantitative measurement of materiality. This research assesses the need in the UK for having a specific mathematical guideline in addition to the qualitative aspect of materiality. It evaluates the outcomes of legal cases in both the UK and the US, looks at the accounting statements issued by accounting bodies in other countries on materiality, and responses to the then exposure draft of the SAS 220. Questionnaires were sent in the UK to 1000 auditors (25.6% responded) and 1000 non auditors (26.4% responded), and telephone surveys followed with non respondents and selected individuals. The case studies contained in the questionnaires are materiality impact on losses on discontinuation of a production line, changes in accounting policies, contingent liabilities, and cash defaulcation. Results showed that there are inconsistencies in legal decisions on materiality. Countries having materiality guidelines adopted 10% net profit before tax as the norm. The 10% of net profit before tax is the favourite guideline for materiality from questionnaire respondents and telephone interviewees. Consistency in the results suggest the need for having a standard mathematical measurement of materiality in the UK.

This thesis explored the dynamics of cost accounting systems (CAS). It focused on particular situations in which CAS can become institutionalised, embodying settled patterns of action and thought common to an organisation (Burns & Scapens, 2000). In such context, it is argued that the greater the degree of institutionalisation of CAS, the more difficult they are to change, and vice versa. This thesis has investigated the conditions and processes through which CAS can change and/or persist (i.e., remain relatively unchanged) through time. Exploring when, how and why institutional change and/or resistance may occur in CAS, is the specific motivation of this thesis. The following investigates CAS at a large oil refining organisation operating in Libya (RefCo). RefCo was undertaken as an interpretive case study, involving data collected through interviews, archives, internal company documentation and general (formal and informal) observations. The CAS in RefCo was subject to two change initiatives in a relatively short space of time. The first source of change was a requirement of its parent company to shift from a traditional production-orientation to a more commercial-orientation. With minimal resistance, the highly institutionalised CAS of RefCo evolved to become much more geared towards commercial decision-making. The second source of change originated in the recommendations of an external consulting organisation, who recommended that RefCo changed its CAS to take on more ‘best-practice’ principles, but also as part of a wider initiative of implementing Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERPs). However, this particular change initiative faced significant resistance. Analysis of the case was informed by institutional theory using, in particular, the concepts of deinstitutionalisation (Oliver, 1992), institutionalisation (Burns & Scapens, 2000), and politics and power mobilisation (Hardy, 1996). In contrast to the more conventional view that institutionalised practices (e.g., CAS in RefCo.) are difficult to change, this thesis has shown how such practices can be destabilised and changed through the configuration of a complex and dynamic process of costing system change. It suggests an institutional interdependence that underpins the interrelation between various components of the organisational system, and exemplifies an intertwining between CAS and operation control. While CAS change processes were shaped by ongoing changes in operation control, the outcomes of the former provided an institutional basis from which to make sense of the operational activities (Scapens, 1994). This interdependence helps sustain day-to-day organisational life in RefCo and contributes to our understanding of both change (processes) and resistance in relation to institutionalised practices. Moreover, we observed that a great deal of such change and/or resistance could be understood and explained in terms of politics and power mobilisation.

International accounting scandals around the world have triggered a wave of interest and discussion on the transparency and integrity of financial statements. Prior literature has stated that due to a variety of motivations and by using different techniques, the management of corporations might intend to influence the figures in financial reporting. The preferred term used in the accounting literature to describe this issue is 'earnings management', which is a very interesting and topical issue for researchers. Therefore, this research investigates the earnings management phenomenon in the Libyan environment. In this research, secondary data, which was accruals-based models, and primary data analysis, which included a questionnaire survey combined with semi-structured interviews, were used to achieve the objectives of this research, that are: to determine the existence and the direction of earnings management in the Libyan context; the motivations and techniques behind that; and the earnings management constraints, which include internal accounting standards, corporate governance mechanism and audit quality. The analysis of secondary data examined the existence and the direction of earnings management in Libyan companies. Accruals-based models were applied on a sample of state-owned and private companies. The results indicated that the majority of the companies that engaged in earnings management by using income-increasing policies accruals were state-owned companies. However, the majority of the companies that engaged in earnings management by using income-decreasing policies accruals were private companies. The above results indicated that there are linkages between the direction of earnings management and the nature of company ownership in the Libyan environment. Further, as regards the relationship between the direction of earnings management and company size, the results of the state-owned companies group indicated that company size was positively and significantly associated with discretionary total accruals. On the other hand, the results of the private companies group indicated that company size was negatively and significantly linked to discretionary total accruals. The primary data analysis was used to investigate three main issues: the motivations behind the practice of earnings management; the most frequently used techniques to practice earnings management; and the earnings management constraints, which include accounting standards, internal corporate governance mechanism and audit quality. These subjects were investigated by using a questionnaire survey administered to external auditors, financial managers and senior accountants, internal auditors, lenders, tax officers and accounting academics. Also, a series of semistructured interviews was combined with the questionnaire survey, which was conducted with selected respondents to the survey. Results indicated that the main incentives for practising earnings management in Libyan state-owned companies were: to mitigate the threat of displacement (i.e. safeguard job position) and/or enhance management reputation, to report profits, to increase the value of management compensation, and to meet regulatory objectives. On the other hand, the main incentives for the private companies were to decrease the amount of taxes and to enhance the chance of obtaining bank loans. Further, the results showed that manipulation of the value of inventory, improper assets revaluation, incorrect capitalising rather than expensing of expenditures, manipulation of accrual estimation, incorrect use of expenses on asset acquisition, and related-party transactions were the most frequently used techniques to practice earnings management in Libya. Finally, the results showed a consensus among respondents on the importance of accounting standard. internal corporate governance mechanisms, audit quality as policies to constraint earnings management in the Libya environment.

Bakgrund: Redovisningsskandaler anses grunda sig i de kryphål som återfinns inom redovisningens regelverk. När dessa kryphål utnyttjas riskerar organisationens redovisnings legitimitet att ådra sig en legitimitetsskada eftersom den då strider mot allmänhetens förväntningar om hur en korrekt redovisning är upprättad. Tidigare forskning har presenterat strategier för att reparera legitimitet på en organisatorisk nivå. Forskningen tycks däremot vara tunn om hur ett legitimitetstillskrivande medel såsom redovisningen kan repareras när det ådragit sig en legitimitetsskada. Det förklarar varför det varit motiverat att genomföra en studie som undersöker detta. Syfte: Studien syftar till att skapa en modell som förklarar den process där redovisningens legitimitet repareras. Metod: Syftet har besvarats genom en deduktiv ansats där befintlig legitimitetsreparerande litteratur legat till grund för en tentativ modell. Utifrån teori har vi härlett tre mekanismer som vi prövat om de kan förklara hur redovisningens legitimitet repareras. Genom studiens kvalitativa ansats har vi, med hjälp av innehållsanalyser, utfört två fallstudier där fallen avsett två redovisningsskandaler. Med hjälp av empiri bestående av nyhetsartiklar och årsredovisningar, har vi provat om modellen ger en förklaring till hur redovisningens legitimitet repareras. Resultat och slutsats: Studiens resultat pekar mot att vår slutgiltiga modell besvarar syftet. Redovisningens legitimitet kan repareras genom framförallt organisationens egna vidtagna åtgärder, men även genom att såväl organisationen som media utpekar syndabockar som ställs ansvariga för redovisningens brister. Vår slutmodell förklarar även att media har en inverkande och pådrivande roll ifråga om redovisningens legitimitet och att regler och policys skapar möjligheter för organisationen att utnyttja dessa för att legitimera redovisningen. / Background: Accounting scandals are considered based on the loopholes found in the accounting rules. It is argued that an organization's legitimacy in the accounting, in such situations when these loopholes are exploited, can be threatened since it differs from the public's expectations of how a proper accounting is constituted. Previous research has presented strategies to repair organizational legitimacy. Research seems however to be sparse in the matter of how a tool to repair legitimacy, such as accounting, can be repaired when it incurs a loss of legitimacy. This study contributes to this specific area. Purpose: This study aims to create a model that explains the process by which accounting legitimacy is repaired. Method: Through a deductive approach, in which existing literature formed the basis for a tentative model, we derived three mechanisms that have been tested whether they can explain how the legitimacy of accounting can be repaired. Further, by using the techniques of content analysis, we did a dual case study where the cases concerned two Swedish accounting scandals. Using empirical material consisting of news articles and annual reports, we tested whether the model provides an explanation for how the legitimacy of accounting is repaired. Results and conclusions: This study's results suggest that our purpose can be answered. The results also indicates that accounting's legitimacy can be repaired primarily through the organization's own actions taken, but also by the organization as well as the media designate scapegoats who are deemed to be responsible for the accounting's shortcomings. Our final model also explains that media plays an influencing and actuating role in terms of the legitimacy of accounting, and that rules and policies create opportunities for the organization to legitimize its own accounting.

Motivation: The IASB and the UK ASB have adopted different financial reporting rules for different classes of company. The IASB have IFRS and IFRS for SMEs. In the UK, currently companies follow IFRS (for public companies), UK GAAP (for medium-sized companies) or FRSSE (for small companies). Furthermore, some companies are exempt from audit. It is difficult to evaluate the efficacy of this approach to regulation since the ASB (and IASB) do not specify what consequences should follow. Do they expect public companies have higher accounting quality than medium and small companies? Or do they expect accounting quality to be the same across different groups of companies? Objective: The main objective of this study is to examine accounting quality in order to inform the future policy and discussion about the differential reporting framework. We examine the effects of accounting standards across public, medium and small companies. However, companies also face reporting discipline from market forces, and consequently we also examine the impact of debt-holders on reporting quality across and within medium and small companies. Methodology: We measure accounting quality from different aspects. For the assessment of differential accounting standards, we use: the level of accruals (ratio of cash flows to earnings), earnings smoothing, and target beating. For the assessment of any debt-holders effect, we use aspects that are suited to their needs, namely: earnings conservatism, and earnings persistence. Main Findings: Under the discipline of accounting standards, we find that the financial reporting behaviour of medium sized entities is significantly different from public and small companies. This suggests that accounting standards do not equalise accounting quality. The impacts of debt-holders on accounting quality are generally weak within medium and small companies. This implies that accounting standards are the main discipline for financial reporting for medium and small companies, which is consistent with the suggestions of Ball and Shivakumar (2005). However, we raise a few issues concerning the interpretation of the accounting quality measurements (earnings conservatism and earnings persistence) and provide theoretical and empirical support for the discussion. Recommendations: We suggest the accounting regulations for private companies may need to be further strengthened, especially for medium-sized companies.

This thesis proves that intangible assets are impossible to accurately value because of their inherently complex attributes. Intangibles have always existed in the market, but their presence has nearly quadrupled in the last few decades due to the Information Revolution. This technological breakthrough was characterized by the globalization of knowledge, communication, and trade. This dissemination of knowledge due to the infrastructural changes of both the telecommunication and transportation industries transformed the economy from a ‘product-driven’ market to a ‘knowledge-driven’ market. This surge in intangible assets is significant because it proves that “knowledge-driven” elements are now material to company value. As such, accurate measurement of intangible assets is essential to preserving the reliability of financial statements. Current accounting practices largely ignore the value created by intangible asset and this has serious consequences for investors, firms, and the economy as a whole. Insufficient accounting of intangible assets distorts company value, increases the cost of capital, and compromises the reliability of financial statements. While it is utterly impossible to create accounting standards that will, without fail, accurately measure all intangible assets as well as take into account their lifespans, volatility, increasing economies of scale, partial excludability, and lack of tradability, this thesis proposes a way to help mitigate the disparity between what financial statements recognize and what companies actually generate.

Earnings management and accounting fraud are detrimental to the integrity of financial reporting, and more worryingly, are pervasive. Furthermore, there is often a grey area in which individuals regularly question whether or not specified accounting methods are strictly legal and permitted, or an underhanded abuse of GAAP-granted flexibility. In response, recently there has been an uprising of legislation attempting to curb the incidence of both these events, but there is still question as to whether or not these attempts are effective, or even wholly necessary. This piece examines methods of accounting manipulation through an analysis of cases, and then analyzes the effects on companies of attempts at both regulation and prevention.

This paper will analyze the usefulness of depreciation expense to investors. Depreciation expense is a broad allocation accounting practice that treats different types of assets the same. I argue that there are two types of industries: those with wasting assets, and those with real property. The first type experiences true deprecation and deterioration while the second type of asset does not. A simplified model using the earnings response coefficient will measure the relationship between earnings and returns for these different industries; this measurement is a way to quantify usefulness of accounting information. I hypothesize that investors of companies with high wasting assets will find depreciation more useful than those invested in companies with more real property. However, the results were not consistent with my hypothesis – depreciation did not matter more to investors of the industry with high wasting assets. The data set only included two distinct industries, which limited the sample size considerably, and might explain the results. Alternatively, the two groups of assets could be defined more broadly to include more industries for future research.