abstract: This study presents the first evidence that mutual fund liquidity management affects both stock liquidity and information disclosure of portfolio firms. Using a difference-in-differences approach that exploits a proposal by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as an exogenous shock to mutual fund liquidity management, I find causal evidence that mutual fund liquidity management improves liquidity of underlying stocks. The liquidity improvement is more pronounced when mutual funds have stronger incentives to improve portfolio liquidity and more resources to influence firms, and when portfolio firms have lower stock liquidity and higher information asymmetry prior to the SEC proposal. I further show that mutual funds may exert pressure on portfolio firms to improve their disclosure as a channel to improve stock liquidity. Overall, the results indicate that liquidity management at the fund level has important implications for stock liquidity and information disclosure of portfolio firms. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Accountancy 2020

This paper examines how different advertising media affect the occurrence and nature of brand asset recognition. Prior research documents that advertising is positively associated with firm sales and brand value. However, this latter research focuses on aggregate advertising expenditures, which ignores a major trend in recent years wherein advertising expenditures have shifted from traditional channels (such as TV and newspaper) to digital advertising (primarily paid search and online display). Using proprietary data, I exploit this trend and decompose advertising expenditures into three core component elements—traditional, online display, and paid search—to examine how key advertising media affect subsequent brand asset recognition arising in the context of acquisitions. Consistent with expectations, I find that subsequent to acquisition, target firms’ traditional and online display advertising exhibit a higher likelihood of brand asset recognition, higher recognized brand asset values, and longer amortization schedules, as compared to paid search advertising. I also document higher deal premiums for targets, which spend more on traditional advertising. Affirming the acquirer’s recognition of a brand asset, additional results reveal that investors react positively to the initially recognized brand amount, and that those brand intangible assets are positively associated with acquirer future revenue. Overall, these results confirm expected heterogeneous effects of different advertising channels on the recognition and characteristics of the underlying brand asset.

This paper examines the effect of industry specialization in local markets on the quality of audits provided by non-Big 4 auditors, and how the quality of audits provided by non-Big 4 auditors that are industry specialists in local markets compares to the audit quality of Big 4 non-specialist auditors. Prior research has used size (Big N vs. non-Big N) and industry specialization among Big N auditors as proxies for audit quality. However, industry specialization has generally been based on national market shares. Recent research has focused on local markets to identify industry specialist auditors. Such research has continued to focus on Big N market shares and has generally ignored market shares controlled by non-Big N auditors. This paper compares the quality of audits provided by Big 4, second-tier, and third-tier auditors that are industry specialists in local markets with the quality of audits provided by non-specialists of all sizes. Results based on a data set comprised of firms with auditors located in California and Florida for the period from 2003 to 2006 indicate that clients of second-tier and third-tier auditors that are industry specialists in local markets report lower levels of absolute discretionary accruals than do clients of Big 4 non-specialist auditors. Results also indicate that clients of third-tier auditors that are industry specialists in local markets report lower levels of absolute discretionary accruals than do clients of second-tier non-specialist auditors. Based on these results, the use of size (Big 4 vs. non-Big 4) as a proxy for audit quality may need to be revised to consider industry specialization in local markets in auditing research. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Accounting in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2009. / April 20, 2009. / Non-Big 4 Auditors, Big 4 Auditors, Audit Quality, Auditor Industry Specialization, Discretionary Accruals / Includes bibliographical references. / William Hillison, Professor Directing Dissertation; David Peterson, Outside Committee Member; Allen Blay, Committee Member; Richard Morton, Committee Member.

The purpose of this study is to add to the discourse about the motivations of bug chasers, or gay men who actively seek human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. There are three phases for this study. First, this thesis examines the narratives and representations of bug chasers in Louise Hogarth's 2003 documentary The Gift using Kenneth Burke's dramatistic analysis. Second, four interviews were conducted from gay men who are involved with the bug chasing phenomenon. These interviews were analyzed and compared to those found in the Hogarth documentary also using the theories of Kenneth Burke. Finally, the thesis chronicles the researcher's process of adapting these interviews into a playscript and staging a performance to an invited audience. / A Thesis submitted to the School of Communication in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Summer Semester, 2009. / July 8, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references. / Donna Marie Nudd, Professor Directing Thesis; Gary R. Heald, Committee Member; Jeanette Castillo, Committee Member; Bruce Henderson, Committee Member; Carrie Sandahl, Committee Member.

Statement of Financial Accounting Standard No. 157 states that "unobservable inputs [management-developed estimates of Level 3 fair-values] shall be used to measure fair-value to the extent that observable inputs are not available". The discretion afforded to managers by allowing them to develop their own estimates of fair-value creates a moral hazard that allows managers to engage in capital and/or earnings management. This study investigates whether bank managers are using Level 3 fair-value estimates in an opportunistic manner in order to meet capital adequacy requirements and/or earnings expectations. I find evidence suggesting bank managers choose the fair-value estimates of Level 3 instruments in order to report current earnings that are positive and more than prior quarter earnings. While previous work has shown that quoted values from illiquid markets contain unwanted noise, the results of this study suggest that allowing managers to use Level 3 estimates can have similar drawbacks if managers choose to use their private information in an opportunistic fashion. My findings support recent efforts by regulators to expand SFAS 157-related disclosures (FASB 2009) in an effort to increase transparency with respect to Level 3 instruments. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Accounting in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2011. / March 31, 2011. / Earnings Targets, Level 3, Fair-value, Capital Adequacy, Bank / Includes bibliographical references. / Frank Heflin, Professor Directing Dissertation; James Ang, University Representative; Rick Morton, Committee Member; Jeffrey Paterson, Committee Member.

The rapid accumulation of genome annotation data, as well as their widespread re-use in clinical and scientific practice, poses new challenges to scientific data quality management. In particular, there is a lack of understanding the need for quality in genome annotation and also of the requirements of end users and intermediaries like the data curator, which makes it difficult to systematize effective methods and approaches to quality assessment and the management of genome annotation data. This study closes the above-mentioned gap by identifying perceptions of quality, as well as quality skill requirements, in genome annotation processes. The study was guided by Activity Theory and Scenario Based Task Analysis; and the survey method was used to collect data. Two groups of stakeholders (end users and data curators) were identified based on hypothesized differences in their quality needs for genome annotations. The study used an earlier developed general framework of information quality assessment, and a taxonomy of data quality skills, to develop survey questions. In addition, to contextualize the questions and motivate subjects to provide answers, the survey's questionnaire included two genome annotation scenarios, each consisting of a series of genome annotation actions. When considering these scenarios, subjects were asked to rank the importance of both data quality dimensions and related data quality skills. The survey data collected from 158 subjects were further explored by factor analysis, in order to identify the quality concepts or criteria that stakeholders considered important in the genome annotation process. Seventeen data quality dimensions were reduced to five-factor constructs; and seventeen data quality skills were aggregated into four-factor constructs. End users and data curators prioritized data quality aspects differently. The end users cared more about whether annotation records came from reliable sources (Believability), and whether information was the most current (Up-to-date); while the data curators focused more on the displays, formats and usefulness of the annotation products (Consistency and Interpretability). Both groups believed the Accessibility and Accuracy are the most important data quality dimensions in genome annotation work, and the Security issue was trivial since genome annotation environments were highly publicly sharable. Both groups thought that data quality error detection skills, as well as data quality literacy skills, were essential and necessary for improving data quality work in genome annotation. Analysis of annotation user survey results revealed that users have specific sets of "virtues" or criteria in the genome annotation context. According to all respondents, differences are interpreted to indicate that users with different roles value diverse data quality dimensions and skills differently. The end users, as data consumers, indirectly assess the data quality of annotation records by relying on source credibility. The curators, as data intermediaries and/or producers, directly assess data quality and virtue in genome annotation. Since users ultimately decide the usefulness and value of annotation information, a tighter collaboration among the users is required to incorporate their data quality needs into annotation process management. Subject matter experts might not have sufficient knowledge of data quality. The highly open and dynamic annotation environment requires users to be adaptive for optimizing annotation strategies due to the limited resources. Identifying the data quality requirements of different stakeholders, and defining models for quality should help maximize the efficiency of resource management in this genome bioinformatics example, but also in other information systems that combine data, users, and contexts, which ultimately help systematize quality assurance activities. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Library and Information Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2010. / April 19, 2010. / Curation, Biomedical Informatics, Genetics / Includes bibliographical references. / Corinne Jörgensen, Professor Directing Dissertation; Hank Bass, University Representative; Besiki Stvilia, Committee Member; Paul Marty, Committee Member.

Pension accounting has received considerable attention recently from the popular press and accounting regulators, and much of this attention has focused on whether managers use discretion in pension accounting and funding to opportunistically manage reported earnings. These concerns culminated when the SEC announced its investigation into firms' pension accounting practices in October 2004. Concurrent with these concerns are calls from accounting academics to focus earnings management studies on specific accruals in order to understand exactly how managers manipulate earnings and whether this type of manipulation affects resource allocation. This dissertation addresses both the concerns of the popular press and accounting regulators and the call from accounting academics and investigates pension accounting as an earnings management tool. Specifically, this dissertation is composed of two studies that examine the effects of managerial discretion and pension accounting. The first study investigates whether managers use the discretion afforded them under SFAS 87 to meet earnings targets. The second study explores whether investors and analysts "see through" the discretion exercised by managers under SFAS 87. In Study 1, I find evidence consistent with the notion that managers make aggressive discount rate assumptions that increase the likelihood that the firm's annual earnings will meet analysts' forecasts. In addition, I find that the reduction in pension expense that results when managers make larger than expected contributions to their pension funds also significantly increases the likelihood of meeting analysts' forecasts. In Study 2, I investigate whether investors are misled by the pension-related earnings management documented in Study 1 by investigating whether there are predictable patterns in returns related to the extent of managed pension cost. The results of the tests performed in Study 2 indicate that there appears to be no detectable mispricing associated with my empirical proxies for the managed components of pension cost. These findings corroborate prior evidence regarding the market's efficiency with respect to pension accounting information. I conclude that while managers use the discretion afforded them under pension accounting to help them meet the analyst forecast, investors do not appear to be misled by this discretion.

Since most audit engagements identify multiple proposed audit adjustments, auditors must decide how best to present and negotiate these adjustments with their clients. Auditors may negotiate adjustments individually as they are uncovered over the course of field work (a sequential strategy) or they may aggregate all identified adjustments together and negotiate them at the same time (a simultaneous strategy). This paper examines the relative effectiveness of a simultaneous versus sequential negotiation strategy in eliciting concessions from clients and engendering positive affect toward the auditor. Managers negotiated a series of audit adjustments with a simulated auditor who employed one of the two negotiation strategies. I find that a simultaneous strategy elicited significantly greater total concessions from participants and also generated greater positive affect. I also manipulate the magnitude of the issues negotiated and find that significantly greater concessions are offered when larger issues are presented first. The implications of my findings for audit research and practice are discussed.

Abstract not available

Despite its surface appearance of precision, the establishment of accounting principles is an ongoing political process. This is because they affect different factions of the constituency in different ways. The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) was structured so as to minimize potential undue influence by lobbyists. But is this independence illusory? The present study replicates and extends prior work done by Brown (1981). "Influence attempts" was operationalized as comment letters written to nine FASB Discussion Memos (DMs). Two subsets of policy questions comprised the cues. Letter writers were stratified into two subsamples. The "accounting group" contained the Big-Eight CPA firms plus five professional reporting societies. "Special-interest subjects" were drawn from Fortune-500 and specialized sampling frames. Subjects' positions on each policy issue were obtained from their comment letters. The FASB's corresponding rulings were drawn from its Official Pronouncements. A multidimensional scaling (MDS) was performed on each issue subset. Clusters of respondents holding similar positions were identified. A number of issues were discernible as dimensions in the perceptual spaces. Several overall follow-up tests were performed. A Mann-Whitney U test was performed on the pairwise relative distances to the FASB. This was done for the accounting vs. special-interest subjects, and for Brown's vs. the additional policy issues. There was no overall difference in average FASB alignment between accounting and non-accounting subjects. However, a marginal difference was evident between the two sets of policy issues. As a result, the Mann-Whitney U was rerun within each DM, with "issue subset" as a blocking factor. FASB alignment was closer to the accounting subjects for five sets, and to special-interest subjects for two sets.