Thesis (Ph. D.)--Johns Hopkins University, 1934. / Vita. "Reprinted from [Johns Hopkins University] Studies in Historical and Political Science, series liv, no. 2."

This research was designed to investigate the relationship between audit risk and the conduct of the audit engagement in the specific context of an oil and gas audit. Because reserve estimates are in the financial reports of oil and gas entities (in the depreciation, depletion and amortization calculation, the limitation on capitalized costs for companies using the full-cost method, and the required supplementary disclosure for companies subject to Securities and Exchange Commission requirements) and because the reserve estimation process is considerably affected by numerous factors, there is a chance that a material error could be incorporated into the financial statement representations with which the auditor is associated. The objective of the research was to (1) identify conditions which are important in an assessment of audit risk in associating with reserve estimates, and (2) determine the impact of some of these conditions on the conduct of the audit.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 65-66).

Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 65-66) Also available in print.

by Siu Kam-Shing. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 49-52). / ACKNOWLEDGEMENT --- p.iii / ABSTRACT --- p.iv / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.v / LIST OF TABLES --- p.vi / LIST OF GRAPHS --- p.vii / INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / BACKGROUND AND HISTORY --- p.3 / COMPANY OBJECTIVE AND INVESTMENT EVALUATION --- p.6 / DISCUSSION ON INVESTMENT EVALUATION --- p.9 / Importance of Investment Decisions --- p.9 / Evaluation Methods Adopted by HKCG --- p.11 / DETERMINATION OF COST OF CAPITAL --- p.13 / Constant growth discount factor formula --- p.14 / Capital Asset Pricing Model --- p.19 / Adjusting Beta for Leverage --- p.22 / Desired Capital Structure --- p.22 / Beta in Absence of Leverage --- p.23 / GENERAL PROJECT DESCRIPTION --- p.26 / Background --- p.26 / Market Situation --- p.27 / Domestic Sector --- p.27 / Commercial Sector --- p.28 / Sales Revenues and Expenditures --- p.31 / Sales Revenues --- p.31 / Capital Expenditure --- p.32 / Operating Expenditure --- p.32 / Financial Evaluation --- p.36 / PROJECT EVALUATION UNDER UNCERTAINTIES --- p.38 / Risk Profiles for Uncertainty Factors --- p.40 / Generating Overall Risk Profile by Simulation --- p.44 / SUMMARY --- p.46 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.49 / APPENDIX1 --- p.53 / APPENDIX2 --- p.54 / APPENDIX3 --- p.55

The purpose of this study is to determine whether oil and gas producing companies smooth their ending reserve quantities. Smoothing is defined as a reduction in variance in the trend of ending reserve quantities over time compared to the trend of ending reserve quantities less the hypothesized smoothing variable over time. This study focuses on two variables that are most susceptible to manipulation—revisions of previous estimates and additions. This study also examines whether revisions are positively or negatively biased and the variability of the revisions. The sample consists of 70 companies chosen from oil & Gas Reserve Disclosures: 1980-1984 Survey of 400 Public Companies by Arthur Andersen and Company. For each company, ending reserve quantities for the years 1978-1984 were regressed over time, and the standard deviation of the estimate (SDE) was calculated. Then the ending reserve quantities less the hypothesized smoothing variable were regressed over time, and the SDE was calculated. A linear model and a semi-logarithmic model were used. A smoothing ratio (SR) was determined by dividing the SDE of reserves less the hypothesized smoothing variable by the SDE of ending reserve quantities. An SR greater than one indicates smoothing, and an SR less than one indicates that smoothing did not occur. The mean percentage revision and a t-test were used to test for positive or negative bias in the revisions. The mean absolute percentage revision was used to assess the relative variability of revisions. The number of companies classified as smoothers of oil reserves was statistically significant for the semi-logarithmic model but not for the linear model. Under both models the number of companies classified as smoothers of gas reserves was statistically significant. Few companies had mean percentage revisions that were significantly different from zero. The majority of companies had mean absolute revisions of under ten percent.

Abstract Background Oil and gas is a main source of revenue for many countries. Norway is one of them. Several companies operate in these countries. The companies demand accounting to communicate to their stakeholders. The two biggest accounting regimes, IASB and USA have their own standards for the upstream activities of those companies. The standard setting bodies mandatorily require companies to comply. Norwegian listed companies, as they are in the IASB regime, must comply with the IASB standard, IFRS 6. Problem  The IASB standard has a problem of addressing the entire upstream activities of the companies Moreover, the standard has conceptual flaw. However, these oil and gas firms are required to follow it. As a remedy, the entities fill the gap by using the US GAAP, if they are listed, as the regulation requires them to follow IFRS. Thus, using these two standards coupled with the defect of the IASB standard is affecting them. Purpose The purpose of this thesis is to explain the effects of IFRS 6 on companies by comparing it with the US GAAP standard. In doing so, theories relevant to the issue are described and the technical gaps between the two standards are elaborated. Method  This thesis uses mixed method. The research design followed is concurrently mixing quantitative and qualitative methods. However, qualitative method dominates in the mixing. As a data collection mechanism, interview, questionnaire and documentation i.e. the annual reports of the companies are used. In the study both deductive and inductive reasoning are used. Conclusion Subsequent to making the study, the author concludes that the surveyed companies have used the US GAAP to fill the gap that IFRS possess. However, retaining two sets of accounts has economic effect and the companies are paying for that. Moreover, they expend costs for adopting the IFRS when they change their standard from US GAAP to IFRS. Moreover, it is difficult to make conclusion about diffusion of accounting method due to contagion effect. Similarly, although previous studies show that size of a firm is a determinant factor, it is tricky to make conclusion on the studied companies.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1985.

This study examined whether three reserve-based quantity replacement measures and three reserve-based value replacement measures have incremental information content beyond that of historical earnings and its cash and accrual components. This study also examined whether the cash and accrual components of earnings have incremental information content beyond that of earnings.

published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management