scholarly journals Making sense of the users of public sector accounting information and their needs

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 478-495 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan van Helden ◽  
Christoph Reichard
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Accounting Information ◽  
Influential Factors ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Actual Use ◽  
User Groups

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to dismantle the complex issue of “use of accounting information (AI)” by pointing to different groups of information users, diverging interests and needs of these user groups and various influential factors on the usability and the actual use of AI. Design/methodology/approach This paper includes a literature review and conceptual reflections. Findings The review of recently published articles on the issue of “use of accounting information” presents an actual picture of the academic debate on purposes of use, user types, needs of various user groups and factors influencing the usability and the actual use of AI. The subsequent conceptual reflections deal with so far less regarded user groups, with options to strengthen the user perspective in budgeting and financial reporting, with approaches for engaging users in the content of accounting documents, with interrelations between user needs, usability and use intensity, including various antecedents of the different variables of the information-use issue. Research limitations/implications This paper presents promising routes for future research. Practical implications The paper emphasizes the importance of paying more attention to the specific information needs and the motivations of various stakeholder groups generally interested in using financial information. Originality/value The paper presents results of reviewing recent literature on the issue of “use of accounting information” and provides some insight into specific aspects of this issue.

The influence of ESG information on investment allocation decisions

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 458-480 ◽  
Author(s):  
Souhir Khemir ◽  
Chedli Baccouche ◽  
Salma Damak Ayadi
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Information Disclosure ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Investment Allocation ◽  
Mixed Analysis ◽  
Emerging Country ◽  
Allocation Decisions

Purpose In addition to financial reporting, more and more companies report environmental, social and governance (ESG) information in emerging countries. This practice is intended to fulfill the information needs of all the company’s stakeholders, and more specifically the investors. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, to analyze whether investors include ESG information into their investment allocation decisions in Tunisian capital market. Second, to identify the information dimension having the more effect on their investment allocation decisions. Design/methodology/approach A field experiment was conducted in an emerging country (Tunisia) among 245 novices and experienced financial stakeholders to analyze how ESG information is taken into account in their investment allocation decisions. Findings The results of the factorial mixed analysis of variance show that ESG information influenced the investment allocation decisions in Tunisia. In addition, the results of the post-hoc test indicate that governance and social information had more influence than environmental information. Research limitations/implications This paper is limited to the analysis of the influence of ESG information only on the decisions of financial stakeholders in Tunisia. In future research works, it will be relevant to study the decisions of other stakeholders and to carry out comparative studies between several countries. Practical implications The results can only strengthen and motivate companies to pay more attention to their ESG information disclosure practices. They are also likely to attract the attention of the accounting standard setters on the need to standardize these practices. Originality/value The original contribution of this paper lies not only in the analysis of three dimensions of extra-financial information: E, S and G through an experiment carried out in an emerging country, but also especially in the comparison of the influence of each dimension on investment allocation decisions.

Accounting and politicians: a theory of accounting information usefulness

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 496-517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hassan A.G. Ouda ◽  
Ralf Klischewski
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Cognitive Theory ◽  
Accounting Information ◽  
Information Use ◽  
Collective Learning ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Cognitive Fit ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Actual Use

Purpose How do cognitive aspects influence the use/non-use of accounting information by the politicians? The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize and theorize the readiness to use and the actual use of accounting information in relation to the human and social agency involved. Design/methodology/approach Applying cognitive fit theory and social cognitive theory, the authors explain how cognition of accounting information producers and users relates to their tasks and their environment. Analyzing cognitive matching, the authors develop accounting information usefulness as a function of the cognitive match between the accounting information producers and users. Findings The theoretical findings posit that cognitive fit increases with the degree of matching between the cognition of accounting information producers and the cognition of accounting information users. The theory proposes that enriching and matching the various cognitive factors lead to formation of more aligned mental representations to govern the processes of accounting information production and use as a prerequisite for the accounting information usefulness. Research limitations/implications By theorizing human cognition, behavior and learning, the authors seek to contribute to the explanation and prediction of accounting information use. Future research needs to empirically validate and/or further develop the propositions. Practical implications Practically, the conceptualization can be used to align individual and collective learning on both sides and to introduce information use audit as an instrument for supporting collective learning. Originality/value The theory of accounting information usefulness is the first attempt in public sector accounting literature to explain the relation of production and consumption of accounting information in relation to the cognition of the actors involved.

Value relevance of accounting information during IFRS convergence period: comparative evidence between India and Indonesia

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anubha Srivastava ◽  
Harjum Muharam
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Emerging Economies ◽  
Stock Prices ◽  
Value Relevance ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Accounting Information ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Valuation Model ◽  
Book Values

Purpose This study aims to examine the financial reporting quality during the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) enforcement period in the emerging markets of India and Indonesia by using Ohlson’s (1995) valuation model. The study further endeavors to compare the quality of the reporting environment and its impact on stock prices for both these emerging economies by using a price model during the IFRS conversion period. Design/methodology/approach This paper aspires to obtain insights about the value relevance of accounting information during the IFRS enforcement period for India and its Southeast Asian neighbor, Indonesia which is identical in terms of inclusive growth and development. In that context, 3,325 Indian (National Stock Exchange indexed) and 815 Indonesian (Indonesian stock exchange indexed) firm-year observations were examined by using Ohlson’s price valuation model for five years, representing the IFRS adherence period. Findings The findings of the paper insinuated that the value relevance of book values and earnings, both, have increased throughout the IFRS enforcement period for both economies. However, the investigation revealed that the incremental interpretive power of earnings is more substantial and evident during the IFRS adherence phase than book values which indicates investor’s inclination toward earnings management over book values. Research limitations/implications The findings may assist the regulators, investors, firms and standard setters of both economies in examining the effectiveness of financial reporting curriculums as it brings forth informational improvement in the financial market. This study also outstretches the discussion on the subject in other emerging nations where the market is imperfect with insufficient information, poor enforcement and limited regulations. This investigation has few limitations such as limited data and period, only two emerging economies and two control variables, thus provide scope for future research. Social implications This paper endeavors to investigate and compare the value relevance of accounting information during IFRS convergence period between India and Indonesia with an aim to assist in improved decision making for both, regulatory bodies and market participants in both the countries. Originality/value The key contribution of the study is to examine whether the accounting information is value relevant during the IFRS convergence period for the two fastest-growing economies in Asia, India and Indonesia and it is the first such empirical research to the best of the author’s knowledge. The study is an extended contribution to the modest research administered in developing nations.

Do globalisation and adoption of IFRS by banks in Africa lead to less earnings management?

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 222-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed Amidu ◽  
Haruna Issahaku
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Information Quality ◽  
Accounting Information ◽  
Financial Statements ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Financial Reporting Standards ◽  
Accounting Information Quality ◽  
National Economies

Purpose This paper aims to analyse the implications of globalisation and the adoption of international standards (International Financial Reporting Standards [IFRS]) for accounting information quality. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses a sample of 329 banks across 29 countries leading up to and beyond the implementation of IFRS to test for related hypotheses. Findings First, banks’ financial statements are prepared on the basis of international standards as national economies are integrated when social norms are diffused. Building on these results, the second test suggests that the relatively high-quality earnings among banks in Africa during the period is attributable to the adoption of and interaction of IFRS with globalisation and the strategy of banks to diversify within and across interest and non-interest income. Originality/value The authors investigate how globalisation and the adoption of IFRS affect accounting information quality.

An interactive query-based approach for summarizing scientific documents

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Farnoush Bayatmakou ◽  
Azadeh Mohebi ◽  
Abbas Ahmadi
Keyword(s):  
User Satisfaction ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Information Need ◽  
Science Data ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Interactive Query ◽  
Summarization System ◽  
Clear Idea

Purpose Query-based summarization approaches might not be able to provide summaries compatible with the user’s information need, as they mostly rely on a limited source of information, usually represented as a single query by the user. This issue becomes even more challenging when dealing with scientific documents, as they contain more specific subject-related terms, while the user may not be able to express his/her specific information need in a query with limited terms. This study aims to propose an interactive multi-document text summarization approach that generates an eligible summary that is more compatible with the user’s information need. This approach allows the user to interactively specify the composition of a multi-document summary. Design/methodology/approach This approach exploits the user’s opinion in two stages. The initial query is refined by user-selected keywords/keyphrases and complete sentences extracted from the set of retrieved documents. It is followed by a novel method for sentence expansion using the genetic algorithm, and ranking the final set of sentences using the maximal marginal relevance method. Basically, for implementation, the Web of Science data set in the artificial intelligence (AI) category is considered. Findings The proposed approach receives feedback from the user in terms of favorable keywords and sentences. The feedback eventually improves the summary as the end. To assess the performance of the proposed system, this paper has asked 45 users who were graduate students in the field of AI to fill out a questionnaire. The quality of the final summary has been also evaluated from the user’s perspective and information redundancy. It has been investigated that the proposed approach leads to higher degrees of user satisfaction compared to the ones with no or only one step of the interaction. Originality/value The interactive summarization approach goes beyond the initial user’s query, while it includes the user’s preferred keywords/keyphrases and sentences through a systematic interaction. With respect to these interactions, the system gives the user a more clear idea of the information he/she is looking for and consequently adjusting the final result to the ultimate information need. Such interaction allows the summarization system to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the user’s information needs while expanding context-based knowledge and guiding the user toward his/her information journey.

How useful are smartphones for learning? Perceptions and practices of Library and Information Science students from Hong Kong and Japan

2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 545-561 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zvjezdana Dukic ◽  
Dickson K.W. Chiu ◽  
Patrick Lo
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Information Science ◽  
Academic Learning ◽  
Library And Information Science ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Convenience Sample ◽  
Major Barrier ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Actual Use

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of higher education students’ experiences in using smartphones for learning purposes, and their perceptions of the suitability of smartphones for learning. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative research method is applied to data collection and analysis by following the grounded theory approach. Data were gathered by an online focus group involving Library and Information Science (LIS) students from University of Hong Kong and University of Tsukuba (Japan). Findings – LIS students at both universities regularly use smartphones for communication, socializing, entertainment and other daily information needs. The findings show that LIS students commonly use smartphones for learning and consider smartphones to be very useful for their academic work. They use smartphones to access course materials, search library catalog, discuss course assignments with peers, take notes, etc. Although both academic libraries involved offer a variety of services for mobile devices, these services are still not used frequently. A major barrier to using smartphone for academic learning is the smartphone’s small screen. Research limitations/implications – The study relies on a convenience sample, restricted to students from two universities, one from Hong Kong and the other from Japan. Further research on a larger sample is recommended. Originality/value – The study adds to the knowledge of smartphone actual use for learning purposes and provides study participants’ insights on the usefulness of smartphones for learning.

scholarly journals Political and financial background in board interlocking and earnings management in Brazil

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristian Baú Dal Magro ◽  
Roberto Carlos Klann
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Earnings Management ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Accounting Information ◽  
Real Earnings Management ◽  
The Political ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Quality Of Accounting Information

Purpose Although board interlocking underlying forces are largely hidden, the purpose of this paper is to provide managers, auditors, analysts, regulators and other stakeholders with sociological board interlocking information considering the different backgrounds of their members. Design/methodology/approach The research sample gathered 1,606 observations from 2010 to 2017. For data analysis, the direct and indirect board interlocking linkages, considering the different backgrounds of board members, established the centrality indicators. Subsequently, the authors used these indicators according to each measured background in the regression models. Findings The results indicate that the political background of board interlocking members is positively related to real earnings management practices, while the financial background has a mitigating effect on such practices. Research limitations/implications The findings suggest that individual skills and interests conveyed across the corporate social network have shaped corporate governance, with distinct impacts on the quality of accounting information. Practical implications The authors conclude that both backgrounds could have implications on agency conflicts, increasing (policy) or reducing (financial) information asymmetry between the company and its various stakeholders, which indicates that the authors must consider sociological and not just economic aspects within corporate governance. Social implications The sociological background of individuals is necessary for the congruence of monitoring mechanisms, and consequently, the quality of accounting information. Originality/value This study examines the influence of the political and financial background of board interlocking members on real earnings management practices in Brazilian publicly traded companies in the International Financial Reporting Standards post-adoption period.

scholarly journals Conceptualising bereavement in profound and multiple learning disabilities

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 186-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah Young
Keyword(s):  
Learning Disabilities ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Emotional Wellbeing ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Cognitive Approaches ◽  
Grief Responses ◽  
Grief Reactions ◽  
Grief Theories

Purpose Bereavement and loss are key factors in poor emotional wellbeing among people with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD). However, little attention has been drawn to this group in the grief and disability literature. The purpose of this paper is to make sense of bereavement and loss in people with PMLD, with reference to theoretical contributions to the field and studies of grief reactions. Design/methodology/approach A systematic review revealed 34 relevant published works. These were analysed for relevant contributions. Findings Three main types of theoretical contributions have been made; traditional grief theories, cognitive approaches and attachment-based perspectives. Although a limited number of case studies exist, a range of grief reactions have been reported in people with PMLD. Traditional grief theories and cognitive approaches are somewhat limited in making sense of grief responses in this group, while attachment-based perspectives may prove useful in providing theoretical and therapeutic direction. Research limitations/implications Further research is required to more accurately describe the nature of relationships in people with PMLD. Practical implications Major contributions to the field point to the value of facilitating engagement with the grieving process, through communication around the loss and training for staff. In addition, attachment-based perspectives are offering routes for establishing therapeutic relationships that may help to resolve behavioural difficulties. Originality/value This paper provides an overview of the perspectives within bereavement and disability, drawing together clear theoretical frameworks for future research and practice.

scholarly journals Measuring the independence of audit oversight entities: a comparative empirical analysis

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lukas Loehlein
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Essential Elements ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Public Confidence ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Legal Provisions ◽  
Accounting Scandals ◽  
Independent Audit

Purpose Independent audit oversight is a prerequisite for restoring public confidence in financial reporting and auditing after the past accounting scandals and the financial crisis. By analysing and comparing the independence of the audit oversight boards of 27 European Member States and the USA, this study aims to provide insights into the question of how independent “independent” audit oversight boards are. Design/methodology/approach Independence is measured in terms of the organisational compositions and regulatory competences of the audit oversight authorities. The data were collected through an e-mail questionnaire that was sent to all European oversight authorities, and by analysing legal provisions of various regulators. The results are analysed and visualised by a Partial Order Scalogram Analysis with Coordinates, which allows conclusions about the similarities of various systems and their relative levels of independence. Both measurements are then equally combined into one value of material independence, which is used to rank the oversight authorities. Findings Although all countries encounter similar pressures to establish profession-independent oversight systems, this study identifies how differently “independence” has been translated in regulatory outcomes. While all countries claim to possess formal independent oversight bodies, there is a visible gap between countries with comparatively strong independent oversight authorities and systems in which accounting bodies still maintain far-reaching regulatory influence. At the same time, the results question the role of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) as the globally perceived benchmark of an entirely independent regulator. Research limitations/implications This study focuses on formal independence rather than de-facto independence. Future research has, therefore, to address how these formal arrangements have evolved in regulatory practice. Practical implications Policy makers around the world perceive independent oversight as one of the essential elements of regulatory reforms aiming at restoring public confidence in the aftermath of past accounting scandals. This study enables the comparison and benchmarking of national specific regulatory designs with other forms of independent oversight. Originality/value Although the role of independent regulation is a recurring theme in accounting research, a systematic and encompassing comparison of the intertwining of audit oversight authorities and the accounting profession has not yet been provided. This study takes a first step towards providing a quantifiable measure of the formal independence of audit oversight authorities by mobilizing concepts, methods and prior findings from the field of public policy research.

Family ownership and financial reporting quality: Iranian evidence

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 339-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahmoud Mousavi Shiri ◽  
Mahdi Salehi ◽  
Fatemeh Abbasi ◽  
Shayan Farhangdoust
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Accounting Information ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Financial Reporting Quality ◽  
Family Ownership ◽  
Content Type

PurposeIn the process of reporting accounting information, the auditor’s objective is to detect possible misstatements and errors in accounting information. Audit evidence aids auditors in providing reasonable assurance about the quality of financial reporting. Studying the quality of family firms’ financial reporting is of higher importance relative to non-family firms due to lower risk of accounting manipulation. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between family ownership structure and financial reporting quality from an auditing perspective.Design/methodology/approachTo analyze the research hypotheses, the authors use a sample data consisted of 221 companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange (including 52 family and 169 non-family firms) over a five-year span from 2011 to 2015.FindingsUsing multivariate regression analysis of panel data, our results indicate that audit risk in family firms is lower than their counterparts. Likewise, the findings are indicative of lower audit fees paid by family firms as compared to non-family ones. The authors also find that auditors put more effort in family firms and thus audit effort is more significant for these kinds of firms.Originality/valueThe study focuses on family ownership and financial reporting quality in a developing country like Iran and the results of the study may be beneficial to other developing nations, as Iran stock market possesses some unique features which are not normally prevailing in other equity markets, even in the Middle East.

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