Balancing the Costs and Benefits of Auditing and Financial Reporting Regulation Post-SOX, Part II: Perspectives from the Nexus at the SEC

2010 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 487-507 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoe-Vonna Palmrose
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Costs And Benefits

Depreciation of Airplanes and Garbage Trucks: Information Value and Fraud Prevention in Financial Reporting

2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Beth Mohrman
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Earnings Management ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Information Value ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Fraud Prevention

ABSTRACT: This assignment will provide you with a better understanding of the costs and benefits of management's use of judgment in financial reporting. First, you will look at the differences in depreciation policies among three firms in one industry (airlines). This provides an opportunity to examine why firms in the same industry might adopt different depreciation policies for similar assets. Then, you will read about Waste Management, a case in which managers manipulated depreciation estimates to manage earnings. Finally, you will be asked to evaluate a hypothetical proposal to require all firms owning similar assets to depreciate them over the same period. Analyzing depreciation differences between three airlines and speculating about the reasons for those differences will give you an appreciation for how firms can reveal information through their accounting policies. The Waste Management case shows how firms can abuse the discretion that GAAP allows. Assessing a proposal to require uniform depreciation estimates will provide an opportunity to analyze the tradeoff between information value and prevention of earnings management.

Information Technology Investment and the Timeliness of Financial Reports

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Atkins Johnston ◽  
Joseph H. Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Audit Report ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Financial Reports ◽  
Technology Investment ◽  
Information Technology Investment ◽  
Strategic Role ◽  
It Executives

ABSTRACT Information technology (IT) can be harnessed to improve the efficiency of the production of financial reports and the efficiency of the audits of these reports. Using firm-level IT data of U.S. companies, we show that IT intensity, measured as IT assets scaled by total assets, is negatively related to both earnings report lag and audit report lag. Further, we find that this negative relation is stronger for firms in industries that are likely to have an automate or informate strategic role in IT. We do not find any evidence suggesting that IT intensity reduces the gap between the earnings report date and the audit report date. These results are consistent with the argument that investing in IT reduces reporting lag by automating and simplifying the financial reporting and closing process. Our findings have implications for practitioners and IT executives in assessing the costs and benefits of IT applications.

scholarly journals Transition to the Revised OHADA Law on Accounting and Financial Reporting: Corporate Perceptions of Costs and Benefits

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Micheal Forzeh Fossung ◽  
Lious Agbor Tabot Ntoung ◽  
Helena Maria Santos de Oliveira ◽  
Cláudia Maria Ferreira Pereira ◽  
Susana Adelina Moreira Carvalho Bastos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Financial Statements ◽  
International Financial Reporting Standards ◽  
Reporting Standards ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Business Law ◽  
Financial Reporting Standards ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Chartered Accountants

This paper examines the ongoing transition to the revised Organisation for the Harmonisation of Business Law in Africa Act on Accounting and Financial Reporting for companies in general and to the International Financial Reporting Standards for listed and group companies with a particular focus on recent institutional developments and corporate concerns. The study used 80 professional accountants, most of whom were members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Cameroon and academics. Using the descriptive statistics, the study shows that the transition to the revised OHADA brings about a high level of comparability and transparency of the financial statements, that the International Financial Reporting Standards can be implemented in Cameroon (but not fully), and that the benefit of the transition exceeds the cost.

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