Discussion of Contextual Features of Tax Decision-Making Settings

1999 ◽  
Vol 21 (s-1) ◽  
pp. 74-77
Author(s):  
C. Bryan Cloyd
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Tax Compliance ◽  
Essential Elements ◽  
Tax Planning ◽  
Professional Judgment ◽  
Contextual Features ◽  
Tax Professionals ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Tax Practice

Tax practice has evolved over the past decade from being predominantly concerned with tax compliance to a major focus on tax planning. Significant challenges for researchers interested in tax professional judgment and decision making (JDM) are (1) understanding the current environment of tax professionals, (2) identifying research questions that are relevant to this environment, and (3) appropriately capturing the essential elements of the current environment in the experimental setting. The research question addressed in Magro (1999) is related to this first challenge—understanding the current environment or context in which tax professional JDM occurs. Specifically, the research question addressed in this study is whether experienced tax professionals perceive differences between certain contextual features of tax-planning and compliance tasks.

Contextual Features of Tax Decision-Making Settings

1999 ◽  
Vol 21 (s-1) ◽  
pp. 63-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne M. Magro
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Information Processing ◽  
Tax Planning ◽  
Judgment And Decision Making ◽  
Contextual Features ◽  
Tax Professionals ◽  
Planning Condition ◽  
Tax Research ◽  
Planning Problems

Prior research in psychology and accounting suggests that features of the decision-making task and context affect information processing, yet the decision-making context is often ignored in tax judgment and decision-making research. Two primary decision contexts in the tax setting are planning and compliance. If these two contexts differ on significant features, the information processing of tax professionals in the settings also is likely to differ. An analysis of the characteristics of tax planning and compliance contexts suggests that planning problems are generally characterized by greater complexity, ambiguity, and justifiability demands than are compliance problems. Experienced tax professionals' knowledge of these differences in complexity, ambiguity, and justifiability demands of problems in the planning and compliance contexts was tested in an experiment in which decision-making context was manipulated. Each participant rated the complexity, ambiguity, and justifiability demands of six research cases. As predicted, participants in the planning condition rated the cases as higher in complexity, ambiguity, and justifiability demands than did participants in the compliance condition. Behavioral implications of these differences were demonstrated in that managers in the planning context budgeted significantly more time for staff to complete tax research than did those in the compliance context.

The Outsourcing of Corporate Tax Function Activities

2001 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 35-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy E. Dunbar ◽  
John D. Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Transaction Costs ◽  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Tax Compliance ◽  
Tax Planning ◽  
Asset Specificity ◽  
Corporate Tax ◽  
Factors Associated ◽  
Tax Professionals ◽  
The Status

This study investigates the factors associated with firms' decisions to outsource corporate tax-planning and -compliance activities. The results indicate that transaction costs relating to human-asset specificity, proprietary technology, and economies of scale, along with the status of firms' top tax professionals and recent growth, are factors that help explain variation in the proportion of 1997 tax-planning expenditures made to external service providers. In contrast, only firm size and growth help explain variation in the proportion of tax-compliance activities outsourced. Finally, the results indicate that firms with more of a tax-planning focus outsource greater (lesser) proportions of their tax-planning (-compliance) activities. These results provide the first empirical evidence relating to the economic motivations behind tax function outsourcing.

The Effect of Code Section Knowledge on Tax-Research Performance

2001 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 20-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
John A. Barrick
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Research Performance ◽  
Direct Access ◽  
Technical Knowledge ◽  
Section Method ◽  
Tax Professionals ◽  
Ultimate Source ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Tax Research

This study investigates whether Code section knowledge, which allows direct access to relevant authority, affects tax-research performance. This understanding is important because tax professionals are constantly searching the Code for relevant authority to resolve their clients' research questions, and because the Code is the ultimate source of tax authority. The research question is examined through an experiment that compares the research performance of experienced tax professionals and inexperienced graduate tax students when performing either a Code section or a topical search. The results indicate that experienced subjects are better able than inexperienced subjects to use Code section knowledge in tax research. In addition, the experienced subjects using the Code section method retrieved more relevant authority than any other group of subjects. Taken together, the results provide empirical evidence that Code section knowledge complements tax professionals' technical knowledge and improves tax-research performance.

scholarly journals Mitigating Advocacy Bias: The Effect of the Reviewer Role on Tax Professional Judgment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary E Marshall
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Decision Process ◽  
Emerging Technology ◽  
Judgment And Decision Making ◽  
Professional Judgment ◽  
Tax Professionals ◽  
Decision Making Processes

This study examines the effect of the reviewer role on tax professionals' advocacy bias. Prior research establishes the prevalence of advocacy bias and focuses on whether reviewers can detect preparers' advocacy bias; however, this study examines whether the reviewer role influences tax professionals' judgment and decision-making processes. In an experiment randomly assigning 75 tax professionals to the reviewer and preparer roles, I find professionals who occupy the reviewer role report similar advocacy attitudes to preparers but are significantly less likely to exhibit advocacy bias than preparers. Reviewers also employ a more consistent decision process than those in a preparer role. Results highlight the reviewer role as a moderator of advocacy bias, demonstrating the importance of the reviewer role for firms and clients. Understanding the effects of review responsibilities on professionals at all levels is increasingly important as firms leverage emerging technology to complete tasks traditionally assigned to less experienced professionals.

Knowledge, Adaptivity, and Performance in Tax Research

2005 ◽  
Vol 80 (2) ◽  
pp. 703-722 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne M. Magro
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Information Search ◽  
Research Performance ◽  
Institutional Knowledge ◽  
Tax Professionals ◽  
Extensive Information ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Tax Research ◽  
Tax Practice ◽  
Decision Tasks

The ability to adapt decision making to the features of decision tasks and contexts is likely an important component of professional decision making, but not all professionals will exhibit this adaptivity. One explanation for decision makers' failure to adapt when adaptivity is appropriate is that they do not possess relevant knowledge of the features of decision tasks and contexts, or institutional knowledge. In this study, I examine the relations between institutional knowledge, information search adaptivity, and performance using an experimental research design in the tax decision-making setting. The results of the study are consistent with predictions. Tax professionals with relevant institutional knowledge responded to the differential features of the taxplanning and compliance contexts by conducting broader and more extensive information search in planning than in compliance; professionals lacking institutional knowledge did not exhibit such information search adaptivity. In addition, tax research performance increased with information search adaptivity, and that adaptivity mediated the relation between institutional knowledge and tax research performance. This study extends the accounting and psychology adaptivity literatures and contributes to tax practice and education.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith: A Student Introduction to Federal Tax Compliance and Documentation

2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michaele L. Morrow ◽  
Shane R. Stinson
Keyword(s):  
Communication Skills ◽  
Professional Practice ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
Tax Compliance ◽  
Personal Income Tax ◽  
Initial Information ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Client Advocacy ◽  
Tax Practice

ABSTRACT In this case, students assume the role of new accounting staff tasked with the preparation of a personal income tax return and supporting documentation for a client of their firm. Students are provided prior year work papers and client communications, a copy of the prior year's tax return, as well as a letter and supporting documents from the client for the current year. To complete the case, students generate questions based on the initial information provided, meet face-to-face with the client, and roll forward a set of electronic work papers before submitting a complete current year engagement file for senior review. This case adds work papers and client interaction to the traditional tax compliance case to reinforce both the technical and communication skills valued in professional practice. The formulation of questions for the client also allows students to practice discussing technical topics in a non-technical manner and underscores the required balance between attitudes of client advocacy stressed in professional tax practice and legal requirements for “good-faith” tax return reporting. This case is appropriate for an individual income tax course at either the undergraduate or graduate level, and can be easily adapted to increase or decrease difficulty.

scholarly journals EXPRESS: Marketers Project Their Personal Preferences onto Consumers: Overcoming the Threat of Egocentric Decision Making

2021 ◽  
pp. 002224372199837
Author(s):  
Walter Herzog ◽  
Johannes D. Hattula ◽  
Darren W. Dahl
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Consumer Preferences ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Pilot Studies ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Marketing Managers ◽  
False Consensus Effect ◽  
False Consensus ◽  
High Level

This research explores how marketing managers can avoid the so-called false consensus effect—the egocentric tendency to project personal preferences onto consumers. Two pilot studies were conducted to provide evidence for the managerial importance of this research question and to explore how marketing managers attempt to avoid false consensus effects in practice. The results suggest that the debiasing tactic most frequently used by marketers is to suppress their personal preferences when predicting consumer preferences. Four subsequent studies show that, ironically, this debiasing tactic can backfire and increase managers’ susceptibility to the false consensus effect. Specifically, the results suggest that these backfire effects are most likely to occur for managers with a low level of preference certainty. In contrast, the results imply that preference suppression does not backfire but instead decreases false consensus effects for managers with a high level of preference certainty. Finally, the studies explore the mechanism behind these results and show how managers can ultimately avoid false consensus effects—regardless of their level of preference certainty and without risking backfire effects.

scholarly journals Ecodesign—A Review of Reviews

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 315
Author(s):  
Malte Schäfer ◽  
Manuel Löwer
Keyword(s):  
Success Factors ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Pollution Prevention ◽  
Past Research ◽  
The Past ◽  
Review Articles ◽  
Complete Life Cycle ◽  
Review Of Reviews ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Over Time

With the intent of summing up the past research on ecodesign and making it more accessible, we gather findings from 106 existing review articles in this field. Five research questions on terminology, evolution, barriers and success factors, methods and tools, and synergies, guide the clustering of the resulting 608 statements extracted from the reference. The quantitative analysis reveals that the number of review articles has been increasing over time. Furthermore, most statements originate from Europe, are published in journals, and address barriers and success factors. For the qualitative analysis, the findings are grouped according to the research question they address. We find that several names for similar concepts exist, with ecodesign being the most popular one. It has evolved from “end-of-pipe” pollution prevention to a more systemic concept, and addresses the complete life cycle. Barriers and success factors extend beyond the product development team to management, customers, policymakers, and educators. The number of ecodesign methods and tools available to address them is large, and more reviewing, testing, validation, and categorization of the existing ones is necessary. Synergies between ecodesign and other research disciplines exist in theory, but require implementation and testing in practice.

scholarly journals Bibliometric Analysis of the Literature on Measuring Techniques for Manipulating Financial Statements

Risks ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 123
Author(s):  
Ioana Lavinia Safta ◽  
Andrada-Ioana Sabău (Popa) ◽  
Neli Muntean
Keyword(s):  
Bibliometric Analysis ◽  
Web Of Science ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Financial Statements ◽  
Research Papers ◽  
Creative Accounting ◽  
Measuring Techniques ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Over Time

Creative accounting has its background since early studies in 1975, until the present time. It continues to be a subject of great interest for the companies and interested parties. Thus, the current paper will aim to answer the following proposed research questions: 1. Which are the most used methods for detecting the manipulation of financial statements in the literature? 2. Which are the terms that are most frequently encountered in the literature associated with “creative accounting? 3. Which are the journals that have the highest frequency of articles written on the topic “creative accounting”? 4. Over time, how did research evolve in the field of creative accounting? 5. Which countries are most preoccupied in publishing regarding this topic? To answer the research question 1, the models published in the literature for measuring manipulation techniques through creative accounting were reviewed and analyzed. For the remaining research questions, a bibliometric analysis for the publications in this area was performed. For collecting the sample, articles on this topic were selected from the international Web of Science database. Following this, a bibliometric analysis of the articles was performed, using the VOSviewer program. A total of 4045 publications on creative accounting were identified. Through the bibliometric analysis we have answered research question 2, by identifying the key words that have the closest proximity to creative accounting. To answer the remaining research questions, we identified the journals with the highest frequency of publication and the countries with the highest interest on the topic. It is especially important to evaluate the quality of this many research papers and to obtain valuable information.

E-voting adoption in many countries: A literature review

2021 ◽  
pp. 205789112110405
Author(s):  
Ikhsan Darmawan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Systematic Review ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Research Question ◽  
The United States ◽  
Single Case Study ◽  
Academic Publications ◽  
Research Questions

Although the number of countries that have adopted e-voting has decreased lately, the number of academic publications on e-voting adoption has increased in the last two years. To date, there is no coherent narrative in the existing literature that explains the progress of the research on e-voting adoption. This article aims to answer the following research question: “How has research on the topic of e-voting adoption progressed over the last 15 years?” The article provides a semi-systematic review of 78 studies that were conducted from 2005 to 2020. In this article, I argue that although the studies on e-voting adoption are dominated by a single case study, by research in the United States, and by the positivist paradigm, scholars have employed the term “e-voting adoption” diversely and the research on e-voting adoption has evolved to address more specific research questions. Recommendations for the future agenda of research on e-voting adoption are also discussed.

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