Continuous Reporting and Continuous Assurance: Opportunities for Behavioral Accounting Research

2004 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
James E. Hunton ◽  
Arnold M. Wright ◽  
Sally Wright

The movement to more continuous reporting (CR) and continuous assurance (CA) of financial statements appears to be a matter of when and how such changes will take place, rather than if they will occur. Research evidence suggests that computing infrastructures and software applications have advanced to the point where it is now technically and economically feasible to begin preparing and disseminating financial statements on at least a monthly basis (Hunton, Wright, and Wright 2003), and someday it is likely that full or partial financial and nonfinancial disclosures will be processed and presented in real time. Additionally, information consumers are demanding, and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) are contemplating reporting and assurance changes of this nature. Thus, whether “continuous” is defined in terms of monthly, daily, hourly, or real-time reporting, rapidly converging market factors indicate that in the foreseeable future firms will publish and auditors will assure financial information on a more frequent basis than the current quarterly interval. The major challenge going forward for behavioral researchers in accounting is to investigate how changes of this nature might affect the decision-making processes and consequential outcomes of various constituent groups, such as investors, preparers, and assurers. The combinations of affected parties, contexts, and tasks that could be examined are too numerous to explore in a single article. Accordingly, to keep the following discussion focused and manageable, the scope of this paper is aimed at understanding the potential impact of CR and CA on individual investors. Perhaps by identifying a number of the psychological issues and reviewing some of the studies in this area, accounting behavioral researchers will be motivated to investigate many of the issues and opportunities related to this new and exciting line of research.

2011 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 631-657 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger S. Debreceny ◽  
Stephanie M. Farewell ◽  
Maciej Piechocki ◽  
Carsten Felden ◽  
Andre Gräning ◽  
...  

SYNOPSIS The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has adopted the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) in a multi-year program to enhance the functionality of the Commission's EDGAR database. Filers tag their financial statements with elements from a taxonomy that defines the reporting concepts so that the XBRL files can be understood by information consumers. The U.S. GAAP taxonomy was designed to represent common reporting practices and support the disclosure requirements of U.S. GAAP. If taxonomy elements for each disclosure concept are not present, the filer creates an extension element. Extensions, when used appropriately, provide decision-relevant information. When used inappropriately, particularly when a semantically equivalent element already exists in the foundation taxonomy, extensions add no information content. This research analyzes extensions made in a subset of XBRL filings made to the SEC between April 2009 and June 2010. Forty percent of these extensions were unnecessary, as semantically equivalent elements were already in the U.S. GAAP taxonomy. Extensions that aggregated or disaggregated existing elements comprised 21 percent of the extensions. New concepts accounted for 30 percent of the extensions, although many were variants of existing elements, rather than significantly new concepts.


Author(s):  
С.В. Шевелев ◽  
А.Б. Семенов

Рассмотрены принципы обеспечения заданного уровня качества обслуживания QoS в беспроводных сетях, позволяющие достигнуть устойчивого функционирования программных приложений реального времени за счет тонкой настройки приоритезации генерируемого ими трафика. Основное внимание уделяется механизму управления доступом на основе конкуренции и контролируемого доступа, а также их расширениям. Затронуты вопросы инкапсуляции базовых механизмов управления в решения более высоких уровней EDCA и TXOP. Приведены расчетные значения соответствующих параметров. The principles of ensuring a given level of quality of QoS service in wireless networks are considered, which allow achieving the stable functioning of real-time software applications by fine-tuning the prioritization of the traffic generated by them. The main focus is on the competition-based access control mechanism and controlled access, as well as their extensions. The issues of encapsulation of basic control mechanisms in solutions of higher levels of EDCA and TXOP are touched upon. The calculated values of the corresponding parameters are given.


Author(s):  
Guillermo Cueva-Fernandez ◽  
Jordán Pascual Espada ◽  
Vicente García-Díaz

Nowadays, many software applications are used to offer services or functionalities to drivers. Even though, there is a lack of applications that offer drivers the possibility to express their need to generate a specific application in real time. In this research, the authors present an innovative platform that allows users to generate multimedia web applications that use real time vehicle sensor information. The creation of applications is specified through a voice interface to allow users to generate applications while driving. Information used in the applications is collected combining mobile device sensors (accelerometer, GPS, light sensor, barometer, etc.) and vehicle real time On-board Diagnosis port information (speed, engine revolutions per minute, fuel consumption, coolant temperature, throttle, battery voltage, etc.). The domain of generated applications includes driving safety, road state, parameter notifications, social applications, etc. The generated applications can display visual information systems such as maps, audio, video and measurement gauges. For the analysis of this paper, the authors present three prototypes to demonstrate the platform capabilities.


Author(s):  
Hongwei Zhu ◽  
Harris Wu

In the wake of the global financial crisis, a pressing need exists for improving investor friendliness, especially the transparency and interoperability of the financial statements of public companies. eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) and XBRL taxonomies can accomplish this objective. In the U.S., the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has mandated that all public companies must file their financial statements using XBRL and the U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) taxonomy according to a phased-in schedule. Are the XBRL-based financial statements interoperable? This question is addressed by analyzing all of the annual XBRL financial statements filed to the SEC as of February 26, 2010. On average, 63% of data elements are not comparable between a pair of statements. The incomparability is partly caused by issues related to the GAAP taxonomy and misuse of the taxonomy by companies. The results have practical implications that will help improve the quality of financial data.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 39-53
Author(s):  
Arthur L. Zwickel ◽  
Keith D. Pisani ◽  
Alicia M. Harrison

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide investment advisers, broker dealers, individual investors and other securities firms with a current and detailed summary of the reporting regime under Sections 13 and 16 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) and guidance on how to comply with the disclosure requirements of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on Schedule 13D, Schedule 13G, Form 13F, Form 13H and Forms 3, 4 and 5. Design/methodology/approach The approach of this paper discusses the transactions or beneficial ownership interests in securities that trigger a reporting requirement under Section 13 and/or Section 16 of the Exchange Act, identifies the person or persons that have the obligation to file reports with the SEC, details the information required to be disclosed in the publicly available reports, and explains certain trading restrictions imposed on reporting persons as well as the potential adverse consequences of filing late or failing to make the requisite disclosures to the SEC. Findings The SEC continues to provide updated guidance on the disclosure requirements under Sections 13 and 16 of the Exchange Act, which individual investors and securities firms – largely insiders – must take into account when filing any new or amended reports on Schedule 13D, Schedule 13G, Form 13F, Form 13H and Forms 3, 4 and 5. Originality/value This article provides expert analysis and guidance from experienced securities lawyers.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 101
Author(s):  
Tuan Hamidon ◽  
Sampath Kehelwalatenna

Individual investors trading at the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), Sri Lanka, behave irrationally despite objective finance models available for them to refer in making rational decisions. Therefore this paper examines the irrationality by testing whether behavioural finance factors (BF), stock broker’s recommendations (SBR) as a contextual factor, and individual investor’s existing knowledge of the stock market (EK) as a demographic factor affect individual investor’s investment performance (IP). Heuristic behaviour, prospect behaviour and market factors were conceptualised as independent variables of the study whereas SBR and EK act as moderators on the relationship between BF and IP. Data of 221 individual investors of CSE during first half of 2019 were analyzed using structural models to draw empirical evidence to test hypotheses of the study. Results of the study reveal that market information and past stock trends as market factors have a significant bearing on investment decision making, which ultimately affect IP, while the aggregate effect of BF upholds a significant impact on IP. The results expose some novel findings such as: investors receive inferior financial returns when imitating other investors’ trading behaviour whilst trading on SBR; receive lower returns once trading on market factors whilst resuming SBR; and receive mediocre returns when EK is affirmative whilst following other investors’ decisions; and suffer losses when trading on market factors whilst exploiting EK. The findings imply that the stock brokers should not merely consider the output of objective finance models, but market wide herding, market manipulations, market factors and EK in investment recommendations.


2016 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Araya-Leandro ◽  
María Del Carmen Caba-Pérez ◽  
Antonio M. López-Hernandez

Abstract: In the last few decades, Central American countries are making a significant effort in order to modernize their governments' legislation both on financial management and systems of financial information. In this sense, these countries aim to enhance the quality of public financial information in order to improve decision-making processes, decrease the level of corruption, and keep citizens informed. In this context, the purpose of this paper is twofold. Firstly, to assess the degree of similarity of the financial information that is being developed by Central American governments with regard to the recommendations set up by Ipsas, and secondly, to analyse the efforts and the strategies that those countries are carrying out in the process of implementing those standards. To determine the differences in the information containing the annual financial statements issued by national public authorities and the recommendations set up by Ipsas we conducted a deductive content analysis. In view of the results we can say that the quality of annual financial statements presented by the countries in Central America, in comparison to the recommendations by the Ipsas concerning Ifac information, is not enough. Hence, in order to operate significant changes, it is still necessary to create new strategies for the implementation of the Ipsas.


2008 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Audrey A. Gramling ◽  
Vassilios Karapanos

Auditor independence is an important underpinning of the federal securities laws. These laws require that registrants' financial statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) be audited by independent public accountants. The focus on independence for public company auditors was increased in light of the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to strengthen auditor independence. These instructional resources provide background information on the current SEC auditor independence rules. After becoming familiar with these rules, you will have the opportunity to complete several case scenarios that address: (1) hypothetical settings that may represent violations of the SEC independence rules, (2) possible actions that an audit committee might take when it determines that the SEC independence rules may have been violated, and (3) possible alternatives to the current SEC independence rules that could achieve the desired public policy goals of objective audits and investor confidence.


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