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One ESG metric is like squaring a circle

It appears to be extremely hard to produce  a meaningful ESG score. Standard and Poor’s recently decided that it will no longer rank companies’ environmental, social and governance risks from 1 to 5 . This decision can be understood in the light of how aggregate ESG scores are constructed as  discussed in a recent FT publication: “Companies with good ESG scores pollute as much as low-rated rivals.” This article made it clear that the current…
Jan Bouwens
Jan Bouwens
4 min read
0
1052

The lease standard has changed, and firms’ transition disclosures confuse more than they clarify

In a paper recently published in the European Accounting Review, we study the text of the transition disclosures in firms’ financial statements explaining the likely effects of a new standard. For a sample of almost all affected firms, we extract the text that refers to how firms plan to transition to the new lease standard. The text runs from a couple of dozen to sometimes over 500 words per disclosure. We then quantify this text…
ARC Commitee
ARC Commitee
3 min read
0
1164

How often and how much information should publicly listed firms report?

Disclosure regulation is pervasive and has been increasing in developed economies, despite regulators’ difficulty determining the socially optimal level of disclosure. Showcasing this difficulty, regulators have struggled to reach a consensus on the frequency and content of interim reporting for decades. For example, the European Union (EU) introduced mandatory quarterly reports in 2004, only to abolish the mandate in 2013, returning to a semi-annual reporting frequency for firms whose securities are trading on a regulated…
ARC Commitee
ARC Commitee
3 min read
0
750

Compensation Shifting from Salary to Dividends

This study focuses on the strategic behavior of owner-managers in relation to their compensation and its impact on reported earnings. We investigate whether owner-managers of smaller firms manipulate their compensation, specifically by decreasing their salaries and increasing dividends, to meet or beat the zero earnings benchmark. We emphasize that owner-managers have significant compensation discretion, enabling them to choose between salary (which decreases earnings) and dividends (which does not decrease earnings). We conduct our analysis using…
ARC Commitee
ARC Commitee
2 min read
0
497

Red flags in research as a means to overcome group think

Red flags in research as a means to overcome group think   How independent tests can help to overcome group think so as to enhance fraud detection. In his classic experiment in 1955, Solomon Asch showed that as soon as one person paints an incorrect picture, this picture is confirmed by a non-trivial number of others. In his research Asch shows four lines: the test line and lines 1, 2 and 3. Participants in his…
Jan Bouwens
Jan Bouwens
5 min read
0
1279

Why not use a funny game to start your next class?

  It was great having Patricia Everaert hosting a fantastic hands-on Classroom session during the EAA Annual Congress at Espoo, Helsinki.   We left the room with several ideas and readily-available tools to use in our accounting courses, that will certainly make learning more engaging, novel, surprising and exciting!   More specifically, to have a look at the DUGA tool, you can go to www.duga.castars.net and register.  Add the code 590de1 and you can start playing…
Anastasia Kopita
Anastasia Kopita
< 1 min read
0
646

Innovative Data – Use-cases in management accounting research and practice

With recent advances in technology, the amount of data available for academics and practitioners to analyze has grown exponentially. However, at this stage, the potential of this data to assist managers in improving decision-making and managerial control has not been fully realized. &nbsp; The editorial In their editorial for the European Accounting Review special issue on innovative data sources in management accounting research, Matthias Mahlendorf, Melissa Martin, and David Smith present a series of ‘use-cases’…
ARC Commitee
ARC Commitee
2 min read
0
543

Enhancing Academic Growth: A 3 months Visit to Lancaster University’s Accounting and Finance Department

I am Damiano Cesa Bianchi, a Ph.D. student from the University of Pisa, embarked on a visit to Lancaster University&#8217;s Accounting and Finance department, as part of the EAA ARC International Ph.D. Visit Scheme. The experience proved to be a catalyst for intellectual growth and personal development. Engaging in a range of activities, including attending the AcF862 PhD Seminar on Advanced Accounting, participating in department seminars, meeting with supervisors, and interacting with fellow PhD students,…
ARC Commitee
ARC Commitee
2 min read
0
581

Remembering Hein Schreuder

Hein Schreuder, EAA President in 1991/92, died unexpectedly, only 71, on Sunday, May 28 in Maastricht, The Netherlands.  This is a brief personal note to mourn and commemorate him. Hein studied Business Economics at the VU Amsterdam. He defended his PhD dissertation there in 1981.  Hein then spent 1982 and 1983 in the USA, at the University of Washington, where he began to build his international network.  Hein&#8217;s dissertation addressed the problems of Corporate Social…
WILLEM BUIJINK
WILLEM BUIJINK
3 min read
0
589

Erkki Liikanen delivers speech at the European Accounting Association Conference 2023

Erkki Liikanen, Chair of the IFRS Foundation Trustees, delivered his speech at the welcome reception for the European Accounting Association Conference in Dipoli, Finland, on 24 May 2023. Introduction Good evening everyone. I am happy to see you all here in Finland and in this wonderful Dipoli, which was built for the students at the University of Technology at their own initiative. Reima Pietilä, a famous Finnish architect, said modestly that ‘it does not represent…
BAHA DIYAROV
BAHA DIYAROV
6 min read
0
529
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