Exploiting Linked Data in Financial Engineering

Part 3: Finance and Service ScienceInternational audienceIn this paper, we report on a recent initiative that exploiting Linked Data for financial data integration. Financial data present high heterogeneity. Linked Data helps to reveal the true data semantics and “hidden” connection, upon which meaningful mappings can be constructed. The work reported in this paper has been well-accepted at several public events and conferences, including the 26th XBRL conference, involving the realisation of the XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) prototype called HIKAKU, which means “comparison” in Japanese. It demonstrates our approach to exploit the power of Linked Data in enhancing flexibility for data integration in the financial domain

An Investigation on the Audit Committees Effectiveness: The Case for GLCs in Malaysia

Financial reporting quality has been under scrutiny especially after the collapse of major companies. The main objective of this study is to investigate the audit committee’s effectiveness on the financial reporting quality among the Malaysian GLCs following the transformation program. In particular, the study examined the impact of audit committee characteristics (independence, size, frequency of meeting and financial expertise) on earnings management in periods prior to and following the transformation program (2003-2009). As of 31 December 2010, there were 33 public-listed companies categorized as Government-Linked Companies (GLC Transformation Policy, 2010) and there were 20 firms that have complete data that resulted in the total number of firm-year observations to 120 for six years (years 2003-2009).  Results show that the magnitude of earnings management as proxy of financial reporting quality is influenced by the audit committee independence. Agency theory was applied to explain audit committee, as a monitoring mechanism as well as reducing agency costs via gaining competitive advantage in knowledge, skills, and expertise towards financial reporting quality. The study is important as it provides additional knowledge about the impact of audit committees effectiveness on reducing the earnings management, and assist practitioners, policymakers and regulators such as Malaysian Institute of Accountants, Securities Commission and government to determine ways to enhance audit committees effectiveness and improve the financial reporting of GLCs, as well as improving the quality of the accounting profession.    

Book-tax conformity and reporting behavior : a quasi-experiment

We examine how a comprehensive change in book-tax conformity affects firms’ reporting behavior. To this end, we exploit a Reform Act as a quasi-natural experiment which implied a decrease in book-tax conformity in Germany in 2010. In particular, this reform allows firms to exercise tax accounting options independently from financial accounting. Our study builds on a unique dataset of linked individual financial statements and actual tax return data. It covers roughly 150 incorporated firms for the years 2008 to 2012. Exploiting the exceptional change in conformity, we contribute to the ongoing debate on the impact of booktax conformity. Our results show that profitable companies, which have a clear tax sheltering incentive, actually use the newly introduced reporting leeway to manage taxable income downwards. This is especially attributable to companies exploiting favorable tax depreciation rules. Moreover, we find larger opportunistic tax reporting responses for small companies with less complex and predominantly domestic group structures. In addition, we observe that a decrease in book-tax conformity induces a decrease in the general persistence of taxable income, but at the same time gives rise to higher financial earnings persistence. This corroborates our finding of increased tax sheltering activity in post reform years

The effects of poor financial information systems on the long term sustainability of local public services. Empirical evidence from the Catalan Municipalities

In this paper we describe the existence of financial illusion in public accounting and we comment on its effects for the future sustainability of local public services. We relate these features to the lack of incentives amongst public managers for improving the financial reporting and thus management of public assets. Financial illusion pays off for politicians and managers since it allows for larger public expenditure increases and managerial slack, these being arguments in their utility functions. This preference is strengthen by the short time perspective of politically appointed public managers. Both factors run against public accountability. This hypothesis is tested for Spain by using an unique sample. We take data from around forty Catalan local authorities with population above 20,000 for the financial years 1993-98. We build this data basis from the Catalan Auditing Office Reports in a way that it can be linked to some other local social and economic variables in order to test our assumptions. The results confirm that there is a statistical relationship between the financial illusion index (FI as constructed in the paper) and higher current expenditure. This reflects on important overruns and increases of the delay in paying suppliers, as well as on a higher difficulties to face capital finance. Mechanisms for FI creation have to do among other factors, with delays in paying suppliers (and thereafter higher future financial costs per unit of service), no adequate provision for bad debts and lack of appropriate capital funding either for reposition or for new equipments. For this, it is crucial to monitor the way in which capital transfers are accounted in local public sheet balances. As a result, for most of the Municipalities we analyse, the funds for guaranteeing continuity and sustainability of public services provision are today at risk. Given managerial incentives at present in public institutions, we conclude that public regulation recently enforced for assuring better information systems in local public management may not be enough to change the current state of affairs.Public management, financial information systems, financial illusion, and Spanish local authorities

Audit committee's effectiveness and financial reporting quality: the case of GLCs in Malaysia

Financial reporting quality has been under scrutiny especially after the collapse of major companies. The main objective of this study is to investigate the audit committee’s effectiveness on the financial reporting quality among the Malaysian GLCs. In particular, the study examined the impact of audit committee characteristics (independence, size, frequency meeting and financial expertise) on earnings management in periods prior to and following the transformation program (2003-2009). As at 31 December 2010, there were 33 public-listed companies categorized as Government-Linked Companies (GLC Transformation Policy, 2010) and there were 20 firms that have complete data which resulted in the total number of firm-year observations to become 120 for six years (year 2003-2009). Results show that the magnitude of earnings management as proxy of financial reporting quality is influenced by the audit committee independence. However, no evidence was found to support the effect of audit committee size, meetings and expertise on the magnitude of earnings management. Agency theory and resource dependence theory were applied to explain audit committee, as a monitoring mechanism as well as reducing agency costs via gaining competitive advantage in knowledge, skills, and expertise towards financial reporting quality. However, contrary to expectation, the theories were not fully supported hence there is a need for other alternative theory that can explained the relationship in positive manner. This study is different from prior studies, in that it makes a significant contribution towards enhancing one’s knowledge in the interacting role of audit committee’s effectiveness and financial reporting quality subsequent to the transformation program in GLCs. The study is important as it provides additional knowledge about the impact of audit committee’s effectiveness on reducing the earnings management, and assist practitioners, policymakers and regulators such as Malaysian Institute of Accountants, Securities Commission and government to determine ways to enhance audit committee’s effectiveness and improve the financial reporting of GLCs, as well as improving the quality of the accounting profession

The Quality of the Government Financial Statements: An Empirical Study

This study aims to identify and evaluate the impact of accrual-based government accounting standards, human resources, and internal control on the quality of financial statements in the Ministry of Agriculture Republic of Indonesia Food Security Agency's finances. One central work unit and 34 regional work units dispersed across the provinces make up the Food Security Agency work unit. The Central Food Security Agency work unit will subsequently assemble the financial report into a financial report for Echelon 1 level. This study is quantitative and draws its primary data from the answers to the questionnaires that were given to participants. Only 50 of 70 respondents who participated in the study's samples met the criteria. In this investigation, Smart Partial Least Square 3.0 was also employed, and the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach was used to evaluate the data and test the research's assumptions. The use of accrual-based government accounting standards and internal control has a substantial impact on the caliber of government financial reports, according to the study's findings. Effectiveness of the central government's financial reporting was not significantly impacted by the findings about the human resources' competency, nevertheless. The contribution in this study by the linked work units is to help apply accrual-based government accounting standards in tandem with government regulation No. 71 of 2010 and lower the financial reporting mistake rate. Additionally, it is anticipated that this study will offer data that may be used as input to improve internal control and raise the caliber of government financial statements

Creative accounting determination and financial reporting quality: the integration of transparency and disclosure

The phenomenon of creative accounting has attracted the attention of researchers for decades, especially in the financial sector for its implications on the quality of financial reporting. Although several procedures have been developed by researchers and practitioners to determine any manipulation in financial reporting, the practice of creative accounting is still prevalent, resulting in poor quality financial reporting. The present study investigated the moderating role of transparency and disclosure with respect to enhancing the impact of creative accounting determinants and financial reporting quality in the context of commercial banking. A deductive research method driven by a survey questionnaire is used to examine the proposed hypotheses and attain the designed objectives. The analysed data provide a theoretical conceptualisation and practical validation for the integration of the moderator in the relationship between creative accounting determinants and financial reporting quality in banks, with significant advantages. Furthermore, the present research findings show that the degree of impact for creative accounting determinants is linked to the aspects of transparency and disclosure. Lastly, the results present concurrent evidence of the flexibility of creative accounting determinants with implications for transparency and disclosure and financial reporting quality

Internal audit function, board quality and financial reporting quality: evidence from Malaysia

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to test the impact of the internal audit function (IAF), an increasingly common internal governance mechanism, on a firm's financial reporting quality. Specifically, this paper investigates the association between the quality of the IAF and abnormal accruals (as a proxy for financial reporting quality) and whether the board of directors play a role in moderating the relationship. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses a unique dataset of survey responses and archival data. Regression analysis was used to test their hypotheses. Findings Although their initial findings show an unexpected positive relationship between internal audit quality and abnormal accruals, this relationship is contingent on whether firms outsource their internal audit activities and/or whether they are politically linked. In estimations excluding outsourcing and political connections observations, this paper shows that the association between internal audit quality and abnormal accruals is negative and in particular internal audit organisational independence, financial focus audit activities and investment are associated with lower income-increasing (opportunistic) abnormal accruals. Next, when this paper interact board quality with internal audit quality, this paper finds although the lower ordered variables board quality and internal audit quality coefficients are negatively related to abnormal accruals, the interaction variable between these two variables is positively associated with abnormal accruals, indicating the possibility of a substitution relationship between board quality and internal audit quality. Research limitations/implications Their findings show that certain internal audit attributes play an important role in the financial reporting process and thus these findings are expected to inform the Institute of Internal Auditors and other regulatory bodies on the role of internal audit (being an important internal governance mechanism) in financial reporting, which in turn can assist in market/regulatory reforms/changes and inform the revised Malaysian Code of Corporate Governance. Originality/value This paper extends prior internal auditing literature by examining the relationship between internal audit quality and financial reporting quality in the context of a developing country, namely Malaysia, and whether the board of directors moderate the examined association

An empirical analysis of book-tax reporting difference and tax noncompliance behavior in China

The traditional accounting system in China was directly linked to the tax assessment. The close linkage between the two sets of reporting rules has substantially weakened, as China promulgated a series of accounting standards and regulations in the late 1990s. As a result, accounting for financial reporting purposes does not have to conform to accounting for tax reporting purposes. This divergence between the two measures of income will inevitably cause accounting book income to differ from taxable income. This is because the more the excess of book income over taxable income, the more the magnitude of tax audit adjustments. Mills (1998) suggests that book tax difference is an indicator of a firm’s tax noncompliance. This implies that additional tax-related costs may arise when accounting book income is higher than taxable income, and these costs may have an impact on the tradeoff between tax incentives and financial reporting incentives. Based on data from the Chinese stock market, this study tests empirically whether book tax differences due to the tradeoff between tax and non-tax cost results in tax audit adjustments. I hypothesize that the magnitude of tax noncompliance increases as book tax differences increase, and this relationship is stronger after the departure of financial reporting from tax rules in China. The results provide evidence in support of the hypothesis. This study extends prior research and contributes to the understanding of tax and non-tax tradeoffs in a different context. The results have rich implications for corporate managers and policymakers in other developing countries experiencing a similar transition from a tax-based accounting system to a system that gives corporate managers considerable discretion over the choice of accounting methods. One implication is that although book tax delinking may improve the usefulness of financial reports, it could weaken the perceived equity of the tax system and increase corporate tax avoidance behavior. Therefore, when setting accounting standards, policy makers should not only look at the impact of information relevance on the capital market, but also consider the consequence of these standards on government revenue

Semantic Models as Knowledge Repositories for Data Modellers in the Financial Industry

Data modellers working in the financial industry are expected to use both technical and business knowledge to transform data into the information required to meet regulatory reporting requirements. This dissertation explores the role that semantic models such as ontologies and concept maps can play in the acquisition of financial and regulatory concepts by data modellers. While there is widespread use of semantic models in the financial industry to specify how information is exchanged between IT systems, there is limited use of these models as knowledge repositories. The objective of this research is to evaluate the use of a semantic model based knowledge repository using a combination of interviews, model implementation and experimental evaluation. A semantic model implementation is undertaken to represent the knowledge required to understand sample banking regulatory reports. An iterative process of semantic modelling and knowledge acquisition is followed to create a representation of technical and business domain knowledge in the repository. The completed repository is made up of three concept maps hyper-linked to an ontology. An experimental evaluation of the usefulness of the repository is made by asking both expert and novice financial data modellers to answer questions that required both banking knowledge and an understating of the information in regulatory reports. The research suggests that both novice and expert data modellers found the knowledge in the ontology and concept maps to be accessible, effective and useful. The combination of model types allowing for variations in individual styles of knowledge acquisition. The research suggests that the financial trend in the financial industry for semantic models and ontologies would benefit from knowledge management and modelling techniques