The ethics of creative accounting: Some Spanish evidence

'Creative accounting' involves accountants in making accounting policy choices or manipulating transactions in such a way as to give the impression in the accounts that they prefer. While regarded as unethical by most observers, a defence of creative accounting can be based on the ability of the users of accounts to identify bias in accounting policy choices and make appropriate adjustments. In this paper we take the example of the Barcelona Football Club where the club management made three key accounting policy choices that presented a favourable position, and a supporters' club presented an alternative report choosing three alternative accounting policies that presented an unfavourable position. We presented each of these financial reports to one of two groups of Spanish bank loan offices, with supporting notes making the impact of the accounting policy choices clear. We found that the more favourable set of accounts was significantly more likely to attract a positive response to a loan request. This result undermines the defence for creative accounting, based on the ability of users to identify manipulation.Creative accounting, ethics, Spain

A Consumption-Based Approach to Carbon Emission Accounting – Sectoral Differences and Environmental Benefits

In recent years there has been growing concern about the emission trade balances of countries. This is due to the fact that countries with an open economy are active players in international trade. Trade is not only a major factor in forging a country’s economic structure, but contributes to the movement of embodied emissions beyond country borders. This issue is especially relevant from the carbon accounting policy and domestic production perspective, as it is known that the production-based principle is employed in the Kyoto agreement. The research described herein was designed to reveal the interdependence of countries on international trade and the corresponding embodied emissions both on national and on sectoral level and to illustrate the significance of the consumption-based emission accounting. It is presented here to what extent a consumption-based accounting would change the present system based on production-based accounting and allocation. The relationship of CO2 emission embodied in exports and embodied in imports is analysed here. International trade can blur the responsibility for the ecological effects of production and consumption and it can lengthen the link between consumption and its consequences. Input-output models are used in the methodology as they provide an appropriate framework for climate change accounting. The analysis comprises an international comparative study of four European countries (Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Hungary) with extended trading activities and carbon emissions. Moving from a production-based approach in climate policy to a consumption-based principle and allocation approach would help to increase the efficiency of emission reductions and would force countries to rethink their trading activities in order to decrease the environmental load of production activities. The results of this study show that it is important to distinguish between the two emission accounting approaches, both on the global and the local level

Bureaucratic Structure Aspect in Implementation of Indonesian Finance Policy About Accrual Based Accounting in Local Government

Financial managementisan importantpartof thepublic administration. Implementation of Finance Policy of Indonesian Government about transparencyandaccountabilityin thefinancial managementsystemis connectedbythe financial report. Accrual-based financialreport has become ahallmarkof modernmanagement but its implementation is not easy. Transition from current accounting based to accrual based needs big changes and long terms project .The problems of accrual based implementation are more difficult in local governmen

ROLE OF REGIONAL HEAD OF STATE’S ATTITUDES IN IMPLEMENTATION OF FINANCE POLICY ABOUT THE GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTING STANDARDS IN INDONESIA

ndonesian state financial policies have undergone major changes since the release the Law on State Finance package in 2003 and 2004 as well as the Law on Local Government Package of 2004. The legislation has been set up clearly financial management with a transparent and accountable as well as the financial management in the region from President to the Regional Head. This implies a stronger role of the Regional Head in implementing the financial policy in the local government. The financial policy communication to local governments are often disruption whereby the policy is not communicated clearly and consistently. This study is a single case study for examining the phenomenon in which the object of research is the Semarang City Government as the only one that has been implemented government accounting standards accrual-based policy. In adequately of the financial policy’s communication about implementation of government accounting standards accrual-based policy from the central government to the local government can be overcome by the attitude of the Regional Head avoiding uncertainty (uncertainty avoidance) and has a vision for the future (confucian dynamism) so to encourage the attitude of the staff at the local government and also encourage the emergence of support from external parties to support the implementation of the financial policy of the country

DETERMINANTS OF NON-TIMBER VALUE IN NORTHERN HARDWOODS: A FRAMEWORK FOR FOREST RESOURCE ACCOUNTING

We propose a revealed-preference based definition of non-timber values and apply it to uneven-aged northern hardwoods in Wisconsin. Non-timber values so defined are found to be sizeable. Hedonic regressions reveal theoretically consistent signs and plausible magnitudes of determinants. Regional forest policy and natural resource accounting can both apply this concept.Environmental Economics and Policy,

GAMMA; a simulation model for ageing, pensions and public finances

To answer policy questions that have intergenerational implications, a computable simulation model should obey four conditions, it should: incorporate long-term demographic developments; include a detailed modelling of the public sector; decompose the population into several generations; account for the behaviour of the various economic agents. This document describes and illustrates a model that meets all these conditions. It is an applied general equilibrium model that is based on generational accounting principles named GAMMA (Generational Accounting Model with Maximizing Agents).

Religious core values and ethical sensitivity: an empirical investigation of university undergraduates in Nigeria

This paper examines the role the teaching of a set of religious core values to university undergraduate students could play in shaping their ethical sensitivity. Using a sample of accounting and business students of a religious based university and a survey instrument that contains four scenarios, the results show that there is no significant difference between accounting and business students concerning acceptability of questionable accounting and business practices. We also find no significant difference between male and female students in their ethical sensitivity. Furthermore, we find accounting students not more ethically sensitive than business students regardless of their courses in codes of professional conduct. These results suggest that the core values have positive effect in shaping the ethical sensitivity of the students in the same direction irrespective of course of study and sex. We conclude that the teaching of religious core values can improve the ethical sensitivity of students. However, we could not draw any policy implications due to a number of limitations of the study which include small sample size. We therefore recommend further studies that would consider those limitations

Measuring compliance with the Golden Rule

The golden rule of public finance is based upon the notion that intergenerational equity requires that the cost of public expenditures be spread over time in a manner that reflects the intertemporal distribution of the benefits generated by those expenditures. This is often translated into a rule that the budget be structurally balanced in accrual accounting terms. This article considers the form of accrual accounting that is most suited to the task of measuring the consistency of fiscal policy with the golden rule. It recommends a combination of the real capital maintenance approach (also known as ‘current purchasing power accounting’) and annuity depreciation. Such an approach differs from ‘current cost accounting’, which has dominated public sector models of accrual accounting in recent years. The meaning of balance-sheet measures is also considered, and it is concluded that the golden rule is more appropriately expressed as an accrual balanced budget requirement than as a requirement for the maintenance of constant net worth.