Accounting information and the prediction of farm viability

Until recently farm management made little use of accounting and agriculture has been largely excluded from the scope of accounting standards. This article examines the current use of accounting in agriculture and points the need to establish accounting standards for agriculture. Empirical evidence shows that accounting can make a significant contribution to agricultural management and farm viability and could also be important for other agents involved in agricultural decision making. Existing literature on failure prediction models and farm viability prediction studies provide the starting point for our research, in which two dichotomous logit models were applied to subsamples of viable and unviable farms in Catalonia, Spain. The first model considered only non-financial variables, while the other also considered financial ones. When accounting variables were added to the model, a significant reduction in deviance was observed.Accounting, agriculture, farm distress, viability, prediction

Regional diversity in the fruit sector in the European Union

This article aims to identify the key groups of regions with respect to farms oriented to fruit and citrus production. Twenty variables of fruit and citrus oriented farms corresponding to forty-one regions of the European Union were analyzed. Seven groups emerged from cluster analysis. Only two of them showed good perspectives. Regions in the South of the Community need an important modernisation and restructuring process, which entails serious social consequences.Fruit sector, agriculture, cluster analysis, regions, European Union

Measuring and explaining farm inefficiency in a panel data set of mixed farms

This paper aims to estimate a translog stochastic frontier production function in the analysis of a panel of 150 mixed Catalan farms in the period 1989-1993, in order to attempt to measure and explain variation in technical inefficiency scores with a one-stage approach. The model uses gross value added as the output aggregate measure. Total employment, fixed capital, current assets, specific costs and overhead costs are introduced into the model as inputs. Stochastic frontier estimates are compared with those obtained using a linear programming method using a two-stage approach. The specification of the translog stochastic frontier model appears as an appropriate representation of the data, technical change was rejected and the technical inefficiency effects were statistically significant. The mean technical efficiency in the period analyzed was estimated to be 64.0%. Farm inefficiency levels were found significantly at 5% level and positively correlated with the number of economic size units.Technical efficiency, stochastic frontier approach, agricultural economics, frontier productions, farm efficiency

An analysis of the accounting principles applied by the European Farm Accountancy Data Network

In spite of its relative importance in the economy of many countries and its growing interrelationships with other sectors, agriculture has traditionally been excluded from accounting standards. Nevertheless, to support its Common Agricultural Policy, for years the European Commission has been making an effort to obtain standardized information on the financial performance and condition of farms. Through the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN), every year data are gathered from a rotating sample of 60.000 professional farms across all member states. FADN data collection is not structured as an accounting cycle but as an extensive questionnaire. This questionnaire refers to assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, and seems to try to obtain a "true and fair view" of the financial performance and condition of the farms it surveys. However, the definitions used in the questionnaire and the way data is aggregated often appear flawed from an accounting perspective. The objective of this paper is to contrast the accounting principles implicit in the FADN questionnaire with generally accepted accounting principles, particularly those found in the IVth Directive of the European Union, on the one hand, and those recently proposed by the International Accounting Standards Committee�s Steering Committee on Agriculture in its Draft Statement of Principles, on the other hand. There are two reasons why this is useful. First, it allows to make suggestions how the information provided by FADN could be more in accordance with the accepted accounting framework, and become a more valuable tool for policy makers, farmers, and other stakeholders. Second, it helps assessing the suitability of FADN to become the starting point for a European accounting standard on agriculture.Accounting, agriculture, accounting standards, European Union, farm accountancy data network

Competitividad comparada del sector granívoro español en el marco de la Unión Europea. Referencia específica a Cataluña

Competitividad comparada del sector granívoro español en el marco de la Unión Europea. Referencia específica a Cataluña. El sector granívoro, y especialmente el porcino, ha sido un recurso de intensificación en regiones con escasez de SAU y que poseen suelos pobres para el cultivo. Cataluña ha sido la región española cuyas explotaciones más han recurrido a este tipo de intensificación. El presente artículo constituye un estudio sobre la competitividad de las explotaciones granívoras españolas y catalanas en el marco de las regiones de la UE, para lo cual se han utilizado datos de RICA. A fin de obtener una caracterización completa de la situación de las explotaciones granívoras se ha utilizado un conjunto amplio de variables, cuyas características se han resumido en unos pocos factores. Utilizando estos factores como criterio de clasificación se ha aplicado un análisis de "cluster" a las explotaciones granívoras de las regiones de la UE de las cuales RICA ofrecía datos. El resultado de la investigación permite concluir que las explotaciones granívoras españolas tienen características estructurales y económicas atrasadas respecto de las regiones avanzadas de la UE. Estas explotaciones españolas han asumido poco riesgo empresarial para modernizarse y conseguir un tamaño de explotación competitivo. En consecuencia consiguen escasos beneficios económicos.Explotaciones granívoras, explotaciones porcinas, explotaciones avícolas, agricultura, regiones de la Unión Europea, análisis de cluster

Importancia de la información contable para el análisis y predicción de la viabilidad de las explotaciones agrícolas

Spanish and Western agriculture show a continuous decrease in the number of farms. One of the main factors for this trend is the economic non-viability of many of the existing farms. In addition, interrelationship of agriculture with other industries is growing. Thus, policymakers, banks, creditors and other stakeholders are interested in predicting farm viability. The aim of this paper is to provide empirical evidence that the use of accounting-based information could significantly improve understanding and prediction of various degrees of farm viability. Two multinomial logit models were applied to a sample of farms of Catalonia, Spain. One model included non-accounting-based variables, while the other also considered accounting-based variables. It was found that accounting added significant information to predict various degrees of farm viability. This finding reveals, both the need of encouraging the little existing use of accounting by farms and to develop appropriate accounting standards for agriculture.Accounting, agriculture, farm, non-viability, failure prediction models

Análisis empírico del comportamiento de los costes en las explotaciones agrícolas mediante datos de la red contable agraria nacional

In this article an empirical analyse of farming costs is performed within the frame of the activity based costing, employing a panel data set of Catalan farms. One the main conclusions of the study is that there is limited association for transaction and farm costs, especially in indirect costs. Direct and indirect costs are mainly driven by volume production.Agricultural costs, activity based costing, cost drivers, transactions

Accounting Research: a Critical View of the Present Situation and Prospects

In this study we critically review the internal procedures of the accounting community for generating and disseminating knowledge. We contend that academic journals on accounting research are scarce, publish few articles and apply high rejection rates, and the review process is lengthy and expensive. Additionally, an academic elite has unparalleled predominance in comparison to other business disciplines, reflected in an unusual share of published articles with authors affiliated to a small number of academic institutions, and the predominance of certain topics and methodologies. The discipline does not allow the collaborative, iterative and flexible features of innovative knowledge communities. The discipline’s internal procedures favour restriction, control, slowness, and expiration, rather than participation, speed and renewal. They are ill suited for advancing knowledge and bode badly for successful research. As a result, accounting academics present low research performance and the discipline is facing steady decline. More importantly, the discipline is handicapped in producing innovative knowledge able to contribute to critical research and long term social well-being.We also focus on the Spanish institutional situation, arguing that Spanish requirements for reaching tenured positions are difficult for accountants to meet.We highlight the need to raise awareness of the problem and change the procedures.En este estudio hacemos una revisión crítica de los procedimientos vigentes en la comunidad académica contable para la generación de conocimiento y su publicación. Exponemos que hay pocas revistas académicas para publicar la investigación contable, que éstas publican pocos artículos, aplican elevadas tasas de rechazo y el proceso de revisión es lento y costoso. Además, hay un predominio de una elite académica sin precedentes en otras disciplinas de empresa, lo cual se refleja en un mayor porcentaje de artículos pertenecientes a autores afiliados a un pequeño número de instituciones académicas, y el predominio de ciertos temas y metodologías.La disciplina no presenta los rasgos de colaboración, interactividad y flexibilidad propios de las comunidades dinámicas e innovadoras en la producción de conocimiento. El funcionamiento de la disciplina está más orientado al control que al avance del conocimiento.Los procedimientos seguidos en la disciplina no son los más apropiados para favorecer el éxito en la investigación. En consecuencia, los académicos contables presentan poca producción investigadora y tienen dificultades para desarrollar con éxito una carrera investigadora. Lo que es aún más importante, la disciplina ofrece pocas posibilidades de generar investigación crítica en cuestiones sociales y medioambientales.Este trabajo analiza también la situación institucional en España, aduciendo que los requisitos exigidos para alcanzar posiciones de estabilidad académica son difíciles de conseguir para los académicos que se dedican a la contabilidad.Ponemos de relieve la necesidad de tomar conciencia del problema, como primer paso para cambiar el funcionamiento de la disciplina

Audit tenure and audit Qualifications in a low litigation risk setting: An analysis of the Spanish market

The main role of the external auditor in the classical corporate governance scheme is to verify the accounting information provided by the firms' managers. Lengthy audit engagements are viewed as a main threat to preserve auditor independence, and therefore regulators have established mandatory rotation rules in many countries worldwide.Tenencia de auditorías y calificaciones de auditorías en un ambiente de bajo riesgo de litigios. Un análisis del mercado españo

The interaction effects of firm and partner tenure on audit quality

This paper investigates the impact of firm and partner tenure on audit quality, where audit quality is proxied by discretionary accruals. We study a sample of Spanish listed companies between 2005 and 2011 and address both the individual and the interaction effects of firm and partner tenure. Our study is motivated by the current debate, particularly intense at the EU level, on the impact of the auditor rotation regime on the quality of auditing. We find that, without considering the interaction effects, firm and partner tenure do not seem to play a relevant role as determinants of audit quality. Importantly, the interaction of firm and partner tenure shows stronger effects on audit quality than both forms of tenure separately considered. Finally, our analysis suggests that audit quality is maximized when medium firm and partner tenures interact. However, results for the interaction variables are sensitive to the accruals estimation method