Professionalization, sectional interests and politics in the digital era: the case of the Greek Accountancy Institute

Although the accounting professionalization project has been thoroughly examined, less effort has been directed towards understanding the role of technological advancements, such as websites, in the development of the institution of accountancy. Considering the popularity of the web and the rapidly expanding number of internet users across the globe, such an investigation may enrich current understandings. This paper seeks to provide insights into the purpose of the construction and use of the Greek accountancy Institute’s website in the 2000s. The Greek Institute is an interesting case for it appears to have set up a website in direct response to the early 2000s legitimacy challenges to its credibility. It is demonstrated that the website constituted a main tool through which the self-image of an adequately self-regulated, homogenous, ethical and trustworthy profession was projected. However, by bringing to the forefront the inherently fragmented nature of the accountancy membership and the inter-professional politics, it is argued that it was devised by the representatives of local accountants who sought to reproduce the status-quo and secure their sectional interests to the detriment of rival, mainly, multinational-groups. The story which unfolds in this paper may have important implications for academic researchers and practitioners as it sheds light upon the role of vocal and influential members who, by controlling essential professional mechanisms, attempt to maintain certain structures and power relations

Editorial: equality, diversity and inclusion in accounting

Editoria

The Impact of Religiosity on Audit Pricing

Prior literature has demonstrated that religiosity is associated with a reduced acceptance of unethical business practices and financial reporting irregularities. On this premise, we examine whether religiosity, conceptualized as the degree of adherence to religious norms in the geographical area where a firm’s headquarters is located, has an impact on audit firms’ pricing decisions in the US. We measure the intensity of religiosity by the number of adherents relative to the total population in a county and demonstrate that increased religious adherence operates as an institutionalized monitoring mechanism that decreases audit risk and audit costs, which is, in turn, reflected in reduced audit pricing. Additional tests suggest that the impact of religiosity on auditors’ pricing decisions is not differentiated by levels of auditor expertise but that audit fees are determined by an auditor’s relative location in a market sector and religious adherence. We conclude that religious adherence reduces the need for shareholders to bear the costs of monitoring agents, a finding which could be of importance for market participants and regulators

The cost of sin:the effect of social norms on audit pricing

In this paper we provide evidence for the effects of social norms on audit pricing by studying companies belonging to the alcohol, firearms, gambling, military, nuclear power, and tobacco industries,which are often described as “sin” companies. We hypothesize that the disparities between “sin” firms operations and prevailing social norms create an adverse context which heightens the client's business risk assessment by auditors and is, thereby, reflected in the pricing decisions for audit and consulting services. Having controlled for the impact of variables relating to client attributes, auditor attributes and engagement attributes, we demonstrate that audit firms charge significantly higher audit and consulting fees to companies that deviate from prevailing social norms. Additionally,we show that audit pricing levels within the “sin” group depend both on prevailing political views and on the level of “vice” exhibited by “sin” companies

The impact of labor unionization on CSR reporting

Purpose Corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting has been theorized as a key communication device and an integral part of a broader stakeholder integration management strategy. This paper aims to examine the relationship between CSR disclosures and organized labor, an important internal stakeholder, whose institutional role in dynamically advancing employee interests creates opportunities and challenges for strategic management and firm sustainability. Design/methodology/approach By using a sample of 2,526 US firm-year observations for the period 2002–2015, the authors demonstrate that managers in unionized contexts are more likely to issue CSR reports than managers in firms, where labor is not organized. Findings The authors demonstrate that managers in unionized contexts are more likely to issue CSR reports than managers in firms where labor is not organized. Considering stakeholder theory, they argue that, in unionized contexts, managers more intensively resort to CSR disclosures to form an alignment of interests, develop collaborative bonds with unions and smoothen relationships with external financial stakeholders. This effect is more prominent in areas where corporate spatial clustering and the prevailing political ideology facilitate the role of unions. Research limitations/implications First, the data refer to USA, which may limit the generalization of the results. Hence, researchers could use cross-country datasets to overcome this limitation. Second, it would be important to know what benefits are enjoyed by the unionized companies that issue CSR reports. Third, they acknowledge that there is useful qualitative information they do not analyze. This analysis could potentially relate specific CSR information to unions’ needs and demands. Further, there are alternative channels through which companies disclose relevant information such as 10-K filings, annual reports, firm websites, media, public announcements, etc. These are not captured by the data. Practical implications Managers could benefit from the empirical analysis, which suggests that through the initiation of CSR reports a dialogue with unions is greatly facilitated. Managers should consider that CSR reports reduce information asymmetries and may attract the interest of investors. Unionists should be aware that CSR reports constitute an opportunity to identify mutual interests and align goals. Business analysts, investors and shareholders should be aware that standalone CSR reports are used by managers to reduce information asymmetries and disparities with unions and to communicate an investment-friendly context. So, market participants should factor such policies by unionized firms into their investment analyses. Social implications The authors offer implications for managers, labor unionists and market participants. Originality/value This paper examines the relationship between CSR disclosures and organized labor, an important internal stakeholder, whose institutional role in dynamically advancing employee interests creates opportunities and challenges for strategic management and firm sustainability

The impact of religiosity and corruption on CSR reporting: The case of U.S. banks

In this paper, we provide insights into CSR disclosure strategies by bringing to the fore the important role played by contextual factors. We examine the impact of religiosity upon the instigation of voluntary CSR disclosures and the way that corruption, a trans-systemic contextual feature, moderates this relationship. We draw upon social norm and institutional theories to illuminate the mechanisms through which contextual elements give rise to management disclosure strategies. Our investigation focuses on the U.S. context, where religiosity is of increasing importance and concentrates on the U.S. banking industry, whose impacts and ramifications are global. We demonstrate that the probability of a bank issuing a standalone CSR report is positively associated with the level of adherence to religious norms, a relationship which weakens in regions characterized by high levels of corruption. The implications of our findings are important for analysts and other market participants

Corporate social responsibility and earnings management in U.S. banks

Business decision making depends on financial reporting quality. In identifying the drivers of financial reporting quality, proxied by earnings management (EM), prior literature has drawn attention to the association between corporate EM practices and commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR). Empirical evidence, however, provides inconclusive results regarding the direction of this association. Using simultaneous equations, we examine the bi-directional CSR-EM relationship in U.S. commercial banks. We demonstrate that, although banks that engage in EM practices are also actively involved in CSR, the reverse relationship is not significant. We provide implications for investors, analysts, business participants and regulators

Artificial corporatism: A portal to power for accountants in Brazil

The political history of Brazil includes a period of colonisation by the Portuguese, the establishment of an imperial court, a period of rule by various military juntas, dictatorship and democracy. Drawing on archival based research conducted in Brazil and informed by theorisations of the contribution of interest governance to social order and corporatism, this study focuses on the transformation of the modus operandi of accountants and their ascendancy in this country. The study covers the period between 1902 and 1946, in which dictatorship, increasing centralisation and bureaucratisation eventually gave way to a fledgling democracy. Early in the twentieth century, the state pursued a policy of sponsoring the syndicalisation of workers as a means of eliciting cooperation in exchange for (what was essentially a simulacrum of) access. In accountancy, this early form of association was constrained in many ways, but it also laid the foundations for the accounting syndicates to press for legislation for improved education and for national professional organisation in 1946

Transplanting Anglo-American accounting oversight boards to a diverse institutional context

The introduction of accounting and auditing oversight boards (OBs) has been promoted on a global scale as a key component of the international financial architecture that has emerged over the past two decades. Such institutions, modeled on the Anglo-American tradition, are domestically organized and embedded within distinctively diverse institutional contexts. Their role is to ease agency problems, improve the quality of financial reporting, and help provide stability in the global financial system. We employ an institutional approach, located within the broader political economy framework of global capitalism, to examine the establishment and operation of the new regulatory regime in Greece. Greece, a member of the European Union, exhibits characteristics of a "delegative" democracy, i.e. a traditionally weak institutionalization, reform (in)capacity problems and a clientelistic political system. Our case study shows that the formation and operation of the newly-established system of oversight is conditioned by local political and economic constraints and, thus, does not automatically translate into concrete benefits for the quality of financial reporting. We also draw attention to the structural mismatch between a progressing globalized financial integration and the fragmented nature of the system of oversight, and illustrate that OBs' independence from local governments is an important but neglected issue