CONDITIONAL STATEMENTS, LOOPING CONSTRUCTS, AND PROGRAM COMPREHENSION: AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY.

The major objective of this research was to study the effects of positive/negative and true/false conditions, and a loop taxonomy, on the program-readability performance of programmers and programming students. Task learning was also included as an independent variable. It was proposed from prior theory that: (1) positive conditions would be easier to process than negative; (2) the positive/negative and true/false variables would interact such that the order of performance from high to low would be positive/true, positive/false, negative/false, negative/true; (3) the read/process loop would be easier to process than the process/read loop; (4) learning would improve performance; and (5) programmers would outperform students. In a laboratory experiment conducted to test these propositions, support was found for propositions (1), (4) and (5). Proposition (2) was largely supported in the programmer data. In the student data the positive/negative and true/false variables did not interact, with true conditions being easier than false. Proposition (3) was supported in the student data. This finding did not generalize to programmers

Properties of Accounting and Finance Information and Their Effects on the Performance of Bankers and Models in Predicting Company Failure

When the number of cues provided to a banker for a decision is increased it may (1) increase their information load (number of relevant cues), (2) increase their data load (number of irrelevant cues), and (3) reduce their uncertainty. Models, on the other hand, are not affected by information or data load. The results from this research show that as the number of cues provided to bankers increases, uncertainty reduces, data load increases, but information load is unaffected. The uncertainty reduction increases the decision accuracy of both the bankers and models. Due to the data load experienced by the bankers but not the models, the models have superior performance. The implications for future practice and research are discussed. Copyright Blackwell Publishers Ltd 2000.

The Association between Audit Committee Multiple-Directorships, Tenure, and Financial Misstatements

This study examines the association between multiple-directorships and tenure of independent audit committee members and financial misstatements in the preand post-Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) reform environment. Regulatory reforms following the accounting scandals at Enron and WorldCom substantially expanded the responsibilities and scrutiny of the audit committee and, consequently, amplify the reputational and litigation risks facing the directors serving on the committee. Our results show a significant positive association between financial misstatements and multiple-directorships in the post-SOX environment. This finding suggests that independent audit committee members serving on multiple boards may be stretched too thinly to effectively perform their monitoring responsibilities. We also find a significant positive association between the tenure of independent audit committee members and financial misstatements in the post-SOX environment, suggesting that directors with longer tenure may not exercise independent judgment. These observations support calls for limits on multiple-directorships and director tenure, and add to our understanding of how independent directors’ characteristics affect the effectiveness of the audit committee

The Relative Relevance of Cash Flow and Accrual Information for Solvency Assessments: A Multi-Method Approach

This multi-method study reports the results of two complementary experiments investigating the relevance of cash flow and accrual information. A behavioural field experiment investigated differences in the accuracy of solvency assessments between commercial lending managers using cash flow information and those using accrual information. Results indicated that commercial lending managers using cash flow information made more accurate solvency assessments than managers using accrual information. Results of an archival quantitative modeling experiment complemented these results and indicated cash flow information had incremental information content beyond accrual information. Our results confirmed the decision-usefulness of cash flow information and supported the mandate of the Statement of Cash Flows. Copyright Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 2003.

Multi-perspective performance reporting and organisational performance: the impact of information, data and redundant cue load

Multi-perspective performance reporting systems (MPRS), such as the balanced scorecard (BSC), have become popular. The BSC reports performance about four perspectives (learning and growth, internal business processes, customer and financials). Although these systems are important, research in these areas has only just scratched the surface, hence the motivation for this study. A possible problem with multi-perspective systems is that they may cause information/data/redundant cue (I/D/C) overload and thus detrimentally affect the performance. The objectives of this research are to: (1) explore the relationship between MPRS and organisational performance and (2) study the relationship between I/D/C load and organisational performance in multi-perspective systems. We found that (1) MPRS are positively associated with performance and (2) there is a weak negative association between I/D/C overload and performance. Our exploratory results are consistent with the views of advocates of MPRS (e.g. Kaplan and Norton) that MPRS enhance organisational performance