Tracking tangible asset ownership and provenance with blockchain

Blockchain transactions are recorded in a shared and append-only repository that multiple parties verify, validate, and agree-upon. While initially used to keep track of digital assets, blockchains now track the ownership and provenance of tangible assets. An inherent challenge in using blockchain for this task involves keeping the status of a tangible asset in the physical world in sync with its non-fungible token on a blockchain. While several blockchains are already being used in this manner, specific implementation details are fragmented. In response, this study examines four stages of tracking tangible assets using a consortium’s permissioned blockchain, including: design and governance of a blockchain, asset creation, asset transfer, and asset retirement. Based on this analysis, this study proposes a framework of risk considerations and control objectives to evaluate the extent to which a unique blockchain serves as a reliable transaction repository for tracking the ownership and provenance of tangible assets

The influence of firm performance and (level of) assurance on the believability of management’s environmental report

Purpose – This study empirically examines perceptions of environmental report believability based on a firm’s relative performance and level of assurance obtained on environmental activities under the recently clarified and recodified attestation standards in the United States. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a 2 3 3 between-subjects experiment to identify differences in 153 non-expert environmental report users’ perceptions of report believability based on positive or negative firm performance and (level of) assurance provided by an accounting firm. Findings – Results show a main effect in that negative performance reports are perceived to be more believable than positive performance reports, as driven by negative performance reports being significantly more believable when no assurance is present. The firm performance effect is eliminated once limited or reasonable assurance is provided. Further, positive performance reports with limited, but not reasonable, assurance are perceived to be more believable than reports without assurance. No differences are identified within the negative performance condition. Practical implications – Limited assurance might be used as an impression management tool to enhance the believability of positive performance environmental reports. Users, practitioners, and standard-setters should also be aware that users might believe environmental reports are assured, even when no such assurance has been provided. Originality/value – This paper examines the impact of assured environmental reporting on users that review firms’ environmental reports outside of a shareholder/investor role. The study also demonstrates conditions in which firm performance and assurance impact perceptions of report believability

The influence of firm performance and (level of) assurance on the believability of management’s environmental report.

Purpose – This study empirically examines perceptions of environmental report believability based on a firm’s relative performance and level of assurance obtained on environmental activities under the recently clarified and recodified attestation standards in the United States. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a 2 3 3 between-subjects experiment to identify differences in 153 non-expert environmental report users’ perceptions of report believability based on positive or negative firm performance and (level of) assurance provided by an accounting firm. Findings – Results show a main effect in that negative performance reports are perceived to be more believable than positive performance reports, as driven by negative performance reports being significantly more believable when no assurance is present. The firm performance effect is eliminated once limited or reasonable assurance is provided. Further, positive performance reports with limited, but not reasonable, assurance are perceived to be more believable than reports without assurance. No differences are identified within the negative performance condition. Practical implications – Limited assurance might be used as an impression management tool to enhance the believability of positive performance environmental reports. Users, practitioners, and standard-setters should also be aware that users might believe environmental reports are assured, even when no such assurance has been provided. Originality/value – This paper examines the impact of assured environmental reporting on users that review firms’ environmental reports outside of a shareholder/investor role. The study also demonstrates conditions in which firm performance and assurance impact perceptions of report believability

Monitoring the Accounting Profession under the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct: An Analysis of State Board of Accountancy Participation

We study state board of accountancy participation in monitoring the conduct of accounting professionals under the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ (AICPA) Code of Professional Conduct (CPC). In doing so, we examine all sanctions imposed by the AICPA under its CPC from 2008 to 2016 to determine the extent to which a state board’s reporting of violations to the AICPA is associated with its full, partial, or non-adoption of the AICPA’s CPC. Our findings suggest that widespread full adoption of the AICPA’s CPC might not result in enhanced state board participation in reporting violations to the AICPA, as might otherwise be expected. Indeed, we find that state boards that partially adopt the AICPA’s CPC report the most violations. We also highlight the variability of state board participation in monitoring the misconduct of accounting professionals and provide suggestions for enhanced monitoring

The Impact of Persuasive Response Sequence and Consistency when IT Service Providers Address Auditor-Identified Issues in SOC2 Reports

We examine how an IT service provider’s persuasive communication related to SOC2 report findings influences management’s (i.e., user-entities’) perceptions of the outsourced services. Within SOC2 reports, service providers can attempt to influence management’s impressions of auditor-identified issues and, due to the report’s limited audience, also follow-up with management about these issues. Using dual-process theories of persuasion, we predict the type of persuasion used by a service provider in a SOC2 report (contend or concede), and its consistency with follow-up persuasive appeals (contend or concede), will influence management’s perceptions of the services provided. In an experiment, only when the service provider first contends the auditor’s findings does a follow-up concession (rather than contention) result in more favorable perceptions. Persuasion tactics also influence management’s processing of risk factors, which impact their trust in the service. Thus, IT service providers’ initial and follow-up persuasive communications influence management’s assessment of SOC2 auditor-identified issues

An exploratory study on the impact of COVID-19 on U.S. State boards of accountancy

In the United States (U.S.) individual state boards of accountancy govern the accounting profession within each state. When COVID-19 struck the U.S., state boards worked to maintain normal operations. This study examines how COVID-19 affected the regulatory and oversight activities of the state boards of accountancy and the ways in which boards adapted to the pandemic. We interview executive directors from 21 state boards to determine the pandemic’s impact on board operations and continuing professional education requirements. We also evaluate whether state boards implemented guidance from parties such as theNational Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA), and the resources boards had available to navigate the pandemic. Finally, we examine our analyses and findings through the lens of institutional theory. In doing so, we describe how state boards’ individual reactions to the pandemic resulted in a largely homogenous response, as affected by coercive, mimetic, and normative isomorphic mechanisms

Monitoring the accounting profession under the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct: An analysis of state board of accountancy participation

We study state board of accountancy participation in monitoring the conduct of accounting professionals under the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ (AICPA) Code of Professional Conduct (CPC). In doing so, we examine all sanctions imposed by the AICPA under its CPC from 2008 to 2016 to determine the extent to which a state board’s reporting of violations to the AICPA is associated with its full, partial, or non-adoption of the AICPA’s CPC. Our findings suggest that widespread full adoption of the AICPA’s CPC might not result in enhanced state board participation in reporting violations to the AICPA, as might otherwise be expected. Indeed, we find that state boards that partially adopt the AICPA’s CPC report the most violations. We also highlight the variability of state board participation in monitoring the misconduct of accounting professionals and provide suggestions for enhanced monitoring

Examining the use of Accounting Information in Planned Careers: A Group Project to more Fully Engage Students in Introductory Accounting Courses

Most undergraduate business students are required to complete one or two introductory accounting courses, but many fail to see the value that such coursework offers their career (Chen, Jones, and McIntyre 2004). However, engaging students in exercises that explicitly demonstrate the link between course content and planned areas of study enhances the student experience in introductory accounting courses (Turner, Lesseig, and Fulmer 2006). This article presents a group project for introductory accounting courses that links course content to planned areas of study across business disciplines. We discuss all elements of the semester-long project and offer several tools to help with implementation (e.g., project instructions, timeline, grading rubric, peer evaluation forms). Further, we provide insight into the advantages and disadvantages of different project administration approaches. Our pre and post surveys reveal the project helps students across nearly all business majors see that accounting information is used in their planned careers at significantly higher levels than once believed. We also find that the project helps students either increase enthusiasm for their major/planned career or pushes them to consider other majors/career paths. Such insight is invaluable for students early in their business education

Fodder crop management benefits Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) outside agri-environment schemes

To date, agri-environment schemes (AES) have had limited success in reversing biodiversity loss over greater spatial extents than fields and farms, and vary widely in their cost-effectiveness. Here, over nine years, we make use of the management initiative of a farmer in an upland livestock farming landscape in Scotland, undertaken wholly outside AES, to examine its effect on breeding densities of Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus. Management designed by the farmer involved planting a Brassica fodder crop for two consecutive years followed by reseeding with grass, with eight out of 17 fields at the farm undergoing this management since 1997. After controlling for other habitat parameters of importance, the density of breeding Lapwings was 52% higher in fields that had undergone fodder crop management than those that had not. Densities were highest in the first year after the fodder crop was planted, prior to reseeding with grass, but remained above levels in control fields for approximately seven years after the fodder crop was last planted. Very high Lapwing densities (modelled density = 1 pair ha-1) in the year after the fodder crop was planted likely result from the heterogeneous ground surface created by grazing of the crop providing an “attractive” nesting habitat. Continued high densities following reseeding with grass may partly be accounted for by philopatry, but the fact that they are field-specific also suggests that these fields continue to offer enhanced foraging conditions for several years. Fodder crop management was implemented at the study site to fatten lambs over winter and ultimately improve grass condition for grazing. This system is therefore based on active farming and benefits both the farmer and breeding Lapwings. As such, it may be possible to implement it more widely without the need for high agri-environment payments. More generally, it is an example of the land owner being actively involved in developing conservation solutions in partnership with environmental research, rather than being seen as a passive recipient of knowledge as has typically been the case with the design of AES. Such approaches need to be adopted more consistently in designing interventions for environmental outcomes on farmland, but may be of particular importance in the UK if the certainties of European Union AES are to come to an end