The Effect Of Auditor Independence On International Capital Markets For eCommerce Firms

According to the efficient market hypothesis, the market for securities can be described as efficient if the market reflects all available information and reacts quickly to new information (Schroeder and Clark 1998).  Investors depend on financial statements to help them judge opportunities, risks, and investment alternatives (Revsine, Collins and Johnson 1999).  This information must be verified by independent sources such as auditors.  The relationship between auditor and stockholder is based on agency theory (Schroeder and Clark 1998), where the agent (auditor) has a fiduciary relationship with the principle (stockholders).  Any loss of faith in auditor independence by investors will seriously affect the information value of financial statements. Auditor independence rules must be easy to understand and rigorously enforced or the public's confidence in financial statements will erode.  This paper will specifically assess the difficulties encountered by large accounting firms such as PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) and Arthur Andersen  in their efforts to remain independent with respect to their e-commerce clients.  Many e-commerce companies have innovative and untested business models as well as inexperienced and untraditional business managers.  Some auditors fail to measure the risk associated with these intangible, knowledge-based attributes.  In addition, auditor independence may be blurred by the promise of lucrative consulting contracts.  According to Arthur Levitt, the Chair of the SEC in 1999: “The dynamic nature of today’s capital markets creates issues that increasingly move beyond the bright line of black and white.  New industries, spurred by new services and new technologies, are creating new questions and challenges that must be addressed.  Today, we are witnessing a broad shift from an industrial economy to a more service based one; a shift from bricks and mortar to technology and knowledge.” (Levitt 1999) The objective of this paper is to review current independence rules, assess the difficulty in maintaining independence in the current e-commerce environment, and to make suggestions for improving independence rules.  In addition, investigations conducted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and new legislation such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act will be reviewed as possible solutions to the problem

Comparing Online And In-Class Students: Perceptions, Demographics And Grades In MBA Accounting Classes

In this study, graduate business students participated in an accounting course that was offered online and in-class.  The students worked in groups on an accounting case study.    Data collected from both online and on-campus classes were reported, compared, and analyzed.  Learning outcomes were investigated in relation to content knowledge, academic performance, fairness, and educational objectives based on Bloom’s Taxonomy.  As a result, only small differences were found in the learning outcome measures between online and in-class students.  However, input measures indicate that the online students may have been better prepared for the course

AIS Faculty Familiarity And Perceptions Of AIS Journals

Much research has been published related to journal quality in fields such as accounting, finance, information systems, and management.  In accounting, the sub-disciplines of auditing, financial, management, and tax have received attention in published papers.  This study contributes to the literature by providing an in-depth study of AIS faculty familiarity and perceptions of AIS journals.  I collected faculty perceptions about AIS journals from the American Accounting Association members of the Information Systems and Artificial Intelligence / Emerging Technology sections.  The result is an AIS journal ranking that is substantially different than the rankings produced by other studies of accounting journals

Academic and Practitioner Interests Regarding Emerging Technologies in Accounting

In this paper we investigate the differences between practitioner and academic interests in emerging technologies. We compare and contrast the results of an accounting faculty survey to the AICPA\u27s (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants) Top Technology list. It appears that academics and practitioners have significantly different interests concerning emerging technologies. Furthermore, technology interests for both groups change over time. We then discuss the problems that arise from the differing points of view and suggest some possible solutions

Emerging technologies and the future of the accounting profession

In this paper we investigate the differences between practitioner and academic interests in emerging technologies. We compare and contrast the results of a faculty survey to the AICPA\u27s Top Technology list. It appears that academics and practitioners have significantly different interests concerning emerging technologies. Furthermore, technology interests for both groups change over time. We then discuss the problems that arise from the differing points of view and suggest some possible solutions

A Quantitative Analysis Of AIS Professor Compensation

Much research has been published related to compensation in major academic fields such as finance and economics, however little attention has been paid to Accounting Information Systems (AIS).  Conspicuously absent from the literature are in-depth studies of faculty compensation and its relationship to research productivity for AIS faculty.  This study examines compensation, rank and publication data collected from members of the American Accounting Association.  Members of the Information Systems section and the Emerging Technology/Artificial Intelligence section were surveyed.  The relationships between compensation and its possible determinants such as research productivity and institutional accreditation are reported as well as analyzed.  We find that compensation is significantly correlated with professors’ profiles as well as the school profile where the professor is employed

A Quantitative Analysis of MIS Faculty Compensation

This study examines data collected from the Association for Information Systems 2003 and 2004 MIS Salary Surveys. The relationships between compensation and its possible determinants such as faculty research productivity and school teaching load are analyzed. We find that compensation is significantly correlated with faculty profiles as well as school profiles

Economic freedom and the impact of technology on productivity

A well-developed body of literature has detected positive effects of technology investments on economic growth. We contribute to this literature by studying the joint effects of technology and economic freedom on economic growth. Using two different time points. 1990 and2000. and a sample of over 100 countries. we find that economic freedom enhances the effect of technology on economic growth. In fact, we find that the standalone effect of freedom is not as large as its interactive effect with technology

An Analysis Of The Determinants Of MIS Faculty Salary Offers

Much research has been published related to compensation in academic fields such as finance, accounting and economics; however, little attention has been paid to Management Information Systems (MIS).  Conspicuously absent from the literature are in-depth studies of faculty compensation and its relationship to research productivity for MIS faculty.  This study examines compensation, rank, and publication data collected from the Association for Information Systems (AIS) 2003-2004, 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 MIS Salary Surveys.  MIS faculty who were newly employed or changed positions filled out the online survey at the AIS Web site on a self-selected basis.  The relationships between compensation and its possible determinants such as research productivity and institutional teaching load are reported as well as analyzed.  We find that compensation is significantly correlated with professors’ profiles as well as with the school profile at which the professor received a job offer

What Influences Salary: A Study Of MIS Faculty Job Offers

What matters when you’re negotiating a job offer? We address this and other questions using data from the Association for Information Systems (AIS) Salary Surveys on compensation, rank, publication data, and similar data associated with MIS Faculty job offers. Our study has three primary findings. First, school and individual factors influence the position and salary offered, but individual factors have a stronger impact. Second, we find the position (i.e., associate/assistant professor and teaching load) offered by schools partially mediates the relationship between school and individual factors and the starting salary. Third, the direct impact of individual factors is also influenced by some school factors. Specifically, top tier publication is the most important individual factor in determining the salary level at PhD granting institutions