The Impact of Budget Variance, Fiscal Stress, Political Turnover, and Employment Sector on Compliance Reporting Decisions.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) established that financial reports of governmental entities should assist users in assessing accountability of politicians and bureaucracies (GASB 1987, 100.103). Auditing standards promulgated for the governmental environment similarly emphasize administrative accountability to the public. Government Auditing Standards (GAS) require auditors to determine whether a governmental entity has complied with all applicable laws and regulations. If noncompliance is found to have a material effect on the financial statements, governmental auditors are required to report it. This study examined what level of reporting auditors use and what factors contribute to a lack of consensus in reporting decisions. Specifically, auditor reporting decisions concerning municipal compliance with the Louisiana Local Government Budget Act were investigated. The Budget Act requires municipalities to amend their budgets if actual expenditures will exceed the budget by more than five percent. Auditors experienced in governmental auditing participated in an experiment, involving a small municipality that had contracted for an audit in accordance with GAS. Subjects were asked where they would report noncompliance with the Budget Act. Four independent variables were hypothesized to have an impact on reporting decisions: unfavorable budget variance, fiscal stress, political turnover, and employment sector of the auditor. Data were analyzed with chi-square tests, ordinal probit analysis, and correlation statistics. Budget variance and employment sector of the auditor were found to affect reporting decisions. Neither fiscal stress nor political turnover was significant, however. Auditors working for the Legislative Auditor of the State of Louisiana reported all instances of noncompliance at the maximum disclosure level, the Compliance Report. Auditors employed in the private sector, however, apparently judged the materiality of noncompliance. When budget variance was sixteen percent, private sector auditors, like legislative auditors, reported noncompliance in the compliance report. However, when budget variance was seven percent, private practitioners chose lower levels of disclosure, such as footnotes or a management letter. Finally, legislative auditors demonstrated higher consensus than private practitioners

The Science Performance of JWST as Characterized in Commissioning

This paper characterizes the actual science performance of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), as determined from the six month commissioning period. We summarize the performance of the spacecraft, telescope, science instruments, and ground system, with an emphasis on differences from pre-launch expectations. Commissioning has made clear that JWST is fully capable of achieving the discoveries for which it was built. Moreover, almost across the board, the science performance of JWST is better than expected; in most cases, JWST will go deeper faster than expected. The telescope and instrument suite have demonstrated the sensitivity, stability, image quality, and spectral range that are necessary to transform our understanding of the cosmos through observations spanning from near-earth asteroids to the most distant galaxies.Comment: 5th version as accepted to PASP; 31 pages, 18 figures; https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1538-3873/acb29

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

Standardized Clients: A Family Firm Application

Assessments of medical students’ clinical skills rely increasingly on standardized patients: actors hired to portray patients in need of diagnosis and medical care. The method was originally intended to test diagnostic skills, but it has had the added benefit of being a training ground for appropriate bedside manner. In this workshop, we will discuss the method itself, why it has relevance in modern business education, and how it can be adapted for use in family business, small business, and auditing classes. Finally, participants will portray a family business case developed under the standardized client approach

Do the Numbers Add Up to Different Views? Perceptions of Ethical Faculty Behavior Among Faculty in Quantitative Versus Qualitative Disciplines

ethics, faculty–student relationships, academic misconduct, academic discipline, AACSB,

A Review and Assessment of Behavioral Accounting Research in Government

We synthesize the literature on governmental accounting that utilizes behavioral research models. We identify topical areas of research and evaluate the subjects examined within the unique governmental environment. We find that much behavioral research in governmental accounting from 1991-2007 addressed budget-related topics, followed by auditing issues. There is a recent trend toward performance measurement and away from decision usefulness research. While relevant findings were noted in a number of areas, there is an overall lack of consistent streams of research, which may diminish the influence of the findings to the academic and professional communities

Stakeholder Participation in the Governmental Accounting Standard-Setting Process

Purpose Accounting standards are issued only after a comprehensive due process, which includes opportunities for external constituents to participate via public hearings and comment letters. The purpose of this paper is to identify stakeholders unique to government and evaluate the extent to which they respond to 13 due process documents issued by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB). The results provide insight into the comment letter element of due process – who participates, in what way do they participate, and why do they participate? Design/methodology/approach Comment letters received by the GASB in response to eleven exposure drafts and three preliminary views (PV) documents from 2010-2013 were examined, and respondents were categorized according to Cheng’s (1994) model as modified by Kidwell and Lowensohn (2011), resulting in the following 16 participant types: academics, budget officers, bureaucratic managers, state auditors/controllers, citizens, financial markets, elected officials, external auditors/CPA firms, finance officers, government accountants, government auditors, interest groups, media, professional associations, standard setters, and other governments. The authors next examined responses in favor of and opposed to for each document by group and responses by stakeholder group over time. Findings The authors find that participants came from various stakeholder groups. Consistent with findings in different standard-setting environments, the primary financial statement preparers – finance officers – were the most frequent individual respondents; however, there was participation from a wide variety of stakeholders. Responses are generally constructive and relatively consistent in their balance of favorable and unfavorable feedback over time, with a few exceptions. Closer examination of comment letters in response to the financial projections PV document reveals both conceptual and practical considerations underlying respondent participation. Research limitations/implications Motivations for participation were discerned from the letter content, but direct data on motivation was not measured, limiting the conclusions to apparent motivation. Future research might examine the extent to which comment letter content is incorporated into the basis of conclusions section of issued standards to assess the direct impact of comment letters on the governmental accounting standard-setting process. It would also be relevant to trace specific projects that advanced from a PV stage to the exposure draft stage to assess whether the proportional participation of these stakeholder groups is different throughout due process. Practical implications The GASB has long been receptive to constituent feedback (Lowensohn, 2000) and can glean useful input from comment letters. By closely examining arguments impounded within comment letters, including conceptual and practical considerations, and by utilizing a more delineated understanding of the stakeholders in governmental accounting standard setting, the Board can better forge into the future. Originality/value Much of the extant research documents that stakeholder participation is relatively low, given the number of parties affected by accounting standards. Prior research into both public and private sector accounting standard setting in the USA and abroad has not used all unique actors specific to the public sector. Using a comprehensive stakeholder model designed for the governmental environment, the authors examine who participates in the GASB comment letter process, assess the nature of GASB comment letter participant responses, determine whether relative participation by stakeholder group is relatively constant over time, and consider why the participants respond