La relation entre honoraires d'audit et honoraires de conseil des auditeurs dans un contexte post-SOX : Le cas suisse

En Suisse, la fourniture simultanée de prestations d'audit et d'activités de conseil par les auditeurs est toujours permise. Avant que la loi Sarbanes-Oxley n'interdise aux réviseurs américains la fourniture de services non liés à l'audit, plusieurs études ont montré l'existence d'une relation positive entre les honoraires d'audit et ceux des activités de conseil. Profitant de l'obligation récente faite aux sociétés suisses cotées en bourse de publier le détail des honoraires payés à leurs auditeurs, ce papier examine si cette relation est vérifiée dans ce pays. Les résultats obtenus sont semblables à ceux relevés aux Etats-Unis avant l'interdiction des activités accessoires, alors que les caractéristiques institutionnelles des deux pays diffèrent fondamentalement.Honoraires d'audit ; Honoraires de conseil ; Suisse

Do Harmonised Accounting Standards Lead to Harmonised

The objective of this paper is to investigate the level of harmonisation for IAS 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement and to identify if different levels of harmonisation are associated with company-specific factors. Based on Rahman et al. (2002), we used the Jaccard (JACC) index to determine the level of harmonisation between IAS 39 and the financial reporting practice of a broad-based sample of European-listed companies in 2005.We applied regression analysis to identify companies’ specific characteristics that affect the level of convergence of the reporting practice of financial instruments. The results of this study show a high level of harmonisation between accounting practices of European companies included in our sample and IAS 39

The extent of corporate governance disclosure and its determinants in a developing market: The case of Egypt

This paper assesses the extent of corporate governance voluntary disclosure and the impact of a comprehensive set of corporate governance (CG) attributes (board composition, board size, CEO duality, director ownership, blockholder ownership and the existence of audit committee) on the extent of corporate governance voluntary disclosure in Egypt. The measurement of disclosure is based on published data created from a checklist developed by the United Nations, which was gathered from a manual review of financial statements and websites of a sample of Egyptian companies listed on Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX). Although the levels of CG disclosure are found to be minimal, disclosure is high for items that are mandatory under the Egyptian Accounting Standards (EASs). The failure of companies to disclose such information clearly shows some ineffectiveness and inadequacy in the regulatory framework in Egypt. Moreover, the phenomenon of non-compliance may also be attributed to socio-economic factors in Egypt. Therefore, it is expected that Egyptian firms will take a long time to appraise the payback of increased CG disclosure. The findings indicate that that—ceteris paribus—the extent of CG disclosure is (1) lower for companies with duality in position and higher ownership concentration as measured by blockholder ownership; and (2) increases with the proportion of independent directors on the board and firm size. The results of the study support theoretical arguments that companies disclose corporate governance information in order to reduce information asymmetry and agency costs and to improve investor confidence in the reported accounting information. The empirical evidence from this study enhances the understanding of the corporate governance disclosure environment in Egypt as one of the emerging markets in the Middle East

Directors' remuneration: A comparison of Italian and UK non-financial listed firms' disclosure

Directors' remuneration is a key issue for both academics and policymakers. It has caused enormous controversy in recent years. This study uses a comprehensive index to analyse the disclosure of directors' remuneration in Italian and UK listed firms. It finds that the level of voluntary disclosure is significantly associated with firm-specific incentives, such as the demand for information from investors and the need for legitimacy. It finds that the level of voluntary disclosure is significantly higher in the UK than in Italy and that firm-specific incentives to disclose voluntary information differ according to the institutional setting in which a firm operates. In the UK, firm-specific incentives mostly come from the demand for information, estimated with the level of ownership diffusion, and the need for legitimacy generated by poor market performance and shareholders' dissent. In Italy, firm-specific incentives seem to be represented by the need for legitimacy generated by media coverage. This study also provides evidence that, in both countries, the information disclosed in corporate documents does not allow readers to obtain a comprehensive picture of directors' remuneration. Bonuses are poorly disclosed even though they are a key element of directors' remuneration. This finding is clearly important for policymakers at European and national level

Publication Records of Faculty Promoted to Professor: Evidence from the UK Accounting and Finance Academic Community

This study investigates the publication profiles of 140 accounting and finance faculty promoted to the senior rank of professor at UK and Irish universities during the period 1992 to 2007. On average, approximately 9 papers in Association of Business Schools (ABS) (2008)-listed journals, with 5 at the highest 3*/4* quality levels in a portfolio of 20 outputs are required for promotion to professor. Multivariate analysis provides evidence that publication requirements in terms of ABS ranked journal papers have increased over time, an effect attributed to the government research assessment exercise. There is no evidence that requirements differ for: internal versus external promotion, male versus female candidates; accounting versus finance professors, research intensity of institution peer group; or government research ranking of unit. There is also no evidence of a substitution effect in relation to increased recent publication history, quantity of non-ABS outputs or sole-authorship, all of which show a significant complementary effect. It is noted that there is very limited overlap in the UK and US publication journal sets, suggesting underlying geographically-based paradigm differences. The benchmarks provided in this study are informative in a range of decision settings: recruitment; those considering making an application for promotion to a chair and those involved in promotion panels; cross-disciplinary comparisons; and resource allocation. The evidence presented also contributes to the emerging policy debates concerning the aging demographic profile of accounting faculty, the management of academic labour and the Research Excellence Framework

Digitalization of business functions under Industry 4.0

Despite the literature’s support that the main function to be affected by the Industry 4.0 movement will be the operations function, the rapid incorporation of new technologies under firms promises to affect each departments of the business dramatically. This chapter aims to highlight the role of each function within Industry 4.0. Moreover, the chapter will determine the actualized benefit of transitioning towards Industry 4.0, separate from the recognized benefits under the literature. In order to achieve this a content analysis was conducted on the 2017 annual activity reports of manufacturing firms listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange (BIST). Out of the 178 listed manufacturing firms under BIST, only 20 were identified as transitioning towards Industry 4.0. Out of these 20 firms, 16 firms’ annual activity reports mentioned transitioning towards Industry 4.0 and addressed the outcome (benefits) of the applications. Items were subjected to a content analysis based on business functions (Theme 1), sub-categories of business functions (Theme 2) and the common actual benefit (Theme 3) by three different researchers. The unit of analysis, the identified benefits, were 232 items in total and spread across the operations (41%), strategic management (Cost and Competitive Advantage) (22%), technology and process development (15%), procurement and distribution (12%), human resources (8%) and marketing (2%) business functions

Voluntary disclosure of corporate strategy: determinants and outcomes. An empirical study into the risks and payoffs of communicating corporate strategy.

Business leaders increasingly face pressure from stakeholders to be transparent. There appears however little consensus on the risks and payoffs of disclosing vital information such as corporate strategy. To fill this gap, this study analyzes firm-specific determinants and organisational outcomes of voluntary disclosure of corporate strategy. Stakeholder theory and agency theory help to understand whether companies serve their interest to engage with stakeholders and overcome information asymmetries. I connect these theories and propose a comprehensive approach to measure voluntary disclosure of corporate strategy. Hypotheses from the theoretical framework are empirically tested through panel regression of data on identified determinants and outcomes and of disclosed strategy through annual reports, corporate social responsibility reports, corporate websites and corporate press releases by the 70 largest publicly listed companies in the Netherlands from 2003 through 2008. I found that industry, profitability, dual-listing status, national ranking status and listing age have significant effects on voluntary disclosure of corporate strategy. No significant effects are found for size, leverage and ownership concentration. On outcomes, I found that liquidity of stock and corporate reputation are significantly influenced by voluntary disclosure of corporate strategy. No significant effect is found for volatility of stock. My contributions to theory, methodology and empirics offers a stepping-stone for further research into understanding how companies can use transparency to manage stakeholder relations