A Multi-Case Investigation of Environmental Legitimation in Annual Reports

In this chapter, a legitimacy theory framework for corporate environmental disclosure is empirically investigated, using a multi-case research design. Legitimation strategies in the 1991-1995 annual reports of two Canadian-owned pulp and paper companies are explored. The findings support legitimacy theory as an explanation for voluntary environmental disclosure in annual reports

Financial Analysts and Enron: Asleep at the Wheel?

We attempt to replicate the duties of financial analysts by performing accounting and financial analyses for Enron, using information contained in the firm\u27s Security and Exchange Commission filings and in annual and quarterly reports that were available to analysts prior to the firm\u27s collapse. We focus on Enron accounting policies, estimates, and financial measures that reflect the key risk areas that we identified in our strategy analysis. Given that the purpose of accounting analysis is to evaluate the degree to which a firm\u27s accounting system captures its underlying economic reality, we attempt to assess the degree of distortion in Enron\u27s reported numbers, based on our comfort level with management\u27s choice of accounting policies and estimates. The purpose of our financial analysis is to assess the performance of the firm after its efforts to negate the effects of perceived distortions in the reported numbers. We ask, and attempt to answer, the question of whether financial analysts should have seen warning signs of Enron\u27s collapse and should have warned investors of the firm\u27s precarious financial situation long before the unfortunate event surprised stockholders and creditors alike. Our detailed analyses show that from 1997 onward there was evidence of reporting and performance problems. We highlight areas of major concern about profitability and debt levels. Although Enron management makes an abundance of information available to analysts, the language is not always clear; it is confusing even to accounting experts. The vast amount of information makes the analyst\u27s job time consuming and tedious, yet essential information, such as separate disclosures of unrealized gains on trading activities, is not available. This does not, however, excuse analysts who overwhelmingly would not see the woods for the trees, and who continued recommending to clients that they buy or hold Enron stock. Our investigation shows that the red flags were plentiful and that the situation was aggravated by the incidents of apparent disdain (reported in the news media) with which Enron\u27s top management dealt with financial analysts. The results of our accounting and financial analyses raise issues about the competence, independence, and objectivity of analysts who continued to recommend this stock

Ethical Concerns About the Online Sale of Instructor-Only Textbook Resources

Yes, your test bank and solutions manual are for sale and it is very easy for your students to acquire them. Using a stakeholder framework, we analyze the ethical issues involved in acquiring, using, and distributing these instructional resources by individuals besides the professors for whom they are intended. We also discuss countermeasures that stakeholders might use to deal with this latest development

An Investigation of Real Estate Investment Decision-Making Practices

This survey investigation reports on the investment decision-making processes used by equity investors in real estate. The survey covers the entire investment decision-making process, from setting strategy to auditing operating performance. Respondents identify the most important stages of the process as searching for investment opportunities, forecasting expected returns, and evaluating forecasted returns. Most believe that individual project factors are more important than strategic and portfolio factors, and that returns should be measured on a before-tax cash flow basis and evaluated using discounted cash flow measures. Respondents are more concerned with project than portfolio risk and are unlikely to make a quantitative risk assessment or risk adjustment. When compared with the results of earlier studies, this investigation suggests that real estate investment decision-making practices have not evolved much over the past decade

Feedback on Developing an AIS Curriculum

This paper gathers evidence about an Accounting Information Systems (AIS) curriculum developed using a Model-Oriented Tool-Enhanced (MOTE) framework. The evidence was gathered by eliciting the perceptions of employer stake holders about the curriculum. The curriculum follows recommendations of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) Guideline No. 11. The IFAC recommendations offer guidance on the information technology in content in accounting curricula and are supported by the AICPA. The evidence gathered supports the inclusion of most elements of the curriculum

Rethinking AIS: An Innovative Financial Information Systems Curriculum

This paper describes a new Financial Information Systems curriculum that integrates information technology and financial information in the development of business information systems, and discusses the problems we experienced in establishing the new program. Our intention is to provide accounting graduates with the knowledge they need to leverage the latest information technologies to support the use of financial information in management decision-making, and to integrate financial information and internal controls into business information systems. Our cross-disciplinary approach expands the horizons of our students, from one of viewing accounting as a stand-alone, untimely, inflexible information system, capturing only “accounting transactions” and their limited characteristics, to one of a more realistic real-time, enterprise-wide, activity-driven information system, used by a variety of users with a variety of needs. We also shift the focus from implementing costly controls to that of embedding controls within information systems during systems development, and of continuous systems monitoring