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Canadian academic accountants' productivity: A survey of 10 refereed publications, 1976–1989*

Contemporary Accounting Research 1990 7(1), 278-294 open access
In this paper we examine the productivity of Canadian academic accountants through analyses of articles published in 10 refereed journals between 1976 and 1989, inclusive. We report the numbers of articles by Canadian institutional affiliation cross‐tabulated by subject area, whether theoretical or empirical, and by the journal in which articles appeared. Summary statistics are computed to identify the gross and per capita productivity of the institutions represented and to identify the 10 most productive researchers in this period as well as in the subperiods 1976–82 and 1983–89.

La productivité des professeurs de comptabilité au Canada: dépouillement de 10 publications spécialisées, 1976–1989

Contemporary Accounting Research 1990 7(1), 295-312 open access
Résumé. Les auteurs examinent dans le texte qui suit la productivité des professeurs de comptabilité canadiens en procédant au dépouillement des articles ayant paru dans 10 publications avec comité de lecture entre 1976 et 1989 inclusivement. Ils recensent le nombre d'articles rédigés par les professeurs attachés à des établissements canadiens en les classant par sujet, qu'il s'agisse de textes théoriques ou pratiques, et selon la publication dans laquelle ces articles ont paru. Les auteurs ont procédé à la compilation de statistiques sommaires permettant d'évaluer la productivité globale et la productivité par auteur dans les établissements représentés et de déterminer les 10 chercheurs qui se sont révélés les plus productifs au cours de cette période ainsi qu'au cours des périodes intermédiaires 1976–1982 et 1983–1989.

The Familiarity with and Perceived Quality of Accounting Journals: Views of Senior Accounting Faculty in Leading U.S. MBA Programs*

Contemporary Accounting Research 1994 11(1), 223-250 open access
Determining familiarity with and evaluating quality of accounting journals are of interest to various parties in accounting academia. In recent years, the number of accounting journals has grown, and many special‐interest subgroups have arisen. This study surveys senior faculty at Business Week's “best 40 MBA programs” to determine their familiarity with and quality perceptions of 44 accounting journals. As to familiarity, 5 journals were nearly universally known, and a total of 15 had wide recognition. Financial, managerial, and auditing faculty exhibited similar familiarity patterns, while tax faculty had a somewhat different pattern. As to quality perceptions, relatively few journals achieved high quality evaluations. There was, however, general consensus across the different subject‐area faculty as to the top journals. Special consideration was given to the newer (post‐1980) journals. Six of the 19 newer journals in the study achieved high familiarity scores, and 3 achieved high quality evaluations. Résumé. Le degré de connaissance des publications comptables et la perception de la qualité de ces publications sont des sujets qui intéressent divers membres de la communauté universitaire œuvrant dans le domaine comptable. Depuis quelques années, le nombre des publications comptables a augmenté, et maints sous‐groupes d'intérêt particuliers ont vu le jour. Les auteurs ont réalisé un sondage auprès de professeurs d'expérience enseignant dans le cadre des quarante meilleurs programmes MBA répertoriés par Business Week , afin de déterminer dans quelle mesure ils connaissaient 44 publications comptables et quelle était leur perception de la qualité de ces publications. En ce qui a trait à la connaissance, 5 publications sont presque universellement connues et 15 au total ont un grand rayonnement. Les professeurs de finance, de gestion et de vérification ont affiché des profils de connaissance analogues, tandis que les professeurs de fiscalité présentaient un profil quelque peu différent. Quant à la perception, de la qualité, relativement peu de publications ont obtenu la cote ≪ qualité élevée ≫. L'on a cependant observé un consensus général chez les professeurs des différentes disciplines ers ce qui a trait aux publications de prestige. Une attention particulière a été accordée aux publications plus récentes (postérieures à 1980). Six des 19 publications plus récentes de l'étude ont obtenu une cote élevée relativement au degré de connaissance, et 3 d'entre elles ont obtenu une cote élevée relativement à la qualité.

The Role of Narcissistic Hypocrisy in the Development of Accounting Estimates

Contemporary Accounting Research 2020 37(2), 1199-1216 open access
In an experiment including experienced managers, we investigate how supervisor and subordinate narcissism influence a supervisor's review of a subordinate's accounting estimate. While narcissistic supervisors express greater liking for narcissistic subordinates (narcissistic tolerance), they nonetheless reject and revise the accounting estimates of narcissistic subordinates to a greater extent than they reject estimates of non‐narcissistic subordinates (narcissistic hypocrisy), even when doing so inhibits the supervisor's ability to reach a profit target. Our findings contribute to extant research in accounting and psychology. We demonstrate that narcissistic hypocrisy extends beyond the evaluation of others and alters narcissists' willingness to rely on other narcissists in a meaningful financial reporting decision. We also find that narcissistic hypocrisy is robust across age, gender, and supervisory experience.

Civil society as a quasi‐regulator: Coordination in financial regulation on climate change

Contemporary Accounting Research 2025 42(2), 837-865 open access
As early as 2015, financial regulators were developing disclosure frameworks aimed at enabling capital markets to price climate risks. Yet the literature on sustainability disclosure offers little insight into how regulatory agendas change, instead focusing on how nongovernmental organizations drive voluntary disclosure. To address this deficiency, this paper charts how financial regulators came to embrace climate risk, analyzing how an array of non‐state initiatives became coordinated in highlighting climate‐related impairment risks. This coordination is conceptualized via scholarship on decentered regulation, allowing a first, theoretical, contribution by constructing and demonstrating one analytical approach to studying substantive change on sustainability. This paper draws on a 25‐month participant observation of a United Nations standard‐setting project, supported by semi‐structured interviews. This allows a second, empirical, contribution by mapping how an accounting device, the so‐called “carbon budget” (the maximum amount of cumulative greenhouse gas emissions that limits the probability of exceeding 2°C of warming to 20%), coordinated this array of non‐state action toward resolving a core trade‐off: if we burn our current fossil fuel reserves, we will exceed our warming targets. The paper then shows how these coordinated efforts pressured regulatory authorities to intervene on how finance affects and is affected by climate change.

Volatility of Tax Payments and Dividend Payouts*

Contemporary Accounting Research 2023 40(1), 451-487 open access
Dividends are a key mechanism for shareholders to discipline managers and mitigate agency conflicts. This study examines whether the volatility of tax payments is associated with dividend payouts. Consistent with the predictions, results suggest that firms with more volatile tax payments are less likely to pay dividends overall and their dividends are lower in magnitude when doing so. These effects are economically significant and incremental to a firm's operating risk. The link between volatile tax payments and the likelihood of dividend payouts is weaker for firms that distribute dividends to alleviate agency conflicts. Similarly, the link between volatile tax payments and the amount of dividend payouts is weaker for firms that hold more cash for tax reasons. Taken together, these findings add to our understanding of the economic consequences of volatile tax payments and the determinants of dividend payouts.

Authority, Monitoring, and Incentives in Hierarchies*†

Contemporary Accounting Research 2021 38(3), 1643-1678 open access
We study three elements of management control: incentive compensation, performance monitoring, and delegation of authority to managers to contract with lower‐level employees. Using a principal‐agent model, we highlight important direct and indirect interactions between and among these endogenous control elements, themes often emphasized in the economics and accounting literatures using the analogy of a three‐legged stool. We identify circumstances in which control elements are complements or substitutes and exhibit a coherent pattern of practices observed together. For instance, contrary to typical predictions that quality monitoring complements steep effort incentives, we find that when contracting authority adjusts easily to changes in firm circumstances, then both incentive pay and contracting authority substitute for monitoring quality, while incentive pay complements contracting authority. Overall, our findings suggest a number of empirical implications and generally inform a growing literature that documents the presence or absence of complementarities among management control elements.

Disclosure of tax‐related critical audit matters and tax‐related outcomes

Contemporary Accounting Research 2024 41(2), 719-747 open access
Given that tax‐related critical audit matters (tax CAMs) were prevalent among accelerated filers (18.5% of observations) during the initial year of CAM disclosures, we examine whether an auditor's disclosure of tax CAMs is associated with variation in tax‐related financial reporting quality, tax avoidance, and tax‐related earnings management. Finding an association between tax CAMs and one of these tax outcomes would indicate that the new auditor reporting standard has indirectly affected investors. Examining the first year of CAM disclosures, we do not find that tax CAMs are associated with broad proxies of tax‐related audit or financial reporting quality (e.g., restatements, internal control weaknesses, comment letters) or tax avoidance (e.g., effective tax rates or book‐to‐tax differences). We do find that tax CAMs are associated with a modest increase in tax accrual quality, an increase in the reserve for unrecognized tax benefits, and a reduction in the likelihood of tax‐related earnings management. However, we do not find these tax CAM effects persist into the second year of CAM reporting. Our evidence is consistent with tax CAM disclosures having a modest but short‐lived effect on companies' reporting of tax accounts. Our findings should inform the PCAOB as they conduct their post‐implementation review of the new audit reporting standard.