This paper presents a conceptual and empirical analysis of the way in which coalitions of managers (i.e., firms) respond to regulation. The conceptual analysis provides a model of managerial behavior based on the assumption that these coalitions make cost/benefit analyses of activities in their self-interest. The model is used to develop hypothesized responses to the internal accounting control provision of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977. These hypotheses, that the regulation would not directly affect the level of internal accounting controls, but would affect the expenditure of resources for efforts to "prove" compliance with the law, were generally supported by the empirical results.

Reviews the book "Reporting Transnational Business Operations," by Francis A. Lees.

This note provides an alternative approach to the subject of variable cost variance analysis based on the concept of incremental cash flow. Explanation of the idea is assisted with the use of an accompanying worksheet. An illustration of the approach concludes the presentation.

In the context of "General-Price-Level-Adjusted Historical-Cost Statements and the Ratio-Scale View" (GPLAHCSATRSV), the ratio-scale view is the position that general-price-level-adjusted historical-cost statements are produced via the extensive ratio scale and related positive similarity transformations. One of the major conclusions of GPLAHCSATRSV is that this view is very likely to be invalid as a consequence of problems which the author terms the objects, property, operations, and index difficulties. Accounting direct measures may constitute measures of a property which are produced via the intensive ratio scale. The article concludes that Abdel-Magid's commentary fails to consider a difficulty which is relevant to the extensive-ratio-scale version of the ratio-scale view and which is the only difficulty that he considers relevant to the question of the validity of the intensive-ratio-scale version of the ratio-scale view. This deficiency implies that Abdel-Magid's commentary fails to achieve its stated objective.

This article reports results of a field study which tested the descriptive validity of expectancy theory predictions about job performance and satisfaction in a public accounting environment. The correlations between overall job satisfaction and predicted performance were interpreted as indicating that the four expectance models were significant predictors of job satisfaction for the audit staff accountants. Results obtained were sufficiently dissimilar to those obtained in other settings so that the ability of the expectancy models to predict job performance levels in an accounting context was questioned. The study used a between subjects research design for testing expectancy theory predictions of work behavior. This design, in which expectancy valence scores are correlated with concurrent individuals, has rather convenient statistical properties and has been extensively employed. A within-subjects research design will be required in order to properly test the descriptive validity of expectancy.

This study was concerned with Graduate-Level Public Sector Accounting Education (GLPSA) in the United States. A survey was conducted of the 123 graduate MBA programs currently accredited by the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business, with 81 responses (65.8 percent received. From the responses, it was determined that 11 schools currently offer a GLPSA course, while an additional 40 schools are planning such a course for offering within the next five years. Various reasons were suggested by the 70 institutions currently not offering a GLPSA course such as a lack of resources, inadequate student and faculty interest, and low employment opportunities. Schools currently offering a GLPSA course were requested to return a copy of the course syllabus. Analysis of the 11 syllabi received revealed that most of the courses presently offered consider primarily financial accounting and reporting issues related to such public sector entities as municipalities, hospitals, colleges and universities, etc. Although most courses did consider such issues as budgeting and managerial control, the time devoted to these topics generally was limited to a small portion of the course.

Reviews the books "CPA Review: Theory, Practice, Auditing," and "CPA Review: Problems and Solutions," by David F. Fetyko and Elwyn L. Christensen.

Reviews the book "Forecasting Methods for Management," 2nd ed., by Steven C. Wheelwright and Spyros Makridakis.

Reviews the book "Statistical Cost Estimation," by Joel Dean.

Reviews the books "Zero-Base Budgeting Comes of Age," by Logan M. Cheek and "Zero-Base Planning and Budgeting: Improved Cost Control and Resource Allocation," by Paul J. Stonich.