Knowledge that Transforms

Reviews the book "Anatomy of Depreciation," by G.D. Roy.

From the standpoint of financial statement analysis and forecasting, most business firms are also "miserable experimental designs." Accounting researchers, nevertheless, often rely heavily upon the fallible statistical tools of such designs. A major danger is the mechanical use of statistical techniques in overly superficial settings which have little or no relevance to accounting issues. This paper is directed to this danger which seems to be increasingly common in the accounting literature. Particular attention is directed to autocorrelation in accounting data experimental design." Unfortunately, statistical tools in experimental design and analysis are not easily adapted to miserable situations rampant with non-stationarities, interactions, missing variables, measurement error, autocorrelation, multicollinearities, etc. Autocorrelation is also ignored in many behavioral accounting experiments, especially where subjects are asked to make sequential decisions. For example, little attention is devoted to such issues in lens model studies of decision making.

Reviews the book "College Accounting: An Introduction," by Phebe M. Woltz and Richard T. Arlen.

The information about corporate income taxes disclosed in annual reports has changed significantly since the issuance of Accounting Series Release No. 149 in 1973. Several important issues remain unresolved, however, including the measurement of income tax expense for multiple corporate entities, the application of the indefinite reversal criteria for certain differences between book and taxable income, and the disclosure of current income taxes when the deferral method of accounting for the investment credit is used. Examples from corporate annual reports are used in this article to identify underlying reasons for these reporting concerns, and proposals for improved disclosure are offered.

Reviews the book "Evaluation of Human Service Programs," edited by C. Clifford Attkisson, William A. Hargreaves, Mardi J. Horowitz and James E. Sorensen.

Reviews the book "Financial Accounting," by Rudolph Schattke and Howard G. Jensen.

Reviews the book "Managerial Accounting: An Introduction to Concepts, Methods and Uses," by Sidney Davidson, James Schindler, Clyde Stickney and Roman Weil.

Reviews the book "Essays on the History of Accounting," by Basil S. Yamey.

Reviews the book "An Empirical Investigation of the Effects of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 8 on Security Return Behavior," by Roland E. Dukes.

Reviews the book "Financial Accounting: An Introduction," Harold Bierman and Allan R. Drebin.