Knowledge that Transforms

Ray Ball, George Foster, Corporate Financial Reporting: A Methodological Review of Empirical Research, Journal of Accounting Research, Vol. 20, Supplement: Studies on Current Research Methodologies in Accounting: A Critical Evaluation (1982), pp. 161-234

Smith and Zimmerman [1976] suggested valuing employee stock options at the difference between the market price of the stock at the grant date and the present value of the exercise price of a simple call option on the stock discounted from the expiration date.' They also discussed modifications to this value to take account of the impact of dividends, differing income tax rates, and the problem of differential underdiversification across option holders. The purpose of this note is to extend the minimum value method by incorporating (a) random exercise prices which depend on stock prices, (b) fixed exercise price changes, and (c) ceilings on the amount of stock appreciation permitted in these awards. The minimum values which incorporate the first two extensions are obtained from the option models of Fischer [1978] and Merton [1973]. We derive the minimum value for the third extension from probability theory results for first-passage times for stochastic processes.

Robert N. Freeman, James A. Ohlson, Stephen H. Penman, Book Rate-of-Return and Prediction of Earnings Changes: An Empirical Investigation, Journal of Accounting Research, Vol. 20, No. 2, Part II (Autumn, 1982), pp. 639-653

James Jiambalvo, Measures of Accuracy and Congruence in the Performance Evaluation of CPA Personnel: Replication and Extensions, Journal of Accounting Research, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Spring, 1982), pp. 152-161

Auditing, Statistical auditing, Jackknifed ratio estimation, Accounting population

The allegations and conclusions of the Metcalf report (U.S. Senate [1977]) motivated attempts to explain or refute the notion that the setting of financial accounting standards is controlled by special interest groups (Haring [1979], Hussein and Ketz [1980], Patton [1980], and Newman [1981a; 1981b]). Given the assumptions of the voting model tested in each case, the results suggest no apparent control of the Financial Accounting Standards Board by the so-called accounting establishmentBig public accounting firms and their clients. Each of these studies examined the past voting behavior of accounting policy bodies and tested hypotheses regarding certain sorts of coalition formation, primarily coalitions of public accountants from Big Eight firms. Even though there was no evidence of control by the Big Eight, Newman [1981a] argued that the Big Eight still had the potential to control the FASB. His argument was supported by a priori calculations of real voting power indices of a possible bloc of FASB representatives drawn from these largest public accounting firms. Newman's calculations rest on three forms of critical assumptions underlying the application of a priori real voting power indices to actual voting situations. These assumptions affect the outcomes and the relevance of voting power indices for such analyses. The objectives of this

Auditing, Normative Decision Theory, Descriptive validity, Allais paradox

Forecasting models, Management forecasts, ARIMA models, Analyst forecasts

Auditing, Materiality, Internal control weaknesses

Auditing, Sampling, Substantive test, Error characteristics