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Journal of Accounting and Economics Vol. 3 No. 2 1981

An income strategy approach to the positive theory of accounting standard setting/choice

Mark E. Zmijewski; Robert L. Hagerman

University at Buffalo, State University of New York

Abstract

This paper is designed to provide additional evidence on the positive theory of accounting policy choice by combining individual accounting principles into firm income strategies. These strategies were the dependent variable in a probit analysis where the independent variables were size, management compensation, industry concentration ratio, systematic risk, capital intensity and the total debt to total asset ratio. The results indicate that four of these factors (size, management compensation, concentration ratio, and the total debt to total asset ratio) have a significant association with the choice of a firm's income strategy. This test provides strong evidence consistent with the positive theory of accounting standard setting/choice. We also present evidence that smaller firms and/or firms in less concentrated industries do not appear to make accounting policy choice decisions that are consistent with this theory.

DOI
10.1016/0165-4101(81)90010-0
Volume
3
Issue
2
Pages
129-149
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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