http://directory.umm.ac.id/Data%20Elmu/jurnal/J-a/Journal%20of%20Accounting%20and%20Public%20Policy/Vol19.Issue4-5.2000/6060.pdf

Research design issues in earnings management studies

The development of the Internet as a global medium for the dissemination of corporate financial information creates a new reporting environment. Extensive literature examines the determinants of voluntary financial reporting through traditional media such as print-based annual reports. This paper extends this literature by examining the voluntary adoption of the Internet as a medium for transmitting financial reports and determinants of such voluntary practice by New Zealand companies. The results indicate that some determinants of traditional financial reporting - firm size, liquidity, industrial sector and spread of shareholding - are determinants of voluntary adoption of Internet financial reporting (IFR). However, other firm characteristics, such as leverage, profitability and internationalization do not explain the choice to use the Internet as a medium for corporate financial reporting.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/JIFM089.pdf?abstractid=388523&mirid=1&type=2

Determinants of Internet Financial Reporting by New Zealand Companies

The development of the Internet as a global medium for the dissemination of corporate financial information creates a new reporting environment. Extensive literature examines the determinants of voluntary financial reporting through traditional media such as print–based annual reports. This paper extends this literature by examining the voluntary adoption of the Internet as a medium for transmitting financial reports and determinants of such voluntary practice by New Zealand companies. The results indicate that some determinants of traditional financial reporting—firm size, liquidity, industrial sector and spread of shareholding—are determinants of voluntary adoption of Internet financial reporting (IFR). However, other firm characteristics, such as leverage, profitability and internationalization do not explain the choice to use the Internet as a medium for corporate financial reporting.

Where firms choose to disclose voluntary environmental information

This study examines whether auditor opinions are affected by political and economic influences from governments. We use auditor locality (local versus non-local) to capture such influences from local governments in China. Based on data from China's stock markets for the period 1996-2002, we find that local auditors, who have greater economic dependence on local clients and are subject to more political influence from local governments than non-local auditors, are inclined to report favorably on local government-owned companies to mitigate probable economic losses. Moreover, companies with qualified opinions are more likely to switch from a non-local auditor to a local auditor than companies with unqualified opinions. Contrary to some prior studies, we find that in China's political environment, local government-owned companies that switched from a non-local auditor to a local auditor after receiving a qualified opinion can succeed in opinion shopping.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID871604_code468680.pdf?abstractid=871604&mirid=1

A Political-Economic Analysis of Auditor Reporting and Auditor Switches

This paper examines the earnings management of chemical firms at the end of 1979 when Congress was considering legislation leading to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Recovery Act of 1980. This legislation gave the U.S. government the authority to remediate hazardous chemical waste sites and set up a Superfund, funded largely by the chemical industry, to cover cleanup costs. Unlike prior studies that use single, often crude, measures of political costs, we employ seven different measures of the firms' exposure to costs arising from Superfund. Additionally, using factor analysis, we construct a composite measure of political costs. There is some evidence from time-series tests that chemical firms took income-decreasing accruals in 1979 at the height of the Superfund debate but, as expected, they did not in the prior or preceding year. Cross-sectional tests show that the size of the earnings response is correlated negatively with four of the seven individual proxies for political ...

Earnings Management of Chemical Firms in Response to Political Costs from Environmental Legislation

/pdf/accounting-rates-of-return-as-proxies-for-the-economic-rate-1ogj5o6sle.pdf

Accounting Rates Of Return As Proxies For The Economic Rate Of Return: An Empirical Investigation

This paper examines the earnings management of chemical firms at the end of 1979 when Congress was considering legislation leading to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Recovery Act of 1980. This legislation gave the U.S. government the authority to remediate hazardous chemical waste sites and set up a Superfund, funded largely by the chemical industry, to cover cleanup costs. Unlike prior studies that use single, often crude, measures of political costs, we employ seven different measures of the firms' exposure to costs arising from Superfund. Additionally, using factor analysis, we construct a composite measure of political costs. There is some evidence from time-series tests that chemical firms took income-decreasing accruals in 1979 at the height of the Superfund debate but, as expected, they did not in the prior or preceding year. Cross-sectional tests show that the size of the earnings response is correlated negatively with four of the seven individual proxies for political costs. Also, the common factor for political cost is related significantly to the earnings response. Overall, the evidence is consistent with the political cost hypothesis.

Richard G. Elmendorf

Papers

Earnings Management of Chemical Firms in Response to Political Costs from Environmental Legislation

Accounting Rates Of Return As Proxies For The Economic Rate Of Return: An Empirical Investigation

Earnings Management of Chemical Firms in Response to Political Costs from Environmental Legislation