Time：February 19, 2013（Tuesday）2:30-5：30PM
Venue：Room 501, Jiageng Bld 2
Topic 1：The Cross-Hierarchy Effects of Incentives
Presenter：Thomas Vance，Assistant Professor of Accountancy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Abstract：
With this study we investigate the effects of manager incentives on subordinate behavior. Drawing on the Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) literature, we posit that subordinates who report a closer (more distant) relationship with their manager will be more (less) responsive to the manager’s incentives, voluntarily bearing greater (less) costs to help achieve the manager’s objectives. Using an experiment, we manipulate 1) the strength of the managers’ incentive (none, low and high) and 2) the subordinates’ perception of the relationship with the manager (low and high). Using data collected from workers in Amazon’s Mechanical Turk labor pool, we find evidence consistent with our predictions. In our data, financial contributions by the subordinate toward the manager’s objectives increase as the manager’s incentives increase. This effect is due entirely to individuals in the high quality relationship condition; those in the low quality relationship condition are unresponsive to the manager’s incentive level. Our results document that relationship quality is a key determinant of overall organizational benefit of a given control. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
Presenter Introduction：
Dr. Thomas Vance is assistant professor in accounting from UIUC. He has published papers in top journals like Contemporary Accounting Research. His research interest includes determinants of employee judgment and behavior inside the firm.
Topic 2：Communications with Audit Committees: How Much Information Do Auditors Provide about Management’s Accounting Practices?
Presenter：Bradley Pomeroy，Assistant Professor of Accountancy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Abstract：
We report the results of an experiment to document how auditors decide how much to communicate with the audit committee before a meeting to discuss management’s accounting practices. We apply accountability theory to hypothesize that auditors’ communications are tailored to alleviate concerns the audit committee might have about issues that were resolved with management. Specifically, auditors provide more information before a meeting when they anticipate more extensive questioning from the audit committee during the meeting. In the experiment, we manipulate the audit committee’s oversight approach (e.g., its preference for involvement in and approach to asking questions about issues), and ask auditor participants to prepare a written communication for the audit committee about an issue that they resolved with management. Results indicate that auditors may communicate less, not more, with audit committees that rely on the auditors for critical information (e.g., uncertainties surrounding management’s judgments) compared to those that do not.
Presenter Introduction：
Dr. Bradley Pomeroy is assistant professor in accounting from UIUC. He has published papers in top journals like Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory. His research interest includes Professional Judgment & Decision Making.
Topic 3：Imbedded Differences under IFRS –An Empirical Canadian Study
Presenter：Peter Secord, Associate Professor in Accounting, Saint Mary’s University, Canada
Abstract：
International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) consist of a broad range of principles-based accounting standards. In the effort to gain wide acceptance, many of the individual IFRS have built in a large numbers of overt and covert options, vague criteria, interpretations and measurement estimations. Some researchers (e.g., Nobes 2006) have argued that the flexibilities within IFRS provide numerous opportunities for pre-existing differences in financial reporting practices of companies in IFRS adopting countries to survive. The factors that caused the national accounting systems to be unique, such as financing systems, legal systems, tax systems, and elements of national culture will continue to play a role in shaping the financial reporting practice of companies in the countries that have adopted IFRS. Previous empirical studies have provided evidence of the survival of international difference under IFRS.
Since the requirement of IFRS is for financial periods beginning on or after 1 January, 2011, Canadian public companies have released their financial statements prepared under the mandatory IFRS requirement for the first time in early 2012. The research method to be used is an archival study that involves the extraction of key data from the 2012 annual reports of a sample of Canadian non-financial public companies included in the TSX100. We analyze and summarize selected key accounting policies of these companies and compare them with the key accounting practices of companies in European Union countries and beyond: United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Australia, where IFRS adoption is already in place.
Presenter Introduction：
Dr. Peter Secord is Chairman of the Department of Accounting at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Canada. He has taught full time at universities in Canada, Europe and the Middle East, as well as in China and Viet Nam. As a visiting professor or conference presenter he has made presentations in over 20 countries and has over two hundred publications and presentations in North America, Europe and Asia. He teaches International Accounting, Accounting History, a Graduate Accounting Seminar and Advanced Financial Accounting, and has supervised large number of Master’s and Doctoral students, as well as post-doctoral scholars. He holds the Ph.D. (International Accounting) from the University of Reading, the B. Commerce (first class honours), Masters degrees in Business Administration and in Public Administration (Dalhousie University), and is a Certified ManagementAccountant, Certified Internal Auditor, and Certified General Accountant. In 2007, he was elected Fellow of the Society of Management Accountants of Canada.