Ethical issues in the context of earnings management have been increasingly recognized as an important and controversial topic in accounting research. Prior literature has largely focused on this topic in Anglo-American countries. This research monograph focuses specifically on Germany, a country in which ethical issues in accounting have not been rigorously examined. Based on an evaluation of prior research, the monograph provides some theoretical and methodological suggestions to guide research on the controversial topics of accountants' professional judgments and earnings management. Further, the influence of two relevant personality variables on professional accountants' ethical judgments on earnings management is examined. The two personality variables selected, namely Construal of Self and Regulatory Focus Theory, provide sharper insights into accountants' judgments at individual levels. This book also examines "holier-than-thou" perception bias among professional accountants and accounting students. "Holier-than-thou" perception bias refers to individuals perceiving themselves as being more ethical than their peers. This bias is an important issue in accounting contexts because it may foster an unethical organizational culture. Finally, the research monograph examines accountants' judgments on whistle-blowing in the context of earnings management. Whistle-blowing as an internal control mechanism is useful in revealing illegal, immoral, or illegitimate practices such as earnings management. This research monograph contributes to accounting research by examining these ethical issues from various perspectives and by providing holistic insights incorporating literature from multiple disciplines such as history, sociology, psychology, and philosophy. The findings of this research monograph have implications for accounting ethics research, accounting firms, and accounting education. The findings also have implications for convergence in accounting and may be of interest for global standard-setters such as the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) and the International Accounting Education Standards Board (IAESB).

This book is a study of earnings management, aimed at scholars and professionals in accounting, finance, economics, and law. The authors address research questions including: Why are earnings so important that firms feel compelled to manipulate them? What set of circumstances will induce earnings management? How will the interaction among management, boards of directors, investors, employees, suppliers, customers and regulators affect earnings management? How to design empirical research addressing earnings management? What are the limitations and strengths of current empirical models?

"This book discusses the accounting policies firms use in different opportunistic circumstances in order to manage earnings, and to understand the corporate governance practices in different countries, and its relationship to firms' performance, and other dimensions of companies"--

The competitive nature of organizations in today’s globalized world has led to the development of various approaches to increasing profitability and maintaining an advantage over rival companies. As technology continues to be integrated into business practices, specifically in the area of accounting and finance, professionals and educators need to be prepared for advancing economic techniques, and they need to maintain a high level of financial literacy. The Handbook of Research on Accounting and Financial Studies is a pivotal reference source that provides vital research on advanced knowledge and emerging business practices and teaching dynamics in the fields of accounting and finance. While highlighting topics such as cost-benefit analysis, risk management, and corporate governance, this publication explores new initiatives in entrepreneurship and performance management. This book is ideally designed for business managers, consultants, entrepreneurs, auditors, tax practitioners, economists, accountants, academicians, researchers, and students seeking current research on modern advancements and recent findings in accounting and financial studies.

This book provides researchers and scholars with a comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of earnings management theory and literature. While it raises new questions for future research, the book can be also helpful to other parties who rely on financial reporting in making decisions like regulators, policy makers, shareholders, investors, and gatekeepers e.g., auditors and analysts. The book summarizes the existing literature and provides insight into new areas of research such as the differences between earnings management, fraud, earnings quality, impression management, and expectation management; the trade-off between earnings management activities; the special measures of earnings management; and the classification of earnings management motives based on a comprehensive theoretical framework.

Do you want to make sure you · Don't invest your money in the next Enron? · Don't go to work for the next WorldCom right before the crash? · Identify and solve problems in your organization before they send it crashing to the ground? Marianne Jennings has spent a lifetime studying business ethics---and ethical failures. In demand nationwide as a speaker and analyst on business ethics, she takes her decades of findings and shows us in The Seven Signs of Ethical Collapse the reasons that companies and nonprofits undergo ethical collapse, including: · Pressure to maintain numbers · Fear and silence · Young 'uns and a larger-than-life CEO · A weak board · Conflicts · Innovation like no other · Belief that goodness in some areas atones for wrongdoing in others Don't watch the next accounting disaster take your hard-earned savings, or accept the perfect job only to find out your boss is cooking the books. If you're just interested in understanding the (not-so) ethical underpinnings of business today, The Seven Signs of Ethical Collapse is both a must-have tool and a fascinating window into today's business world.

"[This book is] the most authoritative assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of recent trends toward the commercialization of health care," says Robert Pear of The New York Times. This major study by the Institute of Medicine examines virtually all aspects of for-profit health care in the United States, including the quality and availability of health care, the cost of medical care, access to financial capital, implications for education and research, and the fiduciary role of the physician. In addition to the report, the book contains 15 papers by experts in the field of for-profit health care covering a broad range of topicsâ€"from trends in the growth of major investor-owned hospital companies to the ethical issues in for-profit health care. "The report makes a lasting contribution to the health policy literature." â€"Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law.

Financial Reporting & Analysis (FR&A) by Revsine/Collins/Johnson/Mittelstaedt emphasizes both the process of financial reporting and the analysis of financial statements. This book employs a true "user" perspective by discussing the contracting and decision implications of accounting and this helps readers understand why accounting choices matter and to whom. Revsine, Collins, Johnson, and Mittelstaedt train their readers to be good financial detectives, able to read, use, and interpret the statements and-most importantly understand how and why managers can utilize the flexibility in GAAP to manipulate the numbers for their own purposes.

This volume discusses ethnostatistics - the interpretative study of the construction and use of statistics in social research - and will be of equal interest to qualitative and quantitative researchers across the social sciences. On the understanding that the development of a statistic is inherently a qualitative act, the author shows how this act can be studied and analyzed. The interpretative factors in statistical work can be demonstrated at a variety of levels; Gephart shows how each can be usefully illuminated through the use of ethnostatistics to produce more effective, reflexive social research.

This book provides an overview of earnings quality (EQ) in the context of financial reporting and offers suggestions for defining and measuring it. Although EQ has received increasing attention from investors, creditors, regulators, and researchers in different areas, there are various definitions of it and different approaches for its measurement. The book describes the relationship between EQ and earnings management (EM) since they can be considered related challenges, especially in the context of international financial reporting standards (IAS/IFRSs). EM occurs when managers make discretionary accounting choices that are regarded as either an efficient communication of private information to improve the informativeness of a firm’s current and future performance, or a distorting disclosure to mislead the firm’s true performance. The intentional manipulation of earnings by managers, within the limits allowed by the accounting standards, may alter the usefulness of financial reporting and lead to lower quality of earnings. The use of fair value in financial reporting has created a current debate about the impact it might have on EQ. At times, the high subjectivity in estimating fair value can allow opportunities for the exercise of management judgments and intentional bias, which can reduce the quality of financial reporting. Management discretion can result in high EM and hence in a reduction of EQ. Particularly during difficult financial periods, managers engage in EM to mask the negative effects of the turmoil, and in such circumstances accruals and earnings smoothing are attempts to reduce abnormal variations of earnings in such circumstances. This book is a valuable resource for those interested in wider perspectives on EQ and it adds to the research studies on this topic in the context of financial reporting.