Siva Nathan and Kimberly A. Dunn
Proponents for change in accounting education have raised concerns over the effectiveness of education received by recent US accounting graduates and have defined a desirable set…
Abstract
Proponents for change in accounting education have raised concerns over the effectiveness of education received by recent US accounting graduates and have defined a desirable set of skills required of accounting majors. These include effective reading, writing, analytical, conceptual thinking and critical thinking skills, an ability to solve problems in unstructured settings, an understanding of organizations, international and multicultural knowledge and the ability to resolve ethical dilemmas. Discusses in a US context how articles from the business press can be used in the classroom to develop the above skills in higher level undergraduate and graduate accounting courses. Through the use of articles discussing the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) proposal on stock options, the relationship between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the FASB, earnings manipulation by management, and international accounting, we describe how business press articles can be used to achieve the above‐mentioned learning objectives. Describes techniques which can also be applied in other countries with the instructor’s choice of locally relevant business press articles.
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Kimberly Dunn, Mark Kohlbeck and Brian Mayhew
This paper aims to evaluate policymakers’ concerns about the lack of competition in highly concentrated markets for public company audits by examining the association between…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to evaluate policymakers’ concerns about the lack of competition in highly concentrated markets for public company audits by examining the association between audit fees and the inequality of Big 4 market shares at both the USA national-industry and city-industry levels.
Design/methodology/approach
Using publicly available data, this paper uses regression analysis to examine publicly available data to test research hypotheses related to the association between audit market inequalities and audit fees at both the USA national-industry and city-industry levels.
Findings
The findings support a U-shaped association between national-industry inequality and audit fees. As inequality initially increases, fees decrease; however, as inequality becomes increasingly large fees increase. The city-industry level analysis shows the opposite pattern. The results are consistent with capacity constraints at the national-industry level that are less binding at the city-industry level.
Research limitations/implications
This study provides evidence that market inequality has a non-linear association with audit price and contributes to the limited findings in industrial organization research on the importance of market share inequality in highly concentrated markets.
Originality/value
This study provides new insights into the growing body of research on audit market structure by documenting that national-industry and city-industry analysis provides different insights into the market structure. In addition, the sample period for this study (2004-2017) addresses the General Accounting Office (GAO) concern about the lack of a stable audit market in the period it examined (GAO, 2008, p. 94) and finds evidence of market structure effects not present in the earlier GAO studies (GAO, 2003, 2008).
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Mark Steadman, Tom Albright and Kimberly Dunn
Firms which adapt new manufacturing technologies, such as flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) or computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) and concepts such as just‐in‐time (JIT)…
Abstract
Firms which adapt new manufacturing technologies, such as flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) or computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) and concepts such as just‐in‐time (JIT), can expect to exert a significant influence on various stakeholder groups. Additionally, innovative accounting systems which are currently being developed to monitor and evaluate the performance of manufacturing systems will have a direct impact on certain stakeholder constituencies. Uses stakeholder theory as a basis for explaining the complex relationships among the firm and various constituencies or stakeholders. Major stakeholder groups include educators, auditors, trainers, line managers, human resource managers, suppliers, customers, stockholders, labour unions, the financial community, government, local community organizations, environmentalists, employees, directors, management and bondholders. The needs of the various groups are placed in the context of the new global competitive environment.
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Kimberly A. Dunn and H. Fenwick Huss
Two of the possible problems that may arise from gathering data by mail questionnaire are: survey recipients fail to respond, or they respond but provide unreliable data. Extant…
Abstract
Two of the possible problems that may arise from gathering data by mail questionnaire are: survey recipients fail to respond, or they respond but provide unreliable data. Extant research has examined the effects of pressure to respond on increasing response rates; however, efforts to achieve a high response rate may produce unreliable data. The analysis presented in this paper examines the effects of increased pressure to respond to mail surveys on the reliability of survey responses. Our findings suggest that increased pressure to respond, decreased the reliability of information obtained. In addition, we show that personalization of the survey increases the reliability of responses. However, the conclusions concerning information suppression are not clear. The type of auditor change was a significant determinate of response reliability, but companies with greater financial distress were no more likely to give unreliable responses concerning the independent auditor changes.
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Chun‐Ho Kuo, Kimberly D. Dunn and Sabah U. Randhawa
Managing supply‐chain operations is critical to any company’s ability to compete effectively. Success in today’s markets depends on the ability to balance a stream of products and…
Abstract
Managing supply‐chain operations is critical to any company’s ability to compete effectively. Success in today’s markets depends on the ability to balance a stream of products and processes to stay competitive. Companies are constantly evaluating every area of operations to ensure that productivity and cost objectives are realistic and attainable. Research has been carried out to investigate the measurement systems used in today’s distribution centers. Five distribution centers in the Pacific Northwest were selected for this study. The characteristics of these five distribution centers and their measurement systems are discussed in this paper. A cross‐case analysis is provided, which gives a view of a typical measurement system used in today’s distribution centers.
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Ali R. Almutairi, Kimberly A. Dunn and Terrance Skantz
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relation between a company's bid‐ask spread, a proxy for information asymmetry, and auditor tenure and specialization.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relation between a company's bid‐ask spread, a proxy for information asymmetry, and auditor tenure and specialization.
Design/methodology/approach
The tests use clustered regression for a sample of 31,689 company‐years from 1992 to 2001 and control for factors known to impact bid‐ask spread in cross‐section.
Findings
The findings suggest that the market's perception of disclosure quality is higher and private information search opportunities are fewer for companies engaging industry specialist auditors. In addition, the paper finds that information asymmetry has a U‐shaped relation to auditor tenure. This U‐shaped relation holds for both specialists and non‐specialists; however, the bid‐ask spread for specialists tends to fall below that of non‐specialists at all tenure intervals.
Research limitations/implications
The findings may directly result from auditor tenure and specialization or it may be that those auditor‐related characteristics are a subset of concurrent choices made by the company that impacts disclosure quality.
Practical implications
Companies have incentives to lower information asymmetry and the findings document that the choice of a specialist auditor and the length of the auditor relationship can potentially influence this objective.
Originality/value
The paper provides information to academics, regulators, companies, and auditors concerning the effect of auditor‐client relationships on the level of information asymmetry. In addition, it shows the importance of industry specialization and audit firm tenure on audit quality.
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Timothy J. Landrum and Kimberly M. Landrum
We consider the theory and evidence supporting learning styles, and contrast these with the related concepts of learning preferences and student choice. Although the theory of…
Abstract
We consider the theory and evidence supporting learning styles, and contrast these with the related concepts of learning preferences and student choice. Although the theory of learning styles remains popular in the field of education as one guidepost teachers might use to maximize the effectiveness of instruction for individual students, including students with learning and behavioral disabilities, a review of the evidence supporting a learning styles approach suggests that it offers little benefit to students with disabilities. In contrasting learning styles with the related concept of learning preferences, we posit that interventions based on student choice may offer a more parsimonious and evidence-driven approach to enhancing instruction and improving outcomes for students with learning and behavioral disabilities.
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Jacquelin Meno Gouniai, Kyle David Smith and Kimberly Glazier Leonte
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a serious mental health condition that is frequently misdiagnosed and left untreated for extended periods. A contributing factor may be the…
Abstract
Purpose
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a serious mental health condition that is frequently misdiagnosed and left untreated for extended periods. A contributing factor may be the lack of awareness regarding OCD’s heterogeneous symptom presentations in nonpsychiatric medical providers (MPs). Nonpsychiatric MPs are often consulted by those with OCD and are thus in a key position to first identify the symptoms in a person. Thus, the purpose of this study is to assess nonpsychiatric MPs’ ability to recognize varying symptom presentations of OCD.
Design/methodology/approach
The current study examined OCD recognition rates in 105 nonpsychiatric MPs practicing on Guam – a rural island community with limited mental health resources. Participants were randomly assigned to read one of six vignettes describing a common obsessional theme within OCD (i.e. contamination, symmetry, religion, homosexuality, pedophilia or aggression) and asked to provide their diagnostic impressions.
Findings
Over half of participating MPs (58.1%) did not recognize the condition in the vignettes as OCD. As groups, vignettes describing taboo obsessions were significantly less likely to be recognized as OCD than those describing contamination and symmetry obsessions. Overall, results reveal that MPs are largely unaware of the diversity of OCD symptoms.
Originality/value
Few studies have examined nonpsychiatric MPs’ awareness of varying OCD symptom presentations, and to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no studies to date have been conducted on MPs practicing in rural settings. The findings of this study can inform training programs for MPs to help decrease OCD misdiagnoses in medical settings.
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I. INTRODUCTION This study attempts to extend and expand previous research conducted by the Department of Marketing at Strathclyde on the adoption and diffusion of industrial…
Claudia Colicchia, Marco Melacini and Sara Perotti
Given the relevance of supply chain sustainability, the aim of the present paper is threefold: first, to investigate the strategies currently undertaken by companies in the supply…
Abstract
Purpose
Given the relevance of supply chain sustainability, the aim of the present paper is threefold: first, to investigate the strategies currently undertaken by companies in the supply chain sustainability arena, and, second, to find out which phase of the supply chain is at the forefront in the implementation of initiatives towards more sustainable supply chains. Finally, the criteria commonly used for priority‐setting amongst different initiatives within the same supply chain phase are identified.
Design/methodology/approach
A three‐pronged methodology was adopted. First, a framework was developed to identify the initiatives towards supply chain sustainability. Second, the framework was applied to a set of multinational companies by examining their environmental reporting, thus to assess the adoption of each initiative. Third, a further in‐depth investigation of three companies was finally performed in order to provide additional insights on the obtained results.
Findings
The research offers a benchmark of primary multinational companies with respect to the supply chain sustainability initiatives and their level of adoption.
Research limitations/implications
The examined set of companies, although representative (i.e. the analysed companies operate in industries in which the environmental concern is particularly critical), is limited. However, the present paper contributes to the knowledge on supply chain sustainability and captures variations in theory, paving the way for new research.
Practical implications
The paper provides an instrument to evaluate and compare companies in terms of supply chain sustainability and highlights the main challenges that companies have to confront.
Originality/value
The originality of the paper lies in the adoption of a supply chain perspective to investigate sustainable initiatives.