دانلود کتاب Financial Accounting Theory

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Title Page
Imprint Page
Brief contents
Contents
Guide to the text
Guide to the online resources
Preface
About the author
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1: Introduction to financial accounting theory
What is a theory?
Why is it important for accounting students to study accounting theory?
A brief overview of theories of accounting
Inductive accounting theories
Explanatory and predictive (positive) accounting theories
Prescriptive (normative) accounting theories
Critical theories of accounting
Evaluating theories of accounting
Is the theory parsimonious?
Can we prove a theory?
Is the theory falsifiable?
Evaluating theories – considerations of logic and evidence
Evaluation through logical deduction
Evaluating the underlying assumptions
Universal applicability of theories
Generalising theories from the testing of samples
Can (or should ) more than one theory be used at a time?
Key factors that influence the research process
Study Tools
Chapter 2: Accountability and its link to responsibility and accounting
Introduction
The relationship between ‘accounting’ and ‘accountability’
What do we mean by accountability?
So, what are the responsibilities of organisations?
Who are the ‘stakeholders’ of an organisation?
Why might we all have different perceptions of organisational responsibilities, and therefore of organisational accountability?
Perceptions of organisational accountability will change over time
The influence of stakeholder power on corporate accountability
An accountability model
Why is an organisation collecting and disclosing particular information?
To whom is the account information being directed?
What information needs to be reported?
How should the information be disclosed?
The normative nature of the four-step accountability model
The materiality determination process
The influence of organisational objectives upon accounting
Identifying the problem for Walt Disney
Identifying the problem for Greenpeace
Identifying the problem for Harvard
Corporate governance
Study Tools
Chapter 3: The financial reporting environment
Introduction
The objective, use and regulation of general purpose financial reports
Alternative measures of financial performance disclosed within financial reports
Financial accounting versus management accounting
Application of our ‘accountability model’ to the practice of financial reporting
An overview of the development and regulation of accounting practice
Reliance on double-entry accounting
Early development of professional accounting bodies
Early codification of accounting rules
Development of disclosure regulations
Twenty-first-century political pressure on financial accounting regulation
The rationale for regulating financial accounting practice
The costs and benefits of accounting regulation
Regulation and enforcement
The role of professional judgement in financial accounting
How powerful is the accountant?
Study Tools
Chapter 4: The regulation of financial accounting
Introduction
What is regulation?
The ‘free-market’ perspective
Market-related incentives
The ‘pro-regulation’ perspective
The ‘invisible hand’
Enlightened self-interest
Public interest theory
Capture Theory
Economic and social impacts of accounting regulation
Lobbying and the economic interest group theory of regulation
Accounting regulation as an output of a political process
Study Tools
Chapter 5: International accounting
Introduction
Evidence of international differences in accounting prior to recent standardisation initiatives
Does it really matter if different countries use different financial accounting methods?
A brief overview of the IASB and its globalisation activities
Role of the European Union
Australia adopts IFRS
The United States’ role in the international standardisation of financial accounting
Does the international standardisation of accounting standards necessarily lead to the international standardisation of accounting practice?
Differences in taxation systems
Differences in economic and political influences on financial reporting
Modifications made to IFRS at a national level
Issues of translation
Differences in implementation, monitoring and enforcement
Explanations of differences in accounting
Culture
Religion
Legal systems
Business ownership and financing systems
Taxation systems
Strength of the accounting profession
Accidents of history
Impacts of culture on issues beyond financial reporting
Concluding comments about obstacles to the ongoing standardisation of financial accounting
Study Tools
Chapter 6: Measurement issues: accounting for the effects of changing prices and markets
Introduction
The process of measurement
Measurement bases utilised within financial reporting standards
Factors to consider when choosing between alternative measurement bases
Limitations of historical cost accounting in times of rising prices
Current purchasing power accounting (CPPA)
Calculating indices
Performing current purchasing power adjustments
Current cost accounting
Exit price accounting: the case of Chambers’ Continuously Contemporary Accounting
The demand for price-adjusted and value-adjusted accounting information
Fair value accounting
Fair value and its relationship to volatility and procyclicality in accounting measures
Fair value and the decision usefulness versus stewardship role of financial reporting
Study Tools
Chapter 7: Normative theories of accounting: the case of conceptual framework projects
Introduction
So, what is a conceptual framework of accounting?
A brief overview of the history of the development of conceptual frameworks
The Trueblood Report
The FASB conceptual framework project
The (UK) Corporate Report
Development of conceptual frameworks in Australia and elsewhere
Recent efforts of the IASB and the FASB
Building blocks of a conceptual framework
Definition of the reporting entity
Users of financial reports
Objectives of general purpose financial reporting
Qualitative characteristics of financial reports
Can financial statements provide neutral and unbiased accounts of an entity’s performance and position?
Definition and recognition of the elements of financial statements
Definition and recognition of assets
Definition and recognition of liabilities
Definition and recognition of expenses
Definition and recognition of income
Definition of equity
Measurement principles
Pros and cons associated with having a conceptual framework
A restricted view of accountability
Stifle future reporting innovation
A potentially distorted view of an organisation’s ‘performance’
Simply a reflection of existing accounting practice
A device to legitimise accounting standard setters and the accounting profession
Study Tools
Chapter 8: Positive Accounting Theory
Introduction
Positive Accounting Theory defined
The origins and development of Positive Accounting Theory
Role of the Efficient Markets Hypothesis
Share price reactions to unexpected earnings announcements
Use of Agency Theory to help explain and predict managerial choice of accounting policies
The perspective of the organisation as a ‘nexus of contracts’
The emergence of Positive Accounting Theory
Opportunistic and efficiency perspectives
Owner-manager contracting
Bonus schemes generally
Accounting-based bonus plans
Incentives to manipulate accounting numbers
Accounting-based bonus schemes that rely upon conservative accounting practices
Market-based bonus schemes
Debt contracting
The use of conservative accounting methods to reduce agency costs of debt
Evidence of the use of accounting-based debt covenants
Incentives to manipulate accounting numbers in the presence of debt contracts
Political costs
Relevance of PAT-based research to efforts by the IASB and FASB to promote fair value accounting
Earnings management
Accounting policy choice and ‘creative accounting’
Some criticisms of Positive Accounting Theory
Study Tools
Chapter 9: Unregulated corporate reporting decisions: considerations of systems-oriented theories
Introduction
Political Economy Theory
Legitimacy Theory
Legitimacy, public expectations and the social contract
Legitimacy and changing social expectations
Phases of legitimation
Use of accounting reports in legitimation strategies
Corporate views on the importance of the social contract
Empirical tests of Legitimacy Theory
Legitimacy Theory favoured by some researchers as it provides a parsimonious explanation of an underlying phenomenon
Some issues that are not currently addressed by Legitimacy Theory
Stakeholder Theory
The ethical branch of Stakeholder Theory
The managerial branch of Stakeholder Theory
Empirical tests of Stakeholder Theory
Institutional Theory
Isomorphism and decoupling as important components of Institutional Theory
Further empirical tests of Institutional Theory
Study Tools
Chapter 10: Extending corporate accountability: the practice of social and environmental reporting
Introduction
The meanings of social, environmental and sustainability reporting
Social reporting
Environmental reporting
Sustainability reporting
The incidence of CSR reporting
Developing notions of sustainability
Steps within the sustainability reporting process
Objectives of the social and environmental reporting process – the ‘why report?’ stage
An acceptance of accountability to provide information
To comply with legal requirements
To forestall efforts to introduce more onerous disclosure regulations
To influence the perceived legitimacy of the organisation
To align the organisation with its institutional environment
To manage particular stakeholder groups
To increase the wealth of the shareholders and the managers of the organisation
Identifying stakeholders – the who stage
Identifying stakeholder information needs and expectations – the ‘what do we report?’ stage
Theoretical perspectives on some social and environmental reporting procedures – the how stage
Limitations of traditional financial accounting in respect of its ability to reflect social and environmental performance
Triple bottom line reporting
The Global Reporting Initiative – a conceptual framework for social and environmental reporting?
Integrated reporting
Value creation versus accountability
Materiality
The capitals
Some shortfalls and some strengths of the International Framework
The International Sustainability Standards Board
The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board
The Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
The United Nations Global Compact
Other frameworks
Sustainability ratings
Accounting for externalities
Climate change
The Greenhouse Gas Protocol
The Carbon Disclosure Project
Accountability for modern slavery
Counter and dialogic accounts
Personal social responsibility
Study Tools
Chapter 11: Reactions of capital markets to financial reporting
Introduction
An overview of capital markets research
The information content of earnings
Results of capital markets research into financial reporting
Historical cost income is used by investors
Prior to an earnings release, investors obtain much of the information they need from other sources
The information content of earnings announcements depends on the extent of alternative sources of information
The capital market impact of unexpected changes in earnings depends on whether the change is expected to be permanent or temporary
Earnings persistence depends on the relative magnitudes of cash and accruals components of current earnings
The earnings announcements of other organisations in the same industry have information content 616
There are benefits associated with the voluntary disclosure of information
Recognition is perceived differently to mere footnote disclosure
Size of a company affects whether the capital market will react to a company’s release of information
Unexpected changes in accounting earnings created by unexpected increases in revenues
Do current share prices anticipate future accounting earnings announcements?
Relaxing assumptions about market efficiency
Study Tools
Chapter 12: Reactions of individuals to financial reporting: an examination of behavioural research in accounting
Introduction
An overview of behavioural research
The Brunswik Lens Model
The use of particular information items and the implications of different forms of presentation
Decision-making processes and the use of heuristics
Environmental factors that influence decisions
Issues of decision accuracy
Protocol analysis
The relevance of differences in culture
Limitations of behavioural research
Study Tools
Chapter 13: Critical perspectives of accounting
Introduction
The critical perspective defined
Insights into the partisan nature of accounting
A Marxist critique of accounting
Critical accounting research versus social and environmental accounting research
Possible impact of critical accounting research on social practice
The role of the state in supporting existing social structures
The role of accounting research in supporting existing social structures
Accounting research and support for deregulation of accounting
A critical accounting interpretation of increased accounting regulation post-Enron
A critical accounting view on the active role of academic and non-academic discourse in protecting capitalism
The role of accounting practice in supporting existing social structures
The role of accounting reports in creating a selective ‘reality’
The power of accountants through a false image of neutrality
A critical accounting perspective of accounting and legitimation
The role of accounting in legitimising the capitalist system
Counter accounts and dialogic accounts
A critical reflection on the role of critical accounting researchers in creating change
Study Tools
Glossary
Index