Springer Series in Accounting Scholarship – serie

Economics of Accounting: Information in Markets examines the fundamentals of a variety of economic analyses of the decision-facilitating and decision-influencing roles of information that are pertinent to the study of the economic impact of accounting. While much of information economic analysis makes no explicit reference to accounting, many generic results apply to accounting reports. Furthermore, the impact of accounting reports depends on the other information received by the economy's participants. Hence, it is essential that accounting researchers have a broad understanding of the impact of publicly reported information within settings in which there are multiple sources of public and private information.The focus in this volume is on the decision-facilitating role of information, with emphasis on the impact of public and private information on the equilibria and investor welfare in capital and product markets.

Earnings Management: Theory and Research is a scholarly study of earnings management. The book is aimed for scholars in accounting, finance, economics, and law. The authors address the following research questions: Why earnings are so important that firms feel compelled to manipulate them? What is earnings management? 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? Can truthful reporting be considered earnings management? What are the motivations for smoothing and other reporting strategies? How to design empirical research addressing earnings management? What are the limitations and strengths of current empirical models?

This book provides an integrated, technical exposition of key concepts in agency theory, with particular emphasis on analyses of the economic consequences of the characteristics of contractible performance measures, such as accounting reports. It is not a survey of the literature, but provides a succinct source for learning the fundamentals of the economics of incentives. While there is an emphasis on information issues of interest to accounting researchers, it is also relevant to researchers in economics, finance, management science, and other disciplines who are interested in the economics of management incentives.

This book provides an integrated, technical exposition of key concepts in agency theory, with particular emphasis on analyses of the economic consequences of the characteristics of contractible performance measures, such as accounting reports. It is not a survey of the literature, but provides a succinct source for learning the fundamentals of the economics of incentives. While there is an emphasis on information issues of interest to accounting researchers, it is also relevant to researchers in economics, finance, management science, and other disciplines who are interested in the economics of management incentives.

The second edition reflects Dr. Demski’s experience teaching to undergraduates, masters and doctoral students. He emphasizes economic fundamentals as the guiding foundation coupled with an artful application of those fundamentals. This applies to product costing, decision making and evaluation art. Dr. Demski also removed a great deal of traditional minutiae, in order to keep this theme in constant focus. This thematic approach, in his experience, works in dramatic fashion, and stands in sharp contrast to more traditional presentations of this material.

Economics of Accounting: Information in Markets examines the fundamentals of a variety of economic analyses of the decision-facilitating and decision-influencing roles of information that are pertinent to the study of the economic impact of accounting. While much of information economic analysis makes no explicit reference to accounting, many generic results apply to accounting reports. Furthermore, the impact of accounting reports depends on the other information received by the economy's participants. Hence, it is essential that accounting researchers have a broad understanding of the impact of publicly reported information within settings in which there are multiple sources of public and private information.The focus in this volume is on the decision-facilitating role of information, with emphasis on the impact of public and private information on the equilibria and investor welfare in capital and product markets.

Earnings Management: Theory and Research is a scholarly study of earnings management. The book is aimed for scholars in accounting, finance, economics, and law. The authors address the following research questions: Why earnings are so important that firms feel compelled to manipulate them? What is earnings management? 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? Can truthful reporting be considered earnings management? What are the motivations for smoothing and other reporting strategies? How to design empirical research addressing earnings management? What are the limitations and strengths of current empirical models?

The second edition reflects Dr. Demski’s experience teaching to undergraduates, masters and doctoral students. He emphasizes economic fundamentals as the guiding foundation coupled with an artful application of those fundamentals. This applies to product costing, decision making and evaluation art. Dr. Demski also removed a great deal of traditional minutiae, in order to keep this theme in constant focus. This thematic approach, in his experience, works in dramatic fashion, and stands in sharp contrast to more traditional presentations of this material.

In this book, we synthesize a rich and vast literature on econometric challenges associated with accounting choices and their causal effects. Identi?cation and es- mation of endogenous causal effects is particularly challenging as observable data are rarely directly linked to the causal effect of interest. A common strategy is to employ logically consistent probability assessment via Bayes’ theorem to connect observable data to the causal effect of interest. For example, the implications of earnings management as equilibrium reporting behavior is a centerpiece of our explorations. Rather than offering recipes or algorithms, the book surveys our - periences with accounting and econometrics. That is, we focus on why rather than how. The book can be utilized in a variety of venues. On the surface it is geared - ward graduate studies and surely this is where its roots lie. If we’re serious about our studies, that is, if we tackle interesting and challenging problems, then there is a natural progression. Our research addresses problems that are not well - derstood then incorporates them throughout our curricula as our understanding improves and to improve our understanding (in other words, learning and c- riculum development are endogenous). For accounting to be a vibrant academic discipline, we believe it is essential these issues be confronted in the undergr- uate classroom as well as graduate studies. We hope we’ve made some progress with examples which will encourage these developments.

In this book, we synthesize a rich and vast literature on econometric challenges associated with accounting choices and their causal effects. Identi?cation and es- mation of endogenous causal effects is particularly challenging as observable data are rarely directly linked to the causal effect of interest. A common strategy is to employ logically consistent probability assessment via Bayes’ theorem to connect observable data to the causal effect of interest. For example, the implications of earnings management as equilibrium reporting behavior is a centerpiece of our explorations. Rather than offering recipes or algorithms, the book surveys our - periences with accounting and econometrics. That is, we focus on why rather than how. The book can be utilized in a variety of venues. On the surface it is geared - ward graduate studies and surely this is where its roots lie. If we’re serious about our studies, that is, if we tackle interesting and challenging problems, then there is a natural progression. Our research addresses problems that are not well - derstood then incorporates them throughout our curricula as our understanding improves and to improve our understanding (in other words, learning and c- riculum development are endogenous). For accounting to be a vibrant academic discipline, we believe it is essential these issues be confronted in the undergr- uate classroom as well as graduate studies. We hope we’ve made some progress with examples which will encourage these developments.

The purpose of this book is to offer a more systematic and structured treatment of the research on accounting‐based valuation, with a primary focus on recent theoretical developments and the resulting empirical analyses that recognize the role of accounting information in making managerial decisions.Since its inception, valuation research in accounting has evolved primarily along an “empirically driven” path. In the absence of models constructed specifically to explain this topic, researchers have relied on economic intuition and theories from other disciplines (mainly finance and economics) as a basis for designing empirical analyses and interpreting findings. Although this literature has shed important light on the usefulness of accounting information in capital markets, it is obvious that the lack of a rigorous theoretical framework has hindered the establishment of a systematic and well‐structured literature and made it difficult to probe valuation issues in depth. More recently, however, progress has been made on the theoretical front. The two most prominent frameworks are (i) the “linear information dynamic approach” and (ii) the “real options‐based approach” which recognizes managerial uses of accounting information in the pursuit of value generation. This volume devotes its initial chapters to an evaluation of the models using the linear dynamic approach, and then provides a synthesis of the theoretical studies that adopt the real options approach and the empirical works which draw on them. The book also makes an attempt to revisit and critique existing empirical research (value-relevance and earnings-response studies) within the real options-based framework. It is hoped that the book can heighten interest in integrating theoretical and empirical research in this field, and play a role in helping this literature develop into a more structured and cohesive body of work. Value is of ultimate concern to economic decision-makers, and valuation theory should serve as a platform for studying other accounting topics. The book ends with a call for increased links of other areas of accounting research to valuation theory.