Elizabeth A. Gordon

The Roles of Performance Measures and Monitoring in Annual Governance Decisions in Entrepreneurial Firms

This paper analyzes annual corporate governance decisions at firms making initial public offerings (IPOs) of common stock between 1996 and 1999. Our objective is to examine relations between firms’ corporate governance decisions and the informativeness of available measures of managerial performance. We consider financial measures such as earnings and stock return, as well as direct monitoring. We collect a sample of IPO firms from the manufacturing, Internet, and technology (non‐Internet) industries, and examine how the use of various performance measures in annual compensation grants and turnover decisions varies with the information environment of the firm and with the extent of venture capital influence. Consistent with prior research that finds earnings are of limited usefulness in firm valuation for Internet firms, we find Internet firms place less importance on earnings and greater importance on stock returns in determining compensation grants than do non‐Internet firms. We also find that compensation grants of firms with little or no venture capital influence display significantly stronger association with accounting and stock performance measures than those of firms with more intense monitoring by venture capitalists. This result is consistent with direct monitoring and the use of explicit performance measures acting as substitute governance mechanisms.

Accounting for Changing Prices: The Value Relevance of Historical Cost, Price Level, and Replacement Cost Accounting in Mexico

type=main xml:lang=en> This paper investigates the value relevance of historical cost, price level and replacement cost accounting using a sample of Mexican firms from 1989 to 1995. It contributes to prior research by distinguishing between two distinct aspects of changing prices:(1) the change in the general price level, and (2) the change in the value of specific non-monetary assets. I select Mexico to examine because it is unique in requiring and disclosing separately price level and replacement cost adjustments. A sample of Mexican firms also addresses a key reason cited for mixed results in previous assessments of the usefulness of price level and replacement cost accounting using United States data: the effects of inflation are too weak to detect. High rates of inflation in Mexico, ranging between 7% and 52% during the sample period, mitigate that potential problem. Results indicate that replacement cost adjustments are relatively and incrementally relevant beyond historical cost and price level measures while price level adjustments are incrementally value relevant beyond historical measures.

The Role of Related Party Transactions in Fraudulent Financial Reporting

Motivated by mixed findings in the auditing literature about the importance of related party transactions as red flags indicating potential fraud, this study examines 83 SEC enforcement actions involving both fraud and related party transactions. In addition to comparing the characteristics of firms in this sample with firms examined in other fraud studies, we describe generally how each type of related party transaction might potentially be used to misstate financial reports and then document the types of related party transactions actually occurring in these fraud cases. Overall, the most frequent type of transactions in the enforcement actions were loans to related parties, payments to company officers for services that were either unapproved or non-existent, and sales of goods or services to related entities in which the existence of the relationship was not disclosed. Misappropriation of the companys assets are most often related to transactions where the cash flow is outward, while instances of misstatement of financial reports are more often related to transactions where the cash flow is expected to be inward. Generally, related party transactions are not necessary as mechanisms for fraud, and their presence need not indicate fraudulent financial reporting. An implication is that it is important for the auditing profession to understand the benign nature of most related party transactions, the differentiating features between benign and fraudulent transactions, and the importance of evaluating a companys related party transactions in light of its broader corporate governance structure.

Sustainability in global financial reporting and innovation in institutions

Purpose - The aim of this paper is to document the authors keynote address in Accounting at the 16th Annual Conference on Pacific Basin Finance, Economics, Accounting and Management “Innovation for a Sustainable Future: Visions for 2020”, July 3-4, 2008, Brisbane, Australia. Design/methodology/approach - In keeping with the theme of the Conference, the paper considers two areas – global accounting and financial reporting, and regulation and institutions. Findings - As business has become more global and financial markets have developed world-wide, comparable accounting and financial information across countries and companies is a logical step to continue to support and advance business. With this shift, though, the world moves towards a monopoly in accounting standards and standard setting. Practical implications - The potential costs, problems, and possible solutions need to be considered. Current regulatory environments and institutions offer limited ability to effectively monitor such a monopoly. So innovation must occur. Originality/value - The paper shows that an infrastructure to support global investor protection and convergence of investor protections and rights can offer such innovation to support and sustain global business.