Martin Stuebs

Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Reputation

Identifying tools for improving financial performance and other dimensions of competitiveness has become increasingly important in our current turbulent global economy. Many studies have shown that corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities can be used as a tool to improve financial performance. Based on a review of this work, Vilanova et al. (2009) develop a recent model of how CSR affects financial performance and other dimensions of competitiveness. Specifically, they posit that CSR positively affects reputation which then improves performance. The purpose of our study is to empirically examine Vilanova et al.’s (2009) hypothesized positive association between CSR and corporate reputation. We use a sample of highly reputable firms from Fortune’s 2006 Most Admired Companies list along with a sample of matched firms in our empirical analyses. Our analyses consistently support the positive relationship between CSR and reputation in Vilanova et al.’s (2009) developed model relating CSR and dimensions of performance competitiveness.

Principles-Based Accounting: The Case for Principled Judgment

According to the SEC, the proposed roadmap for adopting principles-based International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is still a priority. The adoption of IFRS will ultimately demand greater emphasis on practitioner judgment (Mintz, 2010). This chapter focuses on the need for building the judgment skills of the practitioner. Our methodology follows a three-step process. We start with accounting standards, reviewing similarities and differences between “rules-based” and “principles-based” standards and conclude that, while applying any standard requires judgment, applying principles-based standards requires more judgment. We then focus on preparer incentives that can influence this requisite judgment. We use the “fraud triangle” to analyze the influence of incentives on judgment under each standards setting approach. Our third and most important step involves equipping practitioners to make judgments in the presence of incentives. We present and discuss a model that considers economic, social (legal), and ethical dimensions for making principled judgments in the presence of incentives and advocate-improved education for accountants in implementing that model.

Moral confrontation: An essential companion to moral imagination

This article proposes a model for justifying decisions that integrates both ethical theory and practice. The usefulness of basic theory and applied practice in justifying decisions is a subject of continued debate. This article sees both as useful. It approaches moral justification from the perspective of responding to incentives. In this justification process, moral confrontation is the process of using theory to identify and analyze incentives and incentive conflicts. Moral imagination is a process of thinking that relies on practical intuition, self-reflection, and moral ideals to reconcile the identified incentives and incentive conflicts. Both theory and practice play vital and complementary roles in this moral justification process. The primary belief is that the proposed combination of moral confrontation and moral imagination can lead to advances in both the theory and practice of business ethics.

Professionalizing the Tax Accounting Profession: Fulfilling Public-Interest Reporting Responsibilities

Recent events in the tax accounting profession such as the marketing and use of aggressive tax shelters illustrate that the tax accounting profession has lost its focus on public interest responsibilities which anchors the profession. This chapter first establishes the importance of a professional public interest foundation by outlining how such a professional foundation ideally provides a necessary anchor for the tax accounting profession. We next move from the ideal to the actual and use the fraud triangle to examine how the current tax accounting profession has strayed from a professional foundation focused on public interest responsibilities. We use the Barley and Tolbert (Org Stud 18:93–117, 1997) sociology model to understand structural change and propose suggestions for facilitating professional, public-interest focused changes in the tax accounting profession.

Whistle While You Work: Whistleblowing in the Presence of Competing Incentives and Pressures

This instructional case connects whistleblowing incentives and ethical issues in different reporting environments. It provides three different whistleblowing scenarios that allow students to identify and grapple with multiple whistleblowing incentives, issues and resultant ethical dilemmas present in both the academic and financial reporting environments. The purpose of the case is threefold. First, the case makes students aware of the whistleblowing incentives and ethical issues present in different environments. Second, by linking academic and financial whistleblowing issues across scenarios, students see the relevance of whistleblowing ethics in their current lives and are motivated to develop ethical habits now. Third, the case forces students to practice making decisions in situations with conflicting incentives, uncertainty and ambiguous guidance. Strong conflicting incentives can cloud and challenge whistleblowing intentions.

Social Responsibility and Firm Efficiency in the Business Services Industry

Assumed performance benefits are often used as motives to drive coporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. Is improved efficiency among these performance benefits generated by CSR initiatives? This study empirically examines the association between corporate social responsibility and the efficiency dimension of firm performance. The relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance has received increasing and conflicting attention in recent years. Its role in maximizing shareholder wealth is still a subject of continued debate. Turning attention to efficiency examines another dimension of performance. Specifically, we examine the association between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and efficiency in the business services industry from 2005 to 2007. We measure efficiency using the relative efficiency score calculated by Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). CSR is measured using Kinder, Lydenberg, and Domini (KLD), Inc. data. Results document evidence to support a positive association between CSR and firm efficiency. Documenting these potential efficiency benefits from CSR has important implications for CSR activities and initiatives particularly in our current turbulent economy. It supports recent work that links CSR with dimensions of improved competitiveness (Vilanova et al., 2009) including efficiency. The documented efficiency benefits of CSR are useful to businesses and support CSR strategies focused on “doing well by doing good�?.

Professional Virtue Reinforcements: A Necessary Complement to Technological and Policy Reforms.

ABSTRACT Rapid advances in technology within accounting information systems (AIS) accompanied by an increase in information accessibility render organizations vulnerable to the misuse of confidenti...

The Academic Accounting Profession and the Pathways Commission: Two Helpful Analogs from the National Football League

Abstract The accounting academy is facing two critical challenges: an increasing disconnect between academia and practice and a growing shortage of faculty. Recently, the Pathways Commission proposed that accounting programs more fully embrace professionally oriented faculty. This proposal is attractive because it would increase faculty numbers and bring a stronger practice orientation to the academy. Although there may be benefits associated with this proposal, there may also be significant unintended consequences. In this paper, we use two analogs from the NFL to highlight the risks in relying on practice-oriented faculty to solve our problems. We offer a series of reflection questions to promote further conversations on the Pathways Commission’s proposal.