Accounting & finance books

Advances in Mergers and Acquisitions stands out from the competition due to its focus on three key characteristics: studies from scholars in different countries, with different research questions, relying on different theoretical perspectives. Such a broad and inclusive approach to mergers and acquisitions is not easily replicated in academic journals, with much narrower mandates and metrics. The chapters published in this volume provide cutting edge ideas by leading scholars, and help to inform mergers and acquisitions research around the world.

Volume 24 of Advances in Taxation contains seven articles, covering topics such as the impact of FASB Financial Interpretation No. 48 adoption through the lens of debt covenants; conflicting results in two prior studies on the relation between aggressive financial reporting and tax reporting; how a firm’s external environment affects its tax avoidance activities; and bonus depreciation. Other articles use a behavioral research methodology to explore generational values and attitudes towards tax fairness and tax compliance; the expectation gap between tax clients’ motivations to hire tax preparers versus tax preparers’ perceptions of those clients’ motivations; and evidence on the level and determinants of corporate income tax compliance costs.

Volume 25 features eight articles. In the lead article, Savannah Guo, Sabrina Chi, and Kirsten Cook examine short selling as one external determinant of corporate tax avoidance and find that short interest is negatively associated with subsequent tax-avoidance levels and this effect is incremental to other factors identified by prior research.  Next, Mark Bauman and Cathalene Rogers Bowler examine the effect of FIN48 on earnings management activity, by focusing on changes in the deferred tax asset valuation allowance. In the third article, Anthony Billings, Cheol Lee, and Jaegul Lee study whether the lowering of dividend taxes as part of the U.S. Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 resulted in an increase in dividend payouts at the expense of R&D spending.  The fourth article by Brian Dowis and Ted Englebrecht examines reasonable compensation in closely-held corporations and the impact of gender, political affiliation, and family makeup on decisions made in the U.S. Tax Court. Then, a practice-related study by Sonja Pippin, Jeffrey Wong, and Richard Mason reports on a survey of Americans living abroad on the impact of tax rules explicitly designed for these individuals. They find that Americans living abroad experience the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act as negatively impacting their lives.  The next three articles in this volume have an international focus. Zakir Akhand investigates the effects of the corporate sector on the effectiveness of selected tax compliance instruments in the context of large Bangladesh corporate taxpayers. K-Rine Chong and Murugesh Arunachalam examine the determinants of enforced tax compliance behaviour of Malaysian citizens with trust in the tax agency assumed to be a mediating variable. Lastly, Bitzenis and Vasileios investigate the effect of the economic downturn in Greece on the factors determining the level of tax morale through primary data from a European Union funded research project on the Greek shadow economy.

Researching accounting’s participation in financial regulation, banking practices, managerial incentives and environmental disclosures this volume presents scholarly work adopting interdisciplinary approaches in auditing and accountability realms. Although conceptually accounting enhances public spheres and contributes to constraining overarching power, researchers question whether in practice accounting supports responsible activities. Among the provocations offered, authors ask: what is material? How are decisions to foster environmental protection best motivated? What is a set of public policies and practices by which responsible actions can be defined and fraud minimized? Questioning accounting as rational in how policy is established the authors delve into accounting interactions and conflicts. Their perspectives and insights enrich our understanding of accounting policies, organizations and relationships dismissing separate worlds of social, economic and political factors. Their research illustrates how dichotomies of private versus public and legal versus moral obscure important connections.

Investment outcomes and strategies have changed considerably since 2008. Broken Pie Chart demonstrates the failures of classical diversification and asset allocation, pointing out that the backward-looking methods used by traditional financial professionals will not work moving forward.   Derek Moore explains why traditional risk-spreading leads to losses during sell-off periods, and contains risks that many investors do not recognize until it is too late. He also reflects on the changes in the financial market since the global financial crisis, and how these changes may affect your asset allocation and risk management decision-making in a landscape of lower rates and higher risks.   With this work, readers can take a fresh look at their portfolios by identifying the emerging asset classes that will lead to investment success, using effective financial strategies to enhance their position, and placing smart floors, hedges and buffers to minimize risk.

Over the past two decades, the enforcement of anti-bribery, anti-money-laundering and anti-terrorism-financing regulations has become increasingly challenging for multinational corporations. Bribery and money laundering scandals have the potential to take down entire multinational corporations. Frequently, managers in charge of those firms end up facing criminal prosecution and civil lawsuits, and are not equipped with the formal legal training to prevent these phenomena.  Compliance in Multinational Corporations explores the historical background of such phenomena as bribery, money laundering, and terrorism financing. Analysing the legal environment based upon international conventions, and including an empirical analysis of 100 expert interviews, it takes an innovative look at the perspectives of both criminals and compliance experts to provide a long-lasting guide for compliance experts. While traditional compliance and financial crime literature focuses on rules, regulations and prevention mechanisms, this book shows how intelligent criminals act. It offers practical advice and concrete guidelines that will address the most pre-eminent compliance challenges.   The book will prove an essential resource for compliance managers, academics and professional educators who wish to equip themselves against the significant risks they face.

This special 100th edition of the Emerald book series Contemporary Issues in Economic and Financial Analysis dedicates 14 chapters to contemporary issues in business and financial management in Eastern Europe by authors invited mainly from the Rostov State University of Economics.  As the title suggests, the chapters are a mix of studies on economic and financial aspects in Eastern Europe. Two chapters are dedicated to the green economy and finance and others to information technology in banks and the treasury, problems of fund raising for accumulated damage repair, company business and individual entrepreneurship activity strategy, competency-based management, the economic coenosis theory, the fiscal mechanism, global interaction in the world economy, bank economic capital model, corporate reporting and the concept of alienation.

Continuous auditing is a novel emerging technology in academia and practice. The concept of continuous auditing was conceived over two decades ago in academia and we are now at a junction where the auditing profession recognizes the implement-ability and value of a continuous audit. The book’s purpose is twofold. First, the book aims to provide academics and practitioners with a compilation of select continuous auditing design science research that can be used as a springboard to future research and development. Second, the book aims to provide readers with an understand of the underlying theoretical concepts of a continuous audit, ideas on how continuous audit can be applied in practice, and what has and has not worked in research.

The second edition of “Count Down” is revised to include and discuss developments affecting the Big Four and their business model since the December 2015 release of the first edition. Brought into this updated narrative, for example, are:  The Big Four’s growth to collective global 2016 revenue of $ 128 billion, and the continued disparities in growth between their Audit and Advisory practices.  The imposition of mandatory auditor rotation by legislation and regulation in the European Union, and in the US, the PCAOB’s requirement to name lead partners on public company audits.  New examples of corporate financial malfeasance and potentially disruptive auditor litigation, involving clients of each of the Big Four.  In addition, this new edition expands in scope and details the required re-engineering by which – with the necessary mutual cooperation among financial statement issuers and users, the accounting profession, legislators, regulators and agencies of law enforcement – a sustainable structure for financial reporting and assurance might emerge -- that is, a Big Audit model truly fit to serve today’s global capital markets.

Digital disruption is ubiquitous and has changed both the way businesses operate and the way people live. Disruption caused by innovation affects firms across multiple industries, from financial services to industrial firms, business processes to payment systems, manufacturing to supply chains. Further, scholars hear more and more about artificial intelligence (AI), big data, machine learning, blockchain, and fintech as examples of contemporary manifestations of disruptive technology that will profoundly influence disciplines beyond business and finance, such as law, health care and government. Global extensions of these technologies and innovations challenge the efficacy and boundaries of law. Indeed, disruptive innovations are potentially change the way we consider the future as humans versus some super artificial intelligence.  This volume contains fourteen articles split across four parts, exploring the debate around the topics of fintech, AI, blockchain, and cryptocurrency. Featuring a cast of global contributors, this is an unmissable volume exploring the most current research on digital innovation in the financial and business worlds.