Questions and Answers of Accounting Theory Conceptual

Select a publicly traded company (your instructor may do this for you). Over a 10-year period trace the following elements:a.Net income with depreciation and amortization added back to make it
What is the purpose of reporting non cash items in the SCF?
Examine the 2001 and 2002 annual reports for a corporation having a financial subsidiary. (Your instructor may suggest a corporation on the EDGAR Website. http://www.sec.gov/edgarhp.htm). Determine
Are there relevant circumstance differences between purchase and pooling of interests? Explain
What does it mean to classify a cash flow according to the basic nature or function of the event as opposed to the ultimate purpose of the transaction? Which method do you prefer?
The logic of pooling rests heavily on the assumption that no substantive economic transaction occurs between the combinor and stockholders of the combinee. Evaluate this assumption.
Describe the implicit assumption made in SFAS No. 94 about the reporting entity.
What prompted FASB Accounting Standards Update 2009-09?
Why does the elimination of poolings improve representational faithfulness and comparability?
Why does the elimination of poolings (SFAS No. 141) and the indefinite life of goodwill subject to impairment (SFAS No. 142) represent a possible “quid pro quo?”
Distinguish among sell-offs, spin-offs, split-offs, and split-ups.
Why would proportionate consolidation result in rigid uniformity for intercorporate equity investment accounting?
What are some challenges that are specific to a joint converged FASB/IASB Income Tax standard?
In the U.S. federal and state tax is based on taxable net income, excluding “not-for-profit entities. What are the arguments for basing all organizational taxes on cash and cash equivalent receipts
How might standards setters address the concerns that Gordon and Gallery (2012) highlight related to pension accounting comparability?
Novy-Marx and Rauh (2011) estimate state employee pension liabilities in the United States. What thoughts do you have on their findings?
Why is there a “double counting” problem if the accumulated benefit obligation is used to measure the pension liability and what can be done about it?
Is SFAS No. 87’s argument favoring recognition of a pension liability for accumulated benefits consistent with the conceptual framework project?
If actuarial gains and losses and prior service costs, in line with SFAS No. 158, are to be recognized in the period when incurred, is there a double counting effect when these elements are
Why is the aspect of conveyance of leases emphasized in capital leases and the contractual element emphasized in operating leases?
Why is the G4+1 like the Big Ten (a.k.a. Western Athletic Conference)?
Why is the IASB standard (IAS 7) substantially shorter than the FASB’s standard (SFAS No. 13)?
Current discussions by the Boards point to a possibility that a converged standard on leases will not be achieved. How will lack of converged standard on leases affect the Boards’ Joint Project?
Ohlson and Aier (2009) propose a framework of Modified Cash Accounting (MCA) rather than the current SCF. Evaluate their proposal.
In SFAS No. 154, changes in accounting principle result in a restatement, whereas under APB Opinion No. 20, a change in accounting principle is handled in a pro forma manner. How does a restatement
Why are future events so important to the issue of revenue and expense measurement?
Why is the handling of troubled debt restructuring under SFAS No. 114 illogical?
When dealing with earnings per share, why is less really more with SFAS No. 128?
Why is comprehensive income an application of proprietary theory?
Why is there no matching problem for periodic costs, and what are some examples?
Liu and Espahbodi (2014) suggest that a firm’s dividend policy affects its propensity to smooth earnings. How might this finding affect financial statement analysis?
What are the advantages of convergence-harmonization of accounting standards?
What does harmonization of accounting standards mean?
Distinguish between the discrete and integral views of quarterly information disclosure.
Do you think that disclosures of smaller firms have more information content than disclosures for larger firms?
Do you agree that it is not necessary to provide information for undiversified investors? Discuss.
Why does segment disclosure in SFAS No. 131 represent a potential improvement over segment disclosure in SFAS No. 14?
Morunga and Bradbury (2012) find that IFRS adoption may lead to some adverse disclosure results. Discuss their findings.
Assume two countries adopt International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for their financial accounting and reporting. One has a highly developed economic history; one has a language that has
Why does post-earnings-announcement drift challenge the efficient-markets hypothesis?
Why is it argued that capital market research cannot determine the optimality of accounting policies even for the limited investor-creditor group?
What is the efficient-markets hypothesis?
Who are creditors?
Trombetta, et al (2012) discusses how effects analyses might help determine the usefulness of accounting standards. Which research method do you argue provides the best analysis of a new standard?
To what extent should the liquidity measures revisions be considered if LIFO were to be eliminated from U.S. GAAP? Provide examples of those likely measures that would be affected.As an interesting
Do you see any inconsistency in SFAC No. 1, which sees financial statements as general purpose but geared primarily toward investors and creditors?
Would changing the asset definition in the conceptual framework to one concerned with property rights have any other ramifications? Discuss.
How does the freedom from bias mentioned in ASOBAT compare to the quality of neutrality mentioned in SFAC No. 8?
Bradbury and Harrison (2015) study dissenting opinions in Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) standards. What changes, if any, do these opinions suggest need to be made in the conceptual
In SFAC No. 8, the objectives of financial reporting clearly take an entity perspective rather than a proprietary one. If the FASB had taken the proprietary perspective, what effect, if any, does it
Murphy, et al (2013) argue “living law” applies to conceptual frameworks. How does this perspective affect current frameworks?
What are the implications of Young (2006) on the standards promulgated by standards-setting bodies?
Williams and Ravenscroft (2015) question decision usefulness as the basis for accounting standards. Take a position and argue its merits.
Why do you think that operating ratios (return-on-assets) are more sensitive to the combined effect of immateriality items than would be the case with solvency ratios (debt-to-equity and current
How does conventional retained earnings differ from entity equity under the Anthony conception of the entity theory?
How do the imperative postulates (group C) differ from the other two categories of postulates?
Postulates are supposed to be tight enough to prevent conflicting conclusions being deduced from them. Is this the case with ARS 1?
Zeff (2007) describes the SEC’s positions regarding historical costing in the 20th century, eventually questioning whether the United States has ever “had a private-sector process for
Does the ability to swiftly-and at no cost-download music files convert this music from a private good to a public good?
What is the relationship between public goods and free riders? Is accounting a public good?
What is the relationship between the National Commission on Fraudulent Financial Reporting and Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995?
What role should the AICPA assume in the possible development of “baby GAAP” standards?
The FASB and AICPA are considering the addition of “baby GAAP” for private companies. Take a position and argue why two GAAPs should or should not exist?
Why do you think the term “deprival value” was used to name a specific type of replacement cost?
An individual who was appraising accounting education had the following premises (assumptions):Accounting professors used to do more consulting with accounting practitioners than they do
Do you think that changes brought about in accounting standards by failures of publicly traded companies such as Enron should be classified under political factors or economic decisions? Support your
Accounting rule making should only be concerned with information for investors and creditors? Discuss.
Why do the value choices (entry value, exit value, and historical cost) fall within the domain of accounting theory?