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Abstract:
We analyze the handling of strategic management accounting in the 20 general management accounting textbooks that are perceived as most important in German- and in English-speaking countries. Our analysis shows that strategic management accounting is not integrated into textbooks within a coherent, consistent framework. However, the survey also shows that these textbooks often use several strategic management accounting "subconcepts" which form a set of core concepts of strategic management accounting across the language areas. We identify these core concepts and elaborate on striking differences between the coverage of certain concepts in the German- and English-speaking worlds. In general, the German term "controlling" implies a more strategic emphasis than does its American counterpart, "management accounting".

Accounting Education, Accounting for Strategic Positioning, Comparative

Abstract:
Prior studies of internal control disclosures under the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) provide limited evidence on the impact of internal control regulation on reporting quality. Moreover, there is scant empirical evidence on the reporting quality effects of mandatory internal control reforms in non-U.S. regulatory regimes. Thus, it is still an open question whether internal control regulation leads to systematic improvements in reporting quality. We examine this issue, with specific focus on the 1998 German legislation on control and transparency (KTG). In particular, we examine whether German firms experience an increase in earnings quality following the 1998 internal control reform. Using both a differences and difference-in-differences research design, our results suggest that after the KTG reform, German firms experience an increase in timely loss recognition and a decrease in earnings management as indicated by various measures of earnings smoothing and managing toward small positive earnings. These results are robust to various sensitivity analyses. Taken together, our results are consistent with the achievement of one of the main goals of internal control regulation¿increased earnings quality through effective internal control.

internal controls, earnings quality, international accounting, KonTraG (KTG), Sarbanes-Oxley

Abstract:
Discounting cash flows (DCF) is regularly claimed to be the theoretically correct and most sophisticated method for valuating assets. While some researchers and practitioners suggest that DCF and comparables should be used parallel, the latter has a relatively poor reputation in academic research. Subsequent to the seminal contribution of Kaplan/Ruback (1995), only few studies have enhanced our understanding of the relative accuracy of the DCF and comparables methods. The goal of our research is to provide a novel approach to test the methods’ accuracy. We use ex-post market data and imply that realized results of cash flows, earnings and revenues would have been the most accurate forecast. Based on this method, we present a market-based comparison of both methods using conservative premises for the selection of our sample and a variety of configurations. For comparables, we find significant improvements in accuracy when the harmonic mean and an historic average of results utilizing a three year time window as the formation period is applied. By comparing the optimal configuration of each methods, we show that comparables significantly outperform DCF valuations.

DCF, comparables, multiples, valuation