Six BCom students awarded CPA Quebec scholarships

Congratulations to the six Desautels undergraduate students who were awarded scholarships by the Foundation of CPAs of Quebec.

The scholarships, valued at $1,000 each, recognize academic excellence and community involvement among students in Quebec who are interested in pursuing accounting.

This year’s recipients are: Nicole Butkowsky; Chaeyoung Lee; Shannon Levy; Sateesh Pararajasingham; Nathalie Shen-Picotte and Elizabeth Tkach.

Professor Tsang named among top real estate researchers

The Real Estate Academic Leadership (REAL) ranking for 2013-2017 has placed Professor Desmond Tsang in the 34th position among the top real estate researchers worldwide. This is the second consecutive year that Professor Tsang has placed on this list.

Influential Chief Marketing Officers and Management Revenue Forecasts

Authors: David S. Koo and Dongyoung Lee

Publication: The Accounting Review, Forthcoming

Abstract:

We examine the role of the chief marketing officer (CMO) in corporate voluntary disclosure of future revenues. Using a sample of S&P 1500 firms for the period from 2003 to 2011, we find that the presence of an influential CMO in top management is positively associated with the likelihood of a firm's issuing a management revenue forecast. We also find that firms with an influential CMO provide more accurate revenue forecasts than other firms. These findings extend to long-window change analyses and are robust to the use of a propensity-score matched-pair approach. Overall, the results are consistent with the notion that CMO influence in top management appears to play an important role in voluntary revenue disclosures.

Read abstract: The Accounting Review

Does the Presence of Female Executives Curb Earnings Management? Evidence from Korea

Authors: Hyun Ah Kim, Seok Woo Jeong, Tony Kang and Dongyoung Lee

Publication: Australian Accounting Review, Vol. 27, No. 4, December 2017

Abstract:

Desmond Tsang wins 2017 ARES Manuscript Prize

Professor Desmond Tsang's paper "Quality of Life and Earnings Management: Do Firms at Less Desirable Locations Manipulate Earnings More Aggressively?" with co-author Jing Zhang was awarded the 2017 ARES Manuscript Prize in the category of Innovative Thinking "Thinking Out of the Box" presented at the ARES Annual Conference.

Value is in the Eye of the Beholder: The Relative Valuation Roles of Earnings and Book Value in Merger Pricing

Author: MaryJane Rabier 

Publication: The Accounting Review, Vol. 93, No. 1, 2018, pp. 335-362

Abstract:

Gupta and Gerchek (2002) argue that different acquirers can arrive at different equity valuations for the same target depending on their strategic intent. A reason for acquirers' equity valuations to vary, holding target fundamentals constant, may be that individual acquirers place different weights on underlying fundamentals. I examine this possibility using Burgstahler and Dichev (1997)'s theoretical framework. They argue that the relative importance of earnings and book value depends on expected adaptation, which is the likelihood that the existing earnings generating process will be altered. Using restructuring costs to proxy for expected adaptation at the individual acquirer level, I find that the association between the target's earnings (book value) and acquirers' bid prices is decreasing (increasing) in expected adaptation, consistent with theoretical predictions. These findings are less pronounced during merger waves and intense bid competition for the target.

Read full article: The Accounting Review

Acquisition Motives and the Distribution of Acquisition Performance

Author: MaryJane Rabier

Publication: Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 38, No. 13, 2017

Abstract: 

Research summary:

I examine how acquisition motives relate to the distribution of post-acquisition performance. I argue that acquisitions motivated by operating synergies have the potential to experience greater gains than acquisitions driven by financial synergies but are harder to value and implement, making them more uncertain. Using SEC filings, conference calls and press releases to capture acquisition motives, I find that acquirers pursuing operating synergies are more likely to experience highly positive and highly negative long-term returns than acquirers pursuing financial synergies.

I also find that acquisition experience and geographic proximity to targets soften acquirers' extreme downside outcomes in operating synergy acquisitions. My theory and results suggest that approaches that emphasize average outcomes for acquirers and use industry classifications to capture acquisition motives may be incomplete.

Managerial summary: 

Managers engage in acquisitions for various reasons. In this study, I find that reasons related to operating synergies (e.g., revenue growth through new product offerings or cost savings through economies of scale) are more likely to result in extreme high and low performance outcomes for the acquiring firm compared to reasons related to financial synergies (e.g., diversification of cash flow streams).

In addition, I find that the acquirer's prior acquisition experience and the geographic proximity between the target and acquirer help soften the extreme low performance outcomes related to operating synergies. 

Read full article: Strategic Management Journal

Desautels students from Japan and Montreal tour Vietnam businesses

This summer, a combined group of Desautels MBA Japan students and participants from the PMBA cohort in Montreal accompanied Associate Professor Desmond Tsang on a Study Tour of Vietnam to get a feel for the country’s culture and learn about its status as a rapidly-emerging market.

A little adrenaline goes a long way when it comes to business perspectives

A blog post at Virgin.com looks at how adventure-seeking CEOs come at business from a more open, experimental angle.

Desautels Professor Jingjing Zhang’s research shows that chief execs who fly small airplanes in their off-hours tend to be more open to innovation.

Who’s Watching? Accountability in Different Audit Regimes and the Effects on Auditors’ Professional Skepticism

Authors: Florian Hoos,  Jorien Louise Pruijssers, Michel W. Lander

Publication: Journal of Business Ethics, Forthcoming

Abstract:

Desautels researchers link thrill-seeking CEOs to increased innovation

CEOs with a real taste for excitement can be a company’s best bet for upping its innovation cred, according to a paper co-authored by a Desautels professor Jingjing Zhang.

The paper studied 88 CEOs who were pilots, comparing them to 1,123 non-pilot chief executives over ten years. Pilot CEOs helped increase their companies’ patents by almost 67 per cent.

Jingjing Zhang awarded 2017 FRQSC New Academics Grant

Jingjing Zhang, Assistant Professor in Accounting, was recently awarded a 2017 FRQSC New Academics Grant for her project "Effet d’entraînement réglementaire transfrontalier : impact des réformes du processus de notation aux États-Unis sur la notation des obligations des sociétés canadiennes. / Cross-Border Regulatory Spillover: The Effect of U.S. Credit Rating Reforms on Canada’s Corporate Bond Ratings".

Go before the whistle blows: an empirical analysis of director turnover and financial fraud

Authors: Gao. Y., Kim, J.B., Tsang, D., Wu, H. 

Publication: Review of Accounting Studies

Abstract: 

Professor Steve Fortin appointed to Accounting Standards Board

Professor Steve Fortin, CPA, CA has been named to the Financial Reporting Accounting Standards Board (AcSB). The AcSB is an independent body with the authority to establish accounting standards for use by all Canadian entities outside the public sector.

Adventurous CEOs make great innovators

According to a study performed in part by Desautels Assistant Professor of Accounting Jingjing Zhang, when it comes to chasing innovation, companies with risk-loving CEOs tend to pursue more original projects and “generate more patents with greater market impact than their peers.” This is because thrill-seeking personalities tend to be more open to new ideas, which translates well into the business space.