Control in organizations can be defined as expectational equilibrium, or correspondence between how the members of an organization behave, and how they are expected to behave by others. Using contract model of organizations as the base, we build a theory of control with the help of human...

The accounting standardization project, kicked off by the passage of U.S. securities laws in the 1930s, has steadily gained momentum over seven decades. Today, written standards dominate accounting thought, practice, regulation, instruction, even research. Generally accepted accounting...

The remarks in this paper consist of two parts. The first part concerns the linkages established in the three excellent papers among accounting, corporate governance, and market discipline. The second part discusses the possible uses and abuses of market discipline to define and develop...

This study considers accounting in the new information economy. The basic framework of accounting for firms reflects a set of contracts and it helps define, implement and enforce these contracts. This framework is stable, and unlikely to change soon. However, the new information technology has...

Opportunity cost is a central concept in decision making. It is difficult to measure because it is the value associated with opportunities foregone. In this paper, we characterize three time-based dimensions of resources to help understand and estimate opportunity costs. These dimensions capture...

Many accounting textbooks state that the opportunity cost of idle fixed assets is zero. A few exceptions refer to repair, overhaul, employee vacation and congestion, giving rise to positive opportunity cost. We show that in important and frequently encountered situations, idled assets have...

This paper presents a framework to help decisions makers better measure the opportunity cost of resources with different granularity. We characterize resources by the intrinsic lumpiness of acquisition (acquisition granularity), storability of benefits (expiration granularity), and control over...

Growth of online auctions and other forms of e-commerce has been hampered by concerns about the privacy, integrity, and security of online transactions. To earn the trust of their participants, new e-commerce organizations, like traditional organizations, have to reach the state of expectations...

Many accounting textbooks state that the opportunity cost of idle fixed assets is zero. A few exceptions may refer to factors such as repair and overhaul, employee vacation and congestion that give rise to strictly positive opportunity cost. We show that in important and frequently encountered...

Control in organizations can be defined as expectational equilibrium, or correspondence between how the members of an organization behave and how others expect them to behave. Using a contract model of organizations as the base, we use human expectations, common knowledge, and culture to propose...