Using Benford's (1938) law, this study documents pervasive evidence that managers of publicly listed Taiwanese firms tend to engage in earnings manipulative activities, rounding earnings numbers to achieve key reference points. Consistent with prior studies on rounding behavior in other...

Most scholars have indicated corporations using accounting conservatism to reduce earnings manipulation, although certain scholars believe that firms have more incentive to increase earnings manipulation. Institutional investors play an important external monitoring role, and affect firm's...

We investigate the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the cost of capital. In general, our results suggest that firms with CSR awards have lower cost of capital. In terms of firms' common risk factors, both book-to-market ratio and leverage are positively related to...

This study investigates the effect of window dressing by Taiwanese firms on investors' stock returns. The second digit of the earnings reported as earnings before interest and tax, earnings after interest and tax, or earnings per share is found to occasionally serve as the reference point. In...

We examine the rounding phenomenon (called <i>window dressing</i>) in financial reporting of U.S. high-tech and low-tech firms. By requiring that investments in research and development be expensed as incurred, the generally accepted accounting principles provide low-tech firms with a larger set of...

Purpose – The eChain type of bank accounting information system (eCBAS) is proposed to facilitate standard business document electronic exchanges between banks, central factories, and their satellite vendors in the virtual world. This framework integrates various software applications, running...