I define moral accounting as the crafting of accountability systems that improve moral performance in a moral way. I also propose that accountants are well-positioned to offer Moral Accounting Engagements (MAEs), which evaluate how a client’s systems fall short of moral accounting’s...

We review research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) published in 13 top accounting journals over the last decade. We begin with a brief discussion of the data that archival researchers have used to measure CSR. Next, we conduct our review in four parts: 1) determinants of CSR; 2) the...

We study the effect of mandatory IFRS adoption in Europe in 2005 on conditional conservatism. We capture conditional conservatism with a modified version of the Khan and Watts (2009) measure (C_Score) that also controls for potential shifts in unconditional conservatism and cost of capital. From...

Union pension funds manage approximately $3.5 trillion in retirement assets on behalf of public and private sector employees covered by collective bargaining agreement. They are also very active in the proxy process, sponsoring approximately one-third of the shareholder proposals that are...

Corporate monitors are important participants in corporate governance systems. Monitors include the board of directors, the general counsel, and internal and external auditors. Monitors are paid by the organization but their responsibilities largely or mostly non-managerial.How should monitors...

The press and other third-party observers frequently discuss executive compensation. However, executive compensation figures are not always what they seem. Executive pay packages contain a diverse mix of cash and non-cash incentives, payable in one or multiple years and subject to accruals,...

The board of directors has a long list of responsibilities in all areas of governance. However, to many, the fundamental obligations of the board are simple and distill down to two: 1) evaluate and approve the corporate strategy and 2) hire and fire the CEO. The Hewlett-Packard Company has had...

Say on pay is the practice of granting shareholders the right to vote on a company's executive compensation program at the annual shareholder meeting. Under the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, publicly traded companies in the U.S. are required to adopt say on pay. Advocates of this approach believe that...

Proxy advisory firms are highly influential in the design and approval of equity compensation plans. The largest proxy advisory firm — Institutional Shareholder Services — uses a variety of tests to determine its recommendation on equity plan proposals. Among these is a proprietary metric...

Corporate governance has received an increasing amount of attention in recent years. Corporate scandals have brought corporate governance weaknesses to the attention of the general public, especially in the United States. But corporate governance is sometimes a problem in other countries as...