We conduct an experiment designed to investigate unobservable commitment in a management control setting with a privately informed subordinate. The experimental setting follows closely that found in Evans, Hannan, Krishan and Moser [2001] and Rankin, Schwartz and Young [2003]. In one treatment...

A large body of evidence indicates individuals keep promises even if self-interest dictates otherwise. Two rationales have been put forth. First, promises form an emotional commitment to keep actions and deeds consistent, referred to as the commitment rationale. Second, promises change the...

Typical textbook treatments of tax-advantaged retirement savings focus on legalistic characteristics such as contribution limits and early withdrawal penalties. Popular press articles often present a myriad of details on the effects of inflation, rates of return, expected tax rates, ordinary...

We review the development of structured financial products, discuss their accounting treatment and illustrate their valuation using simple numerical examples. The crucial element we incorporate is the possibility that the underlying assets in structured financial products have correlated...

Purpose The purpose of this note is to expose accounting students and others to recent findings in management control, specifically to the relationship between the informativeness of a performance measure and its usefulness in performance evaluation. Design/methodology/approach Numerical...

Financial services are an increasingly important sector in modern economies, yet many accounting and auditing texts focus on manufacturing and retailing. This teaching note describes the role of financial institutions in transforming long-term, difficult-to-sell assets into short-term bank...