Canadian Academic Accounting Association

President

Daniel worked at Canadian Academic Accounting Association as a President

Canadian Academic Accounting Association

Editor, Contemporary Accounting Research

Daniel worked at Canadian Academic Accounting Association as a Editor, Contemporary Accounting Research

Stephen J.R. Smith School of Business at Queen's University

Professor of Accounting

Research in financial accounting; supervision of graduate students.

Canada Revenue Agency

Member, Offshore Compliance Advisory Committee (Minister of National Revenue)

The mandate of the Committee is to provide advice, input and recommendations to the Minister and the Canada Revenue Agency on administration, policies, procedures and priorities for offshore compliance with Canada’s tax laws. The scope includes both businesses and high net worth individuals.

Stephen J. R. Smith School of Business at Queen's University

Chartered Accountants of Ontario Professorship

Research, teaching, and supervision of doctoral students.

Contemporary Accounting Research

Consulting Editor

Daniel worked at Contemporary Accounting Research as a Consulting Editor

Accounting Standards Oversight Council (AcSOC)

Oversees accounting standard setting in Canada

Green Accounting and Green Eyeshades Twenty Years Later

Critical Perspectives on Accounting

This article proposes a way of accounting for firms’ social responsibilities as constructive obligations under the doctrine of promissory estoppel, thereby exposing certain limitations of financial accounting, given its current conceptual framework.

Green Accounting and Green Eyeshades Twenty Years Later

Critical Perspectives on Accounting

This article proposes a way of accounting for firms’ social responsibilities as constructive obligations under the doctrine of promissory estoppel, thereby exposing certain limitations of financial accounting, given its current conceptual framework.

The Impact of Disclosures of Internal Control Weaknesses and Remediations on Investors’ Perceptions of Earnings Quality

Accounting Perspectives

We hypothesize and find that firms making SOX-mandated disclosures of material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting (ICOFR) exhibit lower investor-perceived earnings quality (IPEQ) than nondisclosers. We measure IPEQ using e-loading, a market-returns–based representation of earnings quality developed by Ecker, Francis, Kim, Olsson, and Schipper (2006). Firms do not exhibit decreases in IPEQ after initially disclosing material weaknesses. This is consistent with investors having anticipated ICOFR strength based on observable firm characteristics. However, firms exhibit increases in IPEQ after receiving their first clean audit reports that confirm the remediation of previously disclosed weaknesses. This indicates that, although investors do not find initial weakness disclosures to be incrementally informative, SOX motivates firms to remediate weak controls and provides a venue for credible remediation disclosures, thus enhancing investors’ perception of financial reporting reliability. These findings are consistent with the existence of regulatory benefits associated with SOX’s internal control disclosure and audit requirements.

Green Accounting and Green Eyeshades Twenty Years Later

Critical Perspectives on Accounting

This article proposes a way of accounting for firms’ social responsibilities as constructive obligations under the doctrine of promissory estoppel, thereby exposing certain limitations of financial accounting, given its current conceptual framework.

The Impact of Disclosures of Internal Control Weaknesses and Remediations on Investors’ Perceptions of Earnings Quality

Accounting Perspectives

We hypothesize and find that firms making SOX-mandated disclosures of material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting (ICOFR) exhibit lower investor-perceived earnings quality (IPEQ) than nondisclosers. We measure IPEQ using e-loading, a market-returns–based representation of earnings quality developed by Ecker, Francis, Kim, Olsson, and Schipper (2006). Firms do not exhibit decreases in IPEQ after initially disclosing material weaknesses. This is consistent with investors having anticipated ICOFR strength based on observable firm characteristics. However, firms exhibit increases in IPEQ after receiving their first clean audit reports that confirm the remediation of previously disclosed weaknesses. This indicates that, although investors do not find initial weakness disclosures to be incrementally informative, SOX motivates firms to remediate weak controls and provides a venue for credible remediation disclosures, thus enhancing investors’ perception of financial reporting reliability. These findings are consistent with the existence of regulatory benefits associated with SOX’s internal control disclosure and audit requirements.

http://ssrn.com/author=51590

Different Conceptual Accounting Frameworks for Public and Private Enterprises: Commentary on Canada’s IFRS Transition and Suggestions for International Empirical Work

Prior research, coupled with demographic data relating to the needs of financial statement users, suggests that Canada’s strategy of adopting International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for public firms, while simultaneously basing Accounting Standards for Private Enterprises (ASPE) on a classic conceptual framework featuring reliability, conservatism and verifiability, is a rational strategy that confers a comparative advantage on Canada’s private enterprises relative to their peers in other countries. I propose research projects that could examine this inference as a testable hypothesis, thereby providing empirical evidence that standard setters could weigh in determining whether the strategy is successful and worth preserving. I also explain why conservatism can co-exist with unbiased fair values of private enterprises’ equity securities and their derivatives.

Green Accounting and Green Eyeshades Twenty Years Later

Critical Perspectives on Accounting

This article proposes a way of accounting for firms’ social responsibilities as constructive obligations under the doctrine of promissory estoppel, thereby exposing certain limitations of financial accounting, given its current conceptual framework.

The Impact of Disclosures of Internal Control Weaknesses and Remediations on Investors’ Perceptions of Earnings Quality

Accounting Perspectives

We hypothesize and find that firms making SOX-mandated disclosures of material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting (ICOFR) exhibit lower investor-perceived earnings quality (IPEQ) than nondisclosers. We measure IPEQ using e-loading, a market-returns–based representation of earnings quality developed by Ecker, Francis, Kim, Olsson, and Schipper (2006). Firms do not exhibit decreases in IPEQ after initially disclosing material weaknesses. This is consistent with investors having anticipated ICOFR strength based on observable firm characteristics. However, firms exhibit increases in IPEQ after receiving their first clean audit reports that confirm the remediation of previously disclosed weaknesses. This indicates that, although investors do not find initial weakness disclosures to be incrementally informative, SOX motivates firms to remediate weak controls and provides a venue for credible remediation disclosures, thus enhancing investors’ perception of financial reporting reliability. These findings are consistent with the existence of regulatory benefits associated with SOX’s internal control disclosure and audit requirements.

http://ssrn.com/author=51590

Different Conceptual Accounting Frameworks for Public and Private Enterprises: Commentary on Canada’s IFRS Transition and Suggestions for International Empirical Work

Prior research, coupled with demographic data relating to the needs of financial statement users, suggests that Canada’s strategy of adopting International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for public firms, while simultaneously basing Accounting Standards for Private Enterprises (ASPE) on a classic conceptual framework featuring reliability, conservatism and verifiability, is a rational strategy that confers a comparative advantage on Canada’s private enterprises relative to their peers in other countries. I propose research projects that could examine this inference as a testable hypothesis, thereby providing empirical evidence that standard setters could weigh in determining whether the strategy is successful and worth preserving. I also explain why conservatism can co-exist with unbiased fair values of private enterprises’ equity securities and their derivatives.

Board Monitoring, Audit Committee Effectiveness, and Financial Reporting Quality: Review and Synthesis of Empirical Evidence

Journal of Forensic & Investigative Accounting

We review and synthesize the results of empirical studies of associations between corporate oversight measures and financial reporting quality (FRQ). We examine two oversight components, board characteristics and audit committee characteristics. For each component, we summarize associations between variables contributing to monitoring effectiveness and three presumptive FRQ monitoring outcomes: (1) ex post consequences of low FRQ, such as financial reporting fraud; (2) earnings management measures, such as abnormal accruals; and (3) perceived informativeness of financial reports, manifest in earnings-returns associations, earnings response coefficients, and analyst perceptions of FRQ. Our classification scheme provides a coherent framework for synthesizing the implications of empirical findings, highlighting the role of different corporate governance variables in enhancing different aspects of FRQ. This synthesis has the potential to inform regulators, boards of directors, and forensic accountants who are concerned with improving the oversight of public corporations and reducing opportunities for managers and others to engage in financial fraud.

Green Accounting and Green Eyeshades Twenty Years Later

Critical Perspectives on Accounting

This article proposes a way of accounting for firms’ social responsibilities as constructive obligations under the doctrine of promissory estoppel, thereby exposing certain limitations of financial accounting, given its current conceptual framework.

The Impact of Disclosures of Internal Control Weaknesses and Remediations on Investors’ Perceptions of Earnings Quality

Accounting Perspectives

We hypothesize and find that firms making SOX-mandated disclosures of material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting (ICOFR) exhibit lower investor-perceived earnings quality (IPEQ) than nondisclosers. We measure IPEQ using e-loading, a market-returns–based representation of earnings quality developed by Ecker, Francis, Kim, Olsson, and Schipper (2006). Firms do not exhibit decreases in IPEQ after initially disclosing material weaknesses. This is consistent with investors having anticipated ICOFR strength based on observable firm characteristics. However, firms exhibit increases in IPEQ after receiving their first clean audit reports that confirm the remediation of previously disclosed weaknesses. This indicates that, although investors do not find initial weakness disclosures to be incrementally informative, SOX motivates firms to remediate weak controls and provides a venue for credible remediation disclosures, thus enhancing investors’ perception of financial reporting reliability. These findings are consistent with the existence of regulatory benefits associated with SOX’s internal control disclosure and audit requirements.

http://ssrn.com/author=51590

Different Conceptual Accounting Frameworks for Public and Private Enterprises: Commentary on Canada’s IFRS Transition and Suggestions for International Empirical Work

Prior research, coupled with demographic data relating to the needs of financial statement users, suggests that Canada’s strategy of adopting International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for public firms, while simultaneously basing Accounting Standards for Private Enterprises (ASPE) on a classic conceptual framework featuring reliability, conservatism and verifiability, is a rational strategy that confers a comparative advantage on Canada’s private enterprises relative to their peers in other countries. I propose research projects that could examine this inference as a testable hypothesis, thereby providing empirical evidence that standard setters could weigh in determining whether the strategy is successful and worth preserving. I also explain why conservatism can co-exist with unbiased fair values of private enterprises’ equity securities and their derivatives.

Board Monitoring, Audit Committee Effectiveness, and Financial Reporting Quality: Review and Synthesis of Empirical Evidence

Journal of Forensic & Investigative Accounting

We review and synthesize the results of empirical studies of associations between corporate oversight measures and financial reporting quality (FRQ). We examine two oversight components, board characteristics and audit committee characteristics. For each component, we summarize associations between variables contributing to monitoring effectiveness and three presumptive FRQ monitoring outcomes: (1) ex post consequences of low FRQ, such as financial reporting fraud; (2) earnings management measures, such as abnormal accruals; and (3) perceived informativeness of financial reports, manifest in earnings-returns associations, earnings response coefficients, and analyst perceptions of FRQ. Our classification scheme provides a coherent framework for synthesizing the implications of empirical findings, highlighting the role of different corporate governance variables in enhancing different aspects of FRQ. This synthesis has the potential to inform regulators, boards of directors, and forensic accountants who are concerned with improving the oversight of public corporations and reducing opportunities for managers and others to engage in financial fraud.