Dan Stone | University of Kentucky (original) (raw)

Papers by Dan Stone

Journal of Information Systems, 2017

ABSTRACT Investigating how and why accounting professionals share useless and harmful knowledge c... more ABSTRACT Investigating how and why accounting professionals share useless and harmful knowledge challenges designers of accounting systems and organizational leaders. In this paper, we extend self-determination theory (SDT) to investigate the influence of financial incentives on (1) harmful, and (2) masked, i.e., organizationally useless, knowledge sharing (KS) among accounting professionals (n = 428) by adapting measures from SDT to the professional accounting context. Although self-disclosed dysfunctional KS is infrequent in our sample, the results indicate that, consistent with the predictions of our extension of SDT, accountants with higher controlled (higher autonomous) motivation are more (less) influenced by financial incentives and engage in more (less) dysfunctional KS. Data Availability: Contact the authors.

Accounting Horizons, Oct 1, 2017

SYNOPSIS Leveraging accounting scholars' expertise in the integrity of information and eviden... more SYNOPSIS Leveraging accounting scholars' expertise in the integrity of information and evidence, and in managers' self-interested discretion in information collection and reporting, offers the possibility of accounting scholars creating, promoting, and adapting methods to ensure that accounting research is of exemplary integrity and quality. This manuscript uses the six principles from the recent American Statistical Association (ASA) report on p-values as an organizing framework, and considers some implications of these principles for quantitative accounting research. It also proposes 12 actions, in three categories (community actions, redefining research quality, and ranking academic accounting journals) for improving quantitative accounting research quality and integrity. It concludes with a clarion call to our community to create, adopt, and promote scholarship practices and policies that lead in scholarly integrity.

Journal of Information Systems, Jun 20, 2019

ABSTRACTWhat knowledge and skills (KSs) are necessary for complex Agreed-Upon Procedures (AUP) en... more ABSTRACTWhat knowledge and skills (KSs) are necessary for complex Agreed-Upon Procedures (AUP) engagements, such as those that include eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) tagged data? This study contributes by investigating these issues in two studies: (1) a survey and (2) structured interviews of accounting professionals with XBRL expertise. Survey results suggest commonality in perceptions of the KSs needed in two knowledge categories, “Accounting and Financial Reporting” and “Undertaking AUP on XBRL Instance Documents,” and, variability in ratings of two categories: “XBRL technology” and “audit procedures.” Interview results indicate that knowledge of the U.S. GAAP Taxonomy is most important to AUP engagements followed by the nature of AUP engagements. The results suggest: (1) a need for clarification of XBRL-relevant KSs and (2) an important but unfilled role for universities and scholars in discerning, supporting, and developing the KSs needed to support complex assurance engagements.

Managerial Auditing Journal, Sep 2, 2019

Purpose This paper aims to examine the effects of firm size on audit proposal readability and aud... more Purpose This paper aims to examine the effects of firm size on audit proposal readability and audit proposal readability on auditor selection using readability metrics. Design/methodology/approach Adopting the Flesch reading ease readability formula, the authors analyze the readability of 370 hand-collected audit proposals submitted by audit firms for US state and local governments’ audit service contracts. Findings The authors find differences in readability across audit firm size, specifically the proposals written by smaller firms are more readable than those submitted by larger firms. The results further indicate that readability metrics correlate with auditor selection, i.e. an increase in audit proposal readability from the first to third quartile improves the likelihood of a firm winning the engagement by about 6 per cent, ceteris paribus. In addition, while audit fees and an existing auditor–client relationship are associated with engagement success, proxies for audit quality (i.e. audit firm size, audit experience of lead partner) are not. Research limitations/implications The Flesch reading ease measure is a simple linear combination of text attributes, which assumes that readability is a single, unidimensional construct. Simple readability metrics, such as the Flesch reading ease, may confound environmental complexity with readability. Practical implications Readability improves audit proposal success. Originality/value The results provide insight to accounting stakeholders regarding the potential influence of readability on audit firm selection. In short, readability matters.

Social Science Research Network, 2009

Environmental consequences increasingly influence management strategy and choice. This study inve... more Environmental consequences increasingly influence management strategy and choice. This study investigates the effects on attention and investment of: (a) incorporating environmental data into a balanced scorecard (BSC), called the sustainability balanced score card (SBSC), and, (b) the organization of environmental accounting information. Design/method/approach: In a between-participant design, participants (n ≈ 95) chose from among two investments using BSCs. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (a) no environmental data (control or BSC condition), (b) environmental data embedded within the traditional BSC (four-perspective SBSC) or (c) environmental data added to a BSC as a standalone fifth perspective (five-perspective SBSC). Findings: Environmentally friendly investment was greater with the four-perspective SBSC than the traditional BSC. In addition, participants were most efficient, i.e., spent the least total time, and least time per data element examined, with the four-perspective SBSC. Finally, the time spent examining, and decision weight given to, environmental data were uncorrelated. Research limitations/implications: Professional managers and accountants may have greater knowledge of environmental metrics than do students, who are the participants in this study; greater knowledge of environmental metrics may lessen the extent of display effects on judgments; hence, the results may not generalize to knowledgeable professionals. Future research can test this speculation by exploring the influence of knowledge on judgments in this context. Practical implications: The form (i.e., organization) of environmental accounting data changed the allocation of attention while the presence of environmental accounting data changed participants' investments; hence, both the presence, and form, of environmental accounting information matters. Originality/value: This study is among the first to show differing influences from both the presence and organization of environmental accounting data on attention and investment.

Journal of Information Systems, Nov 1, 2017

This paper reviews the emerging computer-aided text analysis (CATA) accounting literature through... more This paper reviews the emerging computer-aided text analysis (CATA) accounting literature through proposing a model of the corpus linguistic research production process, followed by analysis of the main text archival data sources in published papers in the Top Six accounting journals from 2010 to 2016. Reviewed papers appear in a 5 3 5 matrix that includes five categories of text data (i.e., SEC filings, conference call transcripts, earnings press releases, financial analyst reports, and other sources) and five categories of text measures (i.e., tone, readability, similarity, firm characteristics and environment, and other measures). A brief review of the CATA literature published in two AIS journals is followed by a summary of the tools and KS (knowledge and skills) observed in the reviewed research. Finally, we offer implications by discussing four issues related to CATA accounting research. We conclude that the emerging CATA accounting research offers unique opportunities for knowledgeable AIS scholars.

European Accounting Review, Sep 13, 2021

Issues in Accounting Education, 2021

This paper investigates the joint and complex influences of elitism and merit in the hiring of ne... more This paper investigates the joint and complex influences of elitism and merit in the hiring of new accounting faculty. Building on research showing that search committees value pedigree in hiring new faculty, we theorize both aristocratic (e.g., accessing or reinforcing elite networks) and meritocratic (e.g., signaling stronger future research potential) influences on the hiring of new accounting faculty. Using curriculum vitae from 381 Accounting Ph.D. Rookie Recruiting and Research Camps, we examine whether candidates graduating from elite accounting institutions place disproportionately higher than do their non-elite peers. Results suggest that elite pedigree predicts placement rank among candidates without favorable publication outcomes at top journals (e.g., acceptance or invitation to resubmit) but not among candidates with favorable publication outcomes. Favorable publication outcomes at other journals are unrelated to placement rank. The results suggest joint and complex ari...

European Accounting Review, 2021

provided valuable comments on an earlier draft of this paper.

Journal of experimental psychology. General, Jan 28, 2018

Evidence suggests that experiencing financial insecurity lowers well-being and increases problema... more Evidence suggests that experiencing financial insecurity lowers well-being and increases problematic financial behaviors. The present article employs a self-determination theory (SDT; R. M. Ryan & Deci, 2000a) perspective to understand the mechanisms by which experiencing financial insecurity contributes to these detrimental outcomes. Informed by SDT, we expected that the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness would drive these effects. Studies were concerned with individuals' general experiences of financial insecurity (using community samples; Studies 1 and 2), and employed manipulations involving self-reflection (Study 3) and hypothetical scenarios (Study 4). Findings demonstrated that financially insecure conditions undermined basic psychological needs and lowered well-being (measured in terms of self-esteem, depression, and anxiety). In addition, lower satisfaction of basic psychological needs linked financial insecurity to a greater likelihood ...

Consumer Knowledge and Financial Decisions, 2011

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000

Managers can use private information to strategically misrepresent costs and consume additional r... more Managers can use private information to strategically misrepresent costs and consume additional resources at the expense of the firm. However, past research has demonstrated that managers do not always fully misrepresent, thus failing to display economically rational decision making. This paper proposes that misrepresentation is a joint function of managers' economic self interest and situation-dependent, fairness beliefs. Specifically, managers choose a culturally defensible fairness belief that maximizes self-interest, given an initial -advantaged‖ or -disadvantaged‖ economic position. Experimental results show that -advantaged‖ managers, i.e., those who receive more than do comparable managers misrepresent less, while -disadvantaged‖ managers, i.e., those who receive less than do comparable managers misrepresent more. An accounting decision aid that increases the salience of the consequences of the misrepresentation increases this effect. The results suggest that managers' initial economic positions influence implemented fairness beliefs.

Using archival and survey data on 2,941 practicing managerial accountants, we explore four questi... more Using archival and survey data on 2,941 practicing managerial accountants, we explore four questions related to the determinants of success in managerial accounting: (1) Are there differences in knowledge content and ability among managerial accountants at different ranks? (2) Are there differences in the variability of knowledge content and ability among managerial accountants at different ranks? (3) Are the determinants of success in managerial accounting consistent with the Libby & Luft (L&L) model? and (4) Are differing types of knowledge and levels of ability needed for success at different ranks in managerial accounting? We find: (1) higher levels of technical knowledge among juniors and higher levels of industry and tacit managerial knowledge (TMK) among managers, (2) lower variability in the technical knowledge, and higher variability in the industry knowledge, of juniors compared with seniors and managers, (3) general (though not unequivocal) support for the determinants of...

Herein, we present a brief case that follows the recommendations of previous accounting research ... more Herein, we present a brief case that follows the recommendations of previous accounting research (e.g., Dorocak and Purvis (1998); Crumbley, and Smith (2000); Stone (2001a, 2001b)) to "experiment" with the use of literature in accounting education. Specifically, this case introduces first-year or lower-division accounting students to an untrained user's experience with a pre-automated accounting information system. Cases and textbook analyses of accounting control systems are generally written "from the outside". That is, they analyze accounting control systems from the perspective of a detached, neutral accountant-outsider who uses the structures and language of accounting to identify the systems components and interrelationships (cf. (Evered and Louis 1981)). Shirley Jackson's 1941 short story - written "from the inside" of an accounting control system - is a "lived account" of her experience of the retail accounting system at Macy&#...

Journal of Information Systems