Browsing by Author "Runesson, Emmeli"

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Comments on Discussion Paper on Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting (DP/2013/1)
(2014) Ingblad, Sten Eric; Lundqvist, Pernilla; Marton, Jan; Polesie, Thomas; Runesson, Emmeli
Disclosures and judgment in financial reporting – Essays on accounting quality under International Financial Reporting Standards
(2015-02-19) Runesson, Emmeli
As capital markets become more integrated and globalized, standard setting in financial accounting faces multiple challenges. Financial accounting standards must adapt and change in ways that make them usable to firms in varying institutional and economic settings, and by extension, make the financial statements produced under those standards useful to capital market participants worldwide. A question that arises is how to ensure corporate transparency and faithfully represented financial reports, and whether principles-based – rather than rules-based – standards are superior in this context. Two areas of particular interest to standard setters are mandatory disclosures made within the scope of the standards, and judgments and estimates required by financial statement preparers when standards are predominantly principles-based. This thesis investigates quality implications of features pertaining to three different accounting standards: IAS 1 Presentation of Financial Statements, IAS 19 Employee Benefits and IFRS 9 Financial Instruments. The underlying aim is to draw conclusions about effects on accounting usefulness of the various accounting methods and disclosure and recognition rules prescribed by these standards. The rationale for this type of research can be derived from the IASB's own requirements that a post-implementation review (PIR) be executed whenever significant financial reporting changes are introduced by a new or revised standard. The studies carried out within the scope of this thesis show that in accounting for certain discretionary items related to employee benefits, there appears to be improvements in transparency as firms are required by the amended IAS 19 to move previously off-balance-sheet items onto the balance sheet, thus formally recognizing them rather than merely disclosing them in the supplementary notes. Further, evidence on disclosures made in accordance with IAS 1 points to comparability issues and to the disclosures being of varying quality, with accounting outcomes being contingent on the individual firm’s contextual factors. This indicates that the principles-based disclosure standards that are currently favored by standard setters do not work as well as expected. Meanwhile, as regards estimation of credit losses in banks, there is evidence to support the current move towards a more principles-based standard (IFRS 9), provided that there is enforcement of adequate quality.
Judgment in accounting:The case of credit losses in banks
(2012) Marton, Jan; Runesson, Emmeli
Principles-based accounting standards require the application of profes- sional judgment in the production of nancial statements. In recent years, the bene ts of such judgment has been debated, for example in relation to fair value measurement. An accounting area where estimates are of partic- ular sign cance is that of credit losses in the banking sector. In this paper, we evaluate the `incurred loss model' under IFRS - an accounting area char- acterized by relatively few estimates compared to the `expected loss model'. We nd that only recognizing incurred losses decreases the validity of loan loss provisions and thus has a negative e ect on the quality of accounting for credit losses in banks. This indicates that the expected loss model would work better to prevent or reduce negative e ects of nancial crises. There are consequently important implications for the IASB as it deliberates whether to adopt the more principles-based `expected loss model'.
Who´s Hot and Who´s Not? - The most desirable characteristics and profile in the audit profession
(2006) Runesson, Emmeli; Dietrichson, Carolina; Göteborgs universitet/Företagsekonomiska institutionen; Göteborg University/Department of Business Administration
Background: As soon-to-be auditors many questions appear with regard to the profession and what is required of us who plan to practice it. At the same time as it is apparent that among students, being an auditor is coming into vogue, the negative focus on auditors is greater than perhaps ever before and this places us before a substantial challenge. How does one live up to existing expectations and what is needed to achieve professionalism in view of harsher business environments? An auditor today needs the ability to develop successful relations with clients as well as the ability to stay updated with respect to the most recent rules and regulations, this in order to appear knowledgeable and trustworthy. Hence, the modern auditor is not only an assiduous monitor of business documents and a number-cruncher, but also an adviser who works in close contact with people. As a result of this development it is reasonable to assume that now there exist other demands on the auditor’s competence and personal qualities. Research Issue: Considering these new demands, there exists a definite incentive to study what the situation looks like today, focusing on what characteristics auditors possess, what characteristics they should possess, and what attributes related to the profile are more desirable. This leads us to our two research questions: “What characteristics should an auditor possess?” and “What auditor profile is desirable?” Methodology: The research is based on primary data collected through two surveys carried out among 55 CPAs and 42 audit clients in Sweden. Results and Conclusions: Our results show that although some characteristics are considered important by both auditors and clients (such as analytical skills and problem solving skills), the auditors have emphasized the importance of soft competencies (such as communicational skills) while clients have focused more on hard competencies (such as the ability to update professional skills). Both auditors and clients were largely indifferent to the auditor profile. We discovered that neither age nor appearance were considered to have a significant influence on trust building or perceived professionalism. Gender was in this context considered least significant, whilst title was considered most significant.