Contributions published at Accounting (Dieter Pfaff)

For a sample of STOXX Europe-600 constituents and a reporting period of nine years, we investigate the role of the institutional environment on the value relevance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures in firms’ annual reports. Using textual analysis, we construct topic-specific disclosures measures that examine the prevalence of CSR topics with respect to the EU CSR directive, namely environmental, social and employee matters, human rights, and anti-corruption and bribery. The results reveal the value relevance of CSR disclosures, although the sign depends on the regulatory setting; it is positive before the issuance of the CSR directive and negative after it. Furthermore our results indicate that the incremental value relevance of topic-specific CSR disclosure is affected by the institutional environment, specifically, it is negatively related to country-level CSR awareness as well as employee protection and positively related to both, the legal strength and the level of enforcement. Our results also vary depending by the underlying topics.

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This study investigates the sustainability disclosure effects of the introduction of the Companies Act 2006 Regulations 2013 in the United Kingdom. The regulation mandates the disclosure of information on greenhouse gas emissions, gender distribution and human rights issues. We examine two research questions: first, whether firms increased disclosure on the mandated topics after the regulation became effective relative to a control group, and second, whether a potential increase in disclosure is moderated by firms’ reporting incentives, namely, firms’ capital market visibility, growth orientation, governance structure, prior voluntary sustainability disclosure levels and critical media coverage. Our sample consists of the FTSE-350 firms and a matched control group of US firms. We use textual analysis to assess the disclosure of the mandated sustainability topics in firms’ annual reports. Specifically, we examine two types of disclosure, namely, the disclosure of the mandated key performance indicators and the narrative disclosure. Our results reveal a significant increase for both types of disclosure relative to the control group. Overall, this treatment effect tends to be smaller for firms with higher reporting incentives, i. e., reporting incentives mitigate the regulatory effect. Taken together, our results suggest that both standards and reporting incentives shape firms’ sustainability disclosure level.

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This study investigates the role of environmental management control systems as mechanisms to translate environmental strategy into environmental managerial performance. While prior research focuses primarily on environmental performance at the organizational level, this study specifically addresses individual managerial performance with regard to environmental outcomes. In addition, we investigate how the level of integration between regular and environmental management control systems influences the relation between environmental strategy and environmental managerial performance as well as the mediating role of environmental management control systems. Based on survey data from 218 firms and structural equation modeling, the results show that environmental management control systems mediate the relationship between environmental strategy and environmental managerial performance. Moreover, the level of integration significantly impacts the relationship between environmental management control systems and environmental managerial performance. Therefore, environmental management control systems are important mechanisms to translate environmental strategy into managerial performance, and a high level of integration can reinforce this role.

In diesem Jahrbuch analysieren hochkarätige und erfahrene Experten aktuelle Herausforderungen und Entwicklungen im Finanz- und Rechnungswesen; zudem werden Strategien und Wege zu deren Lösung aufgezeigt. Die Herausgeber Prof. Dr. Reto Eberle, Prof. Dr. David Oesch und Prof. Dr. Dieter Pfaff vom Institut für Betriebswirtschaftslehre der Universität Zürich sowie ihr namhaftes Autorenteam aus Wissenschaft und Praxis versorgen Sie wieder mit topaktuellen, praxisorientierten Themen rund um das Finanz- und Rechnungswesen in der Schweiz.

Purpose – This paper draws on Adler and Borys’ (1996) concept of an enabling use of bureaucracy to examine how the integration of a single-book tax compliant transfer pricing system into the management control system is related to the perceived success of that transfer pricing system. Design/methodology/approach – Based on survey data from Swiss multinational firms, the authors test a structural equation model. In addition, the authors conduct interviews with executives from three multinational enterprises. Findings – The authors find that the integration of a tax compliant transfer pricing system into the management control system may be perceived to be successful in achieving both tax compliance and internal (control) purposes. This is particularly true when the transfer pricing system is transparent and can be amended in the case of fundamental management control problems. Research limitations/implications – The typical shortcomings of survey-based research apply to this study. Future research could build on this model and more closely investigate the relationship between transfer pricing system integration and an enabling use of the transfer pricing system. Practical implications – Based on this study’s findings, the authors recommend that a strong integration of tax compliant transfer prices into the management control system should be accompanied by internal transparency and the ability to repair the transfer pricing system. Originality/value – Prior research on the integration of transfer pricing and management control systems has either been analytical or based on case studies. This cross-sectional analysis provides reliable insights into different levels of integration, use and success of transfer pricing systems.