nep-acc New Economics Papers
on Accounting and Auditing
Issue of 2022‒01‒03
four papers chosen by



  1. Local property tax reform and municipality spending efficiency By António Afonso; Ana Venâncio
  2. Sovereign Risk and Intangible Investment By Minjie Deng
  3. The History of Accounting in Germany - Transposition of Accounting Directives By Henselmann, Klaus; Meier, Elena
  4. Using a natural experiment in the taxicab industry to analyze the effects of third-party income reporting By Bibek Adhikari; James Alm; Brett Collins; Michael Sebastiani; Eleanor Wilking

  1. By: António Afonso; Ana Venâncio
    Abstract: We investigate the effect on municipality spending efficiency of a local property tax reform, which reduced in 2008 the upper limit of the property tax. We compute municipality efficiency scores via data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) from 2005 to 2011, and then we rely in a panel data set to estimate how the tax reform affected the efficiency scores. Results of the analysis show that average input efficiency scores declined from 0.575 before the tax reform to 0.488 after the tax reform. This change was transversal to municipalities that reduced the municipal property tax (IMI) and to the ones that maintained the tax rate. In addition, the IMI reform is linked to higher efficiency scores. In other words, the reduction in efficiency ends up being smaller for the municipalities that decreased the IMI tax rate.
    Keywords: public spending efficiency, local government, data envelopment analyis (DEA), local property tax reform.
    JEL: C14 C23 H11 H21 H50
    Date: 2022–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ise:remwps:wp02102022&r=
  2. By: Minjie Deng (Simon Fraser University)
    Abstract: This paper measures the output and TFP costs of sovereign risk incorporating its impact on firm intangible investment. Using Italian firm-level data, we show that firms reallocated from intangible assets to tangible assets during the recent sovereign debt crisis. This asset reallocation is more pronounced among small firms and high-leverage firms. We build a sovereign default model incorporating both firm tangible and intangible investment to explain the empirical findings. In our model, sovereign risk deteriorates bank balance sheets, disrupting banks’ ability to finance firms. Firms with greater external financing needs are more exposed to sovereign risk. Facing tightening financial constraints, firms internalize that tangible assets can be used as collateral while intangibles cannot, thus reallocating resources towards tangible investment to offset tightening financial conditions. In a counterfactual analysis, we find that elevated sovereign risk explains 86% of the observed output losses and 72% of TFP losses during the 2011-2013 Italian sovereign debt crisis.
    Date: 2021–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sfu:sfudps:dp21-16&r=
  3. By: Henselmann, Klaus; Meier, Elena
    Abstract: Die Kodifizierung der deutschen Rechnungslegung reicht bis in das 18. Jahrhundert zurück. 1945 war es bereits zweigliedrig und unterschied zwischen Vorschriften für Aktiengesellschaften und Vorschriften für andere gewerbliche Unternehmen. Bis 1959 änderte sich wenig an der Rechnungslegung. Umfassende Änderungen kamen erst mit dem neuen Aktiengesetz 1965. Vier Jahre vor der deutschen Wiedervereinigung, mit dem am 19. Dezember 1985 veröffentlichten Bilanzrichtliniengesetz (BiRiLiG), erfolgte 1986 in Westdeutschland („Bundesrepublik Deutschland“) die Umsetzung der Vierten Richtlinie 78/660/EWG des Europäischen Rates über den Einzelabschluss und der Siebenten Richtlinie 83/349/EWG des Europäischen Rates über den konsolidierten Abschluss. Der Beitrag analysiert zunächst die erstmalige Anwendung der Mitgliedstaaten-Wahlrechte für den Einzelabschluss. Hinsichtlich des Ansatzes und der Bewertung konnte der deutsche Gesetzgebers zwischen mehr progressiven oder mehr konservativ Alternativen wählen (CP-Score). Hinsichtlich der Darstellung und Offenlegung gab es die Wahl zwischen informativer oder restriktiver Umsetzung (RI-Wertung). Nach 1986 fanden zahlreiche Änderungen der europäischen Richtlinie(n) statt. Sie lösten mehrere Umsetzungsgesetze für das Handelsgesetzbuch aus. Dies führte im Laufe der Jahre auch zu Anpassungen der Rechnungslegungsvorschriften für Einzelabschlüsse von Kapitalgesellschaften in Westdeutschland. In einem separaten Teil wird die Rechnungslegung in Ostdeutschland („Deutsche Demokratische Republik“) bis zur Wiedervereinigung 1990 erläutert. Die Ergebnisse für die einzelnen Jahre, zusammengefasst in CP- und RI-Scores, lassen sich in einem Diagramm grafisch darstellen. Am auffälligsten ist der Systemwechsel zu einer progressiveren Rechnungslegung im Jahr 2009. Generell werden mittleren und kleinen Unternehmen umfangreiche Erleichterungen gewährt, so dass die Rechnungslegung zugleich als überwiegend restriktiv einzustufen ist.
    Keywords: Geschichte,Rechnungslegung,Deutschland,DDR,Deutsche Demokratische Republik,Europa,Richtlinie,Gesellschaftsrecht,Harmonisierung,Bilanzrecht
    JEL: M41 N44
    Date: 2021
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:248386&r=
  4. By: Bibek Adhikari (Illinois State University); James Alm (Tulane University); Brett Collins (Internal Revenue Service); Michael Sebastiani (Internal Revenue Service); Eleanor Wilking (Cornell School of Law)
    Abstract: This paper uses confidential tax returns data from sole proprietor businesses to estimate behavioral responses to the introduction of Form 1099-K, a third-party income reporting law that requires credit and debit card companies to report to the Internal Revenue Service gross of payment transactions that businesses receive through their payment systems. We estimate the causal impact of Form 1099-K on business reporting by exploiting a natural experiment in which some cities in the U.S. passed ordinances requiring taxicabs to install credit card readers in their vehicles, while other cities did not pass such ordinances, creating plausibly exogenous variation in the share of receipts reported on Form 1099-K. We find that taxpayers respond to third-party information reporting in offsetting ways. In particular, we find that businesses from cities with mandatory credit card in taxicab ordinances reported more receipts after the introduction of Form 1099-K compared to similar businesses from cities without mandatory credit card in taxicab ordinances, but they also reported an increase in expenses of similar magnitude. On net, third-party information reporting led to small and statistically insignificant changes in taxable income, profit, and tax liability. These results are robust to a variety of alternative specifications and placebo tests.
    Keywords: Income reporting, Tax enforcement, Tax compliance, Taxi industry, Sole proprietors
    JEL: H25 H26 H32
    Date: 2021–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tul:wpaper:2117&r=

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