EBay Usability Testing Evaluation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

EBay Usability Testing Evaluation - Essay Example EBay Corporation offers online marketing for the sale e-commerce of goods and services. Moreover, this corporation offers platforms and online payment solutions to various community of businesses and individuals. The main purpose that usability is so important is because there are numerous websites, which are offering similar services that people will visit if the previous one is not operational. EBay Inc. depends on their web existence in the mandate to accomplish their online objectives. Likewise, a user of eBay website will articulate a judgment about that company, which is strongly associated with the manner at which they view its website. Moreover, operational websites escalate user satisfaction while websites which infringe usability agreements obscure users and cause in a loss of returns for other companies.Through enhancing usability, it is a great manner to motivate users to visit this website in its place of the websites that fit into its competitors. This is frequently a m ethodology that retains customers. High-quality websites are simple to use therefore, attracting users and give a specific site a competitive advantage. Some of individuals who create a usability test prudently create a situation whereby an individual accomplishes a list of responsibilities that a user who is using the services for the first time is likely to understand the functions. Someone else watches and pays attention to the individual who is carrying out the responsibilities while taking minutes.

Analysis of Color Adjustment Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 7

Analysis of Color Adjustment - Movie Review Example Albeit with little variations, they still depict past â€Å"bad† images. The producer also brings to light the continuing identity crisis that continues in American television. He is able to contrast the ideal blacks depicted in sitcoms and sagas with the angrier, harsher ones presented in the news (Riggs et. al. 0:12). In a rather informative and straightforward manner, Marlon draws opinions from producers and stars from notable shows in the history of black television. He occasionally pauses to observe James Baldwin’s literature. Every one of the shows he discusses comes out as a show of both pride and pain. Tim Reid and Diahann Carroll, who were the main actors in popular television series significant in Mr. Riggs’ argument, openly talk about their varied response to â€Å"Amos ‘n’ and Andy†, a television show in which the N.A.A.C.P did say: â€Å"every temperament is either a crook or a clown.†(Riggs et. al. 0:32) As the film progresses, Ms. Carroll opens up about her family being adamant concerning not watching â€Å"Amos ‘n’ Andy.† It is only later that she could see the offensiveness in the show to see its humor (Riggs et. al. 0:25). With the chronological procession of the movie, it depicts Beulah, a jolly black servant who is committed to the white family who employs her. â€Å"That was a maid from Hollywood,† (Riggs et. al. 0:29) Esther, who starred in â€Å"Good Times† quips. In this case, she is referring to the Louse Beavers who was popularly called the grinning actress. She is the one responsible for making Beulah be acceptable to the white viewers. Beulah is black. The film, which debuted at the Anthropology Movie Archives, devoted attention to Nat Cole’s variety show. It signaled the initial non-comedic episodes that that starred black actors, but which was called off due to lack of sponsorship for an entire season.  Ã‚  

Effects of the credit crunch in terms of regeneration and redundancies Literature review

Effects of the credit crunch in terms of regeneration and redundancies - Literature review Example This paper endeavors to understand the appropriate meaning of the term credit crunch, prior discussing initiation and implications of the same in the United Kingdom, specifically in Sunderland. Credit crunch is a situation when lenders stop lending, borrowers fail to borrow, builders cease their activities and buyers are forced to exhibit their inability to buy. In specific manner, credit crunch can be defined as a sudden stoppage in availability of credits as well as loans, causing shortage of liquidity in the market. Since 2008, such a situation has resulted in development of a complex set of issues in various countries that is continuously worsening. According to Erkens, Hung and Matos, the present credit crunch was initiated in 2007 in the United States, when lenders were heavily exposed to mortgages worth billion dollars, which turned into bad debts. The authors further added that the viability of the subprime loans related to mortgage has a significant impact on the global fina ncial system. Consequently, banks and other financial systems were no more interested to lend to borrowers, which created a chain reaction reaching national financial system of various nations. By the end of 2008-09, the housing bubble in the United States (US) busted and resulted in collapse of several prominent banks. Interest rates also increased significantly during this period. According to Parkinson, the trend had followed in the property as well as construction industry, bringing about a drastic impact on regeneration.

Systematic Approach to Higher Education Administration Research Paper

Systematic Approach to Higher Education Administration - Research Paper Example This discussion stresses that  the administration of regional institutions that offer higher education must be approached systematically in order to realize the most desirable results. Further, decentralizing education in the context of establishing regional institutes of higher education largely contributes to regional development. A systematic approach that brings institutes of higher education together with regional stakeholders such as local government, organizations of social development and industries facilitates the alignment of teaching, civic engagement and research with regional development strategies.According to the study findings the process of systems thinking will entail developing models that promote how events are understood and the behavioral patterns that result in such events as well as the underlying structures that are responsible for such behavioral patterns. In that perspective, this paper will explore the viability of developing an international campus in C anada for the University of Wyoming. The focus will be on state and institution governance structure and interrelationships and intra-relationships among the structures that govern the institution. It will further discuss the governance structure for the Canadian campus and the major legal and regulatory issues relevant to the expansion as well as budgetary and policy considerations at the regional, local and institutional levels.

Effects of the credit crunch in terms of regeneration and redundancies Literature review

Effects of the credit crunch in terms of regeneration and redundancies - Literature review Example This paper endeavors to understand the appropriate meaning of the term credit crunch, prior discussing initiation and implications of the same in the United Kingdom, specifically in Sunderland. Credit crunch is a situation when lenders stop lending, borrowers fail to borrow, builders cease their activities and buyers are forced to exhibit their inability to buy. In specific manner, credit crunch can be defined as a sudden stoppage in availability of credits as well as loans, causing shortage of liquidity in the market. Since 2008, such a situation has resulted in development of a complex set of issues in various countries that is continuously worsening. According to Erkens, Hung and Matos, the present credit crunch was initiated in 2007 in the United States, when lenders were heavily exposed to mortgages worth billion dollars, which turned into bad debts. The authors further added that the viability of the subprime loans related to mortgage has a significant impact on the global fina ncial system. Consequently, banks and other financial systems were no more interested to lend to borrowers, which created a chain reaction reaching national financial system of various nations. By the end of 2008-09, the housing bubble in the United States (US) busted and resulted in collapse of several prominent banks. Interest rates also increased significantly during this period. According to Parkinson, the trend had followed in the property as well as construction industry, bringing about a drastic impact on regeneration.

A monopoly from start to finish Essay Example for Free

A monopoly from start to finish Essay During out studies this term we have learned a lot about a Monopolistic way a company is able to maneuver in the business market and I would like to refresh your mind by offering a clear definition. A Monopoly is a situation in which an entity, either an individual or an industry or organization, is the sole supplier of a particular good or service. As such, this supplier has no competition from other suppliers and is able to control the market value of the commodity. Some monopolies are government-enforced or controlled, while others form naturally or through company merger. According to our focus of this paper, we are asking about the long-run competitive equilibrium of the Wonks Company that was earning a normal rate of return and were competing in a monopolistically competitive market structure. One of the questions we must answer regarding this change in business structure is how the company’s shift to a monopoly will benefit the stakeholders involved. One of the stakeholders who may be involved is the government. Monopolies sanctioned by the government are called legal monopolies. These are considered coercive monopolies, meaning that other companies are forbidden by law to compete against them. Governments also maintain some control over monopolies through competition laws, which prevent monopolies from engaging in unscrupulous or anti-competitive practices (http://www. reference. com/motif/Society/advantages-disadvantages-of-monopolies). The second question is how a Monopoly will affect other businesses and after research it is quite obvious from the definition of a monopoly that other companies do not have to worry about competition from other companies in the same market. Consumers are affected by this change because they must either purchase the product or service from the monopoly or do without it. When a company transitions from a monopolistically competitive firm to a monopoly, there will be changes with regard to prices and output from both of these market structures. So, let’s take a closer look at how prices are affected when a firm becomes a monopoly. A common practice among some monopolies is price discrimination, in which the monopolist charges some segments of the population more than others for the same product or service, based on a higher need or a wealthier consumer base. This would usually be called price fixing which is an agreement between participants on the same side in a market to buy or sell a product, service, or commodity only at a fixed price, or maintain the market conditions such that the price is maintained at a given level by controlling supply and demand. When the monopoly is able to prevent buyers from reselling their product, they may be able to price discriminate to accentuate the effects of monopoly power. In my opinion the most important group that is affected by a Monopoly are the consumers. Monopolies can impact consumer prices in two obviously different ways, they can cause prices to drop so low that it forces companies out of business or it an cause prices to skyrocket making it difficult for consumers to purchase a product, neither being a good option for the consumer. If one business is the only provider of a product or service, the consumer is forced to pay whatever the price they demand. This can also lead to the company providing a low quality product or service without fear of losing business (Home, 2009). Since monopolies are the only provider, they can set pretty much any price they choose, regardless of demand, because they know the consumer has no choice. Is this sort of thing fair to consumers? Of course not, but it is how big business is able to stay on top of the market. For example, most people find that Apple products have an outrageous price tag, but I have come to learn that the quality of their products is outstanding and I estimate that Apple will continue to rise in popularity for years to come. It has also come to my attention that because Monopolies try to monitor the price of products they may resort to price discrimination. Price discrimination is sometimes defined as the practice of a firm selling a homogeneous commodity at the same time to different purchasers at different prices . Of course, I believe it is important to understand what and how price discrimination occurs. â€Å"Price discrimination exists when two similar products which have the same marginal cost to produce are sold by a firm at different prices. This sort of practice is highly controversial in terms of its impact on both consumers and rivals† (Price Discrimination, 2006, p. 1). There are many ways to accomplish these sort of conditions because the transactions surely need not be simultaneous; indeed, there is temporal discrimination, such as between Sunday rates and week, day rates, matinee and evening prices, peak rates and off-peak rates, season and off-season prices. To sell different qualities or products with different marginal cost at the same price, or to buy different qualities or factors of different efficiency at the same price, is also discriminatory. Based on all of this useful information we must also answer the question regarding which market structure is more beneficial for Wonks to operate in and will this market structure benefit consumers? In my opinion it is based on the level of quality and service of the products and how much consumers are willing to pay for the products they want to purchase. In a monopolistic competitive market the consumer may choose to purchase a substitute product for a lower price, but only if the consumer values price over value. Of course with a monopoly there may be only a few companies offering a substitute product. If one company’s product becomes too high in price, the consumer will eventually look for another brand that offers similar use. According to economist, the monopolistic competitor’s demand curve is less elastic than a pure competitor and more elastic than a pure monopolist. Monopolistic competitors have excess capacity which means that fewer companies operating at capacity could supply the industry output. It is my opinion that Wonks might operate more beneficially as a Monopoly than at a Monopolistic Competitive firm because they will not have as much competition to deal with and they can corner the market with value and price. Resources: 1. McChesney, F. S. , Shughart II, W. F. , Haddock, D. D. (2004). ON THE INTERNAL CONTRADICTIONS OF THE LAW OF ONE PRICE. Economic Inquiry, 42(4), 706-716. doi:10. 1093/ei/cbh091 2. Mainwaring, L. L. (1977). MONOPOLY POWER, INCOME DISTRIBUTION AND PRICE DETERMINATION. Kyklos, 30(4), 674. 3. https://www. fcsknowledgecenter. com/uploads/2011_Row_Crops_Industry_Perspective. pdf 4. http://academic. udayton. edu/lawrenceulrich/Stakeholder%20Theory. pdf 5. http://www. answers. com/topic/mergers-and-acquisitions 6. http://www. helium. com/items/1405663-what-is-a-monopoly-what-do-monopolies-do-how-is-the-economy-affected-by-monopolies 7. Case, K. E. , Fair, R. C. , and Oster, S. E. (2009) Principles of Microeconomics (9th ed). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Critical Review Determination Of Accounting Standards Accounting Essay

Critical Review Determination Of Accounting Standards Accounting Essay Ross L. Watts and Jerold L. Zimmerman explore factors that motivate companies in lobbying on accounting standards and examine whether their opinion on certain standards are associated with their size. They use data from the companies which submit comments to the FASBs Discussion Memorandum on General Price Level Adjustment. The empirical evidence supports the argument that the firms tend to choose accounting standards which report lower earnings due to political and regulatory considerations. Their findings also confirm that big firms are more likely to be subjected to governmental interference. However, the paper might not be based on strong theoretical foundations. Moreover, some assumptions used in the paper could decrease the external validity of the research. I. Introduction Ross L. Watts and Jerold L. Zimmerman have written a remarkable paper in accounting research which attempt to provide positive theory about factors influencing companies in lobbying on accounting standards. The paper also discuss the question whether the size of the companies affect their opinion on certain standards. This paper is important because it makes contribution to the positive accounting theory development. It might be the first paper which attempt to provide empirical evidence on positive accounting theory about factors influencing management attitude on certain accounting standards. The data and the issues discussed were new in that period. It contributes to a literature that has uncovered empirical regularities in accounting practice (Holthausen and Leftwich, 1983 and Watts and Zimmerman, 1986 as discussed in Watts and Zimmerman, 1990 p 131). The literature has been developing since the publication of this paper in 1978 (Watts and Zimmerman, 1990 p 132). Though, the pape r also brought considerable debate among researchers. This essay intends provide critical review and highlights some important points from the paper by reviewing in four main areas: (i) research paradigm, (ii) theoretical framework, (iii) methodology, and (iv) research findings. The following section discusses about research paradigm used in the paper. The next section explores criticisms on the theoretical framework of the research. Section four reviews the methodology used in the research. Section five examines important finding from this paper. Finally, the last section presents some conclusion about the paper. II. Research Paradigm The researchers discussed an interesting topic in accounting theory. They use positivism paradigm in the research. This paradigm gets many criticisms when it is used in the social science research. According to Collis and Hussey (2009), positivism is criticized based on five main arguments. First, it is impossible to separate people from the social context in which they exist. Second, people cannot be understood without examining the perceptions they have of their own activities. Third, a highly structured research design imposes constrains on the results and may ignore other relevant findings. Fourth, researchers are not subjective, but part of what they observe. They bring their own interests and values to the research. Fifth, capturing complex phenomena in a single measure is misleading(Collis and Hussey, 2009, p. 56). Furthermore, Sterling (1990, p. 98) argued that Instead of trying to determine how to improve the present state of accounting we are told to try to determine the pr esent state of accounting. However, Watts and Zimmerman argued that they adopted the label positive from economics where it was used to distinguish research aimed at explanation and prediction from research whose objective was prescription (Watts and Zimmerman, 1990, p.148). Therefore, the evidence generated from researches using this paradigm will improve the development of accounting theory by providing explanations and predictions for normative research. Moreover, positivism as one of paradigm in research is used for many researches in social science today (Collis and Hussy, 2009). This paradigm is underpinned by the belief that reality is independent of us and the goal is the discovery of theories, based on empirical research (Collis and Hussy, 2009). III. Theoretical Framework The paper starts with the discussion about factors determining management attitudes toward financial accounting standards. The discussion based on two assumptions. First, individuals act to maximize their own utility(Watts and Zimmerman, 1978, p.113). This assumption means that management attitudes on certain accounting standards are based on its interest to maximize its own utility. Second, managements utility is a positive function of the expected compensation in the future periods (or wealth) and a negative function of the dispersion of future compensation (or wealth) (Watts and Zimmerman, 1978, p.114). The expected forms of compensation for management that are used in this research are incentive compensation and share price increase. The discussion then continues with the description of factors affecting management wealth. Those factors are taxes, regulation, political costs, information production costs, and management compensation plans. Each factor gives different impact on the way management chooses accounting standards. The researchers argue that management tend to choose accounting standards which report lower earnings (thereby increasing cashflows, firm value and their welfare) due to tax, political, and regulatory considerations than to choose accounting standard which report higher earnings and, thereby, increase their incentive compensation(Watts and Zimmerman, 1978, p.118). They also argue that this prediction depend on the political pressure on the firms and whether they are regulated or not. Another consideration that management should consider is the cost of information production as a consequence of the implementation of new standards. Based on the combination of factors affecting management wealth, they created two models that describe two possible conditions. The first model depicts the condition when the change in accounting standards will decrease the earnings of the firms and the second model depicts the condition when the earnings are increase. In short, the theory pronounces that there are three possible attitudes of the companies when the change in accounting standards decreases their earnings: submit favorable opinion, submit unfavorable opinion, or do no submit opinion. On the other hand, only two possible attitudes of the companies if the change in accounting standards increases their earnings: submit unfavorable opinion or do no submit opinion. The choice taken by the companies depends on the size of the companies. One of the important points explained in the paper is that the researchers omit some variables in developing the theory. Two of them are described in their paper. First, they realized that, generally, the factors influencing the regulation cost of utility companies is not only net income but also operating earnings. Second, they omit political sensitivity of the firms industry because there is no underlying theory to discuss this factor at that time. The theories used on this research got many criticisms. It needs verification and replication (Holthausen and Leftwitch, 1983 p. 100). The researchers should be able to understand and explained it well before conducting their research (Christenson, 1983 p. 20). Hines (1988 p. 661) suggested clarifying whether their theories were universal or probabilistic, and if the latter, explained on what conceptual grounds they should be held to be so. Therefore, it is better to test the theories first using another hypothesis before analyzing data using the theories (Hines. 1988 p. 661). However, Watts and Zimmerman argue that although the criticisms are relevant, those criticisms placed unreasonable demand on study (Watts and Zimmerman, 1990, p.149). In addition, their theories provide theoretical basis for other researches in accounting. For instance, Milne (2002, p.371) argued the theories provide the stated theoretical basis for a number of social disclosure studies. Moreover, this paper was probably the only paper which predicts corporate lobbying behavior as a function of firm-specific factors' (Holthausen and Leftwitch, 1983 p. 95). Another important point in the paper is that the researchers only focus on shareholders, creditors, and government in explaining some factors influencing management accounting choice. In fact, there are many users of financial statements have not discussed thoroughly in the paper. Those are employee, analyst-adviser, supplier and trade creditor, customer, competitors, and the public. The public includes taxpayers, consumers and other community and special interest groups, such as political parties, consumer and environmental protection societies and regional pressure groups. Each user has different interest on the firms. Therefore, they might influence the accounting choice. For instance, the accounting choice taken by the firm which has a significant impact on increasing its earnings will stimulate employees to ask for bonuses or even increase in their salaries. Conversely, if the accounting choice taken by firm has a significant impact on decreasing its earnings, it will make emplo yees worry about their job security. Then, it might increase employee the turnover in the firm. Finally, it would be interesting if the paper also discuss cultural differences between companies. It could be one important factor influencing management accounting choice. Each firm consists of groups of people who share their culture based on their top managements policies. This culture will also determine the firm accounting choice. The link between accounting value and cultural value (Alexander et all. (2009) discussed research by Gray (1988) based on Hofstede (1984) classification scheme) could be used to analyze the accounting choice of the firm. For instance, some firms might choose a more conservative accounting choice because their cultural characteristic is uncertainty avoidance. It might also explain why some big size companies did not submit their opinion on the discussion memorandum. IV. Methodology The researchers used voluntary disclosure regarding GPLA Statements for some companies that published such disclosure to predict the position of the companies on the new standard. For the others companies, they used the studies from Davidson and Weil (1975) and Davidson, Stickney, and Weil (1976) who develop an adjusting procedure which relies solely on published financial statements and GNP deflators. Furthermore, they also constructed proxy variables based on unadjusted depreciation and net monetary assets. They argue that these proxy variables can serve as a surrogate for the effect of GPLA earnings. One of main the problems is the dependent variable used by the researchers. They divided the responses into two categories, the companies which agree and disagree with the memorandum. This dichotomy does not represent the actual condition since some responses might consist of agreement on certain points in the memorandum but disagreement on other points (Holthausen and Leftwitch, 1983 p. 104). Another problem is the assumption that the companies which did not mention the compensation or reply the questioner assumed no compensation plans. This assumption may lead to the conclusion bias. The next important point is the use of firms size to proxy for political cost. The decision to use this method might be affected by condition at the time the paper was written. During the 1970s, oil companies dominated the largest of the US companies, and they were also subject to much public outrage and political scrutiny during and immediately following the oil crisis of 1973 (Milne, 2002, p.374). However, Hilnes suggested to avoid the use of crude proxies such as the use of firm size to operationalize the concept of political cost' (Hines. 1988 p. 661). Watts and Zimmerman (1990) as discussed by Milne (2002, p.377) finally realized that the size is too noisy as a proxy. Subsequent to their research, empirical studies have tended to use or suggest a wider range of measures to proxy for political costs (Milne, 2002, p.377). They may needs to elaborate the effect of firms stage of growth in accounting choice. The nature of managements solution (including the accounting choice) to each revolutionary period determines whether a company will move forward into its next stage of evolutionary growth (Greiner, 1972). The firm should choose the right solution (including accounting choice) in order to survive. Companies which are in the earlier stage of development will tend to maximize their profit while more mature companies will focus on sustainability issues. The focus on sustainability issues might stimulate companies to respond differently in order to survive in their environment. This argument could be an explanation why companies with different size have different respond to certain standards (Watts and Zimmerman, 1978). In terms of analysis, the focuses of the research on political cost especially on the effect of government intervention might reduce its external validity. The analyses conducted in isolation of other factors are inappropriate because accounting is used for many purposes (Fields et all. 2001, p. 300). The proposition that corporations will do anything to support the decision of accounting procedures that minimize reported earnings might not suitable for the companies with accounting-based debt covenants. The empirical evidence shows that those companies are more likely to choose income-increasing accounting methods (Begley, 1990 p. 138). Another research by Sweeney (1994) on the companies which violated debt covenants found that managers tend to do accounting change to increase the income figure in the years surrounding technical defaults. In summary, the researchers should be careful in using assumptions. They have to realize that their focus on political cost especially on the effect of government intervention might reduce external validity of the research. V. Research Findings Finally, the research provides important findings generated from this research. First, the empirical evidence supports the argument that the firms tend to choose accounting standards which report lower earnings due to political and regulatory considerations. Those firms are the firms that have contact with the government directly through regulation or indirectly through possible government intervention. Their findings also confirm that big firms are more likely to be subjected to governmental interference. The existence of costs generated by government intervention may have more fundamental and important effects on its investment-production decision if the potential costs of government interference become large. Based on this research, McKee et all. (1984. P. 658) then replicate the research using a larger sample. Unfortunately, the results from this research are not satisfactory. The evidences do not support the theories provided by this research. McKee et all. (1984. P. 647) argued that there are some problems regarding the test procedures and its underlying theories. However, the findings generated from this research are now become important consideration in conducting researches in accounting especially regarding earnings management. Research in this topic usually aims to find companies that tend to choose accounting standards which will affect their earnings. Therefore, most of researchers in this topic eliminate companies in regulated industries (utilities and financial companies) from their sample to minimize the effects of political and regulatory considerations (For example: Madhogarhia et all., 2009; Roychowdhury, 2006). Conclusion In summary, this paper is a remarkable paper in accounting research. It gives starting point in the development of positive theory in accounting. It might be the first research that investigates factors influencing management accounting choice. Though, there are some important points need to be improved in this research. The most important point is the improvement in theoretical framework. Based on the discussion on the paper, it could be concluded that accounting choice is a function of internal and external influences. Internal influences comprise some factors such as culture and stages of growth of the companies while external influences comprise changes in tax, regulation, information production cost, and management compensation costs. Combination of those influences affects the attitude of the company to certain changes, including the attitude toward the change of certain accounting standards. Iin order to improve the development of the theory in this topic, Fields et all. (2001, p. 299-300) made three recommendations. First, researchers should give more efforts to investigate the nature of the implications of alternative accounting methods rather than just testing the implications. Then, the research should not focus only to one accounting issue or one goal. Even though the tasks become more complex, they will give a better contribution to the development of theoretical framework in accounting. Finally, the researchers should develop more powerful statistical techniques and improve research design (Fields et all. 2001, p. 300). References: Alexander, D., Anne B., and A. Jorissen (2009) International Financial Reporting and Analysis, Cengage Learning, Hampshire, UK. Begley, J., (1990) Debt Covenant and Accounting Choice, Journal of Accounting and Economics 12, 125-139. Christenson, C., (1983) The methodology of positive accounting, The Accounting Review, Vol.58, N0.1, pp 1-22. Collis. J., and Roger H., (2009) Business Research: A Practical Guide for Undergraduate and Postgraduate Students, Palgrave Macmillan, UK. Fields, T., Lys, T., and Vincent, L., (2001) Empirical Research on Accounting Choice, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Vol. 31, pp. 255-307. Greiner, L. E., (1972) Evolution and Revolution as Organization Grow, Harvard Business Review (July-August): 37 -46. Madhogarhia, P., Ninon K. S., and Theodor K., (2009) Earnings Management Practices Among Growth and Value Firms, Applied Financial Economics, 19, 1767-1778. Hines. R. D. (1988) Poppers methodology of falsificationism and accounting research, The Accounting Review, (October): 657-662. Holthausen. R. W. and R. W. Leftwich. 1983 The economic consequences of accounting choice: Implications of costly contracting and monitoring, Journal of Accounting Economics, (August): 77-117. McKee. A. J., Jr., T. B. Bell, and J. R. Boatsman (1984) Management preferences over accounting standards: A replication and additional tests, The Accounting Review, (October):647-659. Roychowdhury, S. (2006) Earnings Management Through Real Activities Manipulation, Journal of Accounting and Economics 42, 335-370. Sterling, R., (1990), Positive accounting: An assessment, Abacus, Vol.26, pp. 97-135. Sweeney, A. P. (1994), Debt-covenant violations and managers accounting responses, Journal of Accounting and Economics, 17, 281-308. Watts, R. L. and J. L. Zimmerman, (1978), Towards a positive theory of the determination of accounting standards, The Accounting Review, (January): 112-134. Watts, R., Zimmerman, J., (1990), Positive accounting theory: A ten year perspective, The Accounting Review 65, 131-156.