IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormnsc/v46y2000i6p790-806.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Accounting Information, Aggregation, and Discriminant Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Anil Arya

    (Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University, 2100 Neil Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43210)

  • John Fellingham

    (Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University, 2100 Neil Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43210)

  • Doug Schroeder

    (Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University, 2100 Neil Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43210)

Abstract

Aggregation is a pervasive theme in accounting. The preparation of financial statements involves extensive aggregation---information regarding several transactions is summarized using a few account balances. In this article, we study linear, double-entry aggregation rules. The level of aggregation (transactions versus account balance information) affects a decision maker's ability to discriminate between two entities. We show that the orientation of the discriminant function relative to the row space and the nullspace (two fundamental subspaces) of the double-entry matrix determines the information loss due to aggregation. In addition, we observe that an interdependency in account balances is introduced by the double-entry process. The cause and effect property (debit and credit) translates into a negative covariance being introduced among account balances; this, in turn, affects the decision maker's optimal use of information. Finally, in discussing benefits to aggregation, we present an example in which adopting a double-entry aggregation rule serves as a commitment device for the owner.

Suggested Citation

  • Anil Arya & John Fellingham & Doug Schroeder, 2000. "Accounting Information, Aggregation, and Discriminant Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 46(6), pages 790-806, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:46:y:2000:i:6:p:790-806
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.46.6.790.11935
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.46.6.790.11935
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/mnsc.46.6.790.11935?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lim, S.S. & Sunder, S., 1990. "Econometric Efficiency Of Asset Valuation Rules Under Price Movement And Measurement Errors," GSIA Working Papers 89-90-40, Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business.
    2. Anil Arya & Jonathan Glover & K. Sivaramakrishnan., "undated". "The Interaction between Decision and Control Problems and the Value of Information," Corporate Finance & Organizations _016, Ohio State University.
    3. Sappington, David E. M., 1986. "Commitment to regulatory bureaucracy," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 2(4), pages 243-258, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Plot-Vicard, Emmanuelle, 2010. "L’information diffusée par l’exploitant sur le risque nucléaire : quelle réponse aux attentes des parties prenantes ?," Economics Thesis from University Paris Dauphine, Paris Dauphine University, number 123456789/5592 edited by Richard, Jacques.
    2. Debreceny, Roger S. & Gray, Glen L., 2010. "Data mining journal entries for fraud detection: An exploratory study," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 157-181.
    3. Anil Arya & John Fellingham & Doug Schroeder & Jonathan Glover, 2002. "Depreciation in a model of probabilistic investment," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(4), pages 681-697.
    4. Anil Arya & John C. Fellingham & Jonathan C. Glover & Douglas A. Schroeder & Gilbert Strang, 2000. "Inferring Transactions from Financial Statements," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(3), pages 366-385, September.
    5. Ray, Sangeeta & Ray, Pradeep Kanta, 2021. "Innovation strategy of latecomer firms under tight appropriability regimes: The Indian pharmaceuticals industry," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(1).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Anil Arya & Jonathan Glover & Pierre Jinghong Liang, 2004. "Intertemporal aggregation and incentives," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(4), pages 643-657.
    2. Graeme Guthrie, 2006. "Regulating Infrastructure: The Impact on Risk and Investment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 44(4), pages 925-972, December.
    3. Shyam Sunder, 2003. "Accounting: Labor, Capital and Product Markets," Yale School of Management Working Papers ysm368, Yale School of Management.
    4. Sherman, Roger, 1989. "Institutional design for monopoly regulation," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 5(2-3), pages 245-257.
    5. Guerriero, Carmine, 2013. "The political economy of incentive regulation: Theory and evidence from US states," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 91-107.
    6. Dutta, Sunil & Fan, Qintao, 2012. "Incentives for innovation and centralized versus delegated capital budgeting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 592-611.
    7. Dai, Chifeng, 2009. "The appeals process in principal-agent relationships," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 451-462, August.
    8. Andreas Roider, 2009. "Delegation, Risk, and Project Scope," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 165(2), pages 193-209, June.
    9. Guthrie, Graeme, 2006. "Regulating Infrastructure: The Impact on Risk and Investment," Working Paper Series 18946, Victoria University of Wellington, The New Zealand Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation.
    10. Ramji Balakrishnan & K. Sivaramakrishnan & Shyam Sunder, "undated". "Granularity, Time, and Control of Economic Resources," GSIA Working Papers 1999-04, Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business.
    11. Ana Espinola-Arredondo & Felix Munoz-Garcia & Dolores Garrido, 2023. "Measuring regulatory errors from environmental policy uncertainty," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 64(1), pages 48-65, December.
    12. Antonio Estache & L. Wren-Lewis, 2008. "Towards a Theory of Regulation for Developing Countries: Following Laffont's Lead," Working Papers ECARES 2008_018, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    13. Prat, Andrea & Halac, Marina, 2014. "Managerial Attention and Worker Engagement," CEPR Discussion Papers 10035, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    14. Bruce Carlin & Christopher Cotton & Raphael Boleslavsky, 2017. "Competing For Capital: Auditing And Credibility In Financial Reporting," Working Paper 1377, Economics Department, Queen's University.
    15. Julia Nafziger & Heiner Schumacher, 2013. "Information Management and Incentives," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 140-163, March.
    16. Stephen G. Donald & David E. M. Sappington, 1995. "Explaining the Choice Among Regulatory Plans in the U.S. Telecommunications Industry," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4(2), pages 237-265, June.
    17. Guerriero, Carmine, 2011. "Accountability in government and regulatory policies: Theory and evidence," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 453-469.
    18. Anil Arya & John Fellingham & Jonathan Glover & K. Sivaramakrishnan, 2000. "Capital Budgeting, the Hold-up Problem, and Information System Design," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 46(2), pages 205-216, February.
    19. Dikolli, Shane S. & Vaysman, Igor, 2006. "Information technology, organizational design, and transfer pricing," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(1-2), pages 201-234, April.
    20. Joel Sobel, 1999. "A Reexamination of Yardstick Competition," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(1), pages 33-60, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:46:y:2000:i:6:p:790-806. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.