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Fact and Theory in Accounting History: Presentmindedness and Capital Market Research

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  • GARY JOHN PREVITS
  • ROBERT BRICKER

Abstract

. Recent studies have begun to apply contemporary capital markets methods to historical, archival accounting data. This paper discusses period†specific issues relevant to such research. The general categories of issues considered are agency relationships and the capital market environment, trading practices, regulation, and corporate information disclosure. These contextual issues are discussed as they relate to the following business conditions in the United States during the first decade of the 20th century. First, the population characteristics of security holders were different, and a “money trust†comprised of investment bankers often controlled large corporations. This implies that careful thought needs to be given to assumptions about the role of publicly available information and “retail†investors in securities trading. Second, trading practices were quite different: stock price manipulation was tolerated, as were “wash†and “matching†securities transactions. These conditions, coupled with corporate disclosure of dubious quality and widespread colored financial press reporting, create difficulties in interpreting security price and trading activity. Third, while financial reporting regulation was minimal during the early 1900s, it is unclear whether government threats of regulation may have been regarded as sufficiently plausible by companies so as to motivate “voluntary†behavior. These facts suggest that contemporary researchers choosing to conduct capital market studies using data from historical time periods must fully consider the context of the period under study in designing their study, selecting data, interpreting results, deriving new theory, and drawing policy implications. Résumé. Dans des études récentes, on a commencé & appliquer les méthodes contemporaines d'analyse des marchés financiers aux données comptables d'archives. Les auteurs traitent des caractéristiques propres à certaines périodes passées, pertinentes à ce genre de recherche. Les catégories générales de caractéristiques qui sont abordées sont les relations mandant†mandataire et l'environnement des marchés financiers, les pratiques en matière de négociation de titres, la réglementation et la publication d'information par les entreprises. Ces caractéristiques contextuelles sont abordées dans leur relation avec les propriétés suivantes de la situation des entreprises dans la première décennie du XXe siècle. Premièrement, les caractéristiques démographiques des détenteurs de titres étaient différentes, à l'époque, et une ≪ fiducie de fonds ≫ composée de preneurs fermes contrôlait souvent de grandes sociétés. Cela suppose qu'il faut analyser avec minutie les hypothèses relatives au rôle de l'information diffusée dans le public et des épargnants, dans les opérations sur titres. Deuxièmement, les pratiques en matière de négociation étaient assez différentes à l'époque: la manipulation du cours des actions était tolérée, de même que les opérations fictives ou simultanées sur titres. Ces conditions, conjuguées à la qualité douteuse de l'information publiée par les entreprises et aux rapports subjectifs abondamment publiés par la presse financière, soulèvent des difficultés dans l'interprétation du cours des titres et de l'activité du marché. Troisièmement, compte tenu que la réglementation de l'information financière était réduite au minimum au début du siècle, on ne peut dire avec certitude si les menaces d'intervention gouvernementale peuvent avoir été jugées suffisamment inquiétantes par les entreprises pour les avoir incitées à adopter ≪ volontairement ≫ le comportement souhaité. Ces observations semblent indiquer que les chercheurs contemporains qui choisissent d'étudier un marché financier en s'appuyant sur les données de périodes antérieures doivent pleinement tenir compte du contexte de la période étudiée dans leur plan de recherche, le choix des données, l'interprétation des résultats, la dérivation de nouvelles théories et leurs conclusions relatives aux conséquences de leurs observations en ce qui a trait aux politiques.

Suggested Citation

  • Gary John Previts & Robert Bricker, 1994. "Fact and Theory in Accounting History: Presentmindedness and Capital Market Research," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 10(2), pages 625-641, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:coacre:v:10:y:1994:i:2:p:625-641
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1911-3846.1994.tb00408.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Lee Parker, 2004. "'Presenting' the past: perspectives on time for accounting and management history," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1), pages 1-27.
    2. Carmona, Salvador & Ezzamel, Mahmoud & Gutiérrez, Fernando, 2004. "Accounting History Research:Traditional and New Accounting History Perspectives," De Computis "Revista Española de Historia de la Contabilidad". De Computis "Spanish Journal of Accounting History"., Asociación Española de Contabilidad y Administración de Empresas (AECA). Spanish Accounting and Business Administration Association., issue 1, pages 24-53, December.
    3. Bricker, Robert & Chandar, Nandini, 2000. "Where Berle and Means went wrong: a reassessment of capital market agency and financial reporting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 529-554, August.
    4. Dale L. Flesher & Gary John Previts & Andrew D. Sharp, 2020. "Accounting Discoveries from Archival Research: The Mobile and Ohio, an Antebellum Southern Railroad," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 56(1), pages 140-163, March.
    5. Daniel Tschopp & Ronald Huefner, 2015. "Comparing the Evolution of CSR Reporting to that of Financial Reporting," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 127(3), pages 565-577, March.
    6. Archambault, Jeffrey J. & Archambault, Marie E., 2003. "A multinational test of determinants of corporate disclosure," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 173-194.
    7. Daniel Tschopp & Michael Nastanski, 2014. "The Harmonization and Convergence of Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting Standards," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 125(1), pages 147-162, November.
    8. Tahat, Yasean A. & Alhadab, Mohammad, 2017. "Have accounting numbers lost their value relevance during the recent financial credit crisis?," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 182-191.

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