Standard conservatism estimation models quantify the magnitude of conservatism by regressing earnings on stock returns. However, Banker et al. (2016) point out that cost stickiness may be a confounding factor in conservatism estimation. Cost stickiness makes earnings behavior asymmetric when sales increase and decrease, resulting in an asymmetric relationship between earnings and stock returns. Our analysis provides evidence that conservatism estimates are overestimated by 20.7% in Japan if we do not control for cost stickiness on conservatism estimates. We also conducted a replication test of Shuto and Takada (2010), who examined the empirical relationship between managerial ownership and conservatism, and found that their results are partially less robust when they control for cost stickiness. Our results indicate that cost stickiness is also a confounding factor in studies of conservatism using Japanese data.

The purpose of this research is to clarify the function of medium-term management plans by functional organization. For this purpose, I conducted a case study of a major pharmaceutical company X. As a result, it was shown that the medium-term management plan by functional organization have four functions: (1) strategy sharing, (2) strategy modification, and (3) performance evaluation.

Many previous studies have shown that Amoeba Management is effective in creating incremental innovations and improving short-term efficiency and productivity through micro-profit center systems (as a management accounting system). However, pursuing only short-term goals may neglect the creation of radical innovations for future growth. How Amoeba Management encourages the creation of radical innovations that lead to future growth has not been widely discussed. This paper focuses on organizational ambidexterity, which promotes both incremental innovations and radical innovations. We view Amoeba Management as a package of management accounting and management philosophy, and then investigate through case study to clarify how organizational ambidexterity can be implemented in Amoeba Management. The results of the study revealed that (1) management accounting promotes the exploitation of existing knowledge, (2) management philosophy promotes the exploration of new knowledge, and (3) the outcome from the exploitation of existing knowledge support the exploration of new knowledge.

It has been thought that a low price is sufficient as long as it exceeds variable costs, when taking orders using extra production capacity (EPC). But in the long term, fixed costs may not be recovered and EPC may be subject to reduction. Wang (2022, 2024) verified that having EPC makes it possible to quickly respond to customer orders and offer a higher price than the normal one, but it did not clarify how EPC leads to quick delivery. Based on the framework of customer-responsive time, this research conducted a case study of A-one Seimitsu Inc. to examine the issue.

This paper, using a case study approach, discusses the factors that influence the decision by SME owner-managers to introduce management accounting. Previous studies have examined factors such as firm attributes, owners’ educational background, and the influence of accounting professionals. On the other hand, I focus on the fact that most SMEs are family-owned. More specifically, we support the concept of “familiness,” which considers the values and philosophies shared in the family relations of the owner-managers as a bundle of resources, and argue that it is a major influential factor in their decision to introduce management accounting. In the case of a family-owned SME discussed in this paper, the familiness the owner inherited from his father, who was the previous owner-manager, led to the introduction of cost management after his experience of temporary transfer to another company and encounter with an accounting system.

The company whose pension liabilities and pension expenses put pressure on its financial position and operating results are thought to adopt positively CSR activities as risk management strategy leading to corporate value maximization, for the purpose of restoring damaged corporate reputation and for supporting future uncertainty of large payment amount of pension. The purpose of this article is to make it positively clear whether there is the relevancy between the amount of pension liabilities and pension expenses and CSR activities as risk management strategy. The findings suggest that the amount of pension liabilities and pension expenses induce CSR activities as risk management strategy.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of designing compensation contract in corporate governance by exploring the relationship between shareholder (principal) and manager (agent) based on the principal-agent model. It proposes a novel approach to compensation system based on self-reporting. The paper models the accuracy of performance indicator as the product of the control environment, control ability, and control activity. It demonstrates that by designing compensation contract that incorporate a mechanism for automatically adjusting accuracy to an appropriate level based on the agent’s self-reported control ability, the principal’s expected utility can be maximized. Furthermore, it shows that when the agent’s self-reported value is relatively low, the principal can further maximize expected utility by considering a shift from a compensation contract based on self-reporting to one that does not rely on self-reporting, and by declaring this possibility to the agent in advance. This approach suggests that the integration of internal controls and compensation system contributes to improved corporate governance outcomes.