College of Administration and Finance SciencesAssignment (2)
Deadline: Saturday 11/11/2023 @ 23:59
Course Name: Accounting Research
and Practice
Student’s Name:
Course Code: ACCT 403
Student’s ID Number:
Semester: 1st
CRN: 12661
Academic Year: 1445 H
For Instructor’s Use only
Instructor’s Name: Dr. Youssef RIAHI
Students’ Grade:
/15
Level of Marks: High/Middle/Low
Instructions – PLEASE READ THEM CAREFULLY
● The Assignment must be submitted on Blackboard (WORD format only) via
allocated folder.
● Assignments submitted through email will not be accepted.
● Students are advised to make their work clear and well presented, marks may
be reduced for poor presentation. This includes filling your information on the
cover page.
● Students must mention question number clearly in their answer.
● Late submission will NOT be accepted.
● Avoid plagiarism, the work should be in your own words, copying from
students or other resources without proper referencing will result in ZERO
marks. No exceptions.
College of Administration and Finance Sciences
● All answers must be typed using Times New Roman (size 12, double-spaced)
font. No pictures containing text will be accepted and will be considered
plagiarism.
● Submissions without this cover page will NOT be accepted.
Assignment Question(s):
(Marks. 15)
Q1. Fundamental questions for a survey research need to be answered at the design stage
are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
What sort of survey are you contemplating?
What sort of respondent are you targeting?
What questions do you want answers to?
What response categories are you contemplating?
What sequence of questions should you pursue?
What is the layout of the survey instrument?
How will the sample be selected?
Develop an example of your own on Survey research by answering to all the above
questions for a quality design. (5 Marks)
Answer:
1. I am planning an online survey administered through Arabic survey platforms popular in
Saudi Arabia, such as Surveylab.me or Sawalif.com. Though English has traction in KSA,
using Arabic will help capture a wider demographic. The online approach is cost-effective
for reaching a large population quickly.
2. My target respondents are Saudi adults who use smartphones regularly. Focusing
specifically on active smartphone users will keep the survey relevant. Adults tend to have
more discretionary income than youth for purchasing power. Limiting the sample to just
Saudi nationals or residents helps avoid cross-cultural noise.
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3. I want to understand how satisfied Saudis are with their current smartphones and which
features they use most or least. This provides insight into what resonates or does not in the
Saudi market. I also want brand preference data to analyze positioning among Saudi
consumers. Key info includes overall satisfaction, detailed feature feedback, and brand
perceptions.
4. For satisfaction, I will use a 5-point Arabic scale from “Very satisfied” to “Not at all
satisfied.” Simple frequency options from “Daily” to “Never” will measure feature usage. I
will limit brand ranking to their top 3 preferred brands to avoid excessive options.
5. The survey will start with general satisfaction, then feature usage, ending with brand
ranking. This logical flow keeps respondents engaged.
6. The Arabic survey will use a clean, minimalist layout, avoiding visual clutter. Radio
buttons and dropdowns will enable seamless selections. Displaying the Islamic calendar
date adds cultural familiarity.
7. I will use a specialist panel provider to source a representative national sample of 1,000
Saudi adults, balancing demographics. Avoiding haram elements like gambling will
support participation. Target quotas will ensure proper representation.
Q2. What do you understand by Archival Research? Discuss its importance as a research
method and give at least one example of a research paper (preferably Accounting paper)
conducted be Archival research (5 Mark)
Answer:
Archival research involves analyzing administrative records and documents as the
principal data source for a research study. It is an important research method for accounting
and business fields for several reasons:
College of Administration and Finance Sciences
Provides historical data – Archival records can provide long-term data over many
years or decades that would be impossible to obtain through other methods. This allows
researchers to study trends and changes over time.
Unobtrusive – Archival research is unobtrusive since it utilizes existing documentation
not created specifically for the research purpose. This avoids any influence on the
subject.
Cost-effective – Obtaining archival data is typically inexpensive compared to
generating new data through surveys, experiments, etc. The data has already been
produced for other reasons.
Insight into decisions – Records like meeting minutes, communications, and internal
reports provide insight into organizational decisions and rationales that may not be
available through other means.
Factual evidence – Archival data reflects actual operating and financial results,
avoiding issues with poor recall or subjective opinions in survey/interview data.
Example paper using archival research:
Doxey, M., Lawson, J., Lopez, T., & Swanquist, Q. (2021). Do Investors Care Who Did the
Audit? Evidence from Form AP. Journal of Accounting Research, 59(1), 227–287.
Key findings:
Doxey (2021) utilized archival data from PCAOB Form AP filings to examine whether
new required disclosures of audit firm partners and component auditors impacted investor
decisions. Before 2017, the specific auditors involved in an audit were not disclosed. However,
after each audit, the PCAOB then mandated disclosure of this information through new Form
AP filings. This created a new archival data source.
College of Administration and Finance Sciences
The researchers gathered and analyzed Form AP filings for thousands of audits from
early 2017 to 2019. This archival data contained the lead audit partner name and details on
other participating audit firms for each public company audit. The study assessed whether
revealing the specific audit firms and partners influenced investor behavior by examining
trading volume, abnormal returns, and bid-ask spreads around these new disclosures.
The archival Form AP data enabled large-scale analysis of these disclosures across
audits. The results provided unique evidence that investors did not significantly react to the
new partner and component auditor identity disclosures in most cases. This demonstrates the
value of archival data analysis in accounting research. The PCAOB’s new Form AP mandated
disclosure of previously private audit firm information, which the study leveraged to examine
investor reactions on a wide scale unobtrusively.
Q3. What are the essential Ethical guidelines that the researcher needs? (5 Mark)
Answer:
There are several essential ethical guidelines accounting researchers should follow.
According to the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct (2014), major ethical considerations
include:
Integrity: Researchers should be honest, fair, and candid when conducting and
reporting research. All methods, data, and analysis should truthfully represent the actual
findings.
Objectivity: Bias or undue influence must be avoided when planning, conducting, and
reviewing research. Research questions, design, and conclusions should reflect
objective thinking.
Confidentiality: Participant privacy should be protected. Data identifying individuals
or organizations must be kept confidential unless permission is granted.
College of Administration and Finance Sciences
Professional Competence: Accounting researchers should match research objectives
with suitable skills and methodology. Studies should adhere to professional technical
and ethical standards.
Full Disclosure: Any conflicts of interest, sponsorships, or incentives related to the
research should be fully disclosed and managed not to impair objectivity.
Accounting research should uphold the highest standards of honesty, objectivity,
privacy, expertise, and transparency, as outlined in the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct
(2014). Adhering to ethical guidelines preserves the integrity of the research and the accounting
discipline.
References
American Institute of CPAs. (2014). AICPA code of professional conduct.
https://us.aicpa.org/content/dam/aicpa/research/standards/codeofconduct/downloadabl
edocuments/2014-december-15-content-asof-2020-June-20-code-of-conduct.pdf
Doxey, M., Lawson, J., Lopez, T., & Swanquist, Q. (2021). Do Investors Care Who Did the
Audit? Evidence from Form AP. Journal of Accounting Research, 59(1), 227–287.
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