Budgets are instrumental in management control systems but are prone to gaming behavior that creates slack and limits the effectiveness of budgets. Research suggests, however, that subordinates have preferences for adhering to a social norm of honesty that limits slack in their budgetary reporting. As such, an increased understanding of subordinates' preferences for honesty can improve participative budgeting systems. We develop and test theory that increases our understanding of the drivers of preferences for honesty. We test the theory that preferences for honesty originate from an individual's desire to avoid negative affect from violating social norms. Further, individuals systematically differ in the intensity with which they experience their negative affective reactions. Those with higher levels of this intensity (negative affect intensity, NAI), experience more negative affect and disutility from violating a norm of honesty. Thus, NAI is predictive of subordinates' preference for honesty. Experimental results support our theory. Budgetary slack is constrained by preferences for honesty and NAI increases preferences for honesty. As such, preferences for honesty are a stronger informal control for subordinates with higher NAI. We discuss the implications of our theory for contract design and job assignment.

ChatGPT, a language-learning model chatbot, has garnered considerable attention for its ability to respond to users’ questions. Using data from 14 countries and 186 institutions, we compare ChatGPT and student performance for 28,085 questions from accounting assessments and textbook test banks. As of January 2023, ChatGPT provides correct answers for 56.5 percent of questions and partially correct answers for an additional 9.4 percent of questions. When considering point values for questions, students significantly outperform ChatGPT with a 76.7 percent average on assessments compared to 47.5 percent for ChatGPT if no partial credit is awarded and 56.5 percent if partial credit is awarded. Still, ChatGPT performs better than the student average for 15.8 percent of assessments when we include partial credit. We provide evidence of how ChatGPT performs on different question types, accounting topics, class levels, open/closed assessments, and test bank questions. We also discuss implications for accounting education and research.

The ability to communicate effectively is critical in the accounting profession, yet research shows there is a gap between employer expectations and student abilities to adapt communication to various contexts. In this paper we introduce "Communication Roulette", a novel learning intervention that encourages students to practice their written communication skills by sensitizing them to the need to tailor their message to different audiences (i.e. shareholders, management, clients, etc.) using various communication formats (i.e. letter, email, presentation etc.) while simultaneously reinforcing their knowledge in important content areas. We provide implementation instructions and sample prompts, along with ideas to modify the intervention for a variety of classroom settings. Survey results indicate students find Communication Roulette increases both their confidence and ability to communicate effectively with different audiences and formats. We find these improvements in learning outcomes can largely be achieved through peer feedback alone, although we document incremental improvements in self-reported confidence with supplemental instructor feedback. Finally, pre- and post-assessments indicate an increase in student content knowledge following implementation of Communication Roulette.

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This case study focuses on how divergent cultural norms can impact ethical decisionmaking between a superior and subordinate in a high-pressure workplace. In order to ensure that today’s business students (and tomorrow’s business leaders) adhere to the highest standards of ethical conduct in an international and multicultural environment, it is imperative they recognize and respond appropriately to different cultural views of ethics. In the accompanying case, Jane, a Chinese national living and working in the United States, encounters multiple ethical dilemmas during her employment at TrustUS. Readers are introduced to important cultural factors that differ between Eastern and Western societies (such as Power Distance and Collectivism) and are asked to apply these concepts to gain insight into how cultural background might influence the ethical decision making of a professional in a managerial accounting context.