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.

Extant literature documents a positive association between ex ante severance pay and timeliness of bad news disclosure, suggesting that the provision of severance pay is consistent with efficient contracting. Relying on an empirically unexplored theory, we investigate whether and how managerial exit costs (i.e., financial and nonfinancial losses triggered by employment termination) affect the effectiveness of severance pay in curbing bad news withholding. We find that managerial exit costs attenuate the positive association between severance pay and timely disclosure of bad news. Moreover, we document that severance pay does not prompt managers to reveal bad news when their exit costs are sufficiently high (i.e., in the top quartile). This result suggests that exit costs erode the efficacy of ex ante severance pay in curtailing bad news withholding. Overall, our findings support the notion that a “one-size-fits-all” approach to structuring severance agreements undermines the potential of severance pay to benefit investors.

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As part of a revision to the undergraduate business core curriculum, the typical two-course introductory series was condensed into one class, and an additional “bridge” course was created for students continuing to intermediate accounting. The transition period created a natural experiment to examine student success and retention in intermediate accounting and beyond. Compared with students who had completed six hours of principles courses and a gateway exam, students who completed this new course sequence scored higher on an incoming assessment in the new and more advanced first intermediate course. Further, the performance advantage is evident in higher exam grades in the first intermediate course, higher GPA in future accounting courses, greater retention of accounting majors, and gains in conversion to accounting. Although this curriculum change is somewhat unique, the results lend insights to accounting educators on how to address success and retention/gains of accounting students throughout intermediate accounting and beyond.