The Journal of American Business

Blockchain and Accounting: Cryptocurrencies, Fraud and Regulation

Dr. Michael Ulinski, Pace University Pleasantville, NY

Dr. Roy Girasa, Pace University Pleasantville, NY

ABSTRACT

The researchers reviewed public accounting and regulatory initiatives regarding the use, advantages and drawbacks of blockchain technology. They were concerned with the “state of the art” for effective implementation by professional accountants and focused on the integration of cryptocurrencies into blockchain technology. Stakeholders such as independent accountants, the Securities and Exchange Commission, international regulators, government accountants as well as forensic accountants and investors were studied to understand their perspective. Conclusions are drawn and recommendations for further study are made. Blockchain technology has already affected accounting functions from basic bookkeeping to audit and advisory services. KPMG one of the largest accounting firms, has established a Digital Ledger Service group where the use of blockchain capabilities in the cloud, including faster and more secure transactions, streamlined and automated back office operations, and reduced costs(1). Blockchain is a type of distributed ledger technology (although many people now use the terms interchangeably). DLT has the ability to allow users to record data and transactions instantaneously in a way that is unhackable. A key to understanding blockchain is that each distributed ledger isn’t maintained or stored by any one entity, but is accessed and cultivated by a number of users. Everyone’s changes appear instantly on each user’s copy of the ledger and are encrypted in a way so that they can’t be changed or deleted. Thus, each new block is permanently linked onto an unbreakable chain.(2)Accountants of all stripes from governmental, independent auditors to forensic accountants are key stakeholders in possible blockchain stewardship of the phenomenon to be as prevalent as the internet itself. At its core, a blockchain is just a database that is maintained by a network of users and secured through cryptography. When new information is added to the database it is parceled in “blocks,” which can be thought of as containers for this data. Every so often a new block is created and linked to a “chain” of previously created blocks. Each block has a unique ID called a hash that is created by running the ID of the block that preceded it and the data stored in the current block through a cryptographic algorithm. This ensures the integrity of all the data stored on the blockchain because altering the data in any block would produce a different hash.( 3 ) Financial institutions and tech companies have invested in blockchain or consortia-based blockchain projects to transform payments, clearing, and settlements (PCS), including how funds are transferred and how securities, commodities, and derivatives are cleared and settled. One consortium, for example, consists of large banks and other financial institutions collaborating on blockchain for financial markets. Individually, tech giants, such as IBM and Microsoft, and several big banks are working on projects within their own internal think tanks. Switching to blockchain could eliminate inefficient processes and unnecessary costs, but the digital transformation comes with risks that accountants and finance professionals will have to manage. PCS is a complex set of systems and institutions. US PCS systems process about 600 million transactions valued at about $12.6 trillion daily. Traditionally, businesses and consumers have relied on the central bank, clearinghouses, counterparties, and intermediaries to maintain custody and responsibility of all financial assets.

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An Exploratory Examination of Excessive Requirements of Letter of Credit and

Uniform Customs and Practice 600

Dr. Sut Sakchutchawan, College of Business, Kean University, NJ

Dr. Clifford Fisher, Krannert School of Management, Purdue University, IN

ABSTRACT

The discrepancy of international trade has been a major worldwide issue for decades. This has been a significant problem for sellers, buyers, and banking institutions when banks discover discrepancies on international trade transactions and documents prior to making payments resulting in unnecessary delays, refused payments, and financial loss. This paper illustrates the problems of discrepant trade documents caused by the ambiguous and excessive requirements of terms of letter of credit and the Uniform Customs and Practice 600. This paper recommends exporters advise importers to omit excessive terms and ambiguous conditions in the letter of credit. This paper also recommends changing legal language of the Uniform Custom and Practice 600 into a clearer language. The practical example and template for each article of Uniform Customs and Practice 600 should be provided as well. As exporting and importing business continue to grow as a part of production of the world, more attention and emphasis have been placed on understanding the key aspects of international trade transaction (Sakchutchawarn and Fisher, 2016). International trade is obviously a significant factor to develop national economic growth since not all countries have the resources and skills required to produce certain goods and services. The growth of international trade can offer new opportunities for importers and exporters. It is impossible for a country to produce domestically everything for its citizens need or demand. Without foreign trade, national resources are not put to their best use. More exporters are looking for foreign markets to sell their products. Export market is normally so much larger than the firm’s domestic market. Most notably, companies export to increase their revenues. More importers are also looking for sources of supply to buy products. Companies and distributors seek out products, services, and components produced in foreign countries. However, many countries impose trade barriers in order to protect their domestic industries. International Chamber of Commerce also imposes their trade rules which is known as the Uniform Custom and Practice 600 in order to facilitate trade transaction. Today, many companies are affected by global events and competitions because most of sell output and supplies are from foreign countries. They compete against products and services that come from abroad inevitably. Export transaction occurs on the premise that results in benefits to all participants, regardless of whether they are nations or individual firms. However, many exporters have run into various problems. Common problems are a failure to present proper trade documents as required by the terms and conditions of letter of credit. Exporters also face the ambiguity of the Uniform Custom and Practice 600 to comply with for payment and financing.

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Evaluating the Effect of Service Quality on Customer Satisfaction and Customer

Loyalty in the Restaurant Industry: A Canonical Correlation Approach

Kaie-Chin Chung, Nanya Institute of Technology, Taiwan

ABSTRACT

The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate diners’ perceptions of service quality and its effects on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in the Taiwanese fine dining restaurant industry. The present study employed the survey instrument ERVQUAL to obtain information concerning customer reactions to aspects of the dining experience through a self-administrated questionnaire survey. The study employed a technique, canonical correlation, to establish relationships between composite variables of service quality and customer satisfaction, service quality and customer loyalty, and customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in a Taiwanese setting. It is expected that establishing and maintaining a positive perception of quality of service and satisfaction among customers will help restaurants retain the existing customers and attract new ones. Concluding remarks suggest several avenues to extend the current study. The importance of environmental and service aspects of the dining experience to restaurant patrons has been established and subjected to significant research. The relative importance of these aspects varies with type of restaurant. Large chain operations, fast food restaurants in particular, gain advantage based on cost savings derived from economies of scale, whereas fine dining restaurants tend to succeed through differentiation of their products and thus creation of a unique brand that customers find attractive and are willing to recommend and continue to patronize. Moreover, restaurant type ranges between the two extremes; for instance, Muller & Woods (1994) cite five different types from “quick service” to “upscale and business dining.” Different authors have emphasized different restaurant types not only within this scale but also in all-you-can-eat buffet restaurants (Oyewole, 2013) and fast-casual restaurants (Ryu et al., 2010). As restaurants depend more heavily on specialization rather than economies of scale to succeed, aspects of the customer dining experience beyond just the food served become increasingly important. These aspects consist of the environment in which the food is prepared, served, and consumed and the characteristics of customer interactions with restaurant staff. Of the three aspects of the dining experience—the food served, the service environment, and the service provided, customer perceptions of service environment and service quality are the most difficult for a restaurant to analyze and so control in order to attract and retain customers. This research is sited in Taiwan and is one of the few performed in a Far East setting. Like the previous authors, Qin et al. (2010) employed a survey and examined quality perception among customers of a fast-food restaurant in China. Kim et al. (2003) attempted the same type of analysis in a Korean setting, examining perceptions of quality of customers patronizing “casual-dining restaurants operated by relatively large corporations through joint ventures or franchise contracts with foreign countries.” Bougoure & Neu (2010) performed a similar study involving fast-food restaurants in Malaysia. Ma & Njite (2011) studied service quality in a Chinese restaurant located in the U.S.

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Profit Shifting Behavior: The Case of the Czech Republic for the Selected Industry Sectors

Dr. Veronika Solilova, Mendel University, Brno, Czech Republic

Dr. Danuse Nerudova, Professor, Mendel University, Brno, Czech Republic

Dr. Marian Dobranschi, Mendel University, Brno, Czech Republic

Dr. Marek Litzman, Mendel University, Brno, Czech Republic

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to research the profit shifting behavior within the same multinational group of companies operating in the selected industry sectors. We research the sensitivity of profitability of sales to tax differences between Czech subsidiaries and their sister companies placed in other European Union countries. Specifically, the objective of our research is to determine whether the profitability of sales is decreased or increased due to the corporate income tax differences. In this paper we adopted the Hines-Rice approach, which was modified based on the last improvements. Based on the results of the models used, the sensitivity of profitability of sales to tax differential was proved. Thus it can be concluded, that profit shifting to the Czech Republic occurs if other EU countries increase statutory or effective CIT rates, namely in case of Czech subsidiaries operating in the industry sectors NACE G, L and M focusing on the services. The Multinational Enterprises (hereinafter as MNE) can exploit different tax rules regarding the corporate income taxation in different jurisdictions in order to avoid paying taxes on profits or to decrease the overall tax burden. Generally, the essential rationale in case of profit shifting is to move profits from high-tax countries to low- or no-tax jurisdictions. Therefore one of the key factors that incentivize the moving of profits from one jurisdiction to another is the corporate tax rate differences between world countries. OECD (2015) estimates annual losses of 4 up to 10% of corporate income tax revenues (i.e. 100 to 240 billion USD) through base erosion and profit shifting. Therefore profit shifting and tax base erosion represent a current topic across the world countries. Our objective is to research the sensitivity of profitability of sales to different tax regimes, particularly, we would like to identify if profit shifting occurs in case of Czech subsidiaries operating in the selected industry sectors. We choose to analyze the Czech subsidiaries owned by MNE placed in the EU that are involved in wholesale and retail trade (NACE G), real estate activities (NACE L) and professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE M). To reach our aim we adopt the Hines-Rice approach to estimate the semi-elasticity of profitability of sales to tax differentials between sisters companies placed in EU countries owned by the same parent company. We apply Ordinary Least Squares (hereinafter as OLS) regression to estimate the impact of corporate income tax rate (hereinafter as CIT) on the profitability of sales generated by selected Czech subsidiaries. Moreover, using OLS procedure we estimate the impact of tax differential between Czech subsidiaries and the average CIT rate of their affiliates from the same MNE group as well as firm-specific input factors and other control variables. Based on the used methodology approach, the profit shifting behavior is determined and analyzed indirectly. The paper is organized as follows. In the first section we present a short literature review regarding profit shifting; in the second section we present the data used and the methodology of our empirical analysis; the third section presents the results obtained and the paper ends with concluding remarks. This paper was funded by the Czech Science Foundation (GACR) grant [no.18-14082S] entitled: “Fair corporate taxation: Measurement of the impact of the corporate profit shifting on the budget of the Czech Republic”. The international system of corporate taxation faces long-standing criticisms. The key problem is that MNE are able to reduce much easier their tax burden than individuals which is very often highlighted by media. The result of those activities is a distortion of economic activity mainly in the country where the added value is created and where it should be tax after that. Further, this activity affects investment - its location and size.

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Member: Association of American Publishers (AAP), Professional / Scholarly Publishing, New York