This study uses an analytical model to investigate the optimal cost-based transfer price for a multinational firm in domestic and foreign markets under the existence of gray market conditions, which occur when there is a parallel importer. In management accounting practice, a parallel importer buys a product sold by a subsidiary of a multinational firm, in order to sell the product in a domestic market. In this case, the choice of multinational transfer price is significant because the level of the transfer price has an impact on domestic market strategies. This paper considers the problem using numerical examples.

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　The purpose of this study is to examine the time-dependent relationship between the financial conditions and bond ratings of local governments, and to construct hypotheses about the process. To achieve this purpose, this study investigates time-series behavior of the relationship between financial indicators calculated from Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFRs) published under GASB Statement No.34 and state bond ratings (hereafter, CAFR-BR relationship). Results of empirical analysis show that CAFR-BR relationship appears gradually, not immediately, after the implementation of GASB Statement No.34. The gradual appearance suggests that the CAFR-BR relationship is caused by the gradually increasing factors, such as the variance of the financial conditions of U.S. states.

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 This study analyzes the relationship between forbearance lending to financially distressed firms and earnings management by the deferred tax assets. Results of verification, financially distressed firms reduce the valuation allowance of the deferred tax assets to increase net incomes in the period before the banks lend additionally. Furthermore, we observe that the firms that have a stronger connection with the main bank and the higher possibility that the capital adequacy ratio of the main bank is subject to regulation, the above relationship is stronger. These evidences suggest that (main) banks are influencing the financial reporting of borrowing firms when doing forbearance lending.

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　Japanese local governments are faced with a critical problem that they need to restrain the increment of the budget. In this paper, we examined the effect of accounting information expected to suppress the budget requirement for the next fiscal year when requesting budget. To investigate the effect, this study performs a survey experiment that focused on the suppression effect of the next fiscal year 's budget requirement for the staff of Joso City, Ibaraki Prefecture. The result shows that asset deterioration information is effective in suppressing the amount of budget required for the next fiscal year in businesses considered inefficient from administrative cost and performance evaluation.

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　The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of analysts on the slack in management earnings forecasts (hereafter MEFs) and earnings management to achieve the targets. First, analyzing the relationship between the number of analysts at the beginning of year t+1 and target revisions to year t+1 by using target ratcheting model, we confirm that as the number of analysts increases, the MEFs issued at the beginning of year t+1 get higher than that of year t.Second, to verify the relationship between the number of analysts and the slack in MEFs, we analyze the relationship between the number of analysts at the beginning of year t+1 and the likelihood of achieving the MEFs issued at the beginning of year t+1. In our test, we find that the likelihood of achieving the MEFs tends to decrease as the number of analysts increases, which suggests that the slack may eventually disappear as analyst monitoring strengthens. Finally, we confirm that there is a positive correlation between the number of analysts at the beginning of year t+1 and real earnings manipulation in year t+1. Our evidence indicates that the presence of analysts may cause managers to issue higher level of MEFs and eliminate slack, but this higher level of MEFs leads to real earnings manipulation for managers.

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 The purpose of this research is to elucidate Japanese companies’ motives for adopting the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and its effects by analyzing the characteristics of companies that have adopted the IFRS voluntarily before and after the application of the IFRS. Furthermore, to study the effects of the IFRS, we focused on whether the relationships between companies and investors are affected by the change in the ownership structure, that is, the shift from a domestic standard to a global one.
　We have obtained evidence that supports the following hypotheses. Firstly, in terms of the motives of the adoption, Japanese companies are more inclined to adopt the IFRS voluntarily, as (1) foreign and domestic investors pay a great deal of attention to the companies, (2) the difference between Japanese generally accepted accounting principles (Japanese GAAP) and the IFRS will have a large effect on the figures of financial statements, and (3) the parent company adopts the IFRS under listed parent/subsidiary pairs. Secondly, in terms of the effects of the adoption, companies that have adopted the IFRS make efforts to reduce the factors that hinder dialogue with investors by decreasing cross-holdings around the time when they adopt the IFRS.
　The important contribution of this study is that while considering the context unique to Japan, it has provided, for the first time, evidence suggesting that companies that have adopted the IFRS are proactively eliminating cross-holdings to reduce the factors that hinder dialogue with investors after the adoption. Additionally, this study's contribution to the research into the literatures on the adoption of the IFRS is that it provided evidence that companies are more motivated to voluntarily adopt the IFRS when there is attention from investors including foreign and local ones; this is contrary to the suggestion that has been prevalent so far, that is, that the motive for voluntary adoption was thought to be a response to foreign investors.
　The above mentioned evidence indicates that while companies that have adopted the IFRS tend to promote dialogue with investors and try to be in harmony with the securities market, companies that have not adopted the IFRS do not give it significance. If there exists such an essential difference between companies that have adopted the IFRS and companies that have not adopted the IFRS, it is not effective to haphazardly force companies to apply the IFRS, and mandatory adoption should be discussed together with the ongoing reform of corporate governance, disclosure systems, and securities exchange, etc.

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