The project was to develop a US GAAP and IFRS based financial reporting software application. The application will reference the relevant codification under US GAAP or IFRS accounting standards and provide the user with a step-by-step guide to recording technical accounting entries dictated under the relevant codification or standard. The software solves for the need to hire external expertise to perform such tasks. Through a series of relevant inputs, in-house accounting staff (or students) are afforded the opportunity to methodically work through the accounting topic or arrangement with reference to the codification and accounting standards. The software provides the final deliverables generally expected for financial reporting.

In 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) imposed on managers a responsibility to evaluate their companies’ forward-looking prospects for continuing as a going concern on a quarterly basis. Prior to this change, the responsibility of assessing the future of a company was only required annually by the external auditor through auditing standards. If this increase in management responsibility induced managers to implement a process and controls to obtain forward-looking information for disclosure, I would expect this information acquisition process to also improve overall financial reporting quality. I find that financial reporting quality increased for firms after Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2014-15, as evidenced by less restatements. Additionally, while I find the timeliness of information decreased, as evidenced by slower earnings announcements, the decrease is not economically meaningful. Lastly, I find the effect of the standard change on financial reporting quality is greater for non-financially healthy companies who have to perform a more extensive analysis under ASU 2014-15. While the purpose of the accounting standard was to reduce diversity in the timing and content of going concern disclosures, I find evidence of other benefits with little costs that this standard had on firm’s financial reporting.