Countercyclical prudential buffers and bank risk-taking

We investigate the effects of countercyclical prudential buffers on bank risk-taking. We exploit the introduction of dynamic loan loss provisioning in Spain, mandating that banks use historical average loss rates in their estimation of loan loss provisions. We find that dynamic loan loss provisioning is associated with reductions in timely loan loss provisioning. Banks that previously recognized loan losses in a timely fashion exhibit the greatest reductions in timeliness and consequently extend loans to riskier borrowers with lower accounting quality. Our results have policy implications for the debate on the use of financial reporting requirements in mitigating capital pro-cyclicality.     

Expected-loss-based Accounting for Impairment of Financial Instruments: The FASB and IASB Proposals 2009–2016

The financial and banking crisis of the late 2000s prompted claims that the incurred-loss method for the recognition of credit losses had caused undesirable delay in the recognition of credit-loss impairment. In the wake of the crisis, the US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) worked towards the development of expected-loss-based methods of accounting for credit-loss impairment. Their work included an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to develop a converged FASB/IASB standard on credit-loss impairment. The FASB and IASB eventually developed their own separate expected-loss models to be included, respectively, in a 2016 FASB standard and in the IASB’s 2014 final version of IFRS 9 Financial Instruments. The failure to achieve convergence on an issue of such high profile and materiality has generated some controversy, and it is claimed that it will impose significant costs on the preparers and users of the financial statements of banks. This paper examines the various sets of expected-loss-based proposals issued separately or jointly since 2009 by the FASB and the IASB. It describes and compares key features of the different approaches eventually developed by the two standard setters, referring to issues that arose in arriving at practically workable solutions and to issues that may have impeded FASB/IASB convergence. It also provides information indicative of the possible effect of differences between the two approaches.     

Insights on CFOs’ Perceptions about Impairment Testing Under IAS 36

We survey CFOs of Italian listed companies and examine their views on the complexities involved in implementing IAS 36 requirements and the perceived usefulness of national guidelines aiming at assisting preparers in this respect. We find that IAS 36 is perceived as an atypical standard among IFRS, it demands subjective interpretation, its requirements can be made adaptable to managerial needs and do not limit creative accounting. Further, respondents do not see a strong link between IAS 36 disclosure requirements and market variables, except for stock returns. Moreover, the impairment testing process became more difficult during the recent financial crisis and guidelines issued by the Italian authorities do not appear to assist in implementing the recoverable amount estimation process or compliance with mandatory disclosure. The respondents explicitly call for a revision in IAS 36 and/or issuance of separate guidance. These findings inter alia respond directly to the IASB’s current quest on financial statements preparers’ concerns about the application of the IAS 36 requirements.     

动态拨备在中国银行业的实施研究

美国次贷危机表明现行国际会计准则（IAS59）已发生损失模型（Incurred Loss Model）在计提贷款损失准备方面具有明显的亲经济周期性特征,是加剧金融市场波动的重要因素。为解决贷款损失准备计提方法存在的亲周期性,国际银行监管界正积极寻找一种替代的方法,而西班牙动态拨备模型被广泛地认为是解决已发生损失模型亲周期性最行之有效的方法。本文从理论和实践两个层面对西班牙动态拨备模型进行了深入研究,并对如何在中国银行业实施动态拨备模型进行了制度设计。     

Accession to the European Union and the Process of Accounting and Auditing Reform

The paper sets out to analyse the effects of the financial crisis on the international standard-setter in 2008 and the attempts made to shoot the messenger – to blame IAS 39 for creating the crisis for reporting unrealised losses, rather than the cause being bankers making bad investment decisions. It first provides a brief analysis of IAS 39 and fair value accounting for financial instruments. It then sets out the relationship with the Basel II banking regulatory regime. The main part of the paper is a chronological presentation of the events of 2008 as they impact upon the international standard-setting institution. In particular, we analyse the impact of the G20 requirements and the blunt intervention of the European Commission that led to amendments to IAS 39. The final part of the paper looks at the consequences as they are so far discernible and the damage done to the IASB by shooting the messenger.     

International Accounting Standards and Accounting Quality

We examine whether application of International Accounting Standards (IAS) is associated with higher accounting quality. The application of IAS reflects combined effects of features of the financial reporting system, including standards, their interpretation, enforcement, and litigation. We find that firms applying IAS from 21 countries generally evidence less earnings management, more timely loss recognition, and more value relevance of accounting amounts than do matched sample firms applying non‐U.S. domestic standards. Differences in accounting quality between the two groups of firms in the period before the IAS firms adopt IAS do not account for the postadoption differences. Firms applying IAS generally evidence an improvement in accounting quality between the pre‐ and postadoption periods. Although we cannot be sure our findings are attributable to the change in the financial reporting system rather than to changes in firms' incentives and the economic environment, we include research design features to mitigate effects of both.     

Earnings and capital management and signaling: the use of loan-loss provisions by European banks

This paper investigates the relationship between loan-loss provisions (LLPs) and earnings management in the context of the capital adequacy of Euro Area (EA) banks versus non-EA credit institutions. This paper also examines whether LLPs signal managements’ expectations concerning future bank profits to investors. Additionally, this paper traces the role of bank regulations and creditor protection systems in explaining income smoothing. Evidence drawn from the 1996 to 2006 period indicates that LLPs do reflect changes in the expected quality of a bank's loan portfolio for both groups of banks, and that earnings management is an important determinant of LLPs for EA intermediaries, whereas non-EA credit institutions use LLPs to signal private information to outsiders. The paper also finds that higher protection of creditors’ rights significantly reduces the incentives to smooth earnings for EA banks. During the recent financial crisis, EA bank managers are much more concerned with their credit portfolio quality and do not use LLPs for discretionary purposes, whereas LLPs at non-EA banks are used to smooth income more than for the purposes of managing capital ratios or conveying private information about future performance to the market.     

Fairly priced deposit insurance,incentive compatible regulations,and bank asset choices

This article provides incentive compatible regulations that support fairly priced deposit insurance in a competitive banking industry. If informational asymmetry exists between the regulator and banks regarding loan quality, but the regulator can observe actual loan rates charged, then imposing a capital requirement schedule that leads market loan rates to decrease in loan quality is shown to be incentive compatible. Competition in the loan market induces banks to be indifferent to all loans that satisfy a minimum acceptable quality and reject all riskier loans. The regulator could reduce the banking industry's riskiness by imposing stricter capital requirements that increase this minimum quality.     

Evidence of Forward-Looking Loan Loss Provisioning with Credit Market Information

Our paper makes a fundamental contribution by studying loan loss provisioning over the credit cycle as three distinct phases. Looking at the three distinct phases of the financial crisis – the pre-crisis period, crisis period, and post-crisis period – is important as loan loss provisioning is driven by different factors in each, in part due to extensive shifts in (or in the application of) regulatory rule. Controlling for credit market information using data from the Senior Loan Officer Opinion Surveys (SLOOS) we extend the work of previous studies of forward-looking loan loss provisions using the delayed expected loss recognition approach. We contribute to the growing literature on forward-looking loan loss provisioning and early in the cycle loss recognition by incorporating a broader range of available credit information and explicitly controlling for structural breaks in the sample corresponding to the financial crisis.     

Do accounting standards matter to financial analysts? An empirical analysis of the effect of cross-listing from different accounting standards regimes on analyst following and forecast error

This paper explores whether the effects of cross-listing on analyst following and forecast error differ among firms with different accounting standards. The results reveal a higher increase in the number of analysts for cross-listed firms that follow their home country's GAAP prior to cross-listing and reconcile or switch to IAS/US GAAP or UK GAAP after cross-listing, compared to those that adopt IAS or US GAAP prior to cross-listing. We find that firms that switch to IAS/US GAAP have a higher increase in analyst following after cross-listing compared to firms that reconcile to IAS/US GAAP. In addition, we find a higher increase in analyst following after cross-listing for firms from low-level accounting standards environments compared to firms from high-level accounting standards environments. Our results show evidence of an increase in the magnitude of analysts’ forecast error after cross-listing for firms that follow their home country's GAAP pre-cross-listing but reconcile post-cross-listing to IAS/US GAAP or UK GAAP. On the other hand, we report a decrease in forecast error for firms that switch to IAS/US GAAP.     

Management quality and the cost of debt: Does management matter to lenders?

This paper investigates the effect of organizational capital, typified by various management practices within a firm, on the cost of external debt financing. Using a sample of medium-sized manufacturing firms in the US, we find that better management practices enhance a firm’s external financing capacity by lowering the firm’s cost of bank loans. We do not find any evidence that the lower loan cost of a high-quality-management firm is associated with more restrictive non-price contract terms such as greater collateral requirements and stricter covenants. These results suggest that banks explicitly take into account the risk arising from poor management practices when pricing and designing debt contracts.     

Income smoothing among European systemic and non-systemic banks

There is scant research on the financial reporting behaviour of global systemically-important banks (G-SIBs) and non-global systemically-important banks (non-G-SIBs). We examine the link between financial reporting and financial system stability given the understanding that income smoothing is a stability mechanism for banks. We empirically examine whether the way G-SIBs use loan loss provisions (LLPs) to smooth income differ compared to non-G-SIBs and the incentive to do so. We examine 231 European banks and find that income smoothing is pronounced among G-SIBs in the post-crisis period and pronounced among non-G-SIBs in the pre-crisis period. Also, G-SIBs exhibit greater income smoothing when they: (i) have substantial non-performing loans, (ii) are more profitable and meet/exceed minimum regulatory capital ratios (iii) engage in forward-looking loan-loss provisioning and during recessionary periods. The implication of our findings is that capital regulation and abnormal economic fluctuations create incentives for systemic banks to use accounting numbers (loan loss provisions) to smooth income, which also align with the financial system stability objective of bank regulators. Our findings are useful to accounting standard setters in their evaluation of the role of reported accounting numbers for financial system stability, given the current regulatory environment in Europe which focuses on systemic banks.     

Within-syndicate conflicts,loan covenants,and syndicate formation

We study how conflicts within a lending syndicate affect loan contract and syndicate formation. We argue that loan provisions serve an important dual function: In addition to moderating borrower–lender conflicts, they reduce within-syndicate conflicts. We show that greater potential for within-syndicate conflicts is associated with more and stricter covenants. Loans are less restrictive when the interests of participants and the lead arrangers are better aligned, for example, when participant–banks have stronger relationships with the lead arranger or hold borrower's equity (indirectly). Overall, our results show that covenant choice, syndicate formation, and lead arranger's loan allocation all play an important role in reducing within-syndicate conflicts.     

Loan loss accounting and procyclical bank lending: The role of direct regulatory actions

I provide evidence that loan loss accounting affects procyclical lending through its impact on regulatory actions. Regulators are more likely to place banks with inadequate loan loss allowances under enforcement actions that restrict lending, leading these banks to lend less during downturns. Further, I find that banks with lower regulatory ratings lend less when they have more timely provisions, consistent with research theorizing that timely provisions increase transparency and inhibit regulatory forbearance. This regulatory action mechanism expands on prior research that has focused on the effect of loan loss recognition on regulatory capital adequacy during economic downturns.     

Bank accounting conservatism and bank loan pricing

This paper studies the effects of bank accounting conservatism on the pricing of syndicated bank loans. We provide evidence that banks timelier in loss recognition charge higher spreads. We go onto consider what happens to the relationship between spreads and timeliness in loss recognition during the financial crisis. During the crisis, banks timelier in loss recognition increase their spreads to a lesser extent than banks less timely in loss recognition. These findings are broadly consistent with the argument that conditional accounting conservatism serves a governance role. The policy implication is that banks timelier in loss recognition exhibit more prudent and less pro-cyclical loan pricing behaviour.     

Is there a relation between audit fee cuts during the global financial crisis and banks’ financial reporting quality?

As a result of the global financial crisis (GFC), several audit clients were able to negotiate lower audit fees for the years 2008 and 2009. However, the PCAOB has expressed concern that lower audit fees might lead to lower audit effort and lower audit quality and financial reporting quality. This study examines the relation between audit fee cuts and banks’ financial reporting quality. Specifically, we focus on earnings management via loan loss provisions (LLP), the relation between current period LLP and future loan charge-offs, i.e., LLP validity, and the timely recognition of loan losses. For banks audited by Big 4 auditors, we find that income-increasing abnormal LLP are decreasing in audit fee cuts and LLP validity is increasing in audit fee cuts. For banks audited by non-Big 4 auditors, LLP validity is higher for banks that received a fee cut of more than 25% relative to other banks audited by non-Big 4 auditors. We do not observe an association between timely loan loss recognition and cuts in audit fees except for banks audited by non-Big 4 auditors and exempt from internal control audits where a fee cut of more than 25% is associated with less timely loan loss recognition. Overall, the findings suggest that Big 4 auditors constrained earnings management via LLP in banks that received cuts in audit fees. Our findings have important implications for regulators, investors, and others.     

Mortgage credit growth for lower-income borrowers during the 2000s housing boom: Evidence and implications

I examine the relationship between mortgage credit and borrower income from 1993 to 2009. I find that the relationship was positive throughout this period. However, it became significantly flatter (i.e. less positive) from 1998 to 2006, implying that growth in mortgage credit was most substantial for lower-income borrowers during this time. The evidence suggests that a disproportionate share of credit growth during the boom accrued to borrowers that previously would have had the most limited access to mortgage credit. This is consistent with the view that the housing crisis of the mid-2000s was precipitated by a dramatic expansion in the supply, or availability, of mortgage credit and that this expansion began as early as the late 1990s.     

新会计准则对商业银行贷款损失准备的影响

与国际接轨的新会计准则的实施,给我国商业银行的贷款损失准备及其监管带来了很大影响。新会计准则对银行贷款损失准备监管的主要影响有:(1)新会计准则关于贷款损失准备的规定与监管审慎性要求相矛盾;(2)新会计准则规定的贷款损失准备计提方法与监管要求的贷款损失准备计提方法有分歧。新会计准则对商业银行的贷款损失准备的影响主要有:(1)降低了商业银行利用贷款损失准备操纵利润的可能性;(2)使得贷款损失准备具有更大的波动性;(3)引入时间价值,可能导致准备水平的提高;(4)可能导致利息收入和减值准备同步增加,并将影响各会计期间的利润发生一定程度的变化。本文对以上影响进行了分析,并提出了相应的对策建议。     

How Unsecured Credit Policies Influence Mortgage and Unsecured Loan Defaults

Before the global financial crisis, the proportion of households defaulting on the mortgage while remaining current on the unsecured loan was almost the same as the proportion of households current on the mortgage but defaulting on the unsecured loan. After the crisis, the former ratio became higher than the latter. By using a heterogeneous agent model with the mortgage and the unsecured loan, I examine how the order of defaults changed before and after the crisis. I then analyze the impacts of unsecured credit policies on households' mortgage and unsecured loan defaults. My quantitative exercise shows that both default rates can decrease as the cost for unsecured loan defaults increases.     

Provisioning over the business cycle: Some insights from the microfinance industry

This paper investigates the drivers of provisioning in MFIs and their provisioning behaviour over the business cycle. Based on an international sample of MFIs extracted from the MIX database over the 2001–2014 period, we uncover a negative relationship between MFIs' provisioning and the business cycle. Our finding corroborates the fact that MFIs do not build their loan loss provisions (LLP) during economic booms when profit and earnings are high. Since they provision more during downturns, they are more likely to suffer from unexpected losses and experience failure. This is in sharp contrast with the current Basel III countercyclical buffer requirement suggesting that financial institutions, especially banks, should build sufficient buffer in booms so that they can avoid costly capital adjustment when the economy contracts. Deeper analyses suggest however that this behaviour mainly concerns profit-oriented and deposit-taking/regulated MFIs, with business model and target close to conventional banking. This suggests that bank-like and regulated MFIs' loan loss provisions follow similar behavioral patterns to those of the conventional banking sector during the boom-and-bust cycles.