公允价值运用评价——基于美国公司财务报告的分析

会计业一直处于不断变化的状态.在美国历史成本原则传统上一直被认为是会计核算的基础.直到现在,除了特定的金融资产和金融负债,当资产和负债发生时,仍然也是按照取得时价款进行计量.然而,美国财务会计准则委员会(Financial Accounting Standards Board,FASB)发布的会计准则与历史成本计量原则越来越远.2006年9月FASB发布了财务会计准则公告157号:公允价值计量(SFAS157,现在编纂为会计准则汇编Accounting Standards Codificatio 820,ASC 820),2007年2月FASB发布了财务会计准则159号:金融资产和金融负债的公允价值选择(SFAS159,现编纂为ASC 825-10-25),这两个准则极大地提升了公允价值会计的有效性.文章通过对美国公司财务报告的研究和分析,论述了公允价值的优缺点和由于公允价值的运用给不同股东带来的影响.     

The Economic Impact of SFAS NO. 157

Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 157, “Fair Value Measurements,” (SFAS 157) defines fair value, establishes a three tiered framework for measuring fair value and expands the required disclosures about fair value measurements. The objective of this study is to examine and evaluate the benefits of the information disclosed by SFAS 157. The results of our study indicated that a large majority of the inputs are observable in that 93.5% of the sample financial assets and 93.1% of the sample financial liabilities were measured by level 1 or 2 criteria. However, we found a mismatch between assets and liabilities subject to the three tiers of fair value measurements. The companies in our sample disclosed $18.8 trillion in total assets, with 51%, or $18.8 trillion in total assets, with 51%, or 9.5 trillion reported at fair value. Whereas, sample company liabilities totaled 16.1 trillion with only16.1 trillion with only 3.7 trillion or 23% reported at fair value.     

Foreign currency translation under the temporal rate method

Statements of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) are rules and procedures designed to establish reliable financial information. The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) defines reliable financial information in Statement of Financial Accounting Concept No. 2 as information that is reasonably free from error and bias and faithfully represents what it purports to represent [FASB, 1980, paragraphs 59, 77]. Under SFAS No. 52 [FASB, 1981], however, the temporal rate method of translating foreign currency denominated financial statements may not produce reliable information. The result is that consolidated financial statements of U.S. companies may include unreliable components such as under (over) valued assets. The findings of this paper are important because unreliable financial information places U.S. firms at a competitive disadvantage by hindering efficient and effective business decisions.     

An examination of long-lived asset impairments under SFAS No. 121

Until recently, the impairment of long-lived assets and identifiable intangibles was a controversial and unresolved accounting issue. Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) No. 121 on long-lived asset impairments provides guidelines in selecting the conditions or circumstances that justify or necessitate a writedown and in measuring, recognizing, and disclosing the amounts of asset impairments. The results indicate that the financial impacts of 935 writedowns reported by 670 companies are quite significant and, in some cases, up to 10 times that of reported earnings. Moreover, the results indicate that industry classification consistently had a significant effect on the dependent variables used as proxies for the financial impacts of asset impairments.     

The Economic Consequences of the Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) No. 150

SFAS No. 150, “Accounting For Certain Financial Instruments with Characteristics of Both Liabilities and Equity” (SFAS 150), requires companies to report mandatorily redeemable preferred stock (MRPS) as a liability, and the dividends on these securities as interest expense. The purpose of this study is to examine the economic consequences of SFAS 150’s adoption on a sample of public companies. Our analysis indicates that adoption resulted in both intended and possible unintended economic consequences. Specifically: (1) the impact of SFAS 150 on non-public companies caused the FASB to review its position on the disclosures concerning MRPS; (2) some companies redeemed their MRPS prior to the adoption date of the standard; and (3) approximately 4% of sample firms were required to disclose MRPS as a liability.     

Reporting Effects of SFAS 143 on Nuclear Decommissioning Costs

SFAS 143, Accounting for Asset Retirement Obligations, has the potential to cause significant economic consequences to firms impacted by its provisions. BK&L (Boatsman, J. R.; Khurana, I. K.; Loudder, M. L. “The Economic Implications of Proposed Changes in the Accounting for Nuclear Decommissioning Costs,” Accounting Horizons, 14 (2), June 2000, pp. 211–233) suggests that companies would be required to record materially increased assets, liabilities, and expenses which may subsequently cause a significant impact to commonly used financial ratios. BK&L developed predictions of the pro forma effect on assets, liabilities, and expenses due to SFAS 143 adoption by nuclear power utilities. This study examines the actual financial statement effect on BK&L's sample firms due to the adoption of SFAS 143. Results indicate that concern voiced over the standard's requirement to capitalize asset retirement obligations and the related asset, and to record additional expenses by nuclear power companies may have been unfounded.     

The financial and economic performance of social banks

ABSTRACT

The financial crisis of 2008 provides evidence for the instability of the conventional banking system. Social banks may present a viable alternative for conventional banks. This article analyses the performance of social banks related to the bank business model, economic efficiency, asset quality, and stability by comparing social banks with banks where the difference is likely to be large, namely with the 30 global systemically important banks (G-SIBs) of the Financial Stability Board over the period 2000–2014. We also analyse the relative impact of the global financial crisis on the bank performance. The performance of social banks and G-SIBs is surprisingly similar.     

发展中国家内、外资银行信贷行为差异分析

众多发展中国家的金融改革实践表明,银行业开放的正负效应并不具有显著的国别一般性,特别是在信贷稳定性上,在东道国和外资银行母国经济运行的不同时期,外资银行与东道国国内银行的信贷行为可能存在较大的差异性,进而对东道国的经济金融稳定带来不同的影响。本文从全球范围内抽取了21个发展中国家（地区）和转轨国家中的400余家内、外资银行为样本,以其在2002～2010年间的相关数据构成面板数据集,来对内、外资银行在此期间的信贷行为差异进行检验。研究发现,外资银行的信贷行为确实与国内银行存在着差异性,主要表现在外资银行的信贷增长既表现出与东道国的经济增长显著正相关,又明显受到母国经济状况的影响;在经济正常的年份里,外资银行的信贷表现更多的取决于东道国的经济状况,而当外资银行母国发生经济危机时,却会对外资银行的信贷增长造成较大的负向冲击。     

Bubbles and Crises

In recent financial crises a bubble, in which asset prices rise, is followed by a collapse and widespread default. Bubbles are caused by agency relationships in the banking sector. Investors use money borrowed from banks to invest in risky assets, which are relatively attractive because investors can avoid losses in low payoff states by defaulting on the loan. This risk shifting leads investors to bid up the asset prices. Risk can originate in both the real and financial sectors. Financial fragility occurs when positive credit expansion is insufficient to prevent a crisis.     

Earnings management by the early adopters of SFAS No. 106

Statement of Financial Accounting Standard (SFAS) No. 106 on Nonpension Postretirement Benefits (NPB) provides managers with a relatively long adoption window and choice of transition methods which can be used by affected companies to manage earnings. This paper examines whether management's choice of adoption timing is motivated by the desire to manage earnings. Fisher's [1934] exact probability analysis is used to test the hypothesis regarding profitability of a sample of 200 early and late adopters of SFAS No. 106. The results indicate that the profitability of adopting the income-reducing accounting standard (SFAS No. 106) early is significantly higher for more profitable firms than for less profitable firms.     

The financial system and the Pasinetti theorem

Palley (Inside debt, aggregate demand, and the Cambridge theoryof distribution, Cambridge Journal of Economics, vol. 20, no.4, 465–74, 1996; Financial institutions and the Cambridgetheory of distribution, Cambridge Journal of Economics, vol.26, no. 2, 275–7, 2002) considers the Pasinetti theoremin the context of the credit money system where banks generatedebts endogenously, and claims that the theorem ceases to holdin such a system, being valid only in the loanable funds system.This paper traces the root of Palley's claim to his assumptionregarding the ownership of banks, sets out an alternative (morerealistic) ownership arrangement, and thereby restores the Pasinettitheorem unscathed in the credit money system (at least in thekind Palley must have considered). The paper, however, uncoversthe case where the theorem indeed collapses and discusses thereason for it: the hoarding of a non-interest-bearing asset.     

Credit in Times of Stress: Lessons from Latin America during the Global Financial Crisis

The 2008–2009 global financial crisis disrupted the provision of credit in Latin America less than in previous crises. This paper tests whether specific characteristics at both the bank and country levels at the onset of the global crisis contributed to the behavior of real credit growth in this region during the crisis. As shown, financial soundness characteristics of Latin American banks, such as capitalization, liquidity, and bank efficiency in the pre‐crisis period, played a role in explaining the dynamics of real credit during the crisis. We also found that foreign banks and banks that had expanded credit growth more before the crisis were also those that cut credit the most. Among country‐specific characteristics, we found evidence that balance sheet measures such as the economy's overall currency mismatches and external debt ratios (measuring either total debt or short‐term debt) were key variables in explaining credit growth resilience.     

The Impact of SFAS No. 157 on Commercial Banks

During 2008, U. S. banks were mired in a credit crisis. According to a group of economists and bankers, one cause of the 2008 credit crisis was an accounting rule termed mark-to-market. This rule required banks to write down large portions of their investment portfolios. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of the mark-to-market model on a sample of banks for the first three quarters of the year 2008. Results indicated that while banks grew by 20% over time, the percentage of assets measured at fair value rose only slightly. Additionally, the results indicated that applying the mark-to-market rule did not reduce the regulatory capital position of banks.     

金融危机背景下政府干预与银行信贷风险研究

金融危机冲击导致经营环境恶化,银行信贷萎缩,在政府施加的指令性贷款和自身经营利润最大化的双重任务约束下,银行道德风险增加,贷款资金投放背离政府救市意图。文章在一个双重任务约束模型框架下分析了危机中政府干预对国有商业银行贷款风险的影响,根据任务之间的关联度对银行的激励行为做出拓展性解释。动态面板GMM模型实证检验结果显示,政府干预没有造成不良贷款的上升,但对信贷规模的扩张存在明显影响,长期将造成银行资源的过度利用和潜在风险的上升。     

中小商业银行信贷资产证券化优化资产结构探析

中小商业银行持续较快发展受资产结构的影响和制约越来越突出,时下正在推进的信贷资产证券化业务为其优化资产结构提供了一条新路子。中小银行探索信贷资产证券化,有利于改进资产的流动性结构、盈利性结构和信贷结构,提高资产使用效率及资本节约,被释放出来的资本可用以支持资产结构优化。中小银行开展信贷资产证券化业务有着诸多有利条件,但必须防范战略风险和信用风险。     

Bank asset quality & monetary policy pass-through

The funding mix of European firms is weighted heavily towards bank credit, which underscores the importance of efficient pass-through of monetary policy actions to lending rates faced by firms. Euro area pass-through has shifted from being relatively homogenous to being fragmented and incomplete since the financial crisis. Distressed loan books are a crisis hangover with direct implications for profitability, hampering banks ability to supply credit and lower loan pricing in response to reductions in the policy rate. This paper presents a parsimonious model to decompose the cost of lending and highlight the role of asset quality in diminishing pass-through. Using bank-level data over the period 2008–2014, we empirically test the implications of the model. We show that a one percentage point increase in the impairment ratio lowering short run pass-through by 3%. We find that banks with severely impaired balance sheets do not adjust their loan pricing in response to changes in the policy rate at all. We derive a measure of the hidden bad loan problem, the NPL gap, which we define as the excess of non-performing loans over impaired loans. We show that it played a significant role in the fragmentation of euro area pass-through post-crisis.     

Inside Shadow Banking in China: Credit Driven Growth vs. Financial Stability

Shadow banking has been growing rapidly in China since the 2008 global financial crisis. Shadow banking has also played an increasing role in supplying credit. I investigate the development of the shadow banking sector, and assess its impacts on financial stability and economic growth in China. I argue that, due to the loose regulations and institutional characteristics of the shadow banks, these banks tend to adopt business practices that elevate institutional risks. At the systemic level, shadow banks have contributed to credit expansion and credit-driven growth. However, such growth entails significant financial risks and renders the macro-economy financially fragile. I conclude with a discussion of imminent fullblown financial crisis, calling for policy actions.     

Did foreign banks stay committed to emerging Europe during recent financial crises?

Our objective is to investigate empirically the behavior of foreign banks with respect to real loan growth during periods of financial crisis for a set of countries in which foreign banks dominate the banking sectors due primarily to having taken over large existing former state-owned banks. The eight countries are among the most developed in emerging Europe, their banking sectors having been modernized by the middle of the last decade. We consider a data period that includes an initial credit boom (2005 – 2007) followed by the global financial crisis (2008 & 2009) and the onset of the Eurozone crisis (2010). Our two innovations with respect to the existing literature on banking during the financial crisis are to separate foreign banks into two categories, namely, subsidiaries of the Big 6 European multinational banks (MNBs) and all other foreign-controlled banks, and to take account of the impact of exchange rates during the period. Our results show that bank lending was impacted adversely by both crises but that the two types of foreign banks behaved differently. The Big 6 banks remained committed to the region in that their lending behavior was not different from that of domestic banks supporting the notion that these countries are treated as a “second home market” by these European MNBs. Contrariwise, the other foreign banks active in the region were involved in fueling the credit boom but then decreased their lending aggressively during the crisis periods. Our results also indicate that bank behavior in countries having flexible exchange rate regimes differs from that in those in (or effectively in) the Eurozone. Our results suggest that both innovations matter for studying bank behavior during crisis periods in the region and, by extension, to other small countries in which banking sectors are dominated by foreign financial institutions having different business models.     

Estimating the direct impact of bank liquidity shocks on the real economy: Evidence from letter‐of‐credit import transactions in Colombia

This study identifies and provides an estimate of the impact of bank liquidity shocks on real economic activity by exploring letter‐of‐credit import transactions in Colombia during the 2008 to 2009 global financial crisis. The detailed dataset on letter‐of‐credit transactions allows for exploiting within‐importer–exporter variation across issuing banks. The study finds substantial effects of bank liquidity shocks on letter‐of‐credit import transactions: banks that were more vulnerable to adverse liquidity shocks—proxied by the ex ante reliance on wholesale funding or borrowings from foreign banks—reduced letter‐of‐credit issuances more in both intensive and extensive margins. The study also confirms that it had real effects: importer–exporter pairs that relied more on letter‐of‐credit transactions experienced a greater reduction in their total imports in response to adverse bank liquidity shocks.     

The time-varying relationship between credit spreads and employment growth

After the global financial crisis, several central banks introduced unconventional monetary policies, such as quantitative easing (QE). If QE increases asset prices, but does not boost the real economy to the same extent, the relationship between credit spreads and employment growth will weaken. This study investigates this issue for the U.S. in a moving-windows framework. Our results suggest that the link between credit spreads and employment growth is lower during bubbles and recessions. We also find that the relationship weakened after the Fed introduced QE.