Identifiable intangible asset disclosures, stock prices and future earnings

As a consequence of regulatory reforms currently being initiated as part of international convergence, it is likely that the recognition and disclosure of identifiable intangible assets by Australian firms will cease. This study provides empirical evidence on how this will impact financial reports. First, evidence is provided of a positive association between stock prices and voluntarily recognized and disclosed identifiable intangible assets. Second, evidence is provided of a positive association between identifiable intangible assets and realized future period income. This provides insights into the nature of the information provided by intangible assets, and identifies a basis for the association between stock prices and identifiable intangible assets. This leads to the conclusion that identifiable intangible assets disclosures are value relevant, and that with the application of the restrictive recognition rules in AASB138 these disclosures in financial reports will be greatly diminished.     

Voluntary disclosures of intangibles information by U.S.-listed Asian companies

This paper provides evidence on the voluntary disclosure of intangibles information for U.S.-listed Asian companies. The paper examines the following issues: (1) the effect of firm size, ownership concentration, proportion of foreign revenue, and leverage on voluntary disclosures of intangibles information by U.S.-listed Asian companies; and (2) the use of international standards, and the effect of domestic and global culture on those disclosures. Results indicate that larger firms, firms with greater ownership dispersion, and firms with lower leverage provide more voluntary disclosure of intangibles information. The paper also documents that companies from countries that are more individualistic provide more voluntary disclosure of intangibles information than companies from countries that are collectivist. Therefore, it appears that domestic culture does affect the voluntary disclosure of intangibles information in the U.S. This paper uses the index developed for Portuguese companies by Oliveira, Rodrigues, and Craig (2006), to measure voluntary disclosures of intangibles information thereby providing external validity to their instrument.     

The value relevance of major media advertising expenditures: Some U.K. evidence

This study examines whether ACNielsen MEAL major media advertising expenditure measures, that are publicly available at a cost, have value relevance. Our results suggest that these advertising-expenditure measures are positively associated with market value. We also find little difference in the value relevance of these expenditures among different sizes of firms. Value relevance is found to be present only for nonmanufacturing firms. This suggests that the costly information provided by ACNielsen MEAL surveys may be potentially useful to market participants in valuing firms, at least for nonmanufacturing firms.     

The Relevance of Varieties of Accounting Information: A U.S.A. Survey

Diverse kinds of financial information have been claimed to be relevant, for one purpose or another. A survey by mailed questionnaire over seven professional groups in five large U.S. cities sought to discover whether certain valuation rules yielded serviceable amounts in specific problem settings or in representations of financial position and income. Most of the questions were posed in the form of simple problem situations. To questions relating to wealth, spending power and financial position, large majority responses rejected conventional accounting values and endorsed market selling prices. To questions on income calculation, majorities favouring use of the same principle were smaller. Cross-tabulations of answers on financial position and income showed substantial inconsistencies; a hypothetical explanation is given. A comparison is given of responses to some questions in similar surveys in Australia and South Africa.     

美国金融监管改革的新框架与新趋势

针对金融危机中暴露的监管缺陷,美国正在进行"大萧条"以来最为全面的金融监管改革.本文在宏观和微观审慎监管相结合的框架下介绍了美国金融监管改革的主要内容,分析了围绕改革的主要争论,并对国际金融监管改革趋势进行总结比较,认为美国这次金融监管改革将从监管标准、方法、模式和理念等方面重构美国金融监管体系,有利于形成更加稳定有序的金融市场新秩序,防范金融危机重演.     

美国个人股票持有结构分析

二战后,美国个人的金融资产结构发生了显著变化,直接持有股票的比重降低而机构性资产的份额大幅度上升。从微观家户层面角度,美国家庭的直接股票持有与家庭收入呈明显的正向关系,低收入家庭群体直接持股比例低,而收入越高的家庭群体直接持股的比例也越高。基于美联储的消费者金融调查数据,我们从户主年龄、户主受教育程度、户主就业状况以及住房状况等方面详细分析了美国的家庭收入分布状况与直接持有股票状况,也印证了上述结论。借鉴美国的发展经验,笔者对我国个人金融资产结构的改善提出若干建议。     

Financial stress transmission between the U.S. and the Euro Area

This paper examines financial stress transmission between the U.S. and the Euro Area. To better understand the linkages between financial stress in the two regions, we construct a financial stress index for the U.S. similar to the Composite Indicators of Systemic Stress (CISS) that has been developed for the Euro Area with a focus on systemic risk. Using weekly data from 2000 to 2021 and Granger predictability in distribution test, we analyze stress transmission in “normal” times as well as under unusually high and low stress episodes. While we document unilateral transmission from the U.S. to the Euro Area under normal conditions based on the center of the distribution, tail dependence tests and impulse response analysis show significant bilateral transmission, particularly in unusually high financial stress episodes. This holds true for aggregate indices as well as the subindicators of financial stress in various financial markets. As such, there must be global efforts to contain financial crises and ensure a strong and resilient financial system.     

The economic effects of expanded compensation disclosures

This paper analyzes the effects of expanded compensation disclosures on manager pay. For identification, I use the introduction of the Compensation Discussion and Analysis (CD&A) in the 2007 proxy season, a significant expansion in required compensation disclosures, to compare manager pay at firms with and without the disclosure in a difference-in-differences analysis. These disclosures are associated with increasing pay, contrary to the conventional wisdom that pay disclosures reduce pay levels via better shareholder monitoring. I hypothesize that enhanced ex ante disclosures of incentive plans reduce boards’ flexibility to make ex post adjustments or to use subjectivity and pressure boards toward more formulaic plans. Both effects impose higher payout risk on managers, leading to increased pay levels. Consistent with this hypothesis, the CD&A introduction is associated with lower likelihood to earn variable cash pay, greater use of formula-based pay, and higher pay at firms with more volatile measures of performance.     

The Amount and Timing of Goodwill Write-Offs and Revaluations: Evidence from U.S. and U.K. Firms

This paper investigates criticisms that U.S. GAAP had given firms too much discretion in determining the amount and timing of goodwill write-offs. Using 1,576 U.S. and 563 U.K. acquisitions, we find little evidence that U.S. firms managed the amount of goodwill write-off or that U.K. firms managed the amount of revaluations (write-ups of intangible assets). However, our results are consistent with U.S. firms delaying goodwill write-offs and U.K. firms timing revaluations strategically to avoid shareholder approval linked to certain financial ratios.     

美国金融监管制度改革的新趋势及启示

本文基于美国国会于2010年7月15日通过的《金融监管改革法案》,比较了次贷危机前后美国金融监管制度的异同,特别是针对美国在反思其传统监管模式基础上从预防系统性风险角度出发所进行的金融监管改革的新趋势,提出了美国金融监管制度改革对我国金融业未来发展以及金融监管改革的启示。     

Economic consequences of mandatory GAAP changes: The case of SFAS No. 158

This study examines management's reaction to the SFAS No. 158 requirement to recognize previously disclosed post-retirement benefit obligations on the balance sheet. The results indicate that managers attempted to mitigate the impact of the standard by increasing the assumed pension discount rate in subsequent periods. Further, the discount rate choice was related to the magnitude of the SFAS No. 158 balance sheet adjustment. Specifically, firms with larger required liability adjustments and more volatile pension assets and obligations were more likely to increase their discount rates. The findings have important implications for research regarding the economic consequences of accounting regulations and in particular the debate surrounding recognition versus disclosure since they indicate that managers react to the relocation of information from the financial statement footnotes to the balance sheet.     

汲取美国金融危机的教训稳健推进中国金融创新

一场由美国次贷危机引发的全球金融危机,至今仍未探底。这场金融危机的根源是美国实行新自由主义的资本主义经济模式,直接成因是脱离实体经济发展滥用金融创新产品,并疏于金融监管。虽然这场危机的直接成因是金融创新,但是我们不能因此停止金融创新,相反,要在汲取这场金融危机的教训的基础上稳健推进金融创新。在金融创新中要切实做到:金融创新立足实体经济并服务实体经济。金融创新与金融监管并重,加强场外监管。确保金融创新的基础资产质量。审慎对待复杂的金融产品创新、规范信用评级、加强风险控制、坚持行之有效的外汇管理政策。     

Predictability of nonlinear trading rules in the U.S. stock market

Most of the existing technical trading rules are linear in nature. This paper investigates the predictability of nonlinear time series model based trading strategies in the U.S. stock market. The performance of the nonlinear trading rule is compared with that of the linear model based rules. It is found that the self-exciting threshold autoregressive (SETAR) model based trading rules perform slightly better than the AR rules for the Dow Jones and Standard and Poor 500, while the AR rules perform slightly better in the NASDAQ market. Both the SETAR and the AR rules outperform the VMA rules. The results are confirmed by bootstrap simulations.     

Attribute differences between U.S. GAAP and IFRS earnings: An exploratory study

In this study we explore attribute differences between U.S. GAAP and IFRS earnings. Our study is motivated by the ongoing harmonization process in accounting standard setting as well as by recent convergence projects by the FASB and the IASB. We test two market-based earnings attributes, i.e., value relevance and timeliness, as well as two accounting-based earnings attributes, i.e., predictability and accrual quality. These attributes are tested for German New Market firms as they are allowed to choose between IFRS and U.S. GAAP for financial reporting purposes. Overall, we find that U.S. GAAP and IFRS only differ with regard to predictive ability. The fact that U.S. GAAP accounting information outperforms IFRS also holds after controlling for differences in firm characteristics, such as size, leverage and the audit firm. However, our results also seem to suggest that these differences are not fully valued by investors, as we do not observe significant and consistent differences for the value-relevance attribute.     

新制度下高校财务信息公开路径选择

文章概述了新制度的主要变化,明确了新制度下高校财务信息公开的必要性和基本原则,并结合高校财务信息公开现状,来提出依托于网络环境下的财务信息公开路径,意在为新制度下高校财务信息公开工作的有效开展提供借鉴与支持.     

Impact of foreign operations on reported effective tax rates: interplay of foreign taxes, U.S. taxes and U.S. GAAP

Effective tax rates can have a significant effect on a firm’s cash flows and reported earnings. As the operations of U.S. companies become increasingly global in scope, an important issue is how their foreign operations impact their effective tax rates, and, in turn, their reported earnings. This study describes how foreign taxes, U.S. taxes, and U.S. accounting principles interact to determine the impact of foreign operations on a firm’s effective tax rate. This analysis will assist users of financial statements in assessing the quality of earnings, making interfirm comparisons, evaluating the performance of management, judging the risks of additional tax assessments, and predicting future effective tax rates.     

The incremental information content of non-US GAAP earnings disclosures: Evidence from UK firms

This paper examines price and trading volume responses in the US equity market to the preliminary earnings announcements (PEAs) in the UK of UK firms listed on US exchanges (e.g., NYSE and AMEX). The inquiry focuses on whether the return forecast error (absolute and squared values) and volume residual (standardized and unstandardized) for each day were significantly different from the average on the day of the earnings announcements (PEA). The most significantly unexpected return occurred the day prior to the Financial Times (FT) announcement. The results suggest prompt volume and price responses to the UK PEAs in the US security market. Excess trading volume occurred the day prior to and the day of the FT release price response occurred on the day subsequent to the PEAs. This may suggests that investors possess differential prior beliefs or likelihood functions in evaluating public disclosure. Consistent with Frost and Pownall [Frost, C., & Pownall, G. (1996), Interdependencies in the global markets for capital and information: The case of Smithkline Beecham plc. Accounting Horizons, 1, 38-57], US investors seem not to be confused by US/UK generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) differences, and in fact use information about UK GAAP earnings in their valuations and trading decisions. This implies that traders correctly use UK accounting output to the determination of values in setting security prices and arriving at trading decisions. Broadly, these findings support the assumption that disclosures by UK-listed firms in their domestic market influence share liquidity and trading in the US market.     

Corporate governance and earnings management at large U.S. bank holding companies

This paper examines whether corporate governance mechanisms affect earnings and earnings management at the largest publicly traded bank holding companies in the United States. We first find that performance, earnings management, and corporate governance are endogenously determined. Thus, OLS estimation can lead to biased coefficients and a simultaneous equations approach is used. We find that CEO pay-for-performance sensitivity (PPS), board independence, and capital are positively related to earnings and that earnings, board independence, and capital are negatively related to earnings management. We also find that PPS is positively related to earnings management. Finally, PPS and board independence are positively related and the relationship is bidirectional. While both PPS and board independence are associated with higher earnings, our results indicate that more independent boards appear to constrain the earnings management that greater PPS compels.     

The valuation properties of earnings and book values reported under IAS,domestic GAAP and U.S. GAAP: Evidence from China,Hong Kong,Japan, Korea and Singapore

This paper examines whether earnings or book value is the dominant valuation accounting measure for companies reporting under alternative accounting standards — International Accounting Standards (IAS)/International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (U.S. GAAP) or domestic accounting standards of China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Singapore. Our sample consists of domestic firms in the five Asian countries and firms from these countries cross-listed in the United States as American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) from 2002 to 2011. For domestic firms, book value is more informative than earnings for firms from Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Japan and Korea during 2002–2011 although their accounting standards are influenced by different systems. For the ADR sample, book value is more informative than earnings for U.S. GAAP reporters and reconcilers during 2002–2007. However, earnings are more informative than book value for U.S. GAAP reconcilers from China. After 2007, ADRs in our sample from Hong Kong, Japan and Korea continued to file under U.S. GAAP. Some ADRs from China filed under U.S. GAAP and some filed under IFRS. Earnings are more informative than book value for IFRS users; however, book value has higher incremental value relevance than earnings for U.S. GAAP users. We contribute to prior research by providing evidence on the valuation properties based on accounting measures reported under different GAAPs for the Asian countries.