Disclosure of the impacts of adopting Australian equivalents of International Financial Reporting Standards

This study investigates two disclosure variables (Extent and Quality) in relation to compliance with paragraph 4.1 (b) of AASB 1047 Disclosing the Impacts of Adopting Australian Equivalents to International Financial Reporting Standards. Using a sample of 150 Australian listed firms, I find that the extent and quality of disclosure is influenced by firm size, leverage and auditor firm size, with the latter variable being the most significant. In general, the results suggest that many companies might have relied on sample disclosures provided by their auditors, perhaps limiting both quality and intent. Additionally, the ultimate usefulness of broad and imprecise standards might be questionable. Smaller companies might also require more guidance and assistance with their preparation for the adoption.     

Impact of International Financial Reporting Standard adoption on key financial ratios

Although previous research has investigated the economic consequences of International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) adoption, there is little evidence on the impact of IFRS adoption on key financial ratios. To fill this gap, we examine this issue in a continental European country (Finland). Our results show that the adoption of IFRS changes the magnitude of the key accounting ratios. Moreover, we extend the literature by showing that the adoption of fair value accounting rules and stricter requirements on certain accounting issues are the reasons for the changes observed in accounting figures and financial ratios.     

Converging to International Accounting Standards: Views from Japan

Many countries, including the European Union member states and Australia, adopted international accounting standards in 2005. This year was also critical in Japan for convergence activities. Based on a review of 2005 financial statements and a survey of securities analysts, this study identifies key issues for convergence of Japanese and international accounting standards. We find that accounting requirements relating to fair value measurement, comprehensive income items, leases and business combinations are relevant to Japanese firms. A survey of 974 members of the Security Analysts Association of Japan about these issues indicated support for convergence and the use of fair value measurement, disclosure of comprehensive income, recognition of leases and use of the purchase method for consolidation. We report support for several positions favoured by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), a positive signal for achieving convergence goals in Japan, which will be of interest to capital market participants in Japan and other countries .     

Trust and Financial Reporting Quality

Using unique survey data from Great Place to Work® Institute, we investigate the association of intraorganizational trust (i.e., employees’ trust in management) with three aspects of financial reporting: accruals quality, misstatements, and internal control quality. We find that trust is associated with better accrual quality, lower likelihood of financial statement misstatements, and lower likelihood of internal control material weakness disclosures. However, these effects are not uniform across all companies. Consistent with trust improving financial reporting quality through improved information production and information sharing, we find that trust is significantly associated with financial reporting quality in relatively decentralized firms, but not in firms that are relatively centralized. Our results are robust to several analyses that attempt to control for potential alternative explanations.     

International Financial Reporting Standards in an Emerging Economy: Lessons from Romania

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are a reference point for the modernisation of accounting models in emerging economies. Previous literature documents a diverse IFRS experience, especially among emerging economies. The IFRS implementation strategy and local institutional characteristics shape the way in which the standards are used in practice. We use the Romanian case to illustrate the effect of various contextual factors, some historical, on the process and outcomes of IFRS implementation. We show that IFRS implementation can follow a different pattern in emerging economies.     

CFO Narcissism and Financial Reporting Quality

We investigate the effect of CFO narcissism, as measured by signature size, on financial reporting quality. Experimentally, we validate that narcissism predicts misreporting behavior, and that signature size predicts misreporting through its association with narcissism. Empirically, we examine notarized CFO signatures and find CFO narcissism is associated with more earnings management, less timely loss recognition, weaker internal control quality, and a higher probability of restatements. The results are consistent for within‐firm comparisons focusing on CFO changes and are robust to controlling for CFO overconfidence and CEO narcissism. The results highlight the importance of CFO characteristics in the domain of financial reporting decisions.     

Impacts of Additional Guidance Provided on International Financial Reporting Standards on the Judgments of Accountants

This pioneering study examines the impact of the provision of additional guidance on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as a “decision aid” on the accuracy of judgments of the accountants. To extend the prior research on accounting judgment and decision-making, we also examine the interactive effects of task complexity and additional guidance on the judgments of accountants. The results provide evidence that those accountants who are provided with decision aid in the form of additional guidance on IFRS make more accurate judgments than accountants who are not provided with such guidance. Furthermore, the study provides evidence that this additional guidance improves the judgments of accountants when they undertake tasks which they find complex. The results indicate that additional guidance on IFRS needs to be provided and suggests that accountants should exploit any guidance which is currently provided in IFRS and by the International Financial Reporting Standards Interpretations Committee.     

The Effects of International Financial Reporting Standards on the Accounts and Accounting Quality of Australian Firms: A Retrospective Study

We examine the effect of Australian equivalents to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on the accounts and accounting quality of 1,065 listed firms, relying on retrospective reconciliations between Australian Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (AGAAP) and IFRS. We find that IFRS increases total liabilities, decreases equity and more firms have earnings decreases than increases. IFRS earnings and equity are not more value relevant than AGAAP earnings and equity and while adjustments for changes in accounting for provisions and intangibles other than goodwill are value relevant, they weaken associations with market value. Goodwill adjustments improve associations with market value. We also find that the reconciliation note for the earnings adjustments contained no new information.     

Adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards: Impact on the Value Relevance of Intangible Assets

We examine whether the value relevance of reported intangibles differs between financial reporting regimes pre- and post-adoption of Australian Equivalents to International Financial Reporting Standards (AIFRS) and Australian Accounting Standards (AGAAP) respectively. Using AIFRS and AGAAP measures of goodwill and identifiable intangible assets for the same financial year and testing their association with share prices, we find evidence that AIFRS generally convey incremental useful information for investors about goodwill. For aggregated identifiable intangible assets there is no evidence that AIFRS conveys information beyond that in AGAAP. In contrast, we find evidence that AGAAP provides incremental information for investors in relation to identifiable intangibles, but not goodwill .     

Internal Audit Quality and Financial Reporting Quality: The Joint Importance of Independence and Competence

In light of the growing importance of internal audit functions (IAF) and the limited archival evidence on internal audit quality, we examine an interactive model of IAF quality (comprised of competence and independence) to better understand the determinants of IAF effectiveness as a financial reporting monitor. Our tests support the hypothesis that the joint presence of competence and independence is a necessary antecedent to effective IAF financial reporting monitoring. In sum, our results show that, the answer to “what is the effect of internal audit competence (independence) on financial reporting quality?” is “it depends on the independence (competence) of the internal auditor.” Our study extends the understanding of IAF quality determinants in the realm of financial reporting as it relates to ongoing discussions by researchers, standard setters, regulators, and practitioners.     

Governance regulatory changes,International Financial Reporting Standards adoption,and New Zealand audit and non‐audit fees: empirical evidence

This study examines the association between overseas and New Zealand governance regulatory reforms and New Zealand companies’ audit and non‐audit fees. Our models use temporal and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) indicator variables to relate the timing of the fee changes to the incidence of the overseas and local reforms. We find that audit fees increased in New Zealand over 2002–2006. Such increases associate reliably with the transition to and adoption of NZ IFRS and not with earlier overseas governance reforms. Our study also documents a decrease in non‐audit fees over the same period, but we find no IFRS effect for non‐audit fees.     

The Impact of Information Processing Costs on Firm Disclosure Choice: Evidence from the XBRL Mandate

This paper examines the effect of market participants’ information processing costs on firms’ disclosure choice. Using the recent eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) regulation, I find that firms increase their quantitative footnote disclosures upon implementation of XBRL detailed tagging requirements designed to reduce information users’ processing costs. These results hold in a difference‐in‐difference design using matched nonadopting firms as controls, as well as two additional identification strategies. Examination of the disclosure increase by footnote type suggests that both regulatory and nonregulatory market participants play a role in monitoring firm disclosures. Overall, these findings suggest that the processing costs of market participants can be significant enough to impact firms’ disclosure decisions.     

Facial Structure and Achievement Drive: Evidence from Financial Analysts

We use a large pictorial sample of Chinese financial analysts to test the association between facial width‐to‐height ratio (fWHR) and performance in men. Financial analysts offer an ideal setting for our investigation because we can objectively track individual analysts’ behaviors and performance. We find that high‐fWHR analysts are more likely to conduct corporate site visits and they exhibit better performance. The positive fWHR–performance association survives a battery of robustness checks and the association is more pronounced for analysts with lower status, for firms with higher uncertainty, and for analysts facing more intense competition. Our results suggest that the dominant trait predicted by fWHR is achievement drive.     

Shareholder Litigation and Corporate Disclosure: Evidence from Derivative Lawsuits

Using the staggered adoption of universal demand (UD) laws in the United States, we study the effect of shareholder litigation risk on corporate disclosure. We find that disclosure significantly increases after UD laws make it more difficult to file derivative lawsuits. Specifically, firms issue more earnings forecasts and voluntary 8‐K filings, and increase the length of management discussion and analysis (MD&A) in their 10‐K filings. We further assess the direct and indirect channels through which UD laws affect firms' disclosure policies. We find that the effect of UD laws on corporate disclosure is driven by firms facing relatively higher ex ante derivative litigation risk and higher operating uncertainty, as well as firms for which shareholder litigation is a more important mechanism to discipline managers.     

国际财务报告准则第2号:以股份为基础的支付

目标1.本国际财务报告准则的目的是规范主体从事的以股份为基础的支付交易的财务报告.特别是,它要求主体在其损益和财务状况中反映以股份为基础的支付交易的影响,包括与授予雇员股票期权交易相关的费用.     

Corporate Loan Securitization and the Standardization of Financial Covenants

We examine whether syndicated loans securitized through collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) have more standardized financial covenants. We proxy for the standardization of covenants using the textual similarity of their contractual definitions. We find that securitized loans are associated with higher covenant standardization than nonsecuritized institutional loans. In addition, we show that CLOs with more diverse or frequently rebalanced portfolios are more likely to purchase loans with standardized covenants, potentially because standardization alleviates information processing costs related to loan monitoring and screening. We also document that covenant standardization is associated with greater loan and CLO note rating agreement between credit rating agencies, further supporting the relation between lower information costs and covenant standardization. Overall, our study provides evidence that loan securitization is related to the design of standardized financial covenants.     

国际财务报告准则实施进展与经验

近年来,经济发展导致融资竞争更加激烈,经济资源跨境流动愈加频繁,能够向潜在投资者提供可靠可比的财务报表的企业,更有可能吸引国内外的投资。联合国已成为其成员国就可靠和可比的公司报表问题交换意见和经验的重要论坛。2007年10月31日至11月1日,联合国贸易和发展会议在瑞士日内瓦召开了第24届国际会计和报告标准政府间专家工作组(ISAR)会议。会议的主题之一是国际财务报告准则(IFRS)具体实施中的国际经验。巴基斯坦、南非和土耳其三国代表分别以案例研究的形式介绍了本国实施IFRS以来的经验和教训。以下对此次会议的主要内容作一综述,以便大家更多地了解国际财务报告准则研究与实施中的一些情况。     

Insights into accounting choice from the adoption timing of International Financial Reporting Standards

This paper collects survey evidence on the costs and benefits of adopting International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). It also examines the motivations for the timing of IFRS adoption. Significant differences exist between early and late adopters for three of nine benefits and for one of six cost measures. No significant differences exist in terms of firm size or the impact of IFRS on contracts. Early adopters perceive themselves as market leaders. They are more certain about the manageability of implementing IFRS and are more specific with regard to the impact of IFRS adoption. Late adoption decisions are motivated by adverse consequences and uncertainty.     

Quality of Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure and Cost of Equity Capital: Lessons from China

This article explores the relationship between the quality of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure and the cost of equity capital by analyzing the financial data and CSR reports of A-share listed firms in China from 2008 to 2014. The quality of the CSR disclosure is shown to be negatively related to the cost of equity capital of the listed firms. This negative correlation proves to be more prominent among firms of environmentally sensitive industries. Taking the ownership of the listed firms into consideration, it is further confirmed that the negative relationship between the CSR disclosure and the cost of equity capital is of higher significance for state-owned enterprises. Our findings also empirically demonstrate that the quality of CSR disclosure is more negatively related to the cost of equity capital among the large listed firms than the smaller ones.     

Disclosure Versus Recognition: Inferences from Subsequent Events

Standard setters explicitly state that disclosure should not substitute for recognition in financial reports. Consistent with this directive, prior research shows that investors find recognized values more pertinent than disclosed values. However, it remains unclear whether reporting items are recognized because they are more relevant for investing decisions, or whether requiring recognition itself prompts differing behavior on the part of firms and investors. Using the setting of subsequent events, I identify the differential effect of requiring disclosure versus recognition in a setting where the accounting treatment of an item is exogenously determined. For comparable events, I find a stronger initial market response for firms required to recognize relative to firms that must disclose, although the large magnitude of the identified effect calls into question whether this difference can be attributed to accounting treatments alone. In examining various reasons for the stronger market response to recognized values, I fail to find support for the hypothesis that this difference is due to differential reliability of disclosed and recognized values. I do find some evidence that investors underreact to disclosed events, consistent with investors incurring higher processing costs when using disclosed information.