Corporate Lobbying of the International Accounting Standards Committee

The paper investigates corporate lobbyists of the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC). This exploratory study was done in order to better understand the characteristics of corporations that lobby the IASC and to empirically test the applicability of U.S.-based lobbying theories in this international context. Corporations that submitted comment letters about 17 Exposure Drafts and three Draft Statements of Position from 1989 to 1994 were analyzed. Overall, the 100 lobbying corporations were quite large. In the U.S. and in 10 of the 12 other countries examined, lobbying corporations were larger than nonlobbying firms in terms of revenue, income, and assets. Eighty-four percent of all lobbying corporations were listed on at least one foreign stock exchange, and 78% of non-U.S. lobbying corporations had equity securities traded in the U.S. Finally, in 10 of the 12 non-U.S. countries, a higher percentage of lobbying firms than nonlobbying firms had their stock traded in the U.S. Overall, corporations lobbying the IASC tend to be very large both globally and in terms of their country of domicile, listed on at least one foreign exchange, and traded in the U.S. Support is found in this international context for ideas originating in the U.S.-based lobbying literature.     

中国A股上市公司利润平滑行为研究——基于新旧会计准则比较的经验证据

以我国上市公司为研究样本,就新旧准则执行前后公司利润平滑行为进行了对比检验。结果发现,执行新准则后上市公司盈余波动性显著提高,应计利润项目变动与经营现金流变动的负相关关系明显减弱,这证明了新准则实施显著降低了公司盈余平滑程度。研究结论表明新准则执行对我国企业会计信息质量具有提升作用,这为我们全面认识和了解会计准则执行的效果提供了经验证据支持。     

IFRS Adoption and Accounting Quality: A Review

Abstract

In 2002, the European Union (EU) Parliament passed a regulation that requires consolidated and simple accounts for all companies listed in the EU to use International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for fiscal years starting after 1 January 2005. This change in accounting systems will have a large impact on the information environment for EU companies. This paper provides a review of the literature on adoption of different Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). We thus provide background and guidance for researchers studying the change in accounting quality following widespread IFRS adoption in the EU. We argue that cross-country differences in accounting quality are likely to remain following IFRS adoption because accounting quality is a function of the firm's overall institutional setting, including the legal and political system of the country in which the firm resides.     

The Role of International Financial Reporting Standards in Accounting Quality: Evidence from the European Union

Previous studies on the effect of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on accounting quality often have difficulties to control for confounding factors on accounting quality. As a result, the observed changes in accounting quality could not be attributed mainly to IFRS. We use a unique research setting to address this issue by comparing the accounting quality of publicly listed companies in 15 member states of the European Union (EU) before and after the full adoption of IFRS in 2005. We use five indicators as proxies for accounting quality. We find that the majority of accounting quality indicators improved after IFRS adoption in the EU. That is, there is less of managing earnings toward a target, a lower magnitude of absolute discretionary accruals, and higher accruals quality. But our results also show that firms engage in more earnings smoothing and recognize large losses in a less timely manner in post‐IFRS periods. In addition, we examine the effects of institutional variables on financial reporting quality. Our contribution to the literature is that we show the improved accounting quality is attributable to IFRS, rather than changes in managerial incentives, institutional features of capital markets, and general business environment, etc.     

IFRS and Secrecy: Assessing Accounting Value Relevance Across Africa

We examine the value relevance of accounting across several African countries and test whether IFRS improved the value association of earnings and equity book values. We report a stronger valuation association between accounting and stock prices in African countries classified as having a secrecy culture. This increases after IFRS and more so for earnings. On the other hand, IFRS induced a stronger increase in the book value coefficient in the less secretive and more developed South African market. We surmise that the more conceptual focus of IFRS induced an increased demand for higher‐quality accounting professionals, which had a filtering‐down effect of improving quality information flow and breaking down the secrecy culture. Our research highlights the diverse impacts of IFRS and the role of culture, asset markets and accounting professionalism, in driving the relevance of accounting components across Africa.     

新会计准则解读:公允价值视角

本文分析了公允价值运用的条件:即市场经济的成熟、公司治理的完善、新业务出现,指出我国已经基本具备了运用公允价值的条件;探讨了公允价值在新准则中运用的特征;认为公允价值的合理运用需要继续完善其支撑环境。     

The Structure of Payments in Technology Transfer Contracts: Evidence from Spain

This paper studies the impact of contract duration in determining scheduled payments in international transfers of technology. Analyzing a sample of contracts written by Spanish firms in 1991, the main empirical finding is a positive relationship between contract duration and the probability of the parties including variable payments in the first period of the agreement. This result suggests that the parties choose the type of payments to be made, whether fixed or variable, so as to avoid early termination of the relationship, even in the absence of opportunistic behavior or risk aversion.     

会计准则的性质:多视角的理论评述

围绕会计准则的性质,从管理学和经济学两个视角进行诠释,试图通过会计准则性质的全新和全面释义,求解会计准则的管理意义和经济价值,并进一步为会计准则的后续研究提供新的命题与研究路径。从九个角度给出了会计准则性质的确认,研究认为:会计准则是一种经济规制(历史观)、是一组分配标准(经济后果观)、是一种平衡机制(企业定价观)、是一种决策和制衡机制(公司治理观)、是一种博弈均衡制度(博弈观)、是一种产权制度(产权观)、是一种契约装置(信息观)、是一种公共物品(公共选择观)、是一种评价利益关系的风险配置(契约观)。     

会计准则制订程序研究——兼论会计准则的性质与国际化

文章通过对FASB在1973—2009年发布的全部171项会计准则制订①过程的描述和分析发现,会计准则在制订过程中广泛受到社会各界的游说与干预,且干预的力度呈现一定的规律性:不同主题准则受到的干预力度存在较大差异,且从多个渠道体现出来。文章以股份支付准则的制订、游说过程说明准则的制订并不完全是技术的体现,表明会计准则的制订是多种力量融合、妥协的结果。文章对在国际范围内制定统一高质量会计准则的目标和期望现实性展开讨论,并提出对中国会计准则制订与国际化策略的思考。     

我国会计准则与国际会计准则的差异分析

我国新颁布的会计准则与国际会计准则相比,顺应了国际化的要求,体现了一种趋同趋势。但需要明确的是,我国的会计准则是依据我国的政治、经济、文化等特定的综合因素而制定的,与国际会计准则相比存在着一些差异;因此有必要对存货准则、合并问题、借款费用以及政府补助准则等方面的差异进行分析。     

Agency-Theory and Internal-Labor-Market Explanations of Bonus Payments: Empirical Evidence from Spanish Firms

This paper combines agency theory and internal-labor-market theories to explain the determinants of bonus payments among a large sample of top and middle managers from Spanish firms. A distinction is made between the decision whether to pay bonus or not and the size of the bonus. The empirical evidence confirms that the two decisions are determined by different factors. The results of the analysis show a trade-off between short-term and long-term incentives (bonuses and promotion opportunities) as well as differences in the pattern of compensation policies across economic sectors and functional areas inside the firm.     

Determinants and Consequences of a Voluntary Turn Away from IFRS to Local GAAP: Evidence from Switzerland

Abstract

We examine determinants and consequences of a turn away from International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) to local generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), thereby exploiting a unique feature of the Swiss setting in which listed firms are allowed to switch from IFRS to Swiss GAAP, all else being equal. We posit that net benefits of IFRS are less for small firms with higher insider ownership. In addition, we predict that the net benefits of IFRS are not constant over time because of changes in IFRS and/or changes in firm-specific circumstances. To the extent that the switching firms’ costs of IFRS reporting outweigh its benefits, we do not predict adverse capital-market effects after a switch. Consistent with predictions, we find that (a) small firms with higher insider ownership and fewer foreign investor holdings are more likely to switch, (b) increasing reporting costs as well as changes in firm-specific circumstances affect switching propensity, (c) switching firms substantially reduce their disclosures after they switch, and (d) switching firms neither experience a decrease in liquidity nor negative announcement returns. Overall, our findings are important for standard setters and securities regulators in shaping (future) reporting requirements for listed firms.     

Enforcement of Accounting Standards in Europe: Capital-Market-Based Evidence for the Two-Tier Mechanism in Germany

On the background of regulatory initiatives that mandate the establishment of comparable enforcement systems in EU jurisdictions to ascertain consistent and faithful application of IFRS, this paper provides capital-market-based evidence on investor reactions for one specific institutional set-up: the two-tier enforcement system in Germany. In operation since 2005, the German enforcement mechanism consists of a private body, the DPR, which investigates compliance of published financial reports of firms listed on a regulated market segment and, upon error findings, involves the German securities regulator BaFin, which on a second level enforces disclosure of these findings to establish adverse disclosure (‘name and shame’). For a sample of error findings published in the period 2005–2009, we investigate short- and long-term market reactions to error announcements. Results for abnormal returns, abnormal trading volumes and abnormal bid‐ask spreads indicate that these announcements represent new, negative information and suggest that, despite an enforcement environment that is categorised as weak in the extant literature, the activities of the DPR/BaFin seem to penalise infringing firms and thus provide potential deterrence. Multivariate analyses yield weak evidence that the magnitude of the market value discount is positively associated with the severity of the errors, with the threat of subsequent litigation and with cases in which firms disagreed with the error findings of the DPR.     

The Information Content of Stock Prices,Legal Environments,and Accounting Standards: International Evidence

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the impact of accounting standards on the information content of stock prices using a sample of 44 countries from around the world. We find that the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards or US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles per se does not make stock prices more informative, but that better accounting standards are helpful only in countries having effective legal environments. In particular, we find a significantly negative relationship between stock price synchronicity and the quality of accounting standards in countries with a common-law legal origin and generally better shareholder protection. Our findings are consistent with the theoretical prediction in Zhang [(2013). Accounting standards, cost of capital, resource allocation, and welfare in a large economy. The Accounting Review, 88(4), 1459–1488] that improving accounting standards effectively would increase social welfare in general.     

会计准则国际趋同、国有股权与股权资本成本——来自中国A股市场的经验证据

从股权资本成本的角度,将股权资本成本视作全体股东对公司期望回报的综合水平,剖析并检验了我国会计准则国际趋同的经济后果及其作用的内在机理。研究表明:会计准则国际趋同显著降低了股权资本成本;国有股权显著影响股权资本成本,不同性质股权对会计准则国际趋同的反应程度不同;在我国特殊的制度背景和市场环境下,国家股东具有私人信息优势和较低的风险厌恶程度,国有股权的预期回报低于其他股权,其因会计准则国际趋同而降低的股权资本成本低于其他股权。     

Ownership Structure and Accounting Information Content: Evidence from France

This paper investigates how family and bank ownership affect the accounting information content of French firms. In Continental Europe, the existence of block‐holders triggers specific corporate governance issues, including the transparency of financial reporting. Our test results for the clean surplus model show that book value carries a significantly greater weight for family‐controlled firms. This finding is attributed to their lack of incentive to report timely and relevant earnings to outside (minority) investors. In contrast, bank owners are under more market pressure to achieve earnings persistence through the use of accounting accruals. Bank ownership is also associated with higher levels of debt. These results are consistent with findings that in code law countries, insiders dominate as a source of finance, and financial reporting is aimed at creditor protection.     

现行会计准则对会计职业判断质量影响因素分析

本文通过对现代会计准则对会计职业判断质量影响因素分析研究,提出了几点提高我国会计人员职业判断质量的对策,有效提高我国企业财务管理与运营水平。