The Accountability of Municipal Corporations

The popular view that market forces controlled the development of financial reporting practices among nineteenth-century British companies has recently been shown, by Parker (1990), to be an oversimplification. Large companies engaged in the provision of public utilities, transportation and financial services were the subject of close regulation, though not necessarily or only for the purpose of shareholder protection. The nineteenth century also saw the creation of municipal corporations, and their development is marked by a further variation in the process of accounting change. A regulatory structure, including requirements for accountability, was established when the modern municipal corporation was created in 1834, and this broad framework remained in force without major amendment until 1930. The accounting practices employed by municipal corporations underwent fundamental change, however, to accommodate major alterations in the nature of their activities. The process of 'voluntary' change in response to market pressure received reinforcement from recommendations made by the highly active local-authority-oriented professional accounting body.     

‘Different from What Has Hitherto Appeared on this Subject’: John Clark,Writing Master and Accomptant, 1738

This paper argues the importance, for the study of accounting history, of collecting evidence of accounting's past and of questioning its conventional wisdoms. It is known that Cronhelm (1818) explained in algebraic terms the mathematical relationship between assets, liabilities and capital reported in a balance sheet. It is also known that the balance sheet equation Assets (A) – Liabilities (L) = Capital (C) became a foundation for teaching bookkeeping as the twentieth century progressed. Current knowledge suggests that, during the first half of the twentieth century, this mathematical approach to teaching accounting gained a foothold in the United States based on the writings of Sprague and Hatfield, and also in Continental Europe. This paper reveals that, in the 1730s in England, John Clark cogently demonstrated an algebraically rooted understanding of the inter‐relationship between double entry bookkeeping and the structure of the balance sheet as exemplified by the above equation. The paper proves that journal‐oriented learning was not the exclusive training method employed by bookkeeping instructors during the early eighteenth century and raises the possibility that other teachers of bookkeeping were providing a more thoughtful education for aspiring clerks, bookkeepers, managers and businessmen than has hitherto been thought the case. This study also shows that accounting technologies do not continuously evolve towards their current state of elaboration, and that it is important for researchers to remain aware of plurality in patterns of accounting change and to be willing to embrace the full range of methodological approaches available for studying accounting phenomena.     

Lessee Reactions to Regulation of Accounting for Leases

This study examines lessee firms’ responses to Australian Accounting Standard 17, Accounting for Leases (AAS 17, 1987) and Approved Accounting Standard ASRB 1008, Accounting for Leases (ASRB 1008, 1987). Both Standards required that lessees capitalize finance leases, thus bringing the finance leases of many firms‘on balance sheet’ and increasing reported leverage. If the capitalization requirement altered firms’ equilibrium contracting cost distributions sufficiently, firms would take actions to mitigate its effect, possibly by altering their capital structures. The study examines whether the capital structures of these firms did change in response to the requirement, and if so, how. The results indicate that firms responded to the Standards by reducing their reliance upon finance leasing and increasing their reliance upon non-lease debt and shareholders’ funds. Firms do not appear to have used definitional interpretations to classify leases as operating rather than finance leases. As expected, the firms previously disclosing finance leases in footnotes experienced increases in non-lease debt reliance while the control sample (firms that previously capitalized the lease obligations) experienced decreases. Differences between control firms’ and footnote disclosure firms’ reactions to the Standard are generally consistent with contracting theory predictions. Control firms reacted to the loss of the potential to off balance sheet finance. Footnote-disclosure firms reacted to the loss of an already utilized off balance sheet financing technique.     

Window-dressing in German inter-war balance sheets

German accounting rules value assets and liabilities asymmetrically and thus lead to grossly distorted balance sheets. In the inter-war debate on a reform of disclosure regulation, financial experts considered the (undisclosed) tax balance sheet, which had to be drawn up separately for the corporate tax assessment, as a paradigm for adequate financial disclosure. However, due to tax secrecy they were barred from analysing tax documents. Using archival evidence, we analyse tax balance sheets as a means of assessing the reliability of disclosed balance sheets of the inter-war period. It emerges that companies overstated their profits in the mid- and late-1920s, but grossly understated them in the Nazi economy.     

The Origins and Evolution of the Double Account System: An Example of Accounting Innovation

The distinguishing characteristic of the double account system is the subdivision of the conventional balance sheet into a capital account and a revenue account, and it is the purpose of this paper to explain why it became the practice of railway companies to publish accounts in this form.     

A basic user utility preference to reduce uncertainty: A dissent to reporting and asset measurement

Legitimacy and self-regulation of the accounting profession dictates that it typifies integrity and credibility in both the form and substance of its accounting standards. Unsound and dishonest business practices are not evident in the financial reports, nor are they the responsibility of accounting standard setters. Nevertheless, professional accountability is not enhanced if the financial reporting standards permit a great deal of choices, variation and interpretation, particularly in asset values. In pursuit of professional legitimacy and the credibility, accounting standards can reduce opportunities for intruding bias, inept judgement, or interpretation perspectives adding to user uncertainties. The thesis of this conceptual paper is that key user groups have an intrinsic homogeneous preference utility for information relating to financial risk, which can be satisfied by a simple asset value, based on a market bid. The balance sheet can contain a segregation of asset values, either in supplementary or classification form.     

Using the balance sheet approach in financial stability surveillance: Analyzing the Israeli economy's resilience to exchange rate risk

This paper presents a framework for analyzing an economy's resilience to exchange rate risk using the balance sheet approach (BSA), which is gaining prominence worldwide in the surveillance of financial stability. The framework is applied to Israel's economy, by using an unique and extensive dataset: a combination of new national balance sheet data and foreign currency balance sheet data.The analysis using the BSA shows that Israel's economy was highly vulnerable to a depreciation of the shekel in 1997, but from then until 2005 it became more resilient. The improvement was due mainly to the lowering of the business sector's high level of exposure to depreciation and its greater financial strength. This, together with higher capital adequacy in the banking system, made the latter more resilient to indirect damage that could be caused by depreciation. The analysis shows further that despite the heavy exposure of the economy as a whole and most sectors within it to appreciation of the shekel at the end of 2005, the economy was quite resilient to such appreciation, as the private sector and the banks suffered little direct or indirect damage through it. The analysis stresses the central, but not exclusive, role played by the banks’ resilience in the economy's financial stability, and thus also favors the continuation of the process of reducing the banks’ dominance in financing the business sector, so that their indirect exposure to financial risks will fall. The findings yielded by the BSA are highly significant, because an analysis using the traditional approach leads to very different results, viz., that in 1997 the economy was not vulnerable to changes in the exchange rate, and that in 2005 it was highly vulnerable to shekel appreciation.The conclusions in the paper support the use of the balance sheet approach as an important instrument in surveillance of financial stability, the formulation of other similar frameworks for analyzing financial risks, and the provision of more detailed data in the national balance sheet that would enable a deeper analysis of overall economic risks and the risks in the major sectors.     

THE INTERWAR DEBT CRISIS AND ITS AFTERMATH

This article analyzes the sovereign defaults of the 1930s andreports nine major findings. (1) There is little evidence thatfinancial markets of the 1930s were unsophisticated or thatbanks have a comparative advantage over the bond market in processinginformation. (2) Debt default in the 1930s depended on a combinationof factors, including the magnitude of the external shock, thelevel of debt, and the economic policy response, as well ason a range of non-economic considerations. (3) Countries thatinterrupted service recovered more quickly from the Great Depressionthan did countries that resisted default. (4) There is littleevidence that countries that defaulted in the 1930s later sufferedinferior access to the capital market. (5) The readjustmentof defaulted debts was protracted: the analogy with corporatebankruptcy proceedings is not applicable. (6) Although defaultled in some cases to a substantial reduction of transfers fromdebtors to creditors, on balance returns on sovereign loanscompared favorably with returns on domestic investments. (7)Creditor governments in the 1930s did act to accelerate thesettlement process. (8) Global schemes analogous to the Bakerplan were widely proposed but never implemented. (9) In contrast,debt buybacks played a useful role in the resolution of thecrisis.      

从净收益视角看公允价值和历史成本计量属性的作用

论文在决策有用性的会计目标框架下,以权益投资者的企业价值评估为视角,探讨了会计计量属性的选择和应用问题。在资产负债会计体系下,即便采用公允价值计量也无法反映企业的整体经济价值。企业价值需要借助金融模型估计,传统收入费用会计体系下的净收益指标是模型中的关键变量,但资产负债表中公允价值的引入使净收益的计量失去了逻辑一致性。这对权益估价模型的应用造成了干扰,从而损害了财务报告对投资者的有用性。论文认为对投资者提供公允价值信息的最佳方式是单独披露,而不是表内确认。最近FASB为应对金融危机对有关会计准则的修订反映了计量方法多样化的趋势,但计量方法的优势并不取决于该计量方法是否符合计量对象的具体特点,而是是否符合会计系统的整体目标。     

'The apotheosis of holding company accounting': Unilever's financial reporting innovations from the 1920s to the 1940s

The annual reports of Unilever were widely hailed in the 1940s as outstanding examples of holding company accounting. The accounts did indeed contain many new and innovative features, including segment reporting of sales turnover. This contrasts with the frequently negative assessments of the company's reporting before World War II, and the fact that the company was on record as a relatively late adopter of consolidated statements. In this paper, Unilever's reporting practices from the 1920s to the 1940s are analysed. We argue that the reporting changes of the 1940s had clear antecedents in the 1920s and 1930s, when they emerged in conjunction with the transformation of Unilever from a family-dominated enterprise into a professionally managed organisation. We also argue that, in order to evaluate properly Unilever's pre-war reporting practices, one needs to take into consideration the nature of Unilever as a complex federation of companies, rather than a unitary organisation, and to examine the chairman's address at the annual general meetings. The speeches by Francis D'Arcy Cooper, in particular, contained important disclosures not found in the annual reports. By the early 1940s, Unilever's commitment to improve its financial reporting was sufficiently developed for its officials, in particular Geoffrey Heyworth and P.M. Rees, to play important roles in the drafting of the English Institute's Recommendations on Accounting Principles and in the deliberations of the Company Law Amendment Committee whose report led to the Companies Act 1947. We therefore conclude that Unilever should be ranked with such companies as Dunlop Rubber among the key actors in the modernisation of British financial reporting during the 1930s and 1940s.     

The value relevance of deferred tax attributed to asset revaluations

Our study focuses on the incremental value relevance of the balance sheet relative to the income statement approach to deferred tax accounting and whether such value relevance is attributable to firms being required to report the deferred tax consequences of asset revaluations. Our results suggest that the increment to deferred tax balances upon adopting the balance sheet approach has value relevance, with such value relevance driven by the deferred taxes on certain asset revaluations (specifically, property, plant and equipment, and equity-accounted investments). We interpret our results as reflecting investors’ preference for the balance sheet approach to deferred tax accounting and their view that deferred taxes on asset revaluations are real liabilities.     

Asset Securitizations and Credit Default Swaps

This study examines the effects of off‐balance sheet versus on‐balance sheet securitizations on the originator's credit risk in the default swap (CDS) market across the recent business cycle from 2002 to 2009. I find that on‐balance sheet securitizations demonstrate greater effects on the originator's CDS premium than off‐balance sheet securitizations in the business cycle. While off‐balance sheet securitizations’ effects on the originator's CDS premium become significantly stronger after 2007 when the economy declines, on‐balance sheet securitizations’ effects on the originator's CDS premium do not experience a significant change with the onset of the recession. The results suggest that the CDS market views originators as having greater probabilities not to honour their implicit guarantees for off‐balance sheet securitizations during the economic downturn. The results also indicate that on balance sheet and off‐balance sheet securitizations have distinctly different risk properties. It would be beneficial to investors if regulations take into considerations the changing credit risks of off‐balance sheet securitizations and the different structures of asset securitizations.     

基层央行资产负债表健康性审计研究

央行资产负债表的状况是公众评价货币政策效果和形成政策预期的重要渠道。资产负债表的真实性和健康性越来越受到公众的关注,央行的资产负债表健康性审计也逐渐成为央行内审工作的重要内容。本文结合开展央行资产负债表健康性审计的意义,着眼于基层央行的实际情况,提出了基层央行资产负债表健康性的三项标准,明确了基层央行资产负债表健康性审计的主要内容、审计方法,初步构建了资产负债表审计框架。     

Accounting information systems research over the past decade: Past and future trends

This article reviews the extant accounting information systems (AIS) literature by conducting an analysis of AIS articles published in 18 leading accounting, management information systems, and computer science journals from 1999 to 2009 with a view to identifying whether or not the focus of AIS research has changed, and if so how it has changed, since the Poston and Grabski’s (2000) review of AIS research from 1982 to 1998. We also report our insights into where AIS research is likely to be heading in the future. We analyse each of the 395 articles identified as reporting AIS research to identify their underlying theory, research method and research topic. Our results confirm the continuing decline in analytical and model‐building research in AIS‐related research and this decline is associated with a similar decline in the use of computer science theory to motivate this research. We also find that two theoretical platforms, in particular, now account for almost half (48 per cent) of all AIS research: cognitive psychology and economics. Experimental research methods and archival studies continue to grow as the preferred methods for testing the AIS‐related theories derived from these theory domains.     

The effect of recognition vs. disclosure on investor valuation: The case of pension accounting

Whether or not the format of financial reporting influences user assessment of the reported information is an important issue to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), and managers. Do investors, in determining security prices, differentiate between information recognized in the balance sheet and that disclosed in the footnotes? The findings indicate that investors appear to consider pension information disclosed in the footnotes as value-relevant, given that an accrued (prepaid) pension liability (asset) is also recognized in the balance sheet. Second, investors attach equal importance to both sorts of pension information.     

Lessons for Accounting Measurement from Transaction Cost Economics

The AARF's Monograph 10 "Measurement in Financial Accounting" maintains the impetus built up over recent years through the foundation's inquiries into the nature and processes of published financial reports. This commentary concentrates upon two major aspects of financial reporting that are not fully addressed in the Monograph. The first is the general lesson that transaction cost economics offers to those who rely on cuwent market values in preparing accounts for publication. The second is the need for standard-setters to agree on a workable definition of financial performance, since the income statement is more likely than the balance sheet to offer information needed for making useful predictions.     

在美上市公司内部控制重大缺陷认定、披露及对我国企业的借鉴

本文研究了《萨班斯—奥克斯利法案》执行初期在美国上市的公司财务报告内部控制重大缺陷的认定及披露。研究发现,许多重大缺陷是根据内部控制审计准则指出的表明公司内部控制可能存在重大缺陷的重要迹象来认定的;其他的则通过重大缺陷的定义来认定。披露的内部控制重大缺陷涉及到COSO《内部控制—整合框架》五要素的几乎所有内容,以及资产负债表和利润表的几乎所有项目。仅有部分公司披露导致交易或账户层面重大缺陷的企业层面内部控制重大缺陷,同时,仅有部分公司披露受账户或交易层面内部控制重大缺陷影响的所有账户。本文最后分析了在美上市公司重大缺陷认定及披露对我国上市公司执行《企业内部控制基本规范》及其配套指引的借鉴。     

The value-relevance of adopting IFRS: Evidence from 145 NGAAP restatements

Firms listed on stock exchanges within the European Economic Area are required to report consolidated financial statements according to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) since 2005. The firms that adopted IFRS in 2005 were also required to restate their 2004 financial statements from national GAAP to provide comparable accounting figures. These two sets of financial statements for 2004 are thus based on identical underlying economic activities and are fully specified according to two different reporting regimes. Our sample consists of 145 restatements from Norwegian Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (NGAAP) to IFRS for firms listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange in Norway. We test whether the IFRS accounting figures correlate more strongly with stock market values than the corresponding NGAAP figures. We find little evidence of increased value-relevance after adopting IFRS when comparing and evaluating the two regimes unconditionally. On the other hand, when evaluating the change in the accounting figures from NGAAP to IFRS, we find evidence that the reconcilement adjustments to IFRS are marginally value-relevant due to increased relevance of the balance sheet and the normalized net operating income. By weighting our sample by firm size, intangible asset intensity and profitability, we learn that the increased value-relevance of the net operating income stems from different reporting of intangible assets. Since more intangible assets are capitalized according to IFRS than NGAAP, our finding is consistent with the view that capitalizing intangible assets is more value-relevant than expensing them as incurred or through goodwill amortization.     

Does voluntary balance sheet disclosure mitigate post-earnings-announcement drift?

Theory suggests that balance sheet information such as total assets, total equity, or total liabilities complements earnings information in helping investors assess a firm’s profitability and estimate earnings growth. The voluntary disclosure of balance sheet information at earnings announcement could help investors gather and process this information at a lower cost. We therefore predict that voluntary balance sheet disclosure at the time of an earnings announcement helps investors promptly understand the implication of current earnings news for future earnings and subsequently reduces post-earnings-announcement drift (PEAD). Consistent with these predictions, our results show that when firms provide voluntary balance sheet disclosures, the earnings response coefficient in the event window is significantly higher and the corresponding PEAD is significantly lower. We further find that the impact of voluntary balance sheet disclosure on PEAD is more pronounced when the magnitude of balance sheet value surprise is larger, when balance sheet value is more informative about future earnings, when earnings uncertainty is higher, or when information cost is higher, consistent with our conjectures that helping investors to better understand future earnings performance and lowering information costs are key mechanisms underlying the effect of voluntary balance sheet disclosure on PEAD.