International Differences in Conditional Conservatism

International Differences in Conditional Conservatism PDF Author: Joachim Gassen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 53

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Book Description
Prior research documents that conditional conservatism, measured as the asymmetric timeliness of earnings reflecting bad versus good news, varies with cross-country differences in institutional regimes. In this paper, we examine the determinants of conditional conservatism and related earnings attributes internationally. First, using panel data, we investigate whether competing earnings attributes such as unconditional conservatism and income smoothing affect conditional conservatism and its international differences. We find that these attributes are predictably correlated with conditional conservatism. Second, we address the question whether income smoothing and conditional conservatism are two fundamentally different earnings attributes. We show theoretically that both attributes yield different earnings distributions and that the motivations for producing earnings which possess these attributes differ. To test these predictions empirically, we calculate firm-specific time-series measures of asymmetric timeliness, using a novel trigonometric measure based on the standard Basu (1997)-type regression. Using this cross-sectional data, we test whether conditional conservatism and income smoothing are different and find them to be only weakly correlated for a broad international sample. Also, we demonstrate that income smoothing explains international differences in conditional conservatism. Finally, we estimate simple determinant models of conditional conservatism and income smoothing, showing that both earnings attributes are driven by different explanatory firm-level factors: conditional conservatism increases with the importance of debt financing, while income smoothing increases with the importance of dividends. Despite some important limitations, we believe our results to be meaningful because they show that cross-country differences in conditional conservatism are influenced by the effects of other accounting properties, predominantly income smoothing. Especially, legal regime appears to drive income smoothing while losing its explanatory power for conditional conservatism when firm-specific factors are controlled for.

International Differences in Conditional Conservatism

International Differences in Conditional Conservatism PDF Author: Joachim Gassen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 53

Get Book Here

Book Description
Prior research documents that conditional conservatism, measured as the asymmetric timeliness of earnings reflecting bad versus good news, varies with cross-country differences in institutional regimes. In this paper, we examine the determinants of conditional conservatism and related earnings attributes internationally. First, using panel data, we investigate whether competing earnings attributes such as unconditional conservatism and income smoothing affect conditional conservatism and its international differences. We find that these attributes are predictably correlated with conditional conservatism. Second, we address the question whether income smoothing and conditional conservatism are two fundamentally different earnings attributes. We show theoretically that both attributes yield different earnings distributions and that the motivations for producing earnings which possess these attributes differ. To test these predictions empirically, we calculate firm-specific time-series measures of asymmetric timeliness, using a novel trigonometric measure based on the standard Basu (1997)-type regression. Using this cross-sectional data, we test whether conditional conservatism and income smoothing are different and find them to be only weakly correlated for a broad international sample. Also, we demonstrate that income smoothing explains international differences in conditional conservatism. Finally, we estimate simple determinant models of conditional conservatism and income smoothing, showing that both earnings attributes are driven by different explanatory firm-level factors: conditional conservatism increases with the importance of debt financing, while income smoothing increases with the importance of dividends. Despite some important limitations, we believe our results to be meaningful because they show that cross-country differences in conditional conservatism are influenced by the effects of other accounting properties, predominantly income smoothing. Especially, legal regime appears to drive income smoothing while losing its explanatory power for conditional conservatism when firm-specific factors are controlled for.

Management Through Accounts

Management Through Accounts PDF Author: James Harris Bliss
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Accounting
Languages : en
Pages : 880

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Book Description


The Influence of Conditional Conservatism on Ownership Dispersion

The Influence of Conditional Conservatism on Ownership Dispersion PDF Author: Begoña Giner
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 29

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Book Description
We study the influence of conditional accounting conservatism on domestic investor diversification decisions. We argue that a conservative accounting system that promotes the dissemination of bad news and which constrains managers from engaging in opportunistic activities reduces the need for investors to concentrate their ownership, and consequently helps investors to diversify their investments. Through a country-level analysis we show that increased domestic conditional conservatism and higher domestic diversification opportunities lead to higher levels of domestic ownership diversification. Our results are robust to alternative estimates of conditional conservatism, and indicate that conditionally conservative accounting systems improve risk sharing. These results suggest that the accounting system, and in particular accounting conservatism, is part of the institutional settings embedded in the infrastructures of capital markets.

Conditional and Unconditional Conservatism

Conditional and Unconditional Conservatism PDF Author: Julia Nasev
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3834984582
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 129

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Book Description
Julia Nasev examines the impact of conservative accounting numbers on valuation estimates and on real economic decisions such as cost stickiness.

Accounting Conservatism and the Cost of Capital

Accounting Conservatism and the Cost of Capital PDF Author: Li, Xi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 43

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Book Description
This paper examines the role of conditional accounting conservatism in mitigating the cost of equity and debt capital in an international setting. I find that firms domiciled in countries with more conservative financial reporting systems have lower cost of equity and debt capital. I further explore the cross-sectional variation of the above relations. I find that the negative association between conditional conservatism and the cost of equity and debt capital is more pronounced in countries with stronger legal enforcement, suggesting a complementary role between conservatism and legal institutions in capital markets. I also find that conservatism only reduces the cost of debt in countries where accounting-based covenants are widely used, consistent with the argument that conditional conservatism improves the efficiency of debt contracts via accelerating covenant violations.

Truth in Accounting

Truth in Accounting PDF Author: Kenneth MacNeal
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 1512804045
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
This book is a volume in the Penn Press Anniversary Collection. To mark its 125th anniversary in 2015, the University of Pennsylvania Press rereleased more than 1,100 titles from Penn Press's distinguished backlist from 1899-1999 that had fallen out of print. Spanning an entire century, the Anniversary Collection offers peer-reviewed scholarship in a wide range of subject areas.

International Corporate Reporting

International Corporate Reporting PDF Author: Pauline Weetman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429774613
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 422

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Book Description
This textbook provides a comprehensive overview of international corporate reporting which enhances students’ understanding of diversity and convergence in the field. The authors discuss the institutional and cultural context in which international corporate reporting has developed over the years as well as the global reach of IFRS Standards from the IASB throughout and beyond the European Union, into interest groups and emerging economies. Other key elements explored throughout the book include assurance through auditing and corporate governance, narrative reporting, strategic and corporate social responsibility, group accounting, current accounting issues and taxation in corporate reports. Indicative research examples show how the methods used in research papers may be understood and applied. Case studies outline short projects based on corporate cases, with related links to material on corporate websites. Helpful and reliable sources of information and data are identified through hyperlinks to accessible websites. End-of-chapter questions encourage discussion of the main issues. Throughout there is a focus on accountability and the information needs of stakeholders. This new edition of a classic text is fully revised and updated in order to remain essential reading for students of international accounting and corporate reporting globally. The book will be an invaluable resource for postgraduate taught programmes and final-year undergraduate courses in accounting, finance and business studies.

Asset Management and Investor Protection

Asset Management and Investor Protection PDF Author: Julian Ralph Franks
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781383039771
Category : Asset-liability management
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Mention Enron or BCCI and a lack of financial regulation springs to mind. Consumer confidence is at a low ebb as consumers feel unprotected. This comparative survey of European and US consumer protection schemes offers detailed information on how much protection investors really have in these troubled times.

Conservatism is Accounting

Conservatism is Accounting PDF Author: Maura Fallon
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Accounting
Languages : en
Pages : 52

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Book Description


Earnings Quality

Earnings Quality PDF Author: Jennifer Francis
Publisher: Now Publishers Inc
ISBN: 1601981147
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 97

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Book Description
This review lays out a research perspective on earnings quality. We provide an overview of alternative definitions and measures of earnings quality and a discussion of research design choices encountered in earnings quality research. Throughout, we focus on a capital markets setting, as opposed, for example, to a contracting or stewardship setting. Our reason for this choice stems from the view that the capital market uses of accounting information are fundamental, in the sense of providing a basis for other uses, such as stewardship. Because resource allocations are ex ante decisions while contracting/stewardship assessments are ex post evaluations of outcomes, evidence on whether, how and to what degree earnings quality influences capital market resource allocation decisions is fundamental to understanding why and how accounting matters to investors and others, including those charged with stewardship responsibilities. Demonstrating a link between earnings quality and, for example, the costs of equity and debt capital implies a basic economic role in capital allocation decisions for accounting information; this role has only recently been documented in the accounting literature. We focus on how the precision of financial information in capturing one or more underlying valuation-relevant constructs affects the assessment and use of that information by capital market participants. We emphasize that the choice of constructs to be measured is typically contextual. Our main focus is on the precision of earnings, which we view as a summary indicator of the overall quality of financial reporting. Our intent in discussing research that evaluates the capital market effects of earnings quality is both to stimulate further research in this area and to encourage research on related topics, including, for example, the role of earnings quality in contracting and stewardship.