Studies on the Importance of Incentives and Standards in the Financial Reporting Process

Studies on the Importance of Incentives and Standards in the Financial Reporting Process PDF Author: Urska Kosi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
This thesis consists of three self-contained studies on the factors affecting the financial reporting process. The first study investigates the role of reporting incentives in private firms. I observe significant decrease in asset -write-offs after an adverse change in tax treatment of write-offs. This change does not affect any other economic incentive to use accounting discretion and thus permits me to disentangle the tax- minimisation incentive from other incentives including debt contracting, dividends and employee relations that cause the anomalous positive relation between write-offs and profitability. I provide new and complementary evidence that tax incentives play an important role in firms' financial reporting behaviour. The second study examines whether mandatory adoption of IFRS affects the source and cost of debt financing. First, I find that mandatory IFRS adopters more likely issue public debt. Second, I show that IFRS adopters pay lower bond yield spreads but there is no significant effect on loan spreads. My findings are consistent with IFRS enhancing the quality and comparability of accounting information, and suggest that mandatory IFRS adoption is beneficial primarily for bond investors. Finally, I find that the positive effects of IFRS are present only in countries with strong institutions and less harmonised accounting standards. The third study investigates whether mandatory IFRS adoption affects credit relevance of accounting information. First, I find significant increase in credit relevance of mandatory IFRS adopters after the adoption. Second, I show that increase in credit relevance after IFRS adoption is greater for IFRS firms than for matched US \ \ firms, Third, I find that IFRS firms exhibit relatively higher credit relevance compared to US firms in the post-adoption period. Additionally, I show that IFRS effects vary between countries. I interpret higher credit relevance of IFRS-based accounting information relative to local standards as an increase in accounting quality from the debtholders' perspective. '.

Studies on the Importance of Incentives and Standards in the Financial Reporting Process

Studies on the Importance of Incentives and Standards in the Financial Reporting Process PDF Author: Urska Kosi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book Here

Book Description
This thesis consists of three self-contained studies on the factors affecting the financial reporting process. The first study investigates the role of reporting incentives in private firms. I observe significant decrease in asset -write-offs after an adverse change in tax treatment of write-offs. This change does not affect any other economic incentive to use accounting discretion and thus permits me to disentangle the tax- minimisation incentive from other incentives including debt contracting, dividends and employee relations that cause the anomalous positive relation between write-offs and profitability. I provide new and complementary evidence that tax incentives play an important role in firms' financial reporting behaviour. The second study examines whether mandatory adoption of IFRS affects the source and cost of debt financing. First, I find that mandatory IFRS adopters more likely issue public debt. Second, I show that IFRS adopters pay lower bond yield spreads but there is no significant effect on loan spreads. My findings are consistent with IFRS enhancing the quality and comparability of accounting information, and suggest that mandatory IFRS adoption is beneficial primarily for bond investors. Finally, I find that the positive effects of IFRS are present only in countries with strong institutions and less harmonised accounting standards. The third study investigates whether mandatory IFRS adoption affects credit relevance of accounting information. First, I find significant increase in credit relevance of mandatory IFRS adopters after the adoption. Second, I show that increase in credit relevance after IFRS adoption is greater for IFRS firms than for matched US \ \ firms, Third, I find that IFRS firms exhibit relatively higher credit relevance compared to US firms in the post-adoption period. Additionally, I show that IFRS effects vary between countries. I interpret higher credit relevance of IFRS-based accounting information relative to local standards as an increase in accounting quality from the debtholders' perspective. '.

Behavioral Evidence on the Effects of Principles- and Rules-Based Standards

Behavioral Evidence on the Effects of Principles- and Rules-Based Standards PDF Author: Mark W. Nelson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
I review research relevant to predicting how the behavior of various participants in the financial-reporting process is affected by principles-based and rules-based standards. I discuss standards in terms of being more or less rules-based, acknowledging that less rules-based standards must rely more on principles to guide behavior. I argue that adding rules affects the precision and complexity of an accounting standard. I review the incremental effects of rule precision and complexity on performance with respect to two important functions of financial-accounting standards: communication and constraint, with communication referring to the role standards play in conveying GAAP to practitioners, and constraint referring to the role of standards in discouraging biased communication. I review research from financial accounting, auditing, and tax, and I focus on evidence provided by experimental and survey studies. Regarding communication, the literature suggests that bright-line thresholds can be used in some circumstances to communicate accurately. However, the more general way to increase the precision with which a standard communicates is to increase the amount of specified decision process, detailed implementation guidance, examples, precedents and other rules that are in the standard, which also increases the complexity of the standard. Thus, standard setters face a tradeoff between including too few rules and creating a standard that communicates too vaguely and is interpreted inconsistently, versus including too many rules and creating a standard that becomes so complex that parts of it are applied incorrectly or missed entirely. Regarding constraint, the literature indicates that, regardless of the precision of standards, practitioners consciously or unconsciously make financial reports that are consistent with their incentives. Precise standards appear to help auditors discourage aggressive reporting when opportunities for transaction structuring are not available and/or clients are unaware of precise rules. However, incentive-consistent reporting choices often can be justified with respect to precise standards via transaction structuring or by aggressive interpretation of the evidence that is evaluated and compared to standards' requirements. And, if standards are imprecise, incentive-consistent reporting choices can be justified via aggressive interpretation of standards. Thus, incentive effects should be viewed as pervasive. If standard-setters and/or regulators desire accurate or conservative reporting, they are most likely to achieve it by combining (1) standards that are imprecise enough to avoid precise safe harbors, thereby allowing incentive-consistent interpretation to take place, and (2) vigorous enforcement activity that tilts the balance of incentives away from aggressive reporting and towards accurate or conservative reporting. Communication and constraint may operate at cross purposes under some circumstances, since the detail necessary to communicate accurately can also create opportunities for transaction structuring. In these cases, transaction structuring could be discouraged by basing guidance more on examples than bright lines, and by including "substance over form" provisions that are enforced when transactions are structured in a manner that is inconsistent with economic substance. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of changes in standards that are currently occurring or contemplated and that are consistent with the implications of existing research.

Incentives and Test-Based Accountability in Education

Incentives and Test-Based Accountability in Education PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309225078
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 111

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Book Description
In recent years there have been increasing efforts to use accountability systems based on large-scale tests of students as a mechanism for improving student achievement. The federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is a prominent example of such an effort, but it is only the continuation of a steady trend toward greater test-based accountability in education that has been going on for decades. Over time, such accountability systems included ever-stronger incentives to motivate school administrators, teachers, and students to perform better. Incentives and Test-Based Accountability in Education reviews and synthesizes relevant research from economics, psychology, education, and related fields about how incentives work in educational accountability systems. The book helps identify circumstances in which test-based incentives may have a positive or a negative impact on student learning and offers recommendations for how to improve current test-based accountability policies. The most important directions for further research are also highlighted. For the first time, research and theory on incentives from the fields of economics, psychology, and educational measurement have all been pulled together and synthesized. Incentives and Test-Based Accountability in Education will inform people about the motivation of educators and students and inform policy discussions about NCLB and state accountability systems. Education researchers, K-12 school administrators and teachers, as well as graduate students studying education policy and educational measurement will use this book to learn more about the motivation of educators and students. Education policy makers at all levels of government will rely on this book to inform policy discussions about NCLB and state accountability systems.

The German Financial System

The German Financial System PDF Author: Jan Pieter Krahmen (editor)
Publisher:
ISBN: 0199253161
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 550

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Book Description
Written by a team of scholars, predominantly from the Centre for Financial Studies in Frankfurt, this volume provides a descriptive survey of the present state of the German financial system and a new analytical framework to explain its workings.

Relevance of Academic Research and Researchers' Role in the IASB's Financial Reporting Standard Setting

Relevance of Academic Research and Researchers' Role in the IASB's Financial Reporting Standard Setting PDF Author: Rolf Uwe Fuelbier
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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Book Description
The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) faces a vast number of standard-setting issues at all levels of financial reporting. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relevance of academic research for financial reporting standard setting and the role of academic researchers in the standard-setting process. We contribute to the current debate surrounding International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by drawing inferences from prior findings regarding the role of research in the IASB's standard-setting efforts. After defining three broad categories of standard-setting questions, we explore how the international heterogeneity of its constituency adds constraints to the IASB's work. We then investigate from an epistemological perspective whether and how academic research can inform policy makers. Based on a review of extant literature, we discuss the general criteria which a piece of research should fulfill in order to be perceived as relevant and useful by standard setters. This discussion is followed by more detailed considerations regarding the suitability of different research approaches for each of the three categories of standard-setting questions. We also touch on the subject of inferential problems inherent in most academic accounting research. Since our main objective is to contribute insights relevant to the IASB's efforts, we analyze academics' career systems and their incentives to engage in research intermediation, before discussing possible ways in which interested researchers can channel their insights into the IASB's standardsetting process. Overall, we emphasize the international dimension of IASB standard setting and its implications for relevant research.

Improving Healthcare Quality in Europe Characteristics, Effectiveness and Implementation of Different Strategies

Improving Healthcare Quality in Europe Characteristics, Effectiveness and Implementation of Different Strategies PDF Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
ISBN: 9264805907
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 447

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Book Description
This volume, developed by the Observatory together with OECD, provides an overall conceptual framework for understanding and applying strategies aimed at improving quality of care. Crucially, it summarizes available evidence on different quality strategies and provides recommendations for their implementation. This book is intended to help policy-makers to understand concepts of quality and to support them to evaluate single strategies and combinations of strategies.

Relevance of Academic Research and Researchers' Role in the IASB's Financial Reporting Standard Setting

Relevance of Academic Research and Researchers' Role in the IASB's Financial Reporting Standard Setting PDF Author: Rolf Uwe Fülbier
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) faces a vast number of standard-setting issues at all levels of financial reporting. The purpose of this article is to explore the relevance of academic research for financial reporting standard setting and the role of academic researchers in the standard-setting process. We contribute to the current debate surrounding International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by drawing inferences from prior findings regarding the role of research in the IASB's standard-setting efforts. After defining three broad categories of standard-setting questions, we explore how the international heterogeneity of its constituency imposes constraints on the IASB's work. Then, whether and how academic research can inform policy makers is investigated from an epistemological perspective. Based on a review of extant literature, the general criteria which a piece of research should fulfil in order to be perceived as relevant and useful by standard setters are discussed. This discussion is followed by more detailed considerations regarding the suitability of different research approaches for each of the three categories of standard-setting questions. We also touch on the subject of inferential problems inherent in most academic accounting research. Since the main objective is to contribute insights relevant to the IASB's efforts, we analyse academics' career systems and their incentives to engage in research intermediation, before discussing possible ways in which interested researchers can channel their insights into the IASB's standard-setting process. Overall, the international dimension of IASB standard setting and its implications for relevant research are emphasized.

Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards

Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards PDF Author: United States. National Bureau of Standards
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Chemistry
Languages : en
Pages : 572

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Book Description


Research Report

Research Report PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Labor policy
Languages : en
Pages : 102

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Book Description


An Examination of the Influence of Tax Incentives and Financial Reporting on Corporate Research and Development Expenditures

An Examination of the Influence of Tax Incentives and Financial Reporting on Corporate Research and Development Expenditures PDF Author: Tracy Sheehy Manly
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Financial statements
Languages : en
Pages : 206

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Book Description