I examine whether religiosity is positively associated with the valuation multiples investors assign to fair valued items that are prone to managerial bias. Using a sample of U.S. banking firms, I find that the value relevance of net assets that are hard to verify is higher for firms located in more religious areas than for those located in less religious areas. Moreover, I hypothesize and find that audit quality and firm information environment quality moderate the positive association between religiosity and value relevance. I perform several robustness checks. First, I rule out several alternative explanations to my results. Second, I address the concern that my results suffer from an omitted correlated variable problem. Third, I show that my results hold for firms located in Urban as well as Rural areas. / Thesis (Ph.D, Management) -- Queen's University, 2013-11-28 11:01:35.578

Zugl.: Frankfurt (Oder), Univ., Diss., 2006

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB)/ International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) proposed Conceptual Framework solidifies stewardship as a primary financial reporting objective. Concurrently, fair value (FV) continues to be emphasized in FASB and IASB standards. In this study, using data from real estate firms in the UK, I test whether FVs provide stewardship-relevant information incremental to information provided by historical costs. Measuring stewardship by changes in CEO cash compensation and FVs through revaluations of investment properties, I find FVs provide stewardship information beyond historical costs; however, FVs must be supported by external appraisals to be useful. Further, FVs help to explain the traditional association between stock returns and compensation. The actual realization of FV changes through sale continues to be rewarded through compensation, meaning the full compensation value of FV changes is not given until realized. FV changes provide more useful stewardship information when FV estimates are of higher quality or when the CEO is more strongly governed. I also find that higher sensitivity to management effort, proxied by firm growth opportunities, makes FV changes more stewardship-relevant. Overall, I conclude that for UK real estate firms, FVs are useful for assessing management's stewardship with improvements in estimate quality and sensitivity to management effort increasing stewardship-usefulness; however, historical costs continue to be relevant for stewardship. My thesis provides insight into what information best captures management stewardship.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB)/ International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) proposed Conceptual Framework solidifies stewardship as a primary financial reporting objective. Concurrently, fair value (FV) continues to be emphasized in FASB and IASB standards. In this study, using data from real estate firms in the UK, I test whether FVs provide stewardship-relevant information incremental to information provided by historical costs. Measuring stewardship by changes in CEO cash compensation and FVs through revaluations of investment properties, I find FVs provide stewardship information beyond historical costs; however, FVs must be supported by external appraisals to be useful. Further, FVs help to explain the traditional association between stock returns and compensation. The actual realization of FV changes through sale continues to be rewarded through compensation, meaning the full compensation value of FV changes is not given until realized. FV changes provide more useful stewardship information when FV estimates are of higher quality or when the CEO is more strongly governed. I also find that higher sensitivity to management effort, proxied by firm growth opportunities, makes FV changes more stewardship-relevant. Overall, I conclude that for UK real estate firms, FVs are useful for assessing management's stewardship with improvements in estimate quality and sensitivity to management effort increasing stewardship-usefulness; however, historical costs continue to be relevant for stewardship. My thesis provides insight into what information best captures management stewardship.

The ongoing harmonization process aims to incorporate IFRS regulations into the Swedish accounting. As a consequence investment property’s starting from 2005 may be valued using the fair value method, in accordance to IAS 40. This involves major changes for listed property enterprises that from now on can value a large extent of their assets to fair value. All parties don’t appreciate this progress, opponents to fair value have expressed great concern that fair value don’t work in practice. They claim that fair value measurement is too subjective and unreliable, and that it will malfunction during periods of financial turmoil. Further they claim that it is not suitable with the European accounting tradition, consisting of a high degree of conservatism and prudence. This thesis aims to examine the accuracy of fair value measurement in the case of Swedish investment property firms. This is done by identifying realized value changes in the corporate annual reports, which will indicate how well the estimated value is consistent with the realized exit price of the property. The findings of this thesis indicate that there exist an average deviation of 11,6 percent between the book value and the realized exit price. Further this study finds no evidence that the financial turmoil in 2008 complicates the use of fair value in any significant way. However, the study provides a clear indication that conservatism and prudence still influence Swedish accounting. This given that 94 percent of the book values were lower then the realized exit price.

This research study, motivated by the difference in opinion between the Joint Working Group of Standard Setters (JWGSS) and the Joint Working Group of Banking Associations (JWGBA), generates empirical evidence on preparer and user preferences for fair value accounting for all financial instruments. Australian and Singaporean respondents’ perceptions on the measurement of financial instruments at fair value and the recognition of changes in fair value as gains or losses in the Income Statement are obtained. This study provides better understanding of the perceptions on the international proposals for change by examining possible explanatory factors for respondents’ views. There is ongoing controversy regarding the appropriate accounting for financial instruments. Perceived shortcomings of the mixed measurement model resulted in an all inclusive fair value accounting standard proposed by the JWGSS (2000). This was met with strong criticism from the JWGBA, established in response to this proposal (1999a). An understanding of actual preparer and user views is thus important for standard-setters to determine the most appropriate and acceptable accounting standard for financial instruments, particularly for the complex financial institutions industry in these two prominent financial markets of the Asian Pacific region. A positivist-objectivist approach is chosen as the theoretical perspective of this research study because of its ability to help explain real world phenomena. Both qualitative (interviews) and quantitative (surveys) methods are used in tandem to derive evidence on user and preparer perceptions. This integration of methods is important to achieve a better understanding of the issues at hand. Evidence collected from the interviews and the preparer and user surveys are analysed with univariate and multivariate statistical tools to determine the level of support (or opposition) for fair value accounting for all financial instruments and to identify factors that explain user and preparer views. Results show that on average, preparers neither strongly support nor strongly oppose the fair value accounting proposal, while users are slightly more supportive. However, respondent users and preparers tend to have similar perceptions on most of the contentious issues raised in this international debate, sometimes giving credence to the JWGBA position while other times agreeing with the JWGSS. On average, users and preparer responses are similar but there is substantial variation within each group. Findings indicate higher support for fair value accounting when the trading and banking books are perceived to be not different, fair values for non-traded financial instruments are reliable and when there is comparability across entities. This thesis generates empirical evidence on the highly topical issue of accounting for financial instruments in the midst of international accounting standard setting movements toward fair value accounting. The lack of variation between users and preparers affirms the robustness of the qualitative characteristics espoused by the IASB framework for financial reporting. Results show that achieving these qualitative characteristics is far more important than trying to fulfill the different needs of various groups. This slight support for fair value accounting is part of a bigger tapestry of a slow but steady movement towards fair value measurement in financial accounting and reporting.

Universiẗat, Diss., 2005--Göttingen.

Zugl.: Köln, Univ., Diss., 2009

No description available.

Abstract One of the major features of financial reporting is conservatism. Accounting conservatism is traditionally defined by the adage “anticipate no profit, but anticipate all losses.” Accounting conservatism is manifested in two general but distinct ways. First, conservatism can be unconditional, meaning that the book value of net assets is understated due to predetermined accounting practices (e.g. immediate expensing of research and development expenditures as incurred). Second, conservatism can be conditional, meaning that the book value of assets is written down under sufficiently adverse circumstances, but not up under favorable circumstances (e.g. goodwill impairment rules). This dissertation focuses only on conditional conservatism. The purpose of this dissertation is to increase our understanding of conditional conservatism through three inter-related essays. These essays seek to answer the following research questions: (1) Are standard measures of conditional conservatism affected by the asymmetry in cash flows? (2) How does “bad news” contribute to the persistence of accruals and cash flows? (3) Do firms manage fair value based goodwill write-offs under Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 142 (SFAS 142)? (4) What are the economic consequences of SFAS 142 goodwill write-offs? Collectively, the empirical results of this dissertation further our understanding of the determinants and implications of conditional conservatism. The first essay demonstrates that the asymmetry in cash flows biases standard measures of conditional conservatism. The second and third essays are one of the first to assess conservatism using an individual accrual account, namely, SFAS 142 goodwill write-offs. The second essay examines the reliability of goodwill write-offs, while the third essay provides evidence on the economic consequences of goodwill write-offs. The findings of these two essays are important for the debate on whether fair value measurements in financial statements are appropriate.