Abstract This paper investigates the determinatives of loan loss provisions by using U.S., Asian and European banks data. The purpose of this paper is to do a cross-country comparison of bank managers’ choices for capital, earnings management and signaling effects. Our results show that capital management plays an important role for loan loss provisions in these three regions. Our results also show that earnings smoothing are important determinatives for U.S. and European banks’ loan loss provisions. Additionally, we find that loan loss provisions are positively related to future earnings changes in U.S. banks which supports the hypothesis of signaling effects. In a separate section, we examine ownership structure’s influences on banks’ choices of loan loss provisions. We find that capital and earnings management can be seen in U.S. banks with diffused or concentrated ownership. We also find that earning management play an important role for loan loss provisions in Asian banks with diffused or concentrated ownership, however, capital management is not apparent for banks with concentrated ownership. In addition, our results show that capital management plays an important role for loan loss provisions in European banks with diffused or concentrated ownership, but earnings management can not be found in banks with concentrated ownership.

This thesis presents new empirical evidence on three important aspects of financial reporting by banks. The thesis consists of an introductory chapter that explains how the three issues are related to each other, three empirical chapters and a final summary chapter. The first empirical chapter studies the effects of accounting conservatism on the pricing of syndicated bank loans. I provide evidence that banks more timely in loss recognition charge higher spreads for the same loan provision. I go on to consider what happens to this relationship during the financial crisis. During the crisis, banks more timely in loss recognition increase their spreads to a lesser extent than banks less timely in loss recognition. The policy implication is that banks more timely in loss recognition exhibit more prudent and less pro-cyclical debt pricing behaviour. The second empirical chapter examines the relationship between the value relevance of fair value gains and losses and bank risk in an international bank sample. One possibility is that, as risk increases, the scope for subjectivity in fair value estimates increases thereby potentially rendering the numbers less useful. However another possibility is that the relevance of faithfully reported fair value gains and losses increases as risk increases. The study provides evidence that the value relevance of fair value gains and losses is positively associated with bank risk prior to the crisis. During the crisis there is also evidence of a similar positive relationship, but it is not possible to draw firm conclusions for reasons discussed in the chapter. My research also shows that the fair value gains and losses of banks that elect to use the fair value option for assets that could have been accounted for using amortized costs are more value relevant and persistent. This study provides information to policy makers on the situations when fair values are most useful to investors. The third empirical chapter examines if the market rationally prices the loan loss provisions, and the reported fair value gains and losses of US banks. The chapter models the discretionary components of loan loss provisions and fair value gains and losses, and tests if the discretionary components are priced differently from their non-discretionary counterparts. The results provide little evidence that the market misprices operating cash flows, non-discretionary loan loss provisions, or fair value gains and losses (discretionary or otherwise). However there is evidence of significant mispricing of discretionary loan loss provisions. The lack of evidence on the mispricing of fair value gains and losses is consistent with the finding on the value relevance of fair value gains and losses in the second empirical chapter.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the drivers and dynamics of credit losses in Australasian banking over an extended period of time in order to improve the means by which financial institutions manage their credit risks and regulatory bodies safeguard the stability and integrity of the financial system. The analysis is based on a specially constructed data base of credit loss and provisioning data retrieved from original financial reports published by Australian and New Zealand banks. The observation period covers 1980 to 2005, starting at the time when such information was published for the first time in bank financial statements. It moreover covers the time of major crises which occurred in both Australia and New Zealand in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The heterogeneity of reporting the data both amongst banks and through time requires the development of a reporting typology which allows data extraction with equivalent informational content. As a thorough study of credit risks requires long data series often not available from third party data providers, the method developed here will provide value to a range of researchers. Based on an evaluation of many alternative proxies which track a bank's credit loss experience (CLE), the thesis proposes a preferred model for impaired assets expense (as % of loans) as dependent variable, mainly because of its timely nature and good data availability. Explanatory variables include aggregate macro variables of which changes in unemployment and the return in the share markets are found to have the most significant influence on a bank's credit losses. Bank-specific control variables include a pre-provision earnings proxy whose significance points to the use of provisions for the purpose of income smoothing by Australasian banks. The model also controls for size and nature of lending as smaller, retail-oriented housing lenders, on average, exhibit lower loan losses. Clear results are found with regard to the effect of rapid expansion which appears to be followed by a surge of bad debt provisions 2 to 3 years later. Moreover, inefficient banks tend to suffer greater credit losses. An important part of the thesis looks at the characteristics of alternative CLE proxies such as stock of provisions, impaired assets and write-offs which have been used by earlier literature. Estimating the preferred model with such alternative CLE parameters confirms their peculiarities such as the memory character of stock of provisions and the delayed nature of write-offs. These measures correlate rather poorly amongst themselves which calls for caution in the comparative interpretation of earlier studies that use differing CLE proxies.

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The aim of this paper is to investigate the procyclical behavior of banks in terms of lending and loan loss provisioning, and its dynamics with regard to the adoption of the Basel II capital regulation. Using bank-level and country-level panel data spanning from 1996 to 2013 we answer this question for the OECD and BRIC countries. We find a positive effect of bank capitalization on loans growth, which, perhaps due to the recent financial crisis, weakened after 2008. Together with evidence of income smoothing and capital management we also find strong cyclical behavior of banks in terms of loan loss provisioning. At the same time, we do not find any robust changes to this behavior after the introduction of the Basel II capital regulation. We fill a gap in the empirical literature as there has been hardly any research done on changes brought forward by the adoption of the Basel II capital regulation. The results may be therefore of interest for regulators and other professionals. Moreover, we use in our analysis data for BRIC countries, which have been often neglected.

Este trabalho propôs-se a responder se existem indícios suficientes para se afirmar que os bancos comerciais no Brasil praticam alguma modalidade de gerenciamento de resultados. Para tanto, foi verificado se os bancos comerciais selecionados - instituições líderes dos vinte maiores conglomerados bancários brasileiros - utilizaram os ágios em investimentos em controladas e coligadas, as operações com títulos e valores mobiliários, as provisões para operações de crédito ou os passivos contingentes para gerenciar seus resultados. Dois dos três bancos que possuíam ágios em investimentos em controladas e coligadas efetivamente utilizaram sua amortização para gerenciar seus resultados. Cinqüenta e cinco por cento dos bancos selecionados utilizaram a classificação dos títulos e valores mobiliários para praticar o gerenciamento de resultados. Com relação à provisão para operações de crédito, seis bancos usaram-na para gerenciar seus resultados, outros seis bancos não a usaram e para cinco bancos os resultados foram inconclusivos. Os resultados também foram inconclusivos para os passivos contingentes. / This thesis purpose is to detect if there are enough signs to assure that Brazilian commercial banks practice any kind of earnings management. For that, it was checked if the selected Brazilian commercial banks - leader institutions of the twenty biggest Brazilian banking conglomerates - used goodwill on acquisitions of subsidiary companies, securities classification, loan loss provisions or contingent and legal liabilities to practice earnings management. Two of three banks that had goodwill on acquisitions of subsidiary companies effectively used its amortization to manage the banks results. Fifty-five percent of the selected banks did use securities classification to practice earnings management. Regarding the loan loss provisions, six banks used them to manage results, other six banks did not use them to manage results and for five banks the results were inconclusive. The results were also inconclusive for contingent and legal liabilities provisions.

Este trabalho propôs-se a responder se existem indícios suficientes para se afirmar que os bancos comerciais no Brasil praticam alguma modalidade de gerenciamento de resultados. Para tanto, foi verificado se os bancos comerciais selecionados - instituições líderes dos vinte maiores conglomerados bancários brasileiros - utilizaram os ágios em investimentos em controladas e coligadas, as operações com títulos e valores mobiliários, as provisões para operações de crédito ou os passivos contingentes para gerenciar seus resultados. Dois dos três bancos que possuíam ágios em investimentos em controladas e coligadas efetivamente utilizaram sua amortização para gerenciar seus resultados. Cinqüenta e cinco por cento dos bancos selecionados utilizaram a classificação dos títulos e valores mobiliários para praticar o gerenciamento de resultados. Com relação à provisão para operações de crédito, seis bancos usaram-na para gerenciar seus resultados, outros seis bancos não a usaram e para cinco bancos os resultados foram inconclusivos. Os resultados também foram inconclusivos para os passivos contingentes. / This thesis purpose is to detect if there are enough signs to assure that Brazilian commercial banks practice any kind of earnings management. For that, it was checked if the selected Brazilian commercial banks - leader institutions of the twenty biggest Brazilian banking conglomerates - used goodwill on acquisitions of subsidiary companies, securities classification, loan loss provisions or contingent and legal liabilities to practice earnings management. Two of three banks that had goodwill on acquisitions of subsidiary companies effectively used its amortization to manage the banks results. Fifty-five percent of the selected banks did use securities classification to practice earnings management. Regarding the loan loss provisions, six banks used them to manage results, other six banks did not use them to manage results and for five banks the results were inconclusive. The results were also inconclusive for contingent and legal liabilities provisions.

Prior empirical research, mainly conducted in US under the US GAAP, has indicated that managers in listed banks use loan loss provisions as a primary tool for income smoothing activities. Since 2005 the accounting environment in the European Union (EU) changed, as all listed companies are required to comply with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Some arguments envisage that IFRS is a set of high quality standards that plug some inconsistencies relative to national General Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). The overall objective of the present study is to examine earnings management and in particular income smoothing through the use of loan loss provisions (LLP) to manage earnings under IFRS and national GAAPs. The sample consists of twenty large commercial banks listed in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) for the years 2004-2012 (including early adopters) and sixteen banks for the years 1996-2003 under each country’s national reporting regime. Furthermore we present the body of earning management literature in conjunction with agency theory in order to grasp managers’ opportunistic behavior. Finally we assess the institutional role of financial reporting standards and the arguments of how IFRS could restrict earnings management activities as proposed by some authors. Overall, our results indicate some degree of income smoothing activities through loan loss provisions by bank managers both under national GAAPs and IFRS. The study contributes to the broad literature body on earnings management, while testing income-smoothing activities on a single industry compared to previous studies where the samples comprises a variety of firms in different industries.

For the evaluation of banks¡¦ performance, non-performing loans ratio and capital adequacy ratio are the two major indicators other than earnings performance. Among the various tools for earnings manipulation, loan loss provisions may be the only one that could affect bank¡¦s earning numbers, non-performing loans ratio and capital adequacy ratio simultaneously. In order to satisfy the need to increase earnings and capital adequacy ratio and to decrease non-performing loans ratio, banks may have motivation to conduct earnings management. The purpose of the study is thus to investigate whether there is a relationship between the earnings management by using the discretionary loan loss provisions and the earnings before loan loss provisions, non-performing loans ratio, capital adequacy ratio, asset size, loan growth rate, and loans uncollected. In addition, the study divides the sample banks into the following categories: (1) commercial banks versus others, (2) new banks versus old banks (based on the time the bank was founded), and (3) state-run versus non-state-run (based on whether the president of the bank is appointed by the government). The study also intends to examine whether earnings management conducted by the bank¡¦s management is different between the various categories. Based on the empirical results from the Taiwan Economics Journal (TEJ) database, the study found: (1) the three variables of earnings before loan loss provisions, asset size, and loans uncollected are significantly related to the earnings management by using discretionary loan loss provisions, and the higher the three variables, the higher the degree of earnings management; (2) non-performing loans ratio, capital adequacy ratio, and loan growth rate are not found to be significantly related to the earnings management by using discretionary loan loss provisions; (3) state-run banks have conducted more earnings management than non-state-run banks; and (4) there is no significant result found in other analyses for other categories.

Purpose - the purpose of this thesis is to investigate earnings management in an emerging economy without market force. We use discretionary loan loss provisions (DLLP) to proxy earnings management, which constitute a material portion of the total accruals in the banking industry. We examine this abnormal behavior in the financial statements prepared under US GAAP and IFRS. Specifically, we try to find the differences in managerial opportunistic behavior that might exist in the two accounting regimes. We also examine the micro economy and regulatory factors that might influence the earnings behavior in the banks. Design/method/approach - This empirical investigation uses an unbalanced panel data of five commercial banks in Liberia for a period of six years, 2010 to 2012 before and 2013 to 2016 after IFRS adoption. The data generated from the audited financial statements of the commercial banks were analyzed with two sample t test and multiple linear regression. We also run robustness check with same statistical procedures to validate the results. Findings - the empirical results show a statistically insignificant difference in earnings management after the adoption of IFRS, which means the introduction of IFRS did not have significant effect on earnings management practices in the banks. Additionally, we found no significant relationship between Liberia GDP growth and DLLP. Finally, we discovered a positive insignificant relationship between the capital adequacy ratio and DLLP as predicted. Originality/value - the result of this thesis advances the understanding of earnings management under US GAAP and IFRS in an emerging economy. As most of the existing literature conducted on earnings management are mainly focused on developed economy with capital market and data from non-financial institutions. This thesis fills a gap in the existing literature by studying managerial discretion in an unusual environment. The results of our findings inform regulators, investors, auditors and standards setters considering IFRS adoption.