Der Jahresabschluss gehört zu den wichtigsten Informationsquellen von Aufsichts- und Betriebsräten. Er zeigt u. a., über welche bilanziellen Vermögenswerte ein Unternehmen verfügt und wie es dieses Vermögen finanziert hat.Da sich Unternehmen finanzielle Mittel für Investitionen immer...

Accounting for pensions has been a problem for standard setters for over 30 years. Early attempts to develop accounting standards were based on a cost orientation and reflected funding considerations. More recently, a balance sheet focus has led to issues over identification and measurement of...

Demerjian (2011) argues that a shift by U.S. standard setters towards the balance sheet approach reduces the usefulness of balance sheet numbers for contracting. Consistent with this argument, he provides evidence of a decline in the use of balance sheet-based covenants in debt contracts, a...

Recent years have seen a sharp decline in the use of balance sheet-based covenants in private debt contracts. I hypothesize that changes in accounting standards can explain part of this decline. Standard setting has shifted towards a “balance sheet approach”, which I predict has made the...