Prior research provides mixed evidence on whether the transition to IAS/IFRS deters or contributes to greater earnings management (earnings smoothing). The dominant explanation for the conflicting results is self-selection. Early voluntary adopters had incentives to increase the transparency of...

The dominance of English as a lingua franca in international business exchanges is so commonly accepted that there has been no investigation into the use of English as an external financial-reporting language in non-English-speaking countries. In this study we analyze the factors associated with...

Purpose – This paper aims to focus on how forecasts information is disclosed in IPO prospectuses. In France, managers report either detailed forecasts or only a brief summary. Design/methodology/approach – The authors investigate the determinants and consequences of the varying levels of...

Accounting for R&D costs is an open issue. SFAS N°2 mandates that all R&D costs must be immediately expensed. IAS 38 requires capitalization of R&D costs if they meet certain criteria. Recent research papers show the value relevance of capitalized R&D. We test the value relevance of R&D...

In this paper, we analyze the effect of the mandatory introduction of IFRS standards on earnings quality, and more precisely on earnings management. We concentrate on three IFRS first-time adopter countries, namely Australia, France, and the UK. We find that the pervasiveness of earnings...