This paper examines whether voluntary disclosure by Swiss firms constrains the use of discretionary accruals to smooth earnings, and explores the effect of voluntary disclosure on the value relevance of earnings. We focus on Swiss firms because Switzerland's financial reporting system provides...

The period 2007-2010 marked one of the most severe economic and financial crises in living memory. In this paper, we focus on two of accounting's key functions within organisations and markets, financial reporting and governance. In this respect, we find that accounting exhibited shortcomings in...

Investors and stakeholders in continental Europe are becoming increasingly concerned about corporate environmental policies. As a result, many firms are voluntarily increasing the extent of their environmental disclosure in their annual report. While mostly unregulated, corporate environmental...

This study investigates the relevance of reported earnings in the context of an institutional environment, i.e., Switzerland, in which investors focus on dividends. In conjunction with a dividend focus, the financial reporting environment faced by Swiss firms provides their managers with more...