This paper assesses current regulatory and accounting developments in the OECD area against their purported goals. It specifically considers the different approaches to valuing pension liabilities and questions the possibility of convergence between funding and business accountants' valuation...

In a lot of countries, not only one but several sets of accounts have to be prepared and disclosed by (holding) companies. This paper inquires into possibly different economic functions of these sets of accounts by looking at the German dual financial reporting system, in which company (single)...

The paper draws on the economics of standards to inform current debates on international accounting standards. It traces the benefits claimed for standards - their contribution to the division of labour, innovation, trust, etc.; and the costs, including entry barriers and compliance costs. It...

This paper examines the value relevance of goodwill impairment and the information content of impairment announcements with the introduction of Financial Reporting Standard (FRS) 11 in the UK in 1998 which allowed an annual impairment review as an alternative to capitalisation and subsequent...

In this brief essay, prepared as part of a symposium on The New Federalism: Plural Governance in a Decentered World, I explore the regulatory dynamics at work: (1) in the operation of Securities Exchange Act Rule 14a-8, (2) in the interventions of then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer in the...

This study uses trading volume measures to provide a richer understanding of US investors trading in 20-F filers and US market reactions to the reconciliation and disclosures included in 20-F filings. A unique aspect of this study is the inclusion of all 20-F filers, including foreign filers...

We construct a large sample of 21,608 firm-years with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adopters and non-adopters from 34 countries over the 1998-2004 period, and evaluate differences in the implied cost of capital between the IFRS adopters and the non-adopters. We also...

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) have recently been adopted in a number of jurisdictions, including the European Union. Despite the importance of IFRS in the context of global accounting standards harmonization, little is known regarding what institutional factors influence...

Lang, Raedy and Wilson (2006) examine the properties of U.S. GAAP accounting numbers provided by cross-listed firms and compare them to those of U.S. firms. Using a wide range of properties related to earnings management, timely loss recognition, and value relevance, LRW show that accounting...

This paper examines the trading volume reaction to the reconciliation of IAS-based earnings to U.S. GAAP on Form 20-F filed during the period of 1995-2001. The sample includes all non-U.S. firms that use IAS as their primary reporting standards and reconcile their earnings to U.S. GAAP in their...