This paper analyzes a sample of 1,722 European firms during their mandatory transition from local country accounting rules (Local GAAP) to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in 2004 and 2005 using the same set of firm-year observations. We use this unique transition period to...

We examine whether managers' decisions to capitalize or expense R&D expenditures convey information about the future performance of the firm. Focusing on a French setting where managers can choose to capitalize R&D expenditures under certain circumstances, we find that, after controlling for...

Accounting for R&D costs is an open issue. SFAS N82 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...

This paper examines the impact of the accounting flexibility offered by IFRS 1 during the 2005 mandatory adoption of IFRS in the European Union. Same year reconciliations between local GAAP and IFRS are used on a sample of 1,635 European firms to determine the nature and extent of their use in...