[...]A fundamental objective of governance research inaccounting is to investigate the properties of accountingsystems and the surrounding institutional environmentimportant to the effective governance of firms. Bushman andSmith (2001) provide an extensive survey and discussion ofgovernance...

Advocates of fair value accounting believe that fair valuesprovide more relevant measures of assets, liabilities, andearnings than do historical costs. These advocates assertthat fair value accounting better reflects underlying economicvalues. The advantages of this method—and thecorresponding...

This paper analyzes a useful accounting framework that breaks down the current account to twocomponents: a composition effect and a growth effect.We show that past empirical evidence, which stronglysupports the growth effect as the main driver of current account dynamics, is misconceived. The...

Accounting is frequently described and recognized as the language of business because theexternal financial reporting function is extensively used as a principal means of communicatingresults of corporate economic activity to interested external parties. However, deficiencies withrespect to the...

Identifizierung von Risiken und deren Unterlegung mit Eigenkapital sind die von der Finanzaufsichtgeforderten Maßnahmen eines Risikomanagements. Eigene Risikomodelle werden zugelassen unddie Angemessenheit der Planung wird zusätzlich mittels Stresstests überwacht.Risikomanagement kann hierbei...

Many European companies are attracted to Maltabecause of its full imputation system, more commonlyknown as the international holding company regime.In fact, a vast majority of German blue chips run aMalta holding or finance company.[...]

The Latin principle pacta sunt servanda (‘‘agreementsmust be kept’’) serves as a cornerstone of socialinteraction, peace, and justice. If a breach of contractdid not have some sort of ramification, the motivationto stick to the stipulations of the treaty would decreasegreatly, the...

If German tax law was a river flowing over all businesstransactions and commercial accounting, thelast words of Norman Maclean in A River Runs ThroughIt best suit the traditional relationship between commercialand tax accounting. For more than 100 yearsthe principle of strict book-tax conformity...

Many of our previous columns dealt with theframework and the aftermath of the major corporatetax reform (Unternehmenssteuerreformgesetz) in2008. The reform included a fundamental modificationof the German thin cap rule, or Zinsschranke (see TaxNotes Int’l, July 16, 2007, p. 263, Doc...

The tax issue causing uproar in Germany and Switzerlandhas all the ingredients for a good story. Itis about tax law, those who break it, and the ultimatequestion whether the government itself is infringing onthe law when buying stolen data. Moreover, it is aboutthe opinion of the vast majority...