Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 158 (SFAS 158) requires companies to report the funded status of retirement plans on the balance sheet for fiscal years ending after December 15, 2006. Prior to this, the average retirement plan was underfunded, and after the adoption of SFAS 158...

This paper examines how the characteristics of accounting systems and management incentives interact and collectively determine financial reporting quality. We develop a rational expectations equilibrium model that features a steady-state firm with investments, financial and non-financial...

We use hand-collected data for a sample of large European firms to investigate the influence of countries' institutional and economic factors on managers' non-GAAP disclosures. We find that managers are more likely to use non-GAAP measures to meet or beat earnings benchmarks that GAAP earnings...

Within the European Union, the IAS-Regulation has harmonized applicable accounting standards for consolidated financial statements of capital market oriented companies by requiring IFRS since 2005. Regarding enforcement of financial reporting, the IAS-Regulation offered only small guidance for...

The aims of the study is to know the effect of conservatism accounting, corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure and tax avoidance on earnings management. In this study variable of conservatism accounting was proxy by accrual. Variable of CSR disclosure was proxy by corporate social...

The purpose of this paper is to synthesize insights from existing research on the disclosure of non-GAAP earnings, from an international point of view, and suggest several avenues for future research in this area. The paper also examines how different regulators and accounting standard setters...

Purpose – The aim is to explore whether principles-based versus rules-based accounting standards have an effect on measures of financial reporting quality and earnings management strategies. Design/methodology/approach – This study uses a firm-year-specific variable that captures the extent...

Prior research finds that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (US-SOX) of 2002 has affected earnings management in the United States. Cohen et al. (2008) indicate that accrual-based earnings management has declined since the passage of US-SOX, while real earnings management has increased. Further, Gilliam et...

This paper examines the differences in accrual-based and real earnings management across countries from the perspective of investor protection. Following prior research (Leuz et al., 2003), we hypothesize that accrual-based earnings management is more constrained by strict discipline in...

Managers almost always define non-GAAP earnings to exclude the effects of acquisition and restructuring expenses, the amortization of intangibles, and impairments. I find that managers with a history of reporting non-GAAP earnings act as if they place lower weight on these excluded expenses when...