Prior research shows that managers use discretion in estimating Level 3 financial instruments to opportunistically manage capital and earnings. We investigate an earlier decision, subsequent classification changes that result in net transfers into the Level 3 classification, to examine whether...

Fair values and other accounting estimates (FVOEs) are common in financial reporting (IAASB, 2009) and regulators are concerned that auditors are insufficiently skeptical in their evaluations of FVOEs (PCAOB, 2009, 2015a, b; IFIAR, 2014). Utilizing an experiment with auditors as participants, we...