We revisit evidence whether incentives or IFRS drive earnings quality changes, analyzing a large sample of German firms in the period from 1998 to 2008. Consistent with previous studies we find that voluntary and mandatory adopters differ distinctively in terms of essential firm characteristics...

We revisit evidence whether incentives or IFRS drive earnings quality changes, analyzing a large sample of German firms in the period from 1998 to 2008. Consistent with previous studies we find that voluntary and mandatory adopters differ distinctively in terms of essential firm characteristics...

This paper addresses the question whether adoption of IFRS-standards is associated with lower earnings management. Ball et al. (2003) argue that adopting high-quality standards might be a necessary condition for high quality information, but not necessarily a sufficient one. In Germany, a...

This study examines the predictive power of comprehensive income and its individual components within the homogenous institutional setting of German IFRS firms. The results could be relevant for the standard setters IASB and FASB and their joint project “Financial Statement Presentation”. We...

Kim and Shi (this issue) document that voluntary IFRS adoption is associated with significant benefits and argue that the effect is causal – a conclusion that is similar to many published papers on IFRS adoption. Yet voluntary IFRS adopters constitute only a small percentage of the global...

This paper investigates whether there is market reaction to and value-relevance of information contained in the mandatory transitional documents required by IFRS 1 (2005). These documents detail the reconciliation adjustments necessary to a firm's previously reported UK GAAP accounts to achieve...

A premise of standard setters and of much empirical research is that improving the quality of accounting standards and their implementation increases information in capital markets. This paper challenges this premise and shows that there are situations in which “better”, i.e., more...

By analyzing a carefully constructed earnings announcements sample that discloses a 'pro forma' earnings number, Bhattacharya, Black, Christensen, and Larson (2002) contribute to recent research documenting increasing differences between GAAP earnings and alternative earnings definitions...

This study investigates whether market participants perceive pro forma earnings to be more informative and more persistent than standard GAAP operating income by analyzing a sample of 1,149 actual pro forma press releases issued between January 1998 and December 2000. We find that pro forma...

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...