This study discusses the challenges and opportunities of establishing causal inference in empirical archival financial accounting research. Causal inference requires identification of a theoretically predicted causal mechanism in a research setting optimized to avoid endogenous causes and using...

In their joint framework project, the FASB and the IASB recently proposed dropping stewardship as one of the objectives of financial accounting, because the Boards view stewardship and valuation usefulness as compatible sub-objectives ranking under an overall objective of decision usefulness....

We address three research questions motivated by the recent ascent of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in Europe. First, analyzing the determinants of voluntary IFRS adoption by publicly traded German firms during the period 1998-2004, we find that size, international exposure,...

Prior research documents that conditional conservatism, measured as the asymmetric timeliness of earnings reflecting bad versus good news, varies with cross-country differences in institutional regimes. In this paper, we examine the determinants of conditional conservatism and related earnings...

We address three research questions motivated by the recent ascent of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in Europe. First, analyzing the determinants of voluntary IFRS adoption by publicly traded German firms during the period 1998-2004, we find that size, international exposure,...