We compare characteristics of municipal debt issues in states that mandate GAAP for municipalities with issues in states that impose no annual financial disclosure requirements. Cross-sectional comparisons indicate that the use of public (versus private) debt is greater, and municipal debt costs...

Two issues are investigated herein, using Japanese data: (1) the relationship between corporate governance and voluntary adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), and (2) market reactions to announcements of such an adoption of IFRS. Prior studies suggest that the economic...

In December 2005, the first draft of the new Stock Corporation and Financial Reporting Code has been published. Amongst other things, the definition of the term asset is introduced to the new Swiss Code of Obligations. The legal certainty concerning indebtness (i.e., impaired equity capital in...

This report provides a review of the academic literature relevant to the mandatory adoption of IFRS reporting for member countries of the European Union in 2005 and an empirical analysis of the associated capital-market effects. In the empirical analysis, we focus on the effects on firms' costs...

This paper is concerned with the allegation that fair value accounting rules have contributed significantly to the recent financial crisis. It focuses on one particular channel for that contribution: the impact of fair value on actual or potential failure of banks. The paper compares four...

In late 2008 Selectica's net operating loss poison pill was triggered by Trilogy/Versata. Litigation ensued in Delaware Court of Chancery over the propriety of the poison pill, which Selectica instituted to protect its $167 million of NOLs from the limitations of Internal Revene Code (I.R.C.)...

Numerous empirical studies reveal that accounting numbers – equity as well as earnings' measures - have lost value relevance, i.e. explanatory power for stock market capitalization and/or abnormal returns, during the last decades. This effect is of particular significance after the rise of the...

Accounting-based profit distribution restrictions have been a key issue of the EU's company law harmonisation efforts. At present, the concept of creditor protection via the maintenance of a minimum level of nominal capital is challenged in several respects: (i) With its recent rulings, the...

Securities selection attempts to distinguish prospective winners from losers conditional on beliefs and available information. This article surveys relevant academic research on this subject, including work about the combining of forecasts (Bates and Granger 1969), the Black-Litterman model...