We complement recent research (Ball et al. 2003) which suggests that country-level incentives (i.e. legal origin and the level of capital market development) are the main determinants of the quality of financial reporting. Using a newly developed Brazilian Corporate Governance Index (BCGI) we...

We examine the characteristics of accounting numbers using a sample of German companies reporting under IAS (2000-2002), and IFRS (2003-2004) and (2005-2006). We investigate the change in accounting quality during these time periods as IASB revises and issues new standards. Contrary to...

In the last years banks and firms relationship in Italy has experienced deep changes due to a new revised national and international regulation and to an increasing globalization of economic environment. These evolutions imply a new bank-firm relationship with a deeper disclosure, in a...

The New Zealand (NZ) Government began its public sector reforms in 1984. The purposes of the reforms were to build a more open public sector, a plainer and clearer way of reporting, emphasising accountability and transparency (Wallace, 1993). A central focus of the reforms was to change the...

Conservatism is one of the attributes of accounting quality. Conservatism is also one of the major reasons for international differences in financial reporting. The objective of this paper is to examine earnings quality proxied by earnings conservatism in transitional economies of Central and...

This paper examines the disclosure of intangible assets by 'high user' industrial firms in the Australian market subsequent to the introduction in 2005 of AASB 136 and AASB 138. Using a sample of ten large industrial firms with combined intangible assets of $37,758 million as at 2006, the paper...

We examine the consequences for the stock price movement of Andersen's German clients of several news events during the Enron crisis that were potentially damaging to the reputation of Enron's auditor Andersen. It seems to be likely that there may not only have been reputation-damaging effects...

This paper examines the 2005 financial disclosure for Evans and Tate Limited and its controlled entities. The first section of the paper examines the composition of the group, group profit, group taxation, and the impact of IFRS. One key finding is there is no estimate by the company as to the...

The separation of leases into operating and finance leases for accounting purposes can result in incentives to favour operating lease contracts since they avoid on-balance sheet debt. The IASB is conducting an active research project on leasing, following the G4+1 group's research on possible...

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,...