We test the value relevance of financial statements in Norway over the 40 years before IFRS were introduced. An improved association between financial reporting and value creation enhances decision making and control. We find that the time trend of overall value relevance has increased...

One of the major challenges to future financial reporting is to improve how intangible assets are accounted for. Expenditures on intangible resources have traditionally been expensed when incurred and therefore not treated as investments with book values. Dealing with intangible resources mostly...

This article analyzes the value-relevance of industry-based and resource-based competitive advantage in a large sample of firms listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. We measure competitive advantage by a single variable and perform a new decomposition into its underlying sources. In 1986-2005, the...

Firms listed on stock exchanges within the European Economic Area are required to report consolidated financial statements according to IFRS from 2005. The firms that adopted IFRS in 2005 were also required to restate their 2004 financial statements from national GAAP to provide comparable...

The cost of equity and debt have been documented to be affected by proxy risk factors beyond the market factor captured by the CAMP. For example, adding a size factor to the cost of equity raises the WACC, even when the equity weight is reduced. Incorporating a firm-specific credit risk premium...

The financial accounting regulations in Norway have not been motivated by corporate income taxation. Nevertheless, historically there has been a close relationship between financial accounting and income taxation. As a general taxation rule, the reported financial income has been the basis for...

We show that if taxable income were linked to accounting income, there will exist an automatic safeguard against manipulation of earnings within the analysed framework. Separating taxable income from accounting income will remove this self-controlled mechanism, and accordingly create a need for...