The importance of disclosure as a regulatory device in company law is widely recognized. This 2006 book explores the disclosure requirements of companies in their reporting activities, and seeks to ...bring together the main features of the reporting system. The book considers the theoretical basis of the corporate reporting system and describes the regulatory framework for that system. It explores financial reporting and 'narrative' reporting, highlighting the fact that financial reporting requirements are more substantially developed than narrative reporting requirements - a consequence of the shareholder-centred vision that persists in company law. The roles of those responsible for providing corporate reports and those entitled to receive such information are examined. The book concludes with some broad suggestions for future development, with particular focus on the need to recognize the relevance of the communicative role of corporate reporting. The use of new technology also presents both challenges and opportunities for improving the regime.
This article provides a thematic content analysis of the Chairman's Statement of Arthur Guinness & Son Ltd over time. The analysis traces the evolution of the content over four distinct periods using ...a coding scheme developed from extant research. The objective is to study whether the corporate narratives change in line with the institutional factors over time. To interpret the results, we draw on an institutional theory- based lens to offer potential explanations of some of the change and also of stability. Institutions can not only constrain behaviour but also support and empower agents to bring about change. The results of the longitudinal content analysis reveal some variations over time, but in general the content is relatively stable. This may be explained by the organisation itself being an institution that is sufficiently institutionalised so that corporate reporting remained relatively stable. This suggests Guinness may be an example of a strong institution over time.
This study develops an empirical analysis of the relevance of accounting information when biological assets are measured at fair value. We use an international sample of firms with biological assets. ...We find that biological assets influence unpredictability when they are measured at historical cost (HC). In this case, the ability of accounting data to predict future cash flows diminishes as the proportion of biological assets on total assets increases. The valuation at fair value (FV) switches this negative influence of biological assets to a positive one. We find that when they are measured at FV, the prediction accuracy of future cash flows improves as the ratio of biological assets to total assets increases. This evidence is robust to differentmeasures of prediction accuracy, as well as to the improvement of accounting standards, regardless of FV, over time. The evidence is weaker for bearer plants.
Este estudio realiza un análisis empírico sobre la relevancia de la información contable cuando los activos biológicos son valorados al valor razonable. Utilizamos una muestra internacional de empresas que utilizan activos biológicos, mediante la cual encontramos que los activos biológicos influencian negativamente la capacidad de predicción cuando están valorados a coste histórico. En este caso la habilidad de la información contable para predecir futuros flujos de efectivo disminuye a medida que aumenta la proporción de los activos biológicos en el total del activo. La aplicación del valor razonable convierte en positiva esta influencia negativa. Según nuestros resultados, cuando los activos biológicos están valorados a valor razonable mejora el acierto de predicción de los flujos futuros de efectivo a medida que aumenta la proporción de los activos biológicos sobre el total del activo. Estos resultados son robustos a diferentes indicadores del acierto de predicción, así como a la mejora de la calidad de la información contable a lo largo del tiempo, independientemente de la aplicación del valor razonable, como consecuencia de la implementación de nuevas normas contables. En cambio esta evidencia es débil para los cultivos o plantaciones permanentes.
En una època de crisi econòmica com la que estem patint, la terminologia té una importància cabdal. La majoria dels economistes opinen, quan el que necessitem és que diagnostiquin. I en aquesta fase ...de la crisi no tenim encara diagnòstics perquè els termes es confonen entre qui parla i qui escolta.
Goodwill, sometimes purchased but often more significantly internally generated, is the major constituent of the value of many listed companies. Accounting aims to provide users of financial ...statements with useful information, and more than fifty current International Financial Reporting Standards prescribe accounting disclosure requirements in minute detail. However, these Standards dismiss internally generated goodwill with a single brief provision that it is not to be brought to account at all. The impairment regime now laid down for dealing with purchased goodwill contains severe flaws, while previous methods have also been found to be unsatisfactory.
This book traces the history of the goodwill accounting controversy in detail and demonstrates that it has been a prime example of an issue 'conceived in a way that it is in principle unsolvable'. It explores the problem of recognising the importance of goodwill as a whole and finding a way of presenting meaningful information regarding it in the context of the financial statements. The author's proposed solution builds upon research undertaken and uses a Market Capitalization Statement, based on a modification of nineteenth century 'double accounting' in a modern context. Examples show that the proposed Market Capitalization Statement has the potential to provide significant information not currently available form conventional financial statements, which in turn are freed to present clearer information.
I investigate the effects of requiring the audit engagement partner (EP) signature and individual EP’s quality on information asymmetry, analysts’ forecast errors and forecast dispersion. I predict ...and find that, ceteris paribus, there is a significant decline in information asymmetry, analysts’ forecast errors and forecast dispersion from the pre- to post-EP signature period in the UK over both of short-term (e.g., 2008-2010) and long-term (e.g., 2004-2014). These findings hold when using a control sample approach and a different proxy for the information asymmetry, which indicate that my results are not likely due to the effect of concurrent events and correlated omitted variables. These findings provide timely and important empirical evidence to the ongoing debate about whether the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board should pass a similar requirement in the U.S.
Includes bibliography.
Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016.
FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
This thesis adds to the ongoing accounting and financial literature by investigating the determinants and economic effects of corporate disclosure in a low disclosure environment – the two Chinese ...stock markets. It examines two research questions: whether the imposition of exogenously-imported corporate governance legislation and international accounting standards (IAS) lead to a fundamental improvement of corporate disclosure practices; and the estimation risk perspective of whether increased corporate disclosure results in a lower cost of equity capital through reducing the risk premiums on information uncertainty on firm-special characteristics. Results for the first question demonstrate that, while corporate disclosure is increased over time, neither advanced corporate governance mechanisms nor the IAS facilitate material improvement in voluntary disclosure. Instead, the ownership structure, especially foreign-ownership, seems to play a more essential role in determining companies’ disclosure practices. In regards to the second research question, this thesis shows stock prices of listed Chinese companies are largely informational inefficient, and that, under this circumstance, the level of corporate disclosure is strongly negatively associated with stock return volatilities. This negative association appears to result from the high-margin decrease in information asymmetry on firm-special characteristics when listed companies increase mandatory disclosure. This finding therefore provides further country-level evidence in support of the view that the extent of negative association between corporate disclosure and the cost of equity capital is primarily dependent upon the features of stock markets and the disclosure environment in different nations. This thesis concludes with recommendations for the Chinese government and the market regulator, the China Securities Regulation Committee (CSRC), to fundamentally improve current political and legal systems and to effectively enforce the mandatory disclosure legislation.
During the last decade there have been significant changes in market structure as well as in the regulatory framework. New regulations require firms to disclose more information in a timely manner. ...Simultaneously, quantum improvements in computer networks have increased the speed of information flows and facilitated explosive growth in trading volume. In light of such changes, I examine three important questions regarding how security pricing has responded to recent changes in market frictions. Given the rise of automated trading in the post-decimalization era, we examine time trends in price clustering for exchange traded funds (ETFs) and individual stocks during 2001 – 2010. There is limited prior evidence on price clustering for portfolio securities such as ETFs. A striking feature of the evidence is the substantial reduction in clustering over the sample period for ETFs as well as for individual stocks. This decline occurs for trades of all sizes. We attribute the decline in clustering to the increasing prominence of algorithmic trading, which is immune to psychological biases. The second chapter examines the impact of a firm's disclosure patterns on its cost of debt. Using data on current report (Form 8-K) filings, we examine firms' information disclosure behavior prior to debt issuances and the resultant impact on the cost of debt capital. We find that firms increase their current report filing frequency as the debt issuance approaches; this tendency is more pronounced for public debt issues compared to private debt issues. Among public debt issuers, the increase in disclosure is greater for high-yield debt versus investment-grade debt. Analysis of yield spreads of high-yield debt reveals that more disclosure reduces the cost of debt. These results further suggest that debt issuing firms find current report filing as an economic and useful way to improve the information environment. Finally, chapter three investigates stock market reactions to 8-K reports filed under the new regime in the specific context of acquisitions of privately held target firms by public acquirers. This paper finds that 8-K disclosures filed by public acquirers have a material impact on the pricing and the trading of the acquirers' shares around the event date and the SEC filing dates. Further, we find that this impact is economically significant even for targets classified as "insignificant" by the SEC. We find no significant effects related to the pre-event information transparency of the acquirer.
This report is a clear, accessible and jargon-free analysis of the practical application of Corporate Governance. With short case studies to illustrate UK legal requirements, the author guides the ...reader through all aspects of the Corporate Governance program, concentrating specifically on its use by organizations who are not required to adopt it, such as listed PLCs.
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