The recent period has highlighted a well-known phenomenon, namely the existence of a positive bias in experts’ anticipations. Literature on this subject underlines optimism in the financial analyst community. In this work, our significant contributions are twofold: we provide explanatory bias...

The aim of this paper is to build and estimate a macroeconomic model of credit risk for the French manufacturing sector. This model is based on Wilson’s Credit Portfolio View model (1997a, 1997b); it enables us to simulate loss distributions for a credit portfolio for several macroeconomic...

In the French language, the word comptabiliteacute (accounting) first appeared in the middle of the eighteenth century. It was used in the Royal finances and its first meaning was that of accountability. Until the middle of the nineteenth century, or thereabouts, the uses of the word evolved...

Following Colbert's Ordonnance of 1673, most of whose provisions were reiterated in the Code de Commerce, 1807 and the Law of Bankruptcy, 1838, traders in France were under a legal obligation to keep accounts of their business activities. In the event of bankruptcy, traders were potentially...

This article looks at the usefulness of measuring a company's wealth and net income using the fair value method. In this regard, the key question--is fair value relevant?--can be analysed as follows: do fair value "accounting numbers" provide a better estimate of the value of a company and the...

Information risk – the uncertainty regarding the parameters of the distribution of firms’ future cash flows – generates valuation errors and is costly to investors who require a higher return to compensate for greater information risk. We argue that, on average, through their...

French accounting values, accounting and reporting system characteristics and the nature of corporate owners and financiers account for the low level of French companies' disclosure. The aim of this paper is to relate the extent of disclosure in the annual reports of a sample of 100 French...

Face à la montée en puissance des actionnaires individuels et la progression du « capitalisme financier », les entreprises françaises sont amenées à adapter leurs stratégies de communication. Dans son rapport de 1999, la COB a constaté des améliorations dans la qualité de la...