This study addresses whether asset securitizations are really asset sales or a form of secured borrowing, by estimating cross-sectional equity valuation regressions to assess whether the stock market treats securitized assets and liabilities held by a special purpose entity (SPE) as assets and...

The introduction of a new accounting standard for financial instruments has raised a number of issues related to the application of fair value principles. This paper discusses some of these issues which are generally related to the fact that fair values are not always easily defined or readily...

Existing empirical evidence suggests that residual income valuation models based on historical cost accounting considerably underestimate equity values. One possible explanation is the use of historical cost accounting under inflationary conditions. In this paper, we use a residual income...

The present paper reviews the research evidence on the impact of changes in pension accounting methods on pension provision. We show that decisions to freeze, terminate or convert defined benefit (DB) plans have been driven primarily by a desire to limit contributions, though financial reporting...

We use the residual income valuation framework to compare the equity valuation implications of four approaches to employee stock options (ESOs) accounting proposed by regulators: APB 25 quot;recognize nothingquot;, SFAS 123 preferred quot;recognize ESO expensequot;, FASB Exposure Draft...

We provide evidence that firms with more transparent earnings enjoy a lower cost of capital. We base our earnings transparency measure on the extent to which earnings and change in earnings covary contemporaneously with returns. We find a significant negative relation between our transparency...

We examine whether application of International Accounting Standards is associated with higher accounting quality. The application of IAS reflects the combined effects of features of the financial reporting system, including standards, their interpretation, enforcement, and litigation. We find...

We provide evidence that the asymmetrical price reaction to bad news at earnings announcements is most pronounced when overall market price-earnings ratios are high. This finding is consistent with both unwarranted investor optimism and investor uncertainty. However, evidence also indicates that...