We investigate the role of prudential supervisors' independence in affecting income smoothing behavior in European banks. Powerful national supervisors are predicted to influence the accounting practices of their supervised entities, shaping the properties of the accounting numbers they prepare....

As a result of the recent financial crisis, several key institutions urged the IASB and the FASB to re-evaluate their models for loan loss accounting and use more forward-looking information. The paper examines the principal features of the new expected loss approach, taking into account the...