外文翻译德国公认会计准则与国际财务报告准则下的盈余管理.docx

外文翻译德国公认会计准则与国际财务报告准则下的盈余管理.docx

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外文翻译德国公认会计准则与国际财务报告准则下的盈余管理

本科毕业论文（设计）

外文翻译

外文题目EarningsManagementunderGermanGAAPversusIFRS

外文出处EuropeanAccountingReview

外文作者Tendeloo,B.V.,andVanstraelen,A

原文：

EarningsManagementunderGermanGAAPversusIFRS

Abstract

ThispaperaddressesthequestionwhethervoluntaryadoptionofInternationalFinancialReportingStandards（IFRS）isassociatedwithlowerearningsmanagement.Balletal.（JournalofAccountingandEconomics,36（1–3）,pp.235–270,2003）arguethatadoptinghighqualitystandardsmightbeanecessaryconditionforhighqualityinformation,butnotnecessarilyasufficientone.InGermany,acode-lawcountrywithlowinvestorprotectionrights,arelativelylargenumberofcompanieshavechosentovoluntarilyadoptIFRSpriorto2005.WeinvestigatewhetherGermancompaniesthathaveadoptedIFRSengagesignificantlylessinearningsmanagementcomparedtoGermancompaniesreportingunderGermangenerallyacceptedaccountingprinciples（GAAP）,whilecontrollingforotherdifferencesinearningsmanagementincentives.Oursample,consistingofGermanlistedcompanies,contains636firm-yearobservationsrelatingtotheperiod1999–2001.OurresultssuggestthatIFRS-adoptersdonotpresentdifferentearningsmanagementbehaviorcomparedtocompaniesreportingunderGermanGAAP.Thesefindingscontributetothecurrentdebateonwhetherhighqualitystandardsaresufficientandeffectiveincountrieswithweakinvestorprotectionrights.TheyindicatethatvoluntaryadoptersofIFRSinGermanycannotbeassociatedwithlowerearningsmanagement.

1.Introduction

TheInternationalAccountingStandards（IAS）,nowrenamedasInternationalFinancialReportingStandards（IFRS）,havebeendevelopedtoharmonizecorporateaccountingpracticeandtoanswertheneedforhighqualitystandardstobeadoptedintheworld’smajorcapitalmarkets.

Balletal.（2003）arguethatadoptinghighqualitystandardsmightbeanecessaryconditionforhighqualityinformation,butnotnecessarilyasufficientone.ThispapercontributestothisdebatebyexaminingwhethertheadoptionofhighqualitystandardslikeIFRSisassociatedwithhighfinancialreportingquality.Inparticular,wequestionwhetherIFRSaresufficienttooverridemanagers’incentivestoengageinearningsmanagementandaffectthequalityofreportedearnings.

Previousresearchprovidesevidencethatthemagnitudeofearningsmanagementisonaveragehigherincode-lawcountrieswithlowinvestorprotectionrights,comparedtocommon-lawcountrieswithhighinvestorprotectionrights（Leuzetal.,2003）.Hence,toassesswhetherfirmsthatreportunderIFRScanbeassociatedwithhigherearningsqualitywefocusonGermany,whichisacode-lawcountrywithrelativelylowinvestorprotectionrights（LaPortaletal.,2000）.Moreover,arelativelylargenumberofGermancompanieshavealreadyvoluntarilychosentoadoptIFRSpriorto2005.ThisallowsacomparisonbetweencompaniesthathaveadoptedIFRSversuscompaniesthatreportunderdomesticgenerallyacceptedaccountingprinciples（GAAP）.

TheresultsofourresearchshowthatIFRSdonotimposeasignificantconstraintonearningsmanagement,asmeasuredbydiscretionaryaccruals.Onthecontrary,adoptingIFRSseemstoincreasethemagnitudeofdiscretionaryaccruals.OurresultsfurthersuggestthatcompaniesthathaveadoptedIFRSengagemoreinearningssmoothing,althoughthiseffectissignificantlyreducedwhenthecompanyhasaBig4auditor.However,hiddenreserves,whichareallowedunderGermanGAAPtomanageearnings,arenotentirelypickedupbythetraditionalaccrualsmeasures.Whenhiddenreservesaretakenintoconsideration,ourresultsshowthatIFRS-adoptersdonotpresentdifferentearningsmanagementbehaviorcomparedtocompaniesreportingunderGermanGAAP.Hence,ourresultsindicatethatadoptersofIFRScannotbeassociatedwithlowerearningsmanagement.Thisfindingsuggeststhattheadoptionofhighqualitystandardsisnotasufficientconditionforprovidinghighqualityinformationincode-lawcountrieswithlowinvestorprotectionrights.

Theremainderofthispaperisorganizedasfollows.InSection2,wereviewtherelevantliteratureandprovidethetheoreticalbackgroundofthepaper.Section3providesanoverviewoftheGermanaccountingsystem.InSection4,weformulatetheresearchhypotheses.Section5describestheresearchdesign.TheresultsofthestudyarepresentedinSection6.Finally,inSection7,wesummarizeourresults,discusstheimplicationsandlimitationsofouranalysisandgivesuggestionsforfurtherresearch.

2.PreviousLiterature

2.1.AdoptionofInternationalAccountingStandards

TheInternationalAccountingStandardsCommittee（IASC）,whichwasestablishedin1973andnowrenamedastheInternationalAccountingStandardsBoard（IASB）,aimstoachieveuniformityintheaccountingstandardsusedbybusinessesandotherorganizationsforfinancialreportingaroundtheworld（IASBwebsite）.Thebenefitsoftheadoptionofinternationalaccountingstandardsareconsideredtobethefollowing.First,itshouldimprovetheabilityofinvestorstomakeinformedfinancialdecisionsandeliminateconfusionarisingfromdifferentmeasuresoffinancialpositionandperformanceacrosscountries,therebyleadingtoareducedriskforinvestorsandalowercostofcapitalforcompanies.Second,itshouldlowercostsarisingfrommultiplereporting.Third,itshouldencourageinternationalinvestment.Finally,itshouldleadtoamoreefficientallocationofsavingsworldwide（Streetetal.,1999）.

TheoriginalInternationalAccountingStandardsweremostlydescriptiveinnatureandcontainedmanyalternativetreatments.Becauseofthisflexibilityandacontinuinglackofcomparabilityacrosscountries,thestandardscameunderheavycriticisminthelate1980s.Inresponsetothiscriticism,theIASCstartedtheComparabilityProjectin1987.Therevisedstandards,whichbecameeffectivein1995,substantiallyreducedthealternativetreatmentsandincreasedthedisclosurerequirements（Nobes,2002）.InJuly1995,theIASCandtheInternationalOrganizationofSecuritiesCommission（IOSCO）agreedtoalistofaccountingissuesthatneededtobeaddressedforobtainingIOSCO’sendorsementofthestandards.ThesubsequentCoreStandardsProjectledagaintosubstantialrevisionsofIAS.InMay2000,theIASCreceivedIOSCO’sendorsementsubjectto‘reconciliationwherenecessarytoaddresssubstantiveoutstandingissuesatanationalorregionallevel’（IOSCOPressRelease,17May2000）.TheCoreStandardsProjecthasbroughtawiderrecognitiontoIASaroundtheworld.Forexample,theEuropeanParliamenthasissuedaregulation（1606/2002/EC）requiringallEUlistedcompaniestoprepareconsolidatedfinancialstatementsbasedonInternationalAccountingStandardsby2005.Inanumberofcountries,includingAustria,Belgium,France,Germany,ItalyandSwitzerland,companieswerealreadypermittedtoprepareconsolidatedfinancialstatementsunderIFRS（orUSGAAP）priorto2005.

SinceGermanaccountingstandardsanddisclosurepracticeshavebeencriticizedintheinvestorcommunity（LeuzandVerrechia,2000）,arelativelylargenumberofGermanfirmshaveadoptedinternationalaccountingstandardssuchasIFRSorUSGAAP.Thisswitchisthoughttorepresentasubstantialcommitmenttotransparentfinancialreportingforthefollowingtworeasons.First,IFRSadoptionitselfmighteffectivelyenhancefinancialreportingquality.Second,firmswhichadoptIFRSorUSGAAPmightdosobecausetheyhavehigherincentivestoreporttransparently,suchashighfinancingneeds.Inthiscase,IFRSservesasaproxyforacrediblecommitmenttohigherqualityaccounting.AstudyconductedbyDumontierandRaffournier（1998）withSwissdatarevealsthatearlyadoptersofIFRS‘arelarger,moreinternationallydiversified,lesscapitalintensiveandhaveamorediffuseownership’.TheyarguethatthedecisiontoapplyIFRSisprimarilyinfluencedbypoliticalcostsandpressuresfromoutsidemarkets.Murphy（1999）alsousedSwissdatatostudythedeterminantsoftheadoptionofIFRS.ShefoundthatcompaniesthatadoptIFRShaveahigherpercentageofforeignsalesandahighernumberofforeignexchangelistings.El-Gazzaretal.（1999）foundthesamerelationshipsusingdatafromvariouscountries.Inaddition,theyconcludedthatbeingdomiciledinanEUcountryandhavingalowerdebttoequityratioispositivelyassociatedwiththeadoptionofIFRS.Otherdeterminantsoftheadoptionofinternationalstandardsmentionedintheliteratureincludeahighprofitability,theissuanceofequityduringtheyearofadoption,domesticGAAPdifferingsignificantlyfromIFRSorUSGAAPand,relatedtothelatter,beingdomiciledinacountrywithabank-orientedfinancialsystem（Ashbaugh,2001;CuijpersandBuijink,2003）.

NotallcompaniesthatseektheinternationalinvestmentstatusthatcomeswiththeadoptionofIFRSare,however,willingtofulfillalloftherequirementsandobligationsinvolved.AccordingtoastudybyStreetandGray（2002）thereisasignificantnon-compliancewithIFRSin1998companyreports,especiallyinthecaseofIFRSdisclosurerequirements.WiththerevisionofIAS1,effectiveforfinancialstatementscoveringperiodsbeginningonorafter1July1998,financialstatementsareprohibitedfromnotingcompliancewithInternationalAccountingStandards‘unlesstheycomplywithalltherequirementsofeachapplicableStandardandeachapplicableInterpretationoftheStandingInterpretationsCommittee’.

AllcompaniesincludedinourIFRSsamplementionIFRScomplianceintheirfinancialstatementsaftertherevisedIAS1becameeffective.Nevertheless,adoptersof