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Word文档下载推荐.docx

1、外 文 翻 译外文题目 Earnings Management under German GAAP versus IFRS 外文出处 European Accounting Review 外文作者 Tendeloo, B.V., and Vanstraelen, A 原文：Earnings Management under German GAAP versus IFRSAbstract This paper addresses the question whether voluntary adoption of International Financial Reporting Standar

2、ds （IFRS） is associated with lower earnings management. Ball et al. （Journal of Accounting and Economics, 36（13）, pp. 235270, 2003） argue that adopting high quality standards might be a necessary condition for high quality information, but not necessarily a sufficient one. In Germany, a code-law cou

3、ntry with low investor protection rights, a relatively large number of companies have chosen to voluntarily adopt IFRS prior to 2005. We investigate whether German companies that have adopted IFRS engage significantly less in earnings management compared to German companies reporting under German ge

4、nerally accepted accounting principles （GAAP）, while controlling for other differences in earnings management incentives. Our sample, consisting of German listed companies, contains 636 firm-year observations relating to the period 19992001. Our results suggest that IFRS-adopters do not present diff

5、erent earnings management behavior compared to companies reporting under German GAAP. These findings contribute to the current debate on whether high quality standards are sufficient and effective in countries with weak investor protection rights. They indicate that voluntary adopters of IFRS in Ger

6、many cannot be associated with lower earnings management.1. IntroductionThe International Accounting Standards （IAS）, now renamed as International Financial Reporting Standards （IFRS）, have been developed to harmonize corporate accounting practice and to answer the need for high quality standards to

7、 be adopted in the worlds major capital markets.Ball et al. （2003） argue that adopting high quality standards might be a necessary condition for high quality information, but not necessarily a sufficient one. This paper contributes to this debate by examining whether the adoption of high quality sta

8、ndards like IFRS is associated with high financial reporting quality. In particular, we question whether IFRS are sufficient to override managers incentives to engage in earnings management and affect the quality of reported earnings.Previous research provides evidence that the magnitude of earnings

9、 management is on average higher in code-law countries with low investor protection rights, compared to common-law countries with high investor protection rights （Leuz et al., 2003）. Hence, to assess whether firms that report under IFRS can be associated with higher earnings quality we focus on Germ

10、any, which is a code-law country with relatively low investor protection rights （La Portal et al.,2000）. Moreover, a relatively large number of German companies have already voluntarily chosen to adopt IFRS prior to 2005. This allows a comparison between companies that have adopted IFRS versus compa

11、nies that report under domestic generally accepted accounting principles （GAAP）.The results of our research show that IFRS do not impose a significant constraint on earnings management, as measured by discretionary accruals. On the contrary, adopting IFRS seems to increase the magnitude of discretio

12、nary accruals. Our results further suggest that companies that have adopted IFRS engage more in earnings smoothing, although this effect is significantly reduced when the company has a Big 4 auditor. However, hidden reserves, which are allowed under German GAAP to manage earnings, are not entirely p

13、icked up by the traditional accruals measures. When hidden reserves are taken into consideration, our results show that IFRS-adopters do not present different earnings management behavior compared to companies reporting under German GAAP. Hence, our results indicate that adopters of IFRS cannot be a

14、ssociated with lower earnings management. This finding suggests that the adoption of high quality standards is not a sufficient condition for providing high quality information in code-law countries with low investor protection rights.The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. In Section 2

15、, we review the relevant literature and provide the theoretical background of the paper. Section 3 provides an overview of the German accounting system. In Section 4, we formulate the research hypotheses. Section 5 describes the research design. The results of the study are presented in Section 6. F

16、inally, in Section 7, we summarize our results, discuss the implications and limitations of our analysis and give suggestions for further research.2. Previous Literature2.1. Adoption of International Accounting Standards The International Accounting Standards Committee （IASC）, which was established

17、in 1973 and now renamed as the International Accounting Standards Board （IASB）, aims to achieve uniformity in the accounting standards used by businesses and other organizations for financial reporting around the world （IASB website）. The benefits of the adoption of international accounting standard

18、s are considered to be the following. First, it should improve the ability of investors to make informed financial decisions and eliminate confusion arising from different measures of financial position and performance across countries, thereby leading to a reduced risk for investors and a lower cos

19、t of capital for companies. Second, it should lower costs arising from multiple reporting. Third, it should encourage international investment. Finally, it should lead to amore efficient allocation of savings worldwide （Street et al., 1999）.The original International Accounting Standards were mostly

20、 descriptive in nature and contained many alternative treatments. Because of this flexibility and a continuing lack of comparability across countries, the standards came under heavy criticism in the late 1980s. In response to this criticism, the IASC started the Comparability Project in 1987. The re

21、vised standards, which became effective in 1995, substantially reduced the alternative treatments and increased the disclosure requirements （Nobes, 2002）. In July 1995, the IASC and the International Organization of Securities Commission （IOSCO） agreed to a list of accounting issues that needed to b

22、e addressed for obtaining IOSCOs endorsement of the standards. The subsequent Core Standards Project led again to substantial revisions of IAS. In May 2000, the IASC received IOSCOs endorsement subject to reconciliation where necessary to address substantive outstanding issues at a national or regio

23、nal level （IOSCO Press Release, 17 May 2000）. The Core Standards Project has brought a wider recognition to IAS around the world. For example, the European Parliament has issued a regulation （1606/2002/EC） requiring all EU listed companies to prepare consolidated financial statements based on Intern

24、ationalAccounting Standards by 2005. In a number of countries, including Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland, companies were already permitted to prepare consolidated financial statements under IFRS （or US GAAP） prior to 2005.Since German accounting standards and disclosure prac

25、tices have been criticized in the investor community （Leuz and Verrechia, 2000）, a relatively large number of German firms have adopted international accounting standards such as IFRS or US GAAP. This switch is thought to represent a substantial commitment to transparent financial reporting for the

26、following two reasons. First, IFRS adoption itself might effectively enhance financial reporting quality. Second, firms which adopt IFRS or US GAAP might do so because they have higher incentives to report transparently, such as high financing needs. In this case, IFRS serves as a proxy for a credib

27、le commitment to higher quality accounting. A study conducted by Dumontier and Raffournier （1998） with Swiss data reveals that early adopters of IFRS are larger, more internationally diversified, less capital intensive and have a more diffuse ownership. They argue that the decision to apply IFRS is

28、primarily influenced by political costs and pressures from outside markets. Murphy （1999） also used Swiss data to study the determinants of the adoption of IFRS. She found that companies that adopt IFRS have a higher percentage of foreign sales and a higher number of foreign exchange listings. El-Ga

29、zzar et al. （1999） found the same relationships using data from various countries. In addition, they concluded that being domiciled in an EU country and having a lower debt to equity ratio is positively associated with the adoption of IFRS. Other determinants of the adoption of international standar

30、ds mentioned in the literature include a high profitability, the issuance of equity during the year of adoption, domestic GAAP differing significantly from IFRS or US GAAP and, related to the latter, being domiciled in a country with a bank-oriented financial system （Ashbaugh, 2001; Cuijpers and Bui

31、jink, 2003）.Not all companies that seek the international investment status that comes with the adoption of IFRS are, however, willing to fulfill all of the requirements and obligations involved. According to a study by Street and Gray （2002） there is a significant non-compliance with IFRS in 1998 c

32、ompany reports, especially in the case of IFRS disclosure requirements. With the revision of IAS 1, effective for financial statements covering periods beginning on or after 1 July 1998, financial statements are prohibited from noting compliance with International Accounting Standards unless they co

33、mply with all the requirements of each applicable Standard and each applicable Interpretation of the Standing Interpretations Committee.All companies included in our IFRS sample mention IFRS compliance in their financial statements after the revised IAS 1 became effective. Nevertheless, adopters of