José Ignacio Jarne

The impact of IFRS on the European Union Is it related to the accounting tradition of the countries

Purpose - The purpose of the this paper is to discover the quantitative impact of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on financial reporting of European countries and evaluate if this impact is connected with the traditional accounting system in which each country is classified, either the Anglo-Saxon or the continental-European accounting system. Design/methodology/approach - First, the authors quantify the IFRS impact on each country and make a comparative analysis of that impact among countries. Then, the authors apply a cluster analysis in order to group European countries on the basis of the different effects of IFRS application. Findings - The results obtained show that the first application of IFRS has had different effects on the financial reporting among countries. The cluster analysis identifies four groups which show that the impact of IFRS on financial statements of European firms is not related to traditional accounting systems. Originality/value - The main contribution of the paper is that it studies the impact of mandatory IFRS application for several European countries and shows a comparative analysis, grouping the countries on the basis of that impact. Previous literature mainly gathers research related to specific countries, individually considered, or to different IFRS effects that do not reflect quantitative impacts.

The Spanish accounting system and international accounting harmonization

During the last decade, Spanish accounting regulations have undergone significant changes as a result of the harmonization process that has been taking place at the international level. These changes fundamentally reflect the adaptation of the regulations to the EU directives, although the statements of the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) have also played a role. At a time when the possibility of a further reform to the Spanish regulations is the subject of debate, in order for these to be brought closer to the international criteria, this paper has the following objectives: to show the accounting alternatives that the current Spanish regulations offer to companies; to determine which of these alternatives are adopted in the majority by these companies, thus evaluating the level of internal homogeneity of the accounting practice; and, finally, to evaluate the degree of consensus of these practices with the accounting criteria of the IASC. The results show a lack of homogeneity at the national level with respect to specific accounting areas. Similarly, we find that the degree of consensus with the IASC criteria is no more than moderate if consideration is given only to the benchmark criteria, whilst it increases markedly if the allowed treatments are also considered.

International harmonization of reporting required by stock markets

Abstract The 1980s witnessed a significant expansion of financial markets and, more specifically, of stock markets, at a world level. The differences which exist in the economic-accounting environment in which companies operate (legal structure, market development, national policy objectives, cultural factors) result in different procedures when shares are offered to the market, different reporting requirements required by the stock markets, etc. These differences reduce the efficiency of stock markets within an international environment. The importance of this fact has motivated the preparation of this paper, the aim of which is to analyze and quantify, where appropriate, the divergences which exist between the reporting requirements demanded by the stock markets of different countries and the home companies which wish to be quoted on them.

International differences in value relevance of accounting data and explaining country factors

Based on financial reporting and stock market information for 13,768 firms in 23 countries over the period 1995–1999, we perform a comparative analysis of the value relevance of reported earnings and their components. We also search the country and market factors explaining the relationship between financial reporting and prices. Our study provides evidence for the value relevance of net earnings figure. Breakdown of earnings into their components provides the investor with incremental information. Both factors related directly with the quantity and quality of the disclosed financial data and others country factors do affect the value relevance of accounting earnings.

EL IMPACTO DE LA CRISIS EN LA MANIPULACIÓN CONTABLE

Resumen Basandonos en los grupos cotizados en el mercado espanol, el presente trabajo aporta evidencia empirica sobre el impacto de la crisis en las practicas de earnings management . Utilizamos los ajustes por devengo discrecionales como medida de manipulacion. Los resultados obtenidos constatan que la calidad de la informacion financiera se ve afectada en periodos de crisis, ya que ponen de manifiesto que la manipulacion al alza del resultado via ajustes por devengo discrecionales se ha visto incrementada ante las dificultades economicas y financieras. Esto es debido no a la crisis en si misma, sino a que la crisis ha reforzado la importancia de algunos incentivos para manipular, como es el endeudamiento.

Grado de Convergencia de las Prácticas Contables de las Empresas Europeas. Una Evidencia Empírica

RESUMEN El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo conocer qué criterios contables están aplicando hoy en día las empresas de la Unión Europea entre aquellos que están vigentes actualmente en dicho entorno. Por esta vía, pretendemos asimismo conocer en qué aspectos existe más diversidad en la práctica contable empresarial y valorar la existencia o no de la aplicación mayoritaria de unos criterios específicos frente a otros, de cara a conocer cuáles podrían ser los criterios armonizadores más aceptados por las empresas en el ámbito europeo. Los resultados del estudio han puesto de manifiesto que con relación a algunos aspectos existe un elevado grado, de homogeneidad en cuanto a los criterios que están adoptando las empresas, a pesar de la diversidad que se observa a nivel de regulación para dichas problemáticas. Sin embargo, también se constata que todavía son muchas las áreas donde las diferencias normativas se trasladan a divergencias en las prácticas contables empresariales, lo que significa que las empresas van a tener que realizar un importante esfuerzo si se lleva a cabo el esperado proceso armonizador.

The development of earnings management research A review of literature from three different perspectives

Earnings management is a very complex and multifaceted phenomenon. It is defined in a variety of forms which reflect the fact that researchers often have very different perceptions of earnings management. For example, as Dechow and Skinner (2000) point out, practitioners and regulators often see earnings management as pervasive and problematic and in need of immediate remedial action. Schipper (1989) defines it in the context of purposeful intervention in external financial reporting, with the intent of obtaining some private gain. Therefore, the literature points to different debates on the topic of earnings management. Some studies simply focus on the theoretical aspect of earnings management. These include Healy and Wahlen (1999), Dechow and Skinner (2000), García Osma et al. (2003), Yaping (2005), and Rath and Sun (2008), who focus on the main advances in earnings management research. Other researchers provide an empirical view. For example, some authors just aim to supply evidence of earnings management; others assume that earnings management has been found in connection with many aspects of the company, such as its role in companies’ problems, financial markets, information asymmetry and agency theory. Others address the question of whether managers of firms in different countries engage in earnings management and, if so, how can its effects be measured and why do they do so, among other questions. As a consequence, an ongoing debate on the concept of earnings management is still present in the accounting and finance literature, indicating its continued importance. We contribute to the literature in two ways. The methodology used in this paper is based on a detailed review of the literature from early 1985 to 2013, and the devel-

Debates and Studies on Earnings Management : a Geographical Perspective

Earnings management is a very complex and compound phenomenon in the light of many years of investigation. Since then numerous books and articles have been written and conferences held on the concept of earnings management. The subject of earnings management in accounting literature grew in popularity, especially during the last decade of the 20th century. It has almost become a tradition, particularly in the popular and business press, to discuss the subject of accounting manipulation. No doubt, earnings management is presented day-to-day in many of the companies which hypothesized the majority of the studies. However, there is no consensus related to the concept of earnings management. Numerous papers have investigated, theoretically and empirically, different hypotheses related to earnings management. Some researchers aimed simply to provide evidence on earnings management; others assume that earnings management has been found in connection with many aspects of the company, such as its role in companies’ problems, financial markets, information asymmetry and agency theory, among others. As a consequence, an ongoing debate on the concept of earnings management is still present in the accounting and finance literature. This article contributes to this debate. Due to the wide variety and the complexity of the issue of earnings management, our objective is to clarify and explain the question of earnings management and support new insights into the key aspects of this issue by conducting a brief literature review from a geographical perspective. We describe in detail the concept of earnings management and ongoing debates on the issue, and we present the existing literature from different countries. Our investigation covers the period of 1985 to 2011 based on journals, conferences, congresses, and other publications, such as: PhD theses, Master’s theses, and some working papers.

Value relevance of accounting figures in presence of earnings management. Are enforcement and ownership diffusion really enough

The study assesses and compares the value relevance (VR) of accounting numbers in entities that experienced high discretionary accruals intensity and so possible earnings management (EM) behaviours, testing whether and in what extent the quality of enforcement and governance mechanisms act as moderating factors on the relation EM-VR. Based on a sample of 2 667 European non-financial entities, the results show that while the VR of earnings is low in entities that experienced high discretionary accruals intensity, book value increases its VR. The study also shows that the quality of enforcement mechanisms and the ownership diffusion (that proxies the quality of corporate governance) are effectively able to obstruct the loss of VR of earnings. The value added of the paper consists in showing that both the quality of enforcement and the ownership diffusion contrast only in part and in different manner the loss of VR of earnings, due to the presence of EM behaviours, acting only in part as moderating factors.

Los pronósticos de los analistas como incentivo a la manipulación del resultado

RESUMEN El objetivo de nuestro trabajo es conocer, en el ámbito de las empresas españolas cotizadas, si los pronósticos de los analistas constituyen un incentivo para la manipulación del resultado (al alza para alcanzarlos y/o a la baja para no sobrepasarlos). Utilizando la metodología de los ajustes por devengo discrecionales como medida de la manipulación, los resultados obtenidos evidencian que alcanzar el resultado pronosticado por los analistas constituye un incentivo para manipular contablemente la cifra de resultados y dicho incentivo adquiere mayor relevancia conforme se acerca la publicación del resultado. Sin embargo, no obtenemos evidencia de que los gerentes tengan incentivos a manipular a la baja el resultado con el fin de no sobrepasar los pronósticos de los analistas y evitar así que posteriores previsiones resulten más difíciles de alcanzar.