Quality Financial Reporting


Book Description

This text presents the concepts, principles and strategies of reporting financial and accounting information. It takes a practical approach to understanding financial reporting, why it is important and how to create and analyze financial reports so that the value of the company is clearly reported.




Earnings Quality


Book Description

This book provides an overview of earnings quality (EQ) in the context of financial reporting and offers suggestions for defining and measuring it. Although EQ has received increasing attention from investors, creditors, regulators, and researchers in different areas, there are various definitions of it and different approaches for its measurement. The book describes the relationship between EQ and earnings management (EM) since they can be considered related challenges, especially in the context of international financial reporting standards (IAS/IFRSs). EM occurs when managers make discretionary accounting choices that are regarded as either an efficient communication of private information to improve the informativeness of a firm’s current and future performance, or a distorting disclosure to mislead the firm’s true performance. The intentional manipulation of earnings by managers, within the limits allowed by the accounting standards, may alter the usefulness of financial reporting and lead to lower quality of earnings. The use of fair value in financial reporting has created a current debate about the impact it might have on EQ. At times, the high subjectivity in estimating fair value can allow opportunities for the exercise of management judgments and intentional bias, which can reduce the quality of financial reporting. Management discretion can result in high EM and hence in a reduction of EQ. Particularly during difficult financial periods, managers engage in EM to mask the negative effects of the turmoil, and in such circumstances accruals and earnings smoothing are attempts to reduce abnormal variations of earnings in such circumstances. This book is a valuable resource for those interested in wider perspectives on EQ and it adds to the research studies on this topic in the context of financial reporting.




Earnings Quality


Book Description

This review lays out a research perspective on earnings quality. We provide an overview of alternative definitions and measures of earnings quality and a discussion of research design choices encountered in earnings quality research. Throughout, we focus on a capital markets setting, as opposed, for example, to a contracting or stewardship setting. Our reason for this choice stems from the view that the capital market uses of accounting information are fundamental, in the sense of providing a basis for other uses, such as stewardship. Because resource allocations are ex ante decisions while contracting/stewardship assessments are ex post evaluations of outcomes, evidence on whether, how and to what degree earnings quality influences capital market resource allocation decisions is fundamental to understanding why and how accounting matters to investors and others, including those charged with stewardship responsibilities. Demonstrating a link between earnings quality and, for example, the costs of equity and debt capital implies a basic economic role in capital allocation decisions for accounting information; this role has only recently been documented in the accounting literature. We focus on how the precision of financial information in capturing one or more underlying valuation-relevant constructs affects the assessment and use of that information by capital market participants. We emphasize that the choice of constructs to be measured is typically contextual. Our main focus is on the precision of earnings, which we view as a summary indicator of the overall quality of financial reporting. Our intent in discussing research that evaluates the capital market effects of earnings quality is both to stimulate further research in this area and to encourage research on related topics, including, for example, the role of earnings quality in contracting and stewardship.




Cases in Financial Reporting


Book Description

For intermediate and financial accounting courses at the MBA and undergraduate level, or a supplement to financial statement analysis texts. This collection of financial accounting cases is designed to help students become financial statement users. Each case utilizes financial statement information (balance sheet, income statement, statement of cash flow and/or footnotes) and a number of topical questions. Students use the financial statement information to infer and interpret the economic events underlying the numbers. Related articles taken from business publications accompany some cases, and information from the articles is incorporated into the case question material. Also available the Pearson Custom Case Program.




Financial Gatekeepers


Book Description

A Brookings Institution Press and Nomura Institute of Capital Markets Research publication Developed country capital markets have devised a set of institutions and actors to help provide investors with timely and accurate information they need to make informed investment decisions. These actors have become known as "financial gatekeepers" and include auditors, financial analysts, and credit rating agencies. Corporate financial reporting scandals in the United States and elsewhere in recent years, however, have called into question the sufficiency of the legal framework governing these gatekeepers. Policymakers have since responded by imposing a series of new obligations, restrictions, and punishments—all with the purpose of strengthening investor confidence in these important actors. Financial Gatekeepers provides an in-depth look at these new frameworks, especially in the United States and Japan. How have they worked? Are further refinements appropriate? These are among the questions addressed in this timely and important volume. Contributors include Leslie Boni (University of New Mexico), Barry Bosworth (Brookings Institution), Tomoo Inoue (Seikei University), Zoe-Vonna Palmrose (University of Southern California), Frank Partnoy (University of San Diego School of Law), George Perry (Brookings Institution), Justin Pettit (UBS), Paul Stevens (Investment Company Institute), Peter Wallison (American Enterprise Institute).




The End of Accounting and the Path Forward for Investors and Managers


Book Description

An innovative new valuation framework with truly useful economic indicators The End of Accounting and the Path Forward for Investors and Managers shows how the ubiquitous financial reports have become useless in capital market decisions and lays out an actionable alternative. Based on a comprehensive, large-sample empirical analysis, this book reports financial documents' continuous deterioration in relevance to investors' decisions. An enlightening discussion details the reasons why accounting is losing relevance in today's market, backed by numerous examples with real-world impact. Beyond simply identifying the problem, this report offers a solution—the Value Creation Report—and demonstrates its utility in key industries. New indicators focus on strategy and execution to identify and evaluate a company's true value-creating resources for a more up-to-date approach to critical investment decision-making. While entire industries have come to rely on financial reports for vital information, these documents are flawed and insufficient when it comes to the way investors and lenders work in the current economic climate. This book demonstrates an alternative, giving you a new framework for more informed decision making. Discover a new, comprehensive system of economic indicators Focus on strategic, value-creating resources in company valuation Learn how traditional financial documents are quickly losing their utility Find a path forward with actionable, up-to-date information Major corporate decisions, such as restructuring and M&A, are predicated on financial indicators of profitability and asset/liabilities values. These documents move mountains, so what happens if they're based on faulty indicators that fail to show the true value of the company? The End of Accounting and the Path Forward for Investors and Managers shows you the reality and offers a new blueprint for more accurate valuation.




Quality Control Procedure for Statutory Financial Audit


Book Description

This new work takes a comprehensive look at the quality control framework for statutory financial audit. Saha and Roy focus on identifying the different factors governing quality of audit and establish a comprehensive framework for quality control.







Enterprise Risk Management in Europe


Book Description

Enterprise Risk Management in Europe advances understanding of ERM in Europe, providing a novel and unique set of perspectives on the ongoing dynamics between ERM and corporate processes. This is an essential guide for researchers, practitioners and policy makers both in and beyond European borders.




Guide to Financial Reporting and Analysis


Book Description

Navigate A Sea of Financial Complexity Due to the intricacies of contemporary business transactions, the numerous standards issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), and the vast variety of accounting and disclosure practices with their ever-changing terminology employed by reporting companies, financial statements and related disclosures have become very complex. This complexity can impede the work performed and the decisions reached by all users of financial statements-especially equity and credit analysts. Guide to Financial Reporting and Analysis is designed to remedy this situation by offering practical, user-friendly guidance. Through the use of contemporary financial statement examples, extant generally accepted accounting principles are explained and their application is demonstrated. Here are indispensable resources, including: * Comprehensive, point-by-point summaries and glossaries provided with each chapter * Hundreds of examples of contemporary financial disclosures taken from actual, highly recognizable companies * Thorough information on how reporting and disclosure rules impact reporting practices-and the implications these practices have for analysis * Goes beyond anecdotes and integrates throughout relevant findings from the financial reporting and analysis research literature . . . and much more, to help working professionals gain clarity and begin making better-informed decisions today by taking advantage of the rich treatment offered in this timely, much-needed guide.