IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/joares/v41y2003i2p397-432.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Enforceable Accounting Rules and Income Measurement by Early 20th Century Railroads

Author

Listed:
  • Kumar Sivakumar
  • Gregory Waymire

Abstract

We investigate the extent to which income measurement by major early 20th‐century U.S. railroads shows evidence of lower income smoothness and increased conservatism following new fixed asset accounting rules issued by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) in 1907 and 1908 and concurrent rate regulation regime shifts. Accounting rules promulgated by the ICC after the Hepburn Act of 1906 are the first accounting rules in U.S. history in which regulators could enforce such rules under federal law to increase compliance. Our samplewide results are more consistent with increased conservatism than with income smoothing. Additional tests indicate these effects are more pronounced for firms subject to more intense rate regulation by the ICC, which suggests that the tie‐in between accounting regulation and product/service market regulation influences how managers respond to new accounting rules.

Suggested Citation

  • Kumar Sivakumar & Gregory Waymire, 2003. "Enforceable Accounting Rules and Income Measurement by Early 20th Century Railroads," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(2), pages 397-432, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:joares:v:41:y:2003:i:2:p:397-432
    DOI: 10.1111/1475-679X.00110
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-679X.00110
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1475-679X.00110?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Baskin,Jonathan Barron & Miranti, Jr,Paul J., 1997. "A History of Corporate Finance," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521555142, October.
    2. Marilyn F. Johnson & Ron Kasznik & Karen K. Nelson, 2001. "The Impact of Securities Litigation Reform on the Disclosure of Forward‐Looking Information By High Technology Firms," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(2), pages 297-327, September.
    3. Holthausen, Robert W. & Watts, Ross L., 2001. "The relevance of the value-relevance literature for financial accounting standard setting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 3-75, September.
    4. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-838, May.
    5. Brief, Richard P., 1966. "The Origin and Evolution of Nineteenth-Century Asset Accounting," Business History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 40(1), pages 1-23, April.
    6. John J. Binder, 1985. "Measuring the Effects of Regulation with Stock Price Data," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 16(2), pages 167-183, Summer.
    7. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1998. "Law and Finance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1113-1155, December.
    8. Rajan, Raghuram G & Zingales, Luigi, 1998. "Financial Dependence and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 559-586, June.
    9. Ball, Ray & Kothari, S. P. & Robin, Ashok, 2000. "The effect of international institutional factors on properties of accounting earnings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-51, February.
    10. Ball, R, 1980. "Discussion Of Accounting For Research And Development Costs - The Impact On Research And Development Expenditures," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18, pages 27-37.
    11. Bryer, R. A., 1993. "The late nineteenth-century revolution in financial reporting: Accounting for the rise of investor or managerial capitalism?," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 18(7-8), pages 649-690.
    12. Basu, Sudipta, 1997. "The conservatism principle and the asymmetric timeliness of earnings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 3-37, December.
    13. Shyam NMI Sunder & Ronald A. Dye, 2001. "Why Not Allow the FASB and IASB Standards to Compete in the U.S.?," Yale School of Management Working Papers ysm192, Yale School of Management.
    14. Miranti, Paul J., 1989. "The Mind's Eye of Reform: The ICC's Bureau of Statistics and Accounts and a Vision of Regulation, 1887–1940," Business History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 63(3), pages 469-509, October.
    15. Mullin, Wallace P, 2000. "Railroad Revisionists Revisited: Stock Market Evidence from the Progressive Era," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 25-47, January.
    16. S. J. McLean, 1905. "The English Railway and Canal Commission of 1888," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 20(1), pages 1-58.
    17. Givoly, Dan & Hayn, Carla, 2000. "The changing time-series properties of earnings, cash flows and accruals: Has financial reporting become more conservative?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 287-320, June.
    18. Teets, Walter R. & Wasley, Charles E., 1996. "Estimating earnings response coefficients: Pooled versus firm-specific models," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 279-295, June.
    19. Miranti, Paul J., 1986. "Associationalism, Statism, and Professional Regulation: Public Accountants and the Reform of the Financial Markets, 1896-1940," Business History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 60(3), pages 438-468, October.
    20. Jarrell, Gregg A., 1979. "Pro-producer regulation and accounting for assets : The case of electric utilities," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(2), pages 93-116, August.
    21. Allyn A. Young, 1914. "Depreciation and Rate Control," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 28(4), pages 630-663.
    22. Bushman, Robert M. & Smith, Abbie J., 2001. "Financial accounting information and corporate governance," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1-3), pages 237-333, December.
    23. Henry C. Adams, 1908. "Administrative Supervision of Railways under the Twentieth Section of the Act to Regulate Commerce," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 22(3), pages 364-383.
    24. Sivakumar, Kn & Waymire, G, 1993. "The Information-Content Of Earnings In A Discretionary Reporting Environment - Evidence From Nyse Industrials, 1905-10," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 62-91.
    25. Thomas W. Gilligan & William J. Marshall & Barry R. Weingast, 1990. "The Economic Incidence of the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis of the Short-Haul Pricing Constraint," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 21(2), pages 189-210, Summer.
    26. Robin A. Prager, 1989. "Using Stock Price Data to Measure the Effects of Regulation: The Interstate Commerce Act and the Railroad Industry," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 20(2), pages 280-290, Summer.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chun Yu Mak & Norman Strong & Martin Walker, 2011. "Conditional Earnings Conservatism and Corporate Refocusing Activities," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(4), pages 1041-1082, September.
    2. Byzalov, Dmitri & Basu, Sudipta, 2019. "Modeling the determinants of meet-or-just-beat behavior in distribution discontinuity tests," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2).
    3. Dechow, Patricia & Ge, Weili & Schrand, Catherine, 2010. "Understanding earnings quality: A review of the proxies, their determinants and their consequences," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 344-401, December.
    4. Gehrig, Thomas & Fohlin, Caroline & Haas, Marlene, 2015. "Rumors and Runs in Opaque Markets: Evidence from the Panic of 1907," CEPR Discussion Papers 10497, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Luzi Hail, 2011. "Discussion of Consequences and Institutional Determinants of Unregulated Corporate Financial Statements: Evidence from Embedded Value Reporting," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(2), pages 573-594, May.
    6. Khalifa, Mariem & Trabelsi, Samir & Matoussi, Hamadi, 2022. "Leverage, R&D expenditures, and accounting conservatism: Evidence from technology firms," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 285-304.
    7. Kim, Robert & Kim, Sangwan, 2021. "Does revenue-expense matching play a differential role in analysts’ earnings and revenue forecasts?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(5).
    8. Chi, Wuchun & Liu, Chiawen & Wang, Taychang, 2009. "What affects accounting conservatism: A corporate governance perspective," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 47-59.
    9. Juan Manuel García Lara & Beatriz García Osma & Fernando Penalva, 2009. "The Economic Determinants of Conditional Conservatism," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(3‐4), pages 336-372, April.
    10. Chi, Wuchun & Wang, Chenchin, 2010. "Accounting conservatism in a setting of Information Asymmetry between majority and minority shareholders," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 45(4), pages 465-489, December.
    11. Barton, Jan & Waymire, Gregory, 2004. "Investor protection under unregulated financial reporting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 65-116, December.
    12. Garry D. Carnegie & Christopher J. Napier, 2012. "Accounting's past, present and future: the unifying power of history," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 25(2), pages 328-369, February.
    13. Carola Frydman & Eric Hilt, 2014. "Investment Banks as Corporate Monitors in the Early 20th Century United States," NBER Working Papers 20544, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Sunder, Shyam, 2005. "Minding our manners: Accounting as social norms," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 367-387.
    15. Bushee, Brian J. & Leuz, Christian, 2005. "Economic consequences of SEC disclosure regulation: evidence from the OTC bulletin board," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 233-264, June.
    16. Gehrig, Thomas Paul & Fohlin, Caroline & Haas, Marlene, 2015. "Liquidty Freezes and Market Runs; Evidencefrom the Panic of 1907," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 113008, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    17. Sudipta Basu, 2003. "Discussion of Enforceable Accounting Rules and Income Measurement by Early 20th‐Century Railroads," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(2), pages 433-444, May.
    18. Jivas Chakravarthy & Katie E. McDermott & Roger M. White, 2021. "Are Regulators Effective at Unraveling Accounting Manipulation? Evidence from Public Utility Commissions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(7), pages 4532-4555, July.
    19. Juan Manuel Garcia Lara & Araceli Mora, 2004. "Balance sheet versus earnings conservatism in Europe," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 261-292.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hans B. Christensen & Luzi Hail & Christian Leuz, 2021. "Mandatory CSR and sustainability reporting: economic analysis and literature review," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 1176-1248, September.
    2. Christian Leuz & Peter D. Wysocki, 2016. "The Economics of Disclosure and Financial Reporting Regulation: Evidence and Suggestions for Future Research," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 525-622, May.
    3. Chung, Hyeesoo H. & Wynn, Jinyoung P., 2008. "Managerial legal liability coverage and earnings conservatism," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 135-153, September.
    4. In‐Mu Haw & Bingbing Hu & Lee‐Seok Hwang & Woody Wu, 2004. "Ultimate Ownership, Income Management, and Legal and Extra‐Legal Institutions," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 423-462, May.
    5. Chi, Wuchun & Wang, Chenchin, 2010. "Accounting conservatism in a setting of Information Asymmetry between majority and minority shareholders," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 45(4), pages 465-489, December.
    6. Elizabeth A. Gordon & Bjorn N. Jorgensen & Cheryl L. Linthicum, 2011. "Could IFRS Replace US GAAP? A Comparison of Earnings Attributes and Informativeness in the US Market," Working Papers 0028, College of Business, University of Texas at San Antonio.
    7. Barton, Jan & Waymire, Gregory, 2004. "Investor protection under unregulated financial reporting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 65-116, December.
    8. Khalifa, Mariem & Trabelsi, Samir & Matoussi, Hamadi, 2022. "Leverage, R&D expenditures, and accounting conservatism: Evidence from technology firms," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 285-304.
    9. Ole‐Kristian Hope, 2003. "Disclosure Practices, Enforcement of Accounting Standards, and Analysts' Forecast Accuracy: An International Study," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(2), pages 235-272, May.
    10. Bhattacharya, Utpal & Daouk, Hazem & Welker, Michael, 2003. "The World Price of Earnings Opacity," Working Papers 127185, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    11. Juan Manuel García Lara & Beatriz García Osma & Fernando Penalva, 2009. "The Economic Determinants of Conditional Conservatism," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(3‐4), pages 336-372, April.
    12. Emmanuel T. De George & Xi Li & Lakshmanan Shivakumar, 2016. "A review of the IFRS adoption literature," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 898-1004, September.
    13. Sudipta Basu, 2003. "Discussion of Enforceable Accounting Rules and Income Measurement by Early 20th‐Century Railroads," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(2), pages 433-444, May.
    14. Leonor Fernandes Ferreira & Juan Manuel García Lara & Tiago Gonçalves, 2007. "Accounting conservatism in Portugal: similarities and differences facing Germany and the United Kingdom," RAC - Revista de Administração Contemporânea (Journal of Contemporary Administration), ANPAD - Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Administração, vol. 11(spe2), pages 163-188.
    15. Roychowdhury, Sugata & Watts, Ross L., 2007. "Asymmetric timeliness of earnings, market-to-book and conservatism in financial reporting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(1-2), pages 2-31, September.
    16. Amneh Alkurdi & Munther Al-Nimer & Mohammad Dabaghia, 2017. "Accounting Conservatism and Ownership Structure Effect: Evidence from Industrial and Financial Jordanian Listed Companies," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 7(2), pages 608-619.
    17. Karampinis, Nikolaos I. & Hevas, Dimosthenis L., 2011. "Mandating IFRS in an Unfavorable Environment: The Greek Experience," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 304-332, September.
    18. Juan Manuel García Lara & Beatriz García Osma & Araceli Mora, 2005. "The Effect of Earnings Management on the Asymmetric Timeliness of Earnings," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3‐4), pages 691-726, April.
    19. Chengru Hu & Wei Jiang, 2019. "Managerial risk incentives and accounting conservatism," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 52(3), pages 781-813, April.
    20. Ivana Raonic & Stuart McLeay & Ioannis Asimakopoulos, 2004. "The Timeliness of Income Recognition by European Companies: An Analysis of Institutional and Market Complexity," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1‐2), pages 115-148, January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:joares:v:41:y:2003:i:2:p:397-432. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0021-8456 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.