IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/joares/v44y2006i3p533-560.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Retracted: Recognition v. Disclosure, Auditor Tolerance for Misstatement, and the Reliability of Stock‐Compensation and Lease Information

Author

Listed:
  • ROBERT LIBBY
  • MARK W. NELSON
  • JAMES E. HUNTON

Abstract

We examine whether information in footnotes might lack reliability because auditors permit more misstatement in disclosed, as opposed to recognized, amounts. In both the stock‐compensation and lease settings, audit partners require greater correction of misstatements in recognized amounts than in the equivalent disclosed amounts. Debriefing questions indicate that the partners make these decisions knowingly, even though they expect greater client resistance to correcting recognized amounts, because they view recognized amounts as more material. Partners also spend more time on correction decisions for recognized information. While prior literature suggests that amounts are often relegated to footnotes because they are less reliable, our results suggest that the actual choice to disclose versus recognize can also reduce information reliability. These results have implications for the interpretation of prior research on the reliability of recognized and disclosed numbers, for financial‐accounting standard setters who may want to consider the reliability effects of their recognition versus disclosure decisions, and for auditing standard setters who may wish to clarify auditors' responsibilities for preventing misstatements in disclosed amounts.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Libby & Mark W. Nelson & James E. Hunton, 2006. "Retracted: Recognition v. Disclosure, Auditor Tolerance for Misstatement, and the Reliability of Stock‐Compensation and Lease Information," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(3), pages 533-560, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:joares:v:44:y:2006:i:3:p:533-560
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-679X.2006.00210.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-679X.2006.00210.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1475-679X.2006.00210.x?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. Ely, Km, 1995. "Operating Lease Accounting And The Markets Assessment Of Equity Risk," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 397-415.
    2. Harper, Rm & Mister, Wg & Strawser, Jr, 1987. "The Impact Of New Pension Disclosure Rules On Perceptions Of Debt," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(2), pages 327-330.
    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. Libby, Robert & Bloomfield, Robert & Nelson, Mark W., 2002. "Experimental research in financial accounting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 27(8), pages 775-810, November.
    5. Espahbodi, Hassan & Espahbodi, Pouran & Rezaee, Zabihollah & Tehranian, Hassan, 2002. "Stock price reaction and value relevance of recognition versus disclosure: the case of stock-based compensation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 343-373, August.
    6. Hun‐Tong Tan & Robert Libby & James E. Hunton, 2002. "Retracted: Analysts’ Reactions to Earnings Preannouncement Strategies," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(1), pages 223-246, March.
    7. Sweeney, Amy Patricia, 1994. "Debt-covenant violations and managers' accounting responses," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 281-308, May.
    8. Barth, Mary E. & Beaver, William H. & Landsman, Wayne R., 2001. "The relevance of the value relevance literature for financial accounting standard setting: another view," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 77-104, September.
    9. 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.
    10. Hirst, DE & Hopkins, PE, 1998. "Comprehensive income reporting and analysts' valuation judgments," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36, pages 47-75.
    11. Kennedy, J & Kleinmuntz, DN & Peecher, ME, 1997. "Determinants of the justifiability of performance in ill-structured audit tasks," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35, pages 105-123.
    12. Vivien Beattie & Alan Goodacre & Sarah Thomson, 2000. "Recognition versus Disclosure: An Investigation of the Impact on Equity Risk Using UK Operating Lease Disclosures," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(9&10), pages 1185-1224.
    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. Blacconiere, Walter G. & Frederickson, James R. & Johnson, Marilyn F. & Lewis, Melissa F., 2011. "Are voluntary disclosures that disavow the reliability of mandated fair value information informative or opportunistic?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 235-251.
    2. Shaw, Kenneth W., 2008. "Revised pension rules and the cost of debt," Research in Accounting Regulation, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 3-25.
    3. Ling Chu & Robert Mathieu & Chima Mbagwu, 2013. "Audit Quality and Banks' Assessment of Disclosed Accounting Information," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(4), pages 719-738, December.
    4. Kothari, S.P. & Ramanna, Karthik & Skinner, Douglas J., 2010. "Implications for GAAP from an analysis of positive research in accounting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 246-286, December.
    5. Norman, Carolyn Strand & Rose, Jacob M. & Suh, Ik Seon, 2011. "The effects of disclosure type and audit committee expertise on Chief Audit Executives' tolerance for financial misstatements," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 102-108, February.
    6. Wheeler, Stephen & Cereola, Sandra J., 2015. "Auditor scrutiny of unaudited client disclosure outlets: Recognized vs. disclosed financial statement items also appearing in the MD&A," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 91-95.
    7. Fried, Abraham N. & Davis-Friday, Paquita Y., 2013. "Economic consequences of mandatory GAAP changes: The case of SFAS No. 158," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 186-194.
    8. Meckfessel, Michele & Moehrle, Stephen, 2017. "Self-regulation of the academic accounting literature: The case of James Hunton," Research in Accounting Regulation, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 10-18.
    9. Gaynor, Lisa Milici & McDaniel, Linda & Yohn, Teri Lombardi, 2011. "Fair value accounting for liabilities: The role of disclosures in unraveling the counterintuitive income statement effect from credit risk changes," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 125-134, April.
    10. Elisabetta Barone & Jacqueline Birt & Soledad Moya, 2014. "Lease Accounting: A Review of Recent Literature," Accounting in Europe, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(1), pages 35-54, June.
    11. Juha Mäki & Antonio Somoza-Lopez & Stefan Sundgren, 2016. "Ownership Structure and Accounting Method Choice: A Study of European Real Estate Companies," Accounting in Europe, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(1), pages 1-19, April.
    12. Krische, Susan D. & Sanders, Paula R. & Smith, Steven D., 2012. "Lease transaction structuring, earnings management, and management credibility," Research in Accounting Regulation, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 33-39.

    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. repec:dau:papers:123456789/3507 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Armstrong, Christopher S. & Guay, Wayne R. & Weber, Joseph P., 2010. "The role of information and financial reporting in corporate governance and debt contracting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 179-234, December.
    3. repec:dau:papers:123456789/2814 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Karola Bastini & Rainer Kasperzak, 2013. "Erkenntnisfortschritt in der Rechnungslegung durch experimentelle Forschung? — Diskussion methodischer Grundsatzfragen anhand der Entscheidungsnützlichkeit des Performance Reporting," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 65(7), pages 622-660, December.
    5. David Hirshleifer & Sonya S. Lim & Siew Hong Teoh, 2011. "Limited Investor Attention and Stock Market Misreactions to Accounting Information," The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 1(1), pages 35-73.
    6. Emett, Scott A. & Nelson, Mark W., 2017. "Reporting accounting changes and their multi-period effects," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 52-72.
    7. Iatridis, George, 2010. "International Financial Reporting Standards and the quality of financial statement information," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 193-204, June.
    8. Kusano, Masaki, 2020. "Does recognition versus disclosure affect risk relevance? Evidence from finance leases in Japan," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    9. Igor Goncharov & Allan Hodgson, 2008. "Comprehensive Income In Europe: Valuation, Prediction And Conservative Issues," Annales Universitatis Apulensis Series Oeconomica, Faculty of Sciences, "1 Decembrie 1918" University, Alba Iulia, vol. 1(10), pages 1-1.
    10. Bailey, Wendy J. & Sawers, Kimberly M., 2018. "Moving toward a principle-based approach to U.S. accounting standard setting: A demand for procedural justice and accounting reform," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 1-13.
    11. Ramnath, Sundaresh & Rock, Steve & Shane, Philip, 2008. "The financial analyst forecasting literature: A taxonomy with suggestions for further research," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 34-75.
    12. Choudhary, Preeti, 2011. "Evidence on differences between recognition and disclosure: A comparison of inputs to estimate fair values of employee stock options," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 77-94.
    13. Fabrizio Bava & Melchior Gromis di Trana & Donatella Busso & Piero Pisoni, 2018. "Related parties disclosure: Is a risk-based approach more effective?," FINANCIAL REPORTING, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2018(1), pages 5-39.
    14. Abderrahmane Djaballah & Anne Fortin, 2021. "Value Relevance of Comprehensive Income for the Canadian Market," Accounting Perspectives, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(1), pages 49-77, March.
    15. De George, Emmanuel T. & Li, Xi & Shivakumar, Lakshmanan, 2016. "A review of the IFRS adoption literature," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 67599, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    16. Mehnaz, Laura & Rahman, Asheq & Kabir, Humayun, 2023. "Covenant violation concern and investors’ pricing of Level 3 fair value adjustments," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3).
    17. Dichev, Ilia D. & Graham, John R. & Harvey, Campbell R. & Rajgopal, Shiva, 2013. "Earnings quality: Evidence from the field," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 1-33.
    18. Choudhary, Preeti, 2011. "Evidence on differences between recognition and disclosure: A comparison of inputs to estimate fair values of employee stock options," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1-2), pages 77-94, February.
    19. Beattie, Vivien, 2005. "Moving the financial accounting research front forward: the UK contribution," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 85-114.
    20. James, Kieran, 2008. "A Critical Theory perspective on the pressures, contradictions and dilemmas faced by entry-level accounting academics," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 19(8), pages 1263-1295.
    21. Murad Harasheh & Federica Doni & Maria Vittoria Franceschelli & Andrea Amaduzzi, 2021. "The value relevance of Other Comprehensive Income: Extensive evidence from Europe," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(3), pages 3835-3851, July.
    22. 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.

    More about this item

    Lists

    This item is featured on the following reading lists, Wikipedia, or ReplicationWiki pages:
    1. Recognized plagiarism

    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:44:y:2006:i:3:p:533-560. 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.