IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/beexfi/v28y2020ics2214635020303130.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Discount rate behaviour in fair value reporting

Author

Listed:
  • He, Liyu

Abstract

Despite the importance of reliable financial information to financial professionals, little is known in the behavioural finance literature about the opportunistic behaviour in discount rate selection for fair value measurement, and its adverse impact on the reliability of financial information. This short communication contributes to the literature on discount rate behaviour by revealing the potential opportunistic behaviour in the selection of discount rates. Using biological assets where the market price is usually not available, I show that a wide range of discount rates are applied for estimating fair values, but the range of rates used does not seem to be related to economic factors. Further, firms that report both larger fair value gains and larger fair value losses use higher discount rates suggesting that the discretion available to managers is used opportunistically in some cases. To gain more insights into behavioural aspects of discount rate selection, I also suggest a set of research questions pertaining to discount rate behaviour. This helps to form the agenda for future research in this area.

Suggested Citation

  • He, Liyu, 2020. "Discount rate behaviour in fair value reporting," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:beexfi:v:28:y:2020:i:c:s2214635020303130
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbef.2020.100386
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214635020303130
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbef.2020.100386?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. Edward J. Riedl & Suraj Srinivasan, 2010. "Signaling Firm Performance Through Financial Statement Presentation: An Analysis Using Special Items," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(1), pages 8-8, March.
    2. Joshua Ronen, 2008. "To Fair Value or Not to Fair Value: A Broader Perspective," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 44(2), pages 181-208, June.
    3. Theodore E. Christensen & Gyung H. Paik & Earl K. Stice, 2008. "Creating a Bigger Bath Using the Deferred Tax Valuation Allowance," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(5‐6), pages 601-625, June.
    4. Degeorge, Francois & Patel, Jayendu & Zeckhauser, Richard, 1999. "Earnings Management to Exceed Thresholds," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 72(1), pages 1-33, January.
    5. Graham, John R. & Harvey, Campbell R. & Rajgopal, Shiva, 2005. "The economic implications of corporate financial reporting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1-3), pages 3-73, December.
    6. Edward J. Riedl & Suraj Srinivasan, 2010. "Signaling Firm Performance Through Financial Statement Presentation: An Analysis Using Special Items," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(1), pages 289-332, March.
    7. Theodore E. Christensen & Gyung H. Paik & Earl K. Stice, 2008. "Creating a Bigger Bath Using the Deferred Tax Valuation Allowance," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(5-6), pages 601-625.
    8. Tyrone M. Carlin & Nigel Finch, 2009. "Discount Rates in Disarray: Evidence on Flawed Goodwill Impairment Testing," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 19(4), pages 326-336, December.
    9. Gerry Gallery, 2009. "Discount Rates in Disarray: Evidence on Flawed Goodwill Impairment Testing," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 19(4), pages 337-339, December.
    10. Sven Husmann & Martin Schmidt, 2008. "The Discount Rate: A Note on IAS 36," Accounting in Europe, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(1), pages 49-62, June.
    11. Dechow, Patricia M. & Myers, Linda A. & Shakespeare, Catherine, 2010. "Fair value accounting and gains from asset securitizations: A convenient earnings management tool with compensation side-benefits," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1-2), pages 2-25, February.
    12. Healy, Paul M., 1985. "The effect of bonus schemes on accounting decisions," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(1-3), pages 85-107, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Liyu He & Sue Wright & Elaine Evans, 2021. "The impact of managerial discretion on fair value information in the Australian agricultural sector," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(S1), pages 1897-1930, April.
    2. Xing, Lu & Gonzalez, Angelica & Sila, Vathunyoo, 2021. "Does cooperation among women enhance or impede firm performance?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(4).
    3. Yu, Fang (Frank), 2008. "Analyst coverage and earnings management," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 245-271, May.
    4. Craig J. Chapman & Thomas J. Steenburgh, 2011. "An Investigation of Earnings Management Through Marketing Actions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(1), pages 72-92, January.
    5. David Folsom & Paul Hribar & Richard D. Mergenthaler & Kyle Peterson, 2017. "Principles-Based Standards and Earnings Attributes," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(8), pages 2592-2615, August.
    6. Qiang Kang & Qiao Liu & Rong Qi, 2010. "Predicting Stock Market Returns with Aggregate Discretionary Accruals," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(4), pages 815-858, September.
    7. Zinat S. Alam & Mark A. Chen & Conrad S. Ciccotello & Harley E. Ryan, 2018. "Board Structure Mandates: Consequences for Director Location and Financial Reporting," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(10), pages 4735-4754, October.
    8. Max Hewitt & Frank D. Hodge & Jamie H. Pratt, 2020. "Do Shareholders Assess Managers' Use of Accruals to Manage Earnings as a Negative Signal of Trustworthiness Even When its Outcome Serves Shareholders' Interests?," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(4), pages 2058-2086, December.
    9. Mary E. Barth & Javier Gomez-Biscarri & Ron Kasznik & Germán López-Espinosa, 2012. "Fair Value Accounting, Earnings Management and the use of Available-for-Sale Instruments by Bank Managers," Faculty Working Papers 05/12, School of Economics and Business Administration, University of Navarra.
    10. Kristian D. Allee & Matthew D. Deangelis, 2015. "The Structure of Voluntary Disclosure Narratives: Evidence from Tone Dispersion," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 241-274, May.
    11. Rainsbury, Elizabeth A. & Bradbury, Michael & Cahan, Steven F., 2009. "The impact of audit committee quality on financial reporting quality and audit fees," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 20-33.
    12. Xingqiang Du & Wei Jian & Shaojuan Lai & Yingjie Du & Hongmei Pei, 2015. "Does Religion Mitigate Earnings Management? Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 131(3), pages 699-749, October.
    13. Jia, Y., 2008. "Essays on the role of managerial type in financial reporting," Other publications TiSEM ab1af530-b40f-4c86-9edd-b, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    14. Steven Young, 2014. "The drivers, consequences and policy implications of non-GAAP earnings reporting," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(4), pages 444-465, August.
    15. Bischof, Jannis & Ebert, Michael, 2007. "Inconsistent measurement and disclosure of non-contingent financial derivatives under IFRS : a behavioral perspective," Papers 07-02, Sonderforschungsbreich 504.
    16. 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.
    17. Guragai, Binod & Attachot, Weerapat & Peabody, S. Drew, 2020. "Financial statement presentation of discontinued operations: Determinants and consequences," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    18. Edith Leung & David Veenman, 2018. "Non‐GAAP Earnings Disclosure in Loss Firms," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(4), pages 1083-1137, September.
    19. Leon Li & Mark J. Holmes & Bong Soo Lee, 2016. "The asymmetric relationship between executive earnings management and compensation: a panel threshold regression approach," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(57), pages 5525-5545, December.
    20. Olivier Vidal, 2011. "De l'importance des seuils en comptabilité," Post-Print hal-00650591, HAL.

    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:eee:beexfi:v:28:y:2020:i:c:s2214635020303130. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-behavioral-and-experimental-finance .

    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.