IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jaecon/v46y2008i2-3p218-239.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The rise of deferred tax assets in Japan: The role of deferred tax accounting in the Japanese banking crisis

Author

Listed:
  • Skinner, Douglas J.

Abstract

This paper provides evidence on the role of deferred taxes in the recent financial crisis among Japanese banks. Upon adoption of deferred tax accounting in FY1998, the major Japanese banks recognized net deferred tax assets of ¥6.6 trillion ($55 billion). Without these assets, the banks would have been insolvent. The evidence supports the conclusion that Japanese regulators used deferred tax accounting as part of a regulatory forbearance strategy, and that bank managers used these assets to bolster their banks' regulatory capital. The results show how ostensibly similar accounting rules can be implemented very differently, and so have implications for IFRS.

Suggested Citation

  • Skinner, Douglas J., 2008. "The rise of deferred tax assets in Japan: The role of deferred tax accounting in the Japanese banking crisis," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(2-3), pages 218-239, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:jaecon:v:46:y:2008:i:2-3:p:218-239
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165-4101(08)00049-9
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bank of Japan, 1999. "Profits and Balance-Sheet Developments of Japanese Banks in Fiscal 1998," Bank of Japan Research Papers 1999-11-30, Bank of Japan.
    2. Takeo Hoshi & Anil K. Kashyap, 2004. "Japan's Financial Crisis and Economic Stagnation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 18(1), pages 3-26, Winter.
    3. Blacconiere, Walter G., 1991. "Market reactions to accounting regulations in the savings and loan industry," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 91-113, March.
    4. Collins, Jh & Shackelford, Da & Wahlen, Jm, 1995. "Bank Differences In The Coordination Of Regulatory Capital, Earnings, And Taxes," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 263-291.
    5. Ito, Takatoshi & Sasaki, Yuri Nagataki, 2002. "Impacts of the Basle Capital Standard on Japanese Banks' Behavior," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 372-397, September.
    6. Blacconiere, Walter G. & Bowen, Robert M. & Sefcik, Stephan E. & Stinson, Christopher H., 1991. "Determinants of the use of regulatory accounting principles by Savings and Loans," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 167-201, June.
    7. Shrieves, Ronald E. & Dahl, Drew, 2003. "Discretionary accounting and the behavior of Japanese banks under financial duress," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(7), pages 1219-1243, July.
    8. Peek, Joe & Rosengren, Eric S., 2001. "Determinants of the Japan premium: actions speak louder than words," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 283-305, April.
    9. Hoshi, Takeo, 2001. "What Happened to Japanese Banks?," Monetary and Economic Studies, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan, vol. 19(1), pages 1-29, February.
    10. Ricardo J. Caballero & Takeo Hoshi & Anil K. Kashyap, 2008. "Zombie Lending and Depressed Restructuring in Japan," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(5), pages 1943-1977, December.
    11. Takeo Hoshi & Anil Kashyap, 2000. "The Japanese Banking Crisis: Where Did It Come From and How Will It End?," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1999, Volume 14, pages 129-212, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Joe Peek & Eric S. Rosengren, 2005. "Unnatural Selection: Perverse Incentives and the Misallocation of Credit in Japan," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(4), pages 1144-1166, September.
    13. Benston, George J. & Bromwich, Michael & Litan, Robert E. & Wagenhofer, Alfred, 2006. "Worldwide Financial Reporting: The Development and Future of Accounting Standards," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195305838.
    14. Maria A. Gee & Tomoko Mano, 2006. "Accounting for deferred tax in Japanese Banks and the consequences for their international operations," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 42(1), pages 1-21, March.
    15. Beatty, A & Chamberlain, Sl & Magliolo, J, 1995. "Managing Financial Reports Of Commercial-Banks - The Influence Of Taxes, Regulatory Capital, And Earnings," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 231-261.
    16. Dan S. Dhaliwal & Cristi A. Gleason & Lillian F. Mills, 2004. "Last†Chance Earnings Management: Using the Tax Expense to Meet Analysts' Forecasts," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(2), pages 431-459, June.
    17. Scholes, Myron S & Wilson, G Peter & Wolfson, Mark A, 1990. "Tax Planning, Regulatory Capital Planning, and Financial Reporting Strategy for Commercial Banks," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 3(4), pages 625-650.
    18. Montgomery, Heather, 2005. "The effect of the Basel Accord on bank portfolios in Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 24-36, March.
    19. Moyer, Susan E., 1990. "Capital adequacy ratio regulations and accounting choices in commercial banks," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 123-154, July.
    20. Hiroshi Nakaso, 1999. "Recent banking sector reforms in Japan," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 5(Jul), pages 1-7.
    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. Iftekhar Hasan & Larry D. Wall, 2004. "Determinants of the Loan Loss Allowance: Some Cross‐Country Comparisons," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 39(1), pages 129-152, February.
    2. Imai, Masami, 2019. "Regulatory responses to banking crisis: Lessons from Japan," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 10-16.
    3. Nakashima, Kiyotaka & Takahashi, Koji, 2018. "The real effects of bank-driven termination of relationships: Evidence from loan-level matched data," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 46-65.
    4. Raffaela Casciello & Marco Maffei & David A. Ziebart, 2024. "Regulatory and contextual factors influencing earnings and capital management decisions: evidence from the European banking sector," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 63(1), pages 87-146, July.
    5. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2003_033 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Iftekhar Hasan & Larry D. Wall, 2004. "Determinants of the Loan Loss Allowance: Some Cross‐Country Comparisons," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 39(1), pages 129-152, February.
    7. Wako Watanabe, 2007. "Prudential Regulation and the “Credit Crunch”: Evidence from Japan," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 39(2‐3), pages 639-665, March.
    8. Frederico A. Mourad & Rafael F. Schiozer & Toni R. E. dos Santos, 2020. "Bank Loan Forbearance: evidence from a million restructured loans," Working Papers Series 541, Central Bank of Brazil, Research Department.
    9. Daniel Perez & Vicente Salas-Fumas & Jesus Saurina, 2008. "Earnings and Capital Management in Alternative Loan Loss Provision Regulatory Regimes," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 423-445.
    10. Inoue, Hitoshi & Nakashima, Kiyotaka & Takahashi, Koji, 2018. "The Emergence of A Parallel World: The Misperception Problem for Bank Balance Sheet Risk and Lending Behavior," MPRA Paper 89088, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Stergios Leventis & Panagiotis Dimitropoulos & Asokan Anandarajan, 2011. "Loan Loss Provisions, Earnings Management and Capital Management under IFRS: The Case of EU Commercial Banks," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 40(1), pages 103-122, October.
    12. Sumit Agarwal & Souphala Chomsisengphet & Chunlin Liu & S. Ghon Rhee, 2003. "Earnings Management During Distinct Periods of Capital Demand – Evidence from Japanese Banks," FHFA Staff Working Papers 03-06, Federal Housing Finance Agency.
    13. Maureen F. McNichols & Stephen R. Stubben, 2018. "Research Design Issues in Studies Using Discretionary Accruals," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 54(2), pages 227-246, June.
    14. Peter Chen & Lane Daley, 1996. "Regulatory Capital, Tax, and Earnings Management Effects on Loan Loss Accruals in the Canadian Banking Industry," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(1), pages 91-128, March.
    15. Emrah Arbak, 2017. "Identifying the provisioning policies of Belgian banks," Working Paper Research 326, National Bank of Belgium.
    16. Manuela M. Dantas & Kenneth J. Merkley & Felipe B. G. Silva, 2023. "Government Guarantees and Banks' Income Smoothing," Papers 2303.03661, arXiv.org.
    17. Mary E. Barth & Javier Gomez-Biscarri & Ron Kasznik & Germán López-Espinosa, 2017. "Bank earnings and regulatory capital management using available for sale securities," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 1761-1792, December.
    18. Dushyantkumar Vyas, 2011. "The Timeliness of Accounting Write‐Downs by U.S. Financial Institutions During the Financial Crisis of 2007–2008," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(3), pages 823-860, June.
    19. Shrieves, Ronald E. & Dahl, Drew, 2003. "Discretionary accounting and the behavior of Japanese banks under financial duress," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(7), pages 1219-1243, July.
    20. Nakashima, Kiyotaka, 2016. "An econometric evaluation of bank recapitalization programs with bank- and loan-level data," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 1-24.
    21. 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.

    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:jaecon:v:46:y:2008:i:2-3:p:218-239. 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: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jae .

    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.