IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jocaae/v12y2016i3p290-308.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The role of corporate governance in accounting discretion under IFRS: Goodwill impairment in Australia

Author

Listed:
  • Kabir, Humayun
  • Rahman, Asheq

Abstract

A major concern with the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is the accounting discretion allowed under the IFRS, and its potential opportunistic use by managers. We examine the role of corporate governance in the accounting discretion inherent in goodwill impairment decisions under the IFRS. More specifically, we investigate whether, in Australia, stronger governance strengthens associations between economic factors and goodwill impairment loss but weakens associations between contracting incentives and goodwill impairment loss. Using data from 2007 to 2012, we find evidence consistent with the notion that stronger governance enhances the associations between economic factors and goodwill impairment loss. However, we find that strong governance cannot completely eliminate the opportunistic use of discretion in an impairment decision, especially when pre-impairment income is negative, and when the impairment occurs in the first year of a CEO's tenure. Our results are robust with regard to alternative measures of the dependent variable, firm performance variables, and the governance variable, even after controlling for potential self-selection biases.

Suggested Citation

  • Kabir, Humayun & Rahman, Asheq, 2016. "The role of corporate governance in accounting discretion under IFRS: Goodwill impairment in Australia," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 290-308.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jocaae:v:12:y:2016:i:3:p:290-308
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcae.2016.10.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1815566916300546
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jcae.2016.10.001?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
    ---><---

    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. Lee, Philip & Stokes, Donald & Taylor, Stephen & Walter, Terry, 2003. "The association between audit quality, accounting disclosures and firm-specific risk: Evidence from initial public offerings," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 377-400.
    2. K.V. Peasnell & P.F. Pope & S. Young, 2005. "Board Monitoring and Earnings Management: Do Outside Directors Influence Abnormal Accruals?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(7‐8), pages 1311-1346, September.
    3. Jayne M. Godfrey & Ping‐Sheng Koh, 2009. "Goodwill impairment as a reflection of investment opportunities," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 49(1), pages 117-140, March.
    4. 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.
    5. Pourciau, Susan, 1993. "Earnings management and nonroutine executive changes," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1-3), pages 317-336, April.
    6. Patricia M. Dechow & Richard G. Sloan & Amy P. Sweeney, 1996. "Causes and Consequences of Earnings Manipulation: An Analysis of Firms Subject to Enforcement Actions by the SEC," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(1), pages 1-36, March.
    7. Beatriz Garcia Osma, 2008. "Board Independence and Real Earnings Management: The Case of R&D Expenditure," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(2), pages 116-131, March.
    8. Jere R. Francis & Dechun Wang, 2008. "The Joint Effect of Investor Protection and Big 4 Audits on Earnings Quality around the World," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(1), pages 157-191, March.
    9. Jeong†Bon Kim & Richard Chung & Michael Firth, 2003. "Auditor Conservatism, Asymmetric Monitoring, and Earnings Management," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(2), pages 323-359, June.
    10. K.V. Peasnell & P.F. Pope & S. Young, 2005. "Board Monitoring and Earnings Management: Do Outside Directors Influence Abnormal Accruals?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(7-8), pages 1311-1346.
    11. Steven L. Henning & Wayne H. Shaw & Toby Stock, 2004. "The Amount and Timing of Goodwill Write-Offs and Revaluations: Evidence from U.S. and U.K. Firms," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 99-121, September.
    12. Martin Walker, 2013. "How far can we trust earnings numbers? What research tells us about earnings management," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(4), pages 445-481, August.
    13. Wendy Beekes & Philip Brown, 2006. "Do Better‐Governed Australian Firms Make More Informative Disclosures?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3‐4), pages 422-450, April.
    14. Peter F. Pope & Stuart J. McLeay, 2011. "The European IFRS experiment: objectives, research challenges and some early evidence," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(3), pages 233-266, August.
    15. Wendy Beekes & Philip Brown, 2006. "Do Better-Governed Australian Firms Make More Informative Disclosures?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3-4), pages 422-450.
    16. Eng, L. L. & Mak, Y. T., 2003. "Corporate governance and voluntary disclosure," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 325-345.
    17. Keryn G. Chalmers & Jayne M. Godfrey & John C. Webster, 2011. "Does a goodwill impairment regime better reflect the underlying economic attributes of goodwill?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 51(3), pages 634-660, September.
    18. Duh, Rong-Ruey & Lee, Wen-Chih & Lin, Ching-Chieh, 2009. "Reversing an impairment loss and earnings management: The role of corporate governance," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 113-137, June.
    19. Elliott, JA & Hanna, JD, 1996. "Repeated accounting write-offs and the information content of earnings," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34, pages 135-155.
    20. Cheng, Eugene C.M. & Courtenay, Stephen M., 2006. "Response to discussion of "board composition, regulatory regime and voluntary disclosure"," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 293-294.
    21. Fabrizio Cerbioni & Antonio Parbonetti, 2007. "Exploring the Effects of Corporate Governance on Intellectual Capital Disclosure: An Analysis of European Biotechnology Companies," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(4), pages 791-826.
    22. Cheng, Eugene C.M. & Courtenay, Stephen M., 2006. "Board composition, regulatory regime and voluntary disclosure," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 262-289.
    23. Fields, Thomas D. & Lys, Thomas Z. & Vincent, Linda, 2001. "Empirical research on accounting choice," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 255-307, September.
    24. Baber, William R. & Gore, Angela K. & Rich, Kevin T. & Zhang, Jean X., 2013. "Accounting restatements, governance and municipal debt financing," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 212-227.
    25. Ahmed, Anwer S. & Duellman, Scott, 2007. "Accounting conservatism and board of director characteristics: An empirical analysis," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2-3), pages 411-437, July.
    26. Perfect, Steven B. & Wiles, Kenneth W., 1994. "Alternative constructions of Tobin's q: An empirical comparison," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 1(3-4), pages 313-341, July.
    27. Pamela Kent & Jenny Stewart, 2008. "Corporate governance and disclosures on the transition to International Financial Reporting Standards," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 48(4), pages 649-671, December.
    28. Klein, April, 2002. "Audit committee, board of director characteristics, and earnings management," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 375-400, August.
    29. Xie, Biao & Davidson, Wallace III & DaDalt, Peter J., 2003. "Earnings management and corporate governance: the role of the board and the audit committee," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 295-316, June.
    30. Anne Beatty & Joseph Weber, 2006. "Accounting Discretion in Fair Value Estimates: An Examination of SFAS 142 Goodwill Impairments," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(2), pages 257-288, May.
    31. Francis, J & Hanna, JD & Vincent, L, 1996. "Causes and effects of discretionary asset write-offs," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34, pages 117-134.
    32. 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.
    33. Philip Brown & Wendy Beekes & Peter Verhoeven, 2011. "Corporate governance, accounting and finance: A review," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 51(1), pages 96-172, March.
    34. Alfred Lye Chye Loh & Tin Hoe Tan, 2002. "Asset Write‐Offs—Managerial Incentives and Macroeconomic Factors," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 38(1), pages 134-151, February.
    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. Guermazi, Walid & Halioui, Khamoussi, 2020. "Do differences in national cultures affect cross-country conditional conservatism behavior under IFRS?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    2. Han, Hongwen & Tang, Jiali Jenna & Tang, Qingquan, 2024. "The role of large shareholders in goodwill impairment decisions – Evidence from China," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    3. 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).
    4. Tadeusz Dudycz & Jadwiga Praźników, 2020. "Does the Mark-to-Model Fair Value Measure Make Assets Impairment Noisy?: A Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-24, February.
    5. Vichitsarawong, Thanyaluk & Eng, Li Li, 2023. "Corporate governance, financial indicators and asset impairments during the COVID-19 pandemic period," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PD).
    6. Hongwen Han & Jiali Jenna Tang & Qingquan Tang, 2021. "Goodwill Impairment, Securities Analysts, and Information Transparency," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(4), pages 767-799, August.
    7. Kabir, Humayun & Su, Li & Rahman, Asheq, 2020. "Firm life cycle and the disclosure of estimates and judgments in goodwill impairment tests: Evidence from Australia," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3).
    8. d'Arcy, Anne & Tarca, Ann, 2018. "Reviewing IFRS Goodwill Accounting Research: Implementation Effects and Cross-Country Differences," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 203-226.

    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. Chia-Ling Chao & Shwu-Min Horng, 2013. "Asset write-offs discretion and accruals management in Taiwan: the role of corporate governance," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 41-74, January.
    2. Kabir, Humayun & Su, Li & Rahman, Asheq, 2020. "Firm life cycle and the disclosure of estimates and judgments in goodwill impairment tests: Evidence from Australia," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3).
    3. Lúcia Lima Rodrigues & Francisca Tejedo-Romero & Russell Craig, 2017. "Corporate governance and intellectual capital reporting in a period of financial crisis: Evidence from Portugal," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 14(1), pages 1-29, February.
    4. Rihab Guidara & Younes Boujelbene, 2014. "R&D-Based Earnings Management and Accounting Performance Motivation," International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, vol. 4(2), pages 81-93, April.
    5. Luminita Enache & Antonio Parbonetti & Anup Srivastava, 2020. "Are all outside directors created equal with respect to firm disclosure policy?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 541-577, August.
    6. repec:hur:ijaraf:v:4:y:2014:i:2:p:85-97 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. García Osma, Beatriz & Guillamón-Saorín, Encarna, 2011. "Corporate governance and impression management in annual results press releases," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 187-208.
    8. Mohamed Khalil & Aydin Ozkan, 2016. "Board Independence, Audit Quality and Earnings Management: Evidence from Egypt," Journal of Emerging Market Finance, Institute for Financial Management and Research, vol. 15(1), pages 84-118, April.
    9. Nguyet T. M. Nguyen & Abdullah Iqbal & Radha K. Shiwakoti, 2022. "The context of earnings management and its ability to predict future stock returns," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 59(1), pages 123-169, July.
    10. Andreas Charitou & Irene Karamanou & Anastasia Kopita, 2018. "The determinants and valuation effects of classification choice on the statement of cash flows," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(6), pages 613-650, September.
    11. Chang, Jui Chin & Sun, Heuy Lian, 2009. "Crossed-listed foreign firms' earnings informativeness, earnings management and disclosures of corporate governance information under SOX," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 1-32, March.
    12. Ahsan Habib & Md. Borhan Uddin Bhuiyan, 2016. "Problem directors on the audit committee and financial reporting quality," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(2), pages 121-144, February.
    13. Alves, Paulo & Couto, Eduardo Barbosa & Francisco, Paulo Morais, 2015. "Board of directors’ composition and capital structure," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 1-32.
    14. Elnahass, Marwa & Salama, Aly & Yusuf, Noora, 2022. "Earnings management and internal governance mechanisms: The role of religiosity," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    15. Duh, Rong-Ruey & Lee, Wen-Chih & Lin, Ching-Chieh, 2009. "Reversing an impairment loss and earnings management: The role of corporate governance," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 113-137, June.
    16. Nancy Harp & Mark Myring & Rebecca Shortridge, 2014. "Do Variations in the Strength of Corporate Governance Still Matter? A Comparison of the Pre- and Post-Regulation Environment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 122(3), pages 361-373, July.
    17. Gisbert, Ana & Navallas, Begoña, 2013. "The association between voluntary disclosure and corporate governance in the presence of severe agency conflicts," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 286-298.
    18. Pavlopoulos, Athanasios & Magnis, Chris & Iatridis, George Emmanuel, 2017. "Integrated reporting: Is it the last piece of the accounting disclosure puzzle?," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 23-46.
    19. Allan Hodgson & Michael Seamer & Katherine Uylangco, 2020. "Does stronger corporate governance constrain insider trading? Asymmetric evidence from Australia," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(3), pages 2665-2687, September.
    20. Hussein Abedi Shamsabadi & Byung-Seong Min & Richard Chung, 2016. "Corporate governance and dividend strategy: lessons from Australia," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 12(5), pages 583-610, October.
    21. 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.

    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:jocaae:v:12:y:2016:i:3:p:290-308. 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-contemporary-accounting-and-economics .

    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.