IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ora/journl/v1y2013i1p1198-1209.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can Asset Revaluation Be Manipulative? - A Case Study

Author

Listed:
  • Crisan Sorana Adina

    (Babes-Bolyai University,)

Abstract

Asset revaluation can trigger different signals to investors depending upon company type, asset intensity and category and investors' expectations. In the same time, motivations behind asset revaluation decisions are diverse, being influenced by management incentives, credit covenants, faithful representation and various other reasons. In many cases the revaluation decision is imposed upon the company by auditors or the need to reduce information asymmetry. In Romania, one of the main decision drivers is the Fiscal Code, due to buildings taxation provisions. For companies that revaluate their fixed assets for taxation purposes only (which is the case for most small companies in Romania), the primary concern is to reduce the fiscal impact - the preferred scenario in this case is most likely to be the one that reduces tax expenses. Our research aims to provide a full picture of the motivations behind the revaluation decision and point to the manipulation instruments made available to companies by the allowed alternatives in what regards (1) which assets to be revalued and (2) how to recalculate book values. By means of a case study we identify the options available to a revaluating company and show how each one can impact the financial statements and financial ratios, thus influencing financial statement users' perception. Our analysis is limited to fixed assets revaluation, as these are the ones revaluated by most Romanian companies. The comparative analysis shows that the decision to not revaluate certain assets categories can lead to serious distortions of the faithful image. Financial ratios can be significantly impacted by the type of assets revalued, depending upon the revaluation direction (upward or downward) and the revaluation differences. In upward revaluation leverage ratios and solvency can improve, leading to a better position in relation to credit covenants. Equity is also positively affected. Alternatively, a decrease of assets' value will be reflected in a negative manner upon these indicators, which might be a serious reason for a company to not revaluate, thus not preserving the true and fair value of assets in the financial statements. Companies can choose between two alternatives of recalculating book values and depreciation. The option taken can also influence the company's financial position. Our study shows that impact over profitability is lower and that profit tax is not affected in a significant manner even if an influence can be identified.

Suggested Citation

  • Crisan Sorana Adina, 2013. "Can Asset Revaluation Be Manipulative? - A Case Study," Annals of Faculty of Economics, University of Oradea, Faculty of Economics, vol. 1(1), pages 1198-1209, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:ora:journl:v:1:y:2013:i:1:p:1198-1209
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://anale.steconomiceuoradea.ro/volume/2013/n1/127.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Benzion Barlev & Dov Fried & Joshua Rene Haddad & Joshua Livnat, 2007. "Reevaluation of Revaluations: A Cross-Country Examination of the Motives and Effects on Future Performance," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(7-8), pages 1025-1050.
    2. Ervin L. Black & Keith F. Sellers & Tracy S. Manly, 1998. "Earnings Management Using Asset Sales: An International Study of Countries Allowing Noncurrent Asset Revaluation," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(9‐10), pages 1287-1317, November.
    3. Sharpe, Ian G. & Walker, R.G, 1975. "Asset Revaluations and Stock Market Prices," Working Papers 2, University of Sydney, School of Economics.
    4. A. Quagli & F. Avallone, 2010. "Fair Value or Cost Model? Drivers of Choice for IAS 40 in the Real Estate Industry," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 461-493.
    5. Barth, ME & Clinch, G, 1998. "Revalued financial, tangible, and intangible assets: Associations with share prices and non-market-based value estimates," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36, pages 199-233.
    6. Y.C. Lin & Ken V. Peasnell, 2000. "Fixed Asset Revaluation and Equity Depletion in the UK," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3&4), pages 359-394.
    7. Ervin L. Black & Keith F. Sellers & Tracy S. Manly, 1998. "Earnings Management Using Asset Sales: An International Study of Countries Allowing Noncurrent Asset Revaluation," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(9-10), pages 1287-1317.
    8. Missonier-Piera, Franck, 2007. "Motives for fixed-asset revaluation: An empirical analysis with Swiss data," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 186-205.
    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. Lopes, Alexsandro Broedel & Walker, Martin, 2012. "Asset revaluations, future firm performance and firm-level corporate governance arrangements: New evidence from Brazil," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 53-67.
    2. Salvatore Madonna & Greta Cestari & Francesca Giuliani, 2021. "Asset revaluation: scelte manageriali in tempo di crisi," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2021(3), pages 41-64.
    3. Habeeb Mohamed Nijam, 2018. "Motives for Reporting Fixed Assets at Revalued Amount: Evidence from a Developing Economy," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 19(3), pages 604-622, June.
    4. Missonier-Piera, Franck, 2007. "Motives for fixed-asset revaluation: An empirical analysis with Swiss data," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 186-205.
    5. George Emmanuel Iatridis & George Kilirgiotis, 2012. "Incentives for fixed asset revaluations: the UK evidence," Journal of Applied Accounting Research, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 13(1), pages 5-20, May.
    6. Mao, Yaping & Renneboog, Luc, 2015. "Do managers manipulate earnings prior to management buyouts?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 43-61.
    7. Md. Tahidur Rahman & Syed Zabid Hossain & Md. Anwarul Haque, 2021. "Timing, Recurrence, and Effects of Fixed Asset Revaluation: Evidence from Bangladesh," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 11(2), pages 67-75.
    8. Benzion Barlev & Dov Fried & Joshua Rene Haddad & Joshua Livnat, 2007. "Reevaluation of Revaluations: A Cross‐Country Examination of the Motives and Effects on Future Performance," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(7‐8), pages 1025-1050, September.
    9. Olante, Maria Elena & Lassini, Ugo, 2022. "Investment property: Fair value or cost model? Recent evidence from the application of IAS 40 in Europe," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    10. Neil Garrod & Urska Kosi & Aljosa Valentincic, 2008. "Asset Write‐Offs in the Absence of Agency Problems," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(3‐4), pages 307-330, April.
    11. Fábio Moraes da Costa & Carol Liu & Gina Cavalier Rosa & Samuel L. Tiras, 2020. "The Commitment to Income‐Decreasing Accounting Choices As a Credible Signal to Reducing Information Asymmetry: The Case of Asset Revaluations," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(4), pages 2501-2522, December.
    12. Jincheol Bae & Jaehong Lee & Eunsoo Kim, 2019. "Does Fixed Asset Revaluation Build Trust between Management and Investors?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-22, July.
    13. Jung, Boochun & Pourjalali, Hamid & Wen, Eric & Daniel, Shirley J., 2013. "The association between firm characteristics and CFO's opinions on the fair value option for non-financial assets," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 255-266.
    14. Cho, Hyungjin & Chung, Ju Ryum & Kim, Young Jun, 2021. "Fixed asset revaluation and external financing during the financial crisis: Evidence from Korea," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    15. Rute Gonçalves & Patrícia Lopes, 2015. "Accounting in Agriculture: Measurement practices of listed firms," FEP Working Papers 557, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    16. Juan Manuel García Lara & Beatriz García Osma & Belén Gill de Albornoz Noguer, 2006. "Effects of database choice on international accounting research," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 42(3‐4), pages 426-454, September.
    17. Jean-Louis Paré & Frédéric Demerens, 2011. "Détecter les manipulations financières en France : Le cas d'une PME cotée sur Alternext," Post-Print hal-00650559, HAL.
    18. Veiga, José & Fernandes, Joaquim & Gonçalves, Cristina & Andraz, Georgette, 2015. "The Relevance of Fair Value Across Countries: Firms Listed in Lisbon and Madrid Stock Exchange," Journal of Tourism, Sustainability and Well-being, Cinturs - Research Centre for Tourism, Sustainability and Well-being, University of Algarve, vol. 3(1), pages 78-95.
    19. Oriol Amat & Catherine Gowthorpe, 2004. "Creative accounting: Nature, incidence and ethical issues," Economics Working Papers 749, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    20. Ryan McDonough & Argyro Panaretou & Catherine Shakespeare, 2020. "Fair value accounting: Current practice and perspectives for future research," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3-4), pages 303-332, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    assets' revaluation; fair value; financial statements; motivations;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M49 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Other

    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:ora:journl:v:1:y:2013:i:1:p:1198-1209. 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: Catalin ZMOLE (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/feoraro.html .

    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.