IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/acctbr/v43y2013i4p329-358.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Financial reporting and firm valuation: relevance lost or relevance regained?

Author

Listed:
  • Luzi Hail

Abstract

In this study, I examine whether balance sheet and income statement numbers have lost or regained their relevance over the last 30 years. Institutional and macroeconomic factors like the global trend towards strengthening regulation and harmonising financial reporting, the extended use of fair values over historical cost, and the recurring occurrence of accounting scandals, market bubbles, and financial crises make it likely that the role of financial reporting for firm valuation has changed. Following prior research, I estimate four models for the concurrent relation between market value and accounting numbers, and then examine the pattern in explanatory power over time. I find that the loss in relevance of the income statement continues in recent years and is present in a large international sample, in particular in countries with strong institutions. While the overall relevance of the balance sheet remains stable, I find a downward trend during the first sample half, which reverses in the second half, especially in common law countries with strong investor protection, strict disclosure requirements, and integrated markets. Even though several caveats apply, the results suggest that changes in the economy, the institutional environment, and in how firms operate affect the relative importance of accounting information for the use in firm valuation by outside stakeholders.

Suggested Citation

  • Luzi Hail, 2013. "Financial reporting and firm valuation: relevance lost or relevance regained?," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(4), pages 329-358, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:acctbr:v:43:y:2013:i:4:p:329-358
    DOI: 10.1080/00014788.2013.799402
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00014788.2013.799402
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00014788.2013.799402?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. 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.
    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. Durocher, Sylvain & Georgiou, Omiros, 2022. "Framing accounting for goodwill: Intractable controversies between users and standard setters," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    2. Valentin BURCA, 2014. "Implications of IFRS Adoption on Balance-Sheet vs Income Statement Figures," Economics and Applied Informatics, "Dunarea de Jos" University of Galati, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, issue 3, pages 33-42.
    3. Thomas R. Loy & Sven Hartlieb, 2018. "Have estimates of cost stickiness changed across listing cohorts?," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 29(2), pages 161-181, August.
    4. César Camisón & José Antonio Clemente & Sergio Camisón-Haba, 2022. "Asset tangibility, information asymmetries and intangibles as determinants of family firms leverage," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 16(7), pages 2047-2082, October.
    5. Manganaris, Panayotis & Spathis, Charalambos & Dasilas, Apostolos, 2015. "The effects of mandatory IFRS adoption and conditional conservatism on European bank values," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 72-81.
    6. Valentin BURCA, 2020. "Earnings Quality Versus Accounting Regulation. Empirical Assesment On Accuracy Of Macroeconomic Estimates," Proceedings of the INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE, Faculty of Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 14(1), pages 72-87, November.
    7. Mirela Nichita & Carmen Turlea, 2015. "Approach Regarding a Framework for Risk Reporting in Order to Enhance the Related Good Practices," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 17(40), pages 1108-1108, August.
    8. Schaberl, Philipp D., 2016. "Beyond accounting and back: An empirical examination of the relative relevance of earnings and “other” information," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 98-113.
    9. Fredrik N. G. Andersson & Susanne Arvidsson, 2024. "The impact of the Covid‐19 pandemic on the environmental sustainability strategies of listed firms in Sweden," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 462-476, February.
    10. Pascual-Ezama, David & Paredes, Mercedes Rodríguez & Sanchez-Martín, María-del-Pilar & de Liaño, Beatriz Gil-Gómez, 2018. "Shorter and easier is more useful: A longitudinal analysis of how financial report enforcement affects individual investors," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 29-37.
    11. Petaibanlue, Jirada & Walker, Martin & Lee, Edward, 2015. "When did analyst forecast accuracy benefit from increased cross-border comparability following IFRS adoption in the EU?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 278-291.

    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. Robert K. Larson & Paul J. Herz, 2013. "A Multi-Issue/Multi-Period Analysis of the Geographic Diversity of IASB Comment Letter Participation," Accounting in Europe, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(1), pages 99-151, June.
    2. George J. Benston & Michael Bromwich & Alfred Wagenhofer, 2006. "Principles‐ versus rules‐based accounting standards: the FASB's standard setting strategy," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 42(2), pages 165-188, June.
    3. Francesco De Luca & Jenice Prather-Kinsey, 2018. "Legitimacy theory may explain the failure of global adoption of IFRS: the case of Europe and the U.S," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 22(3), pages 501-534, September.
    4. Larson, Robert K. & Herz, Paul J., 2011. "The academic community’s participation in global accounting standard-setting," Research in Accounting Regulation, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 34-45.
    5. Noriyuki Tsunogaya & Parmod Chand, 2012. "The Complex Equilibrium Paths towards International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the Anglo-American Model: The Case of Japan," The Japanese Accounting Review, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University, vol. 2, pages 117-137, December.
    6. Ramanna Karthik, 2013. "The International Politics of IFRS Harmonization," Accounting, Economics, and Law: A Convivium, De Gruyter, vol. 3(2), pages 1-46, January.
    7. Philip Brown & John Preiato & Ann Tarca, 2014. "Measuring Country Differences in Enforcement of Accounting Standards: An Audit and Enforcement Proxy," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(1-2), pages 1-52, January.
    8. 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.
    9. Robert K. Larson, 2007. "Constituent Participation and the IASB's International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee," Accounting in Europe, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(2), pages 207-254, December.
    10. Alfred Wagenhofer, 2009. "Global accounting standards: reality and ambitions," Accounting Research Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 22(1), pages 68-80, July.
    11. Larson, Robert K. & Kenny, Sara York, 2011. "The financing of the IASB: An analysis of donor diversity," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 1-19.
    12. Chikako Ozu & Miho Nakamura & Kyoko Nagata & Sidney J. Gray, 2018. "Transitioning to IFRS in Japan: Corporate Perceptions of Costs and Benefits," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 28(1), pages 4-13, March.
    13. Philip Brown & Ann Tarca, 2007. "Achieving High Quality, Comparable Financial Reporting: A Review of Independent Enforcement Bodies in Australia and the United Kingdom," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 43(4), pages 438-473, December.
    14. Walker, Martin, 2010. "Accounting for varieties of capitalism: The case against a single set of global accounting standards," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 137-152.
    15. Mustata Razvan V. & Matis Dumitru, 2009. "From The Harmonization Need To The Spontaneous Accounting Harmonization," Annals of Faculty of Economics, University of Oradea, Faculty of Economics, vol. 3(1), pages 1067-1071, May.
    16. Thiemann Matthias, 2014. "The impact of meta-standardization upon standards convergence: the case of the international accounting standard for off-balance-sheet financing," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 16(1), pages 79-112, April.
    17. Ho, Shirley J. & Mallick, Sushanta K., 2015. "A Copayment Auditing Scheme for Financial Misreporting," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 53-74.
    18. Vera Cherepanova, 2017. "A Case for International Financial Reporting Standard on Sustainability: A Critical Perspective," Journal of Management and Sustainability, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 7(2), pages 78-87, June.
    19. Wagenhofer, Alfred, 2011. "Towards a theory of accounting regulation: A discussion of the politics of disclosure regulation along the economic cycle," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 228-234.
    20. Karim Jamal & Shyam Sunder, 2014. "Monopoly versus Competition in Setting Accounting Standards," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 50(4), pages 369-385, December.

    More about this item

    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:taf:acctbr:v:43:y:2013:i:4:p:329-358. 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RABR20 .

    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.