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Accounting Choices and Risk Management: SFAS No. 115 and U.S. Bank Holding Companies

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  • Leslie Hodder
  • Mark Kohlbeck
  • Mary Lea McAnally

Abstract

This paper provides evidence that regulatory contracts affect firms' accounting choices and risk†management decisions. Specifically, we investigate whether an exogenous shock to regulatory risk induced by Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 115, “Accounting for Certain Investments in Debt and Equity Securities†(SFAS 1993), encouraged U.S. banks to deviate from portfolio and risk benchmarks when they adopted the standard. Because we cannot observe relevant benchmarks, we model portfolio and risk decisions as functions of macroeconomic and firm†specific factors using data from a period when regulatory capital was immune to SFAS No. 115 accounting. We examine a sample of 230 publicly traded banks and find that (1) irrespective of adoption timing, banks classified too few securities available for sale (AFS) relative to estimated benchmarks; (2) weaker banks that adopted the standard early classified far more securities as AFS relative to benchmarks; (3) banks altered the size of their securities portfolios along with the levels of interest†rate risk and credit risk as regulatory capital decreased; and (4) the level of interest†rate risk on banks' loan portfolios increased at the time of SFAS No. 115 adoption. We also explore the 1995 Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) amnesty when firms could “readopt†SFAS No. 115. We find that banks used the 1995 FASB amnesty to undo strategic initial SFAS No. 115 adoption decisions. Taken together, our findings suggest that SFAS No. 115 caused some of the accounting and economic consequences predicted by bankers, analysts, and academics.

Suggested Citation

  • Leslie Hodder & Mark Kohlbeck & Mary Lea McAnally, 2002. "Accounting Choices and Risk Management: SFAS No. 115 and U.S. Bank Holding Companies," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(2), pages 225-270, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:coacre:v:19:y:2002:i:2:p:225-270
    DOI: 10.1506/W4FB-5K2G-9E9Y-KB20
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    Cited by:

    1. Justin Chircop & Zoltán Novotny-Farkas, 2014. "The economic consequences of including fair value adjustments to shareholders’ equity in regulatory capital calculations," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 1426, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    2. repec:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2012-010 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Chircop, Justin & Novotny-Farkas, Zoltán, 2016. "The economic consequences of extending the use of fair value accounting in regulatory capital calculations," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 183-203.
    4. Merridee L. Bujaki & Bruce J. McConomy, 2007. "Income Tax Accounting Policy Choice: Exposure Draft Responses and the Early Adoption Decision by Canadian Companies," Accounting Perspectives, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 6(1), pages 21-53, February.
    5. Daniel A. Bens & Steven J. Monahan, 2008. "Altering Investment Decisions to Manage Financial Reporting Outcomes: Asset‐Backed Commercial Paper Conduits and FIN 46," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(5), pages 1017-1055, December.
    6. Bischof, Jannis & Laux, Christian & Leuz, Christian, 2020. "Accounting for financial stability: Lessons from the financial crisis and future challenges," SAFE Working Paper Series 283, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    7. Nemit Shroff, 2017. "Corporate investment and changes in GAAP," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 1-63, March.
    8. Beatty, Anne & Liao, Scott, 2014. "Financial accounting in the banking industry: A review of the empirical literature," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 339-383.
    9. Al-Hadi, Ahmed & Al-Yahyaee, Khamis Hamed & Hussain, Syed Mujahid & Taylor, Grantley, 2019. "Market risk disclosures and corporate governance structure: Evidence from GCC financial firms," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 136-150.
    10. Argimón, Isabel & Dietsch, Michel & Estrada, Ángel, 2018. "Prudential filters, portfolio composition at fair value and capital ratios in European banks," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 187-208.
    11. Lee, Eugenia Y. & Kim, Young Jun & Lee, Sangyoon, 2023. "Fair value information and regulatory capital management using financial asset reclassification by Korean insurers," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    12. Le Quang, Gaëtan, 2021. "“Taking Diversity Into Account”: Real effects of accounting measurement on asset allocation," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 135-143.
    13. Hailey Ballew & Michael Iselin & Allison Nicoletti, 2022. "Accounting-based thresholds and growth decisions in the banking industry," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 232-274, March.
    14. Bischof, Jannis & Laux, Christian & Leuz, Christian, 2021. "Accounting for financial stability: Bank disclosure and loss recognition in the financial crisis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(3), pages 1188-1217.
    15. Sophia I-Ling Wang, 2018. "Bank External Financing and Early Adoption of SFAS 133," Review of Pacific Basin Financial Markets and Policies (RPBFMP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 21(03), pages 1-40, September.
    16. Gaëtan Le Quang, 2018. ""Taking Diversity into Account": Real Effects of Accounting Measurement on Asset Allocation," Working Papers hal-04141805, HAL.
    17. Laux, Christian, 2016. "The economic consequences of extending the use of fair value accounting in regulatory capital calculations: A discussion," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 204-208.
    18. Bischof, Jannis & Brüggemann, Ulf & Daske, Holger, 2012. "Fair value reclassifications of financial assets during the financial crisis," SFB 649 Discussion Papers 2012-010, Humboldt University Berlin, Collaborative Research Center 649: Economic Risk.

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