IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ebg/heccah/0872.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Towards an understanding of the phases of goodwill accounting in four Western capitalist countries: From stakeholder model to shareholder model

Author

Listed:
  • Ding, Yuan
  • Stolowy, Hervé
  • Richard, Jacques

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to illustrate that the change in shareholders’ attitude towards firms (from stakeholder model to shareholder model) influences the accounting treatments of goodwill. This study is based on four countries (Great Britain, the United States, Germany, and France) and covers more than a century, starting in 1880. The authors explain that all these countries have gone through four identified phases of goodwill accounting, classified as (1) “static”(immediate or rapid expensing), (2) “weakened static” (write-off against equity), (3) “dynamic” (recognition with amortization over a long period) and (4) “actuarial” (recognition without amortization but with impairment if necessary).

Suggested Citation

  • Ding, Yuan & Stolowy, Hervé & Richard, Jacques, 2007. "Towards an understanding of the phases of goodwill accounting in four Western capitalist countries: From stakeholder model to shareholder model," HEC Research Papers Series 872, HEC Paris.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebg:heccah:0872
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.hec.fr/var/fre/storage/original/application/5286cae8f9bd4c29d38684d582b9b077.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Steve Letza & Xiuping Sun & James Kirkbride, 2004. "Shareholding Versus Stakeholding: a critical review of corporate governance," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(3), pages 242-262, July.
    2. Beaver, William, 1999. "Is the stakeholder model dead?," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 8-12.
    3. Frederick D S Choi & Hisaaki Hino & Sang Kee Min & Sang Oh Nam & Junichi Ujiie & Arthur I Stonehill, 1983. "Analyzing Foreign Financial Statements: The Use and Misuse of International Ratio Analysis," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 14(1), pages 113-131, March.
    4. Bernard Colasse & Peter Standish, 1998. "State versus Market : Contending Interests in the Struggle to Control French Accounting Standardisation," Post-Print halshs-00669084, HAL.
    5. Tinker, Anthony M. & Merino, Barbara D. & Neimark, Marilyn Dale, 1982. "The normative origins of positive theories: Ideology and accounting thought," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 167-200, April.
    6. Puxty, A. G. & Willmott, Hugh C. & Cooper, David J. & Lowe, Tony, 1987. "Modes of regulation in advanced capitalism: Locating accountancy in four countries," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 273-291, April.
    7. Yuan Ding & Hua Zhang & Junxi Zhang, 2007. "Private vs State Ownership and Earnings Management: evidence from Chinese listed companies," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(2), pages 223-238, March.
    8. Holthausen, Robert W. & Leftwich, Richard W., 1983. "The economic consequences of accounting choice implications of costly contracting and monitoring," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 77-117, April.
    9. John Armour & Simon Deakin & Suzanne J. Konzelmann, 2003. "Shareholder Primacy and the Trajectory of UK Corporate Governance," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 41(3), pages 531-555, September.
    10. repec:dau:papers:123456789/993 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Julie Cooper, 2007. "Debating Accounting Principles and Policies: the Case of Goodwill, 1880-1921," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(2), pages 241-264.
    12. Bernard Colasse & Peter Standish, 1998. "State versus Market: Contending Interests in the Struggle to Control French Accounting Standardisation," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 2(2), pages 107-147, June.
    13. repec:dau:papers:123456789/1338 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Sudipta Basu, 2001. "Discussion of On the Asymmetric Recognition of Good and Bad News in France, Germany and the United Kingdom," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(9‐10), pages 1333-1349, November.
    15. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez‐De‐Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 1999. "Corporate Ownership Around the World," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(2), pages 471-517, April.
    16. repec:dau:papers:123456789/9187 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Burchell, Stuart & Clubb, Colin & Hopwood, Anthony G., 1985. "Accounting in its social context: Towards a history of value added in the United Kingdom," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 381-413, October.
    18. repec:dau:papers:123456789/9328 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Jean-Pierre Ponssard & Dominique Plihon & Philippe Zarlowski, 2005. "Towards a convergence of the Shareholder and stakeholder models," Post-Print hal-00365723, HAL.
    20. Christopher Stoney & Diana Winstanley, 2001. "Stakeholding: Confusion or Utopia? Mapping the Conceptual Terrain," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(5), pages 603-626, July.
    21. Daniel A. Bens, 2006. "Discussion of Accounting Discretion in Fair Value Estimates: An Examination of SFAS 142 Goodwill Impairments," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(2), pages 289-296, May.
    22. Trevor Hopper & Tsutomu Koga & Jitsuo Goto, 1999. "Cost accounting in small and medium sized Japanese companies: an exploratory study," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(1), pages 73-86.
    23. Suzuki, Tomo, 2007. "Accountics: Impacts of internationally standardized accounting on the Japanese socio-economy," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 263-301, April.
    24. Caramanis, Constantinos V., 2002. "The interplay between professional groups, the state and supranational agents: Pax Americana in the age of 'globalisation'," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 27(4-5), pages 379-408.
    25. Richard Whitley, 1999. "Competing Logics and Units of Analysis in the Comparative Study of Economic Organization," International Studies of Management & Organization, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(2), pages 113-126, June.
    26. Ciaran Driver & Grahame Thompson, 2002. "Corporate Governance and Democracy: The Stakeholder Debate Revisited," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 6(2), pages 111-130, May.
    27. Barreiros, Lídia., 1985. "Towards social accounting," ILO Working Papers 992431063402676, International Labour Organization.
    28. van Lent, L.A.G.M., 1997. "Pressure and politics in financial accounting regulation : The case of the financial conglomerates in the Netherlands," Other publications TiSEM f2d1e299-aaad-460a-abe1-0, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    29. Begoña Giner & William Rees, 2001. "On the Asymmetric Recognition of Good and Bad News in France, Germany and the United Kingdom," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(9‐10), pages 1285-1331, November.
    30. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    31. Ball, Ray & Shivakumar, Lakshmanan, 2005. "Earnings quality in UK private firms: comparative loss recognition timeliness," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 83-128, February.
    32. repec:dau:papers:123456789/794 is not listed on IDEAS
    33. repec:dau:papers:123456789/1420 is not listed on IDEAS
    34. repec:dau:papers:123456789/9186 is not listed on IDEAS
    35. Michel Capron, 2005. "Les normes comptables internationales, instruments du capitalisme financier," Post-Print hal-01278392, HAL.
    36. John Armour & Simon Deakin & Suzanne J. Konzelmann, 2003. "Shareholder Primacy and the Trajectory of UK Corporate Governance," Working Papers wp266, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    37. Sudipta Basu, 2001. "Discussion of On the Asymmetric Recognition of Good and Bad News in France, Germany and the United Kingdom," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(9‐10), pages 1333-1349, November.
    38. Ball, Ray & Kothari, S. P. & Robin, Ashok, 2000. "Corrigendum to "The effect of international institutional factors on properties of accounting earnings"; [Journal of Accounting and Economics 29 (2000) 1-51]," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 241-241, October.
    39. Michael Power, 1992. "The politics of brand accounting in the United Kingdom," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(1), pages 39-68.
    40. Jeffers, Esther, 2005. "Corporate governance: Toward converging models?," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 221-232, December.
    41. Roberts, Alan, 1995. "The very idea of classification in international accounting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 20(7-8), pages 639-664.
    42. Florian Schilling, 2001. "Corporate Governance in Germany: the move to shareholder value," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(3), pages 148-151, July.
    43. Begoña Giner & William Rees, 2001. "On the Asymmetric Recognition of Good and Bad News in France, Germany and the United Kingdom," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(9&10), pages 1285-1331.
    44. Burchell, Stuart & Clubb, Colin & Hopwood, Anthony & Hughes, John & Nahapiet, Janine, 1980. "The roles of accounting in organizations and society," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 5-27, January.
    45. 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.
    46. repec:dau:papers:123456789/9188 is not listed on IDEAS
    47. Ball, Ray & Kothari, S. P. & Robin, Ashok, 2000. "The effect of international institutional factors on properties of accounting earnings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-51, February.
    48. Basu, Sudipta, 1997. "The conservatism principle and the asymmetric timeliness of earnings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 3-37, December.
    49. Sutton, Timothy G., 1984. "Lobbying of accounting standard-setting bodies in the U.K. and the U.S.A.: A Downsian analysis," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 81-95, January.
    50. Ball, Ray & Robin, Ashok & Wu, Joanna Shuang, 2003. "Incentives versus standards: properties of accounting income in four East Asian countries," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1-3), pages 235-270, December.
    51. Andreas Hackethal & Reinhard H. Schmidt & Marcel Tyrell, 2003. "Corporate Governance in Germany: Transition to a Modern Capital Market-Based System?," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 159(4), pages 664-674, December.
    52. McLeay, Stuart & Ordelheide, Dieter & Young, Steven, 2000. "Constituent lobbying and its impact on the development of financial reporting regulations: evidence from Germany," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 79-98, January.
    53. Harrison, Graeme L. & McKinnon, Jill L., 1986. "Culture and accounting change: A new perspective on corporate reporting regulation and accounting policy formulation," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 233-252, May.
    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. Juan Manuel García Lara & Beatriz García Osma & Fernando Penalva, 2009. "The Economic Determinants of Conditional Conservatism," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(3‐4), pages 336-372, April.
    2. Moy, Melissa & Heaney, Richard & Tarca, Ann & van Zyl, Warrick, 2020. "Conditional accounting conservatism: Exploring the impact of changes in institutional frameworks in four countries," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3).
    3. Juan Manuel Garcia Lara & Araceli Mora, 2004. "Balance sheet versus earnings conservatism in Europe," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 261-292.
    4. Chi, Wuchun & Wang, Chenchin, 2010. "Accounting conservatism in a setting of Information Asymmetry between majority and minority shareholders," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 45(4), pages 465-489, December.
    5. Chi, Wuchun & Liu, Chiawen & Wang, Taychang, 2009. "What affects accounting conservatism: A corporate governance perspective," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 47-59.
    6. Napier, Christopher J., 2006. "Accounts of change: 30 years of historical accounting research," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(4-5), pages 445-507.
    7. Akram Khalilov & Beatriz Garcia Osma, 2020. "Accounting conservatism and the profitability of corporate insiders," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3-4), pages 333-364, March.
    8. Inder K. Khurana & Changjiang Wang, 2015. "Debt Maturity Structure and Accounting Conservatism," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(1-2), pages 167-203, January.
    9. Karampinis, Nikolaos I. & Hevas, Dimosthenis L., 2011. "Mandating IFRS in an Unfavorable Environment: The Greek Experience," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 304-332, September.
    10. Paul André & Andrei Filip & Luc Paugam, 2013. "Impact of Mandatory IFRS Adoption on Conditional Conservatism in Europe," Working Papers hal-00862683, HAL.
    11. Ivana Raonic & Stuart McLeay & Ioannis Asimakopoulos, 2004. "The Timeliness of Income Recognition by European Companies: An Analysis of Institutional and Market Complexity," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1‐2), pages 115-148, January.
    12. Kothari, S.P. & Ramanna, Karthik & Skinner, Douglas J., 2010. "Implications for GAAP from an analysis of positive research in accounting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 246-286, December.
    13. Wang, Y., 2006. "Essays on the relevance and use of dirty surplus accounting flows in Europe," Other publications TiSEM 6b8751e2-3222-40d8-9fe3-9, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    14. Chun Yu Mak & Norman Strong & Martin Walker, 2011. "Conditional Earnings Conservatism and Corporate Refocusing Activities," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(4), pages 1041-1082, September.
    15. Yue Chen & Lingxiang Li & Haizhi Wang & Peng Wang, 2015. "Institutional investors and conservative financial reporting: evidence from China," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 5(1), pages 161-178, June.
    16. Paul André & Andrei Filip & Luc Paugam, 2015. "The Effect of Mandatory IFRS Adoption on Conditional Conservatism in Europe," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(3-4), pages 482-514, April.
    17. repec:hal:journl:hal-00862683 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Stephen B. Salter & Tony Kang & Giorgio Gotti & Timothy S. Doupnik, 2013. "The Role of Social Values, Accounting Values and Institutions in Determining Accounting Conservatism," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 53(4), pages 607-632, August.
    19. Goncharov, Igor & Werner, Joerg R. & Zimmermann, Jochen, 2009. "Legislative demands and economic realities: Company and group accounts compared," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 334-362, December.
    20. Igor Goncharov & Allan Hodgson, 2008. "Comprehensive Income In Europe: Valuation, Prediction And Conservative Issues," Annales Universitatis Apulensis Series Oeconomica, Faculty of Sciences, "1 Decembrie 1918" University, Alba Iulia, vol. 1(10), pages 1-1.
    21. Dmitri Byzalov & Sudipta Basu, 2016. "Conditional conservatism and disaggregated bad news indicators in accrual models," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 859-897, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Goodwill – Accounting history – Social nature of accounting – Stakeholder/shareholder models – Corporate governance; France; Germany; Great Britain; United States;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:ebg:heccah:0872. 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: Antoine Haldemann (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/hecpafr.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.