The impact of the institutional environment on the value relevance of fair values

Most prior studies attribute valuation discounts on certain fair valued assets to measurement error or bias. We argue that institutional differences across countries (e.g., information environment or market sophistication) affect investors’ ability to process and impound fair value information in their valuation. We predict that the impact of the institutional environment on value relevance is particularly pronounced for reported fair values of assets designated at fair value through profit or loss (hereafter, “FVO assets”), for which investor experience is lowest and complexity is highest. Using a global sample of IFRS banks, we find that FVO assets are generally less value relevant than held-for-trading assets (HFT) and available-for-sale assets (AFS). By partitioning countries into market- and bank-based economies to proxy for institutional differences, we find that the valuation discount on FVO assets is more pronounced in bank-based economies. Additional tests suggest that this valuation discount is attenuated by a richer firm-level information environment and the presence of institutional investors with fair value experience

Comparability and predictive ability of loan loss allowances – the role of accounting regulation versus bank supervision

We investigate whether and how the shift from discretionary forward-looking provisioning to the restrictive incurred loss approach under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in the European Union (EU) affects the cross-country comparability and predictive ability of loan loss allowances. Given bank supervisors’ keen interest in comparable and adequate loan loss allowances, we also examine the role of supervisors in determining financial statement effects around IFRS adoption. We find that the application of the incurred loss approach has led to more comparable loan loss allowances. However, some differences persist in countries where supervisors were reluctant to enforce the incurred loss approach. Our results also suggest that the predictive ability of loan loss allowances improved following IFRS adoption. Finally, in supplemental analyses we document that increased comparability of loan loss allowances is associated with the cross-country convergence of the risk sensitivity of bank leverage indicating an improvement in the effectiveness of market discipline in the EU

Uniform Accounting Regimes and Managerial Learning from Stock Prices

We investigate whether the introduction of IFRS and associated enforcement changes influence managerial learning from stock prices (proxied by revelatory price efficiency (RPE)), particularly for high-growth firms. The introduction of IFRS creates a more uniform accounting regime across different countries. Uniform accounting regimes reduce the ability of managers of high-growth firms to provide more precise information to investors. This in turn lowers the ability of informed investors to incorporate private information about growth opportunities into the stock price. As a result, managers of high-growth firms learn less from stock prices after the introduction of IFRS. Furthermore, we expect that a strong enforcement enhances this effect, as it improves compliance with IFRS, resulting in even lower precision of financial information for high-growth firms. Our findings are consistent with these predictions

Classification and Measurement under IFRS 9:A Commentary and Suggestions for Future Research

This paper discusses several issues that were raised by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in their request for information for the post-implementation review (PIR) of the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 9: Financial instruments–Classification and Measurement. In doing so, we first review the related academic literature and present empirical evidence on the post-adoption impact of IFRS 9. We then discuss conceptual issues associated with the business model and cash flow characteristics assessment in IFRS 9, as well as issues associated with the presentation of fair value changes in other comprehensive income (OCI) and modifications to contractual cash flows. Finally, we identify gaps in the literature and provide suggestions for future research that can help inform accounting standard setters