دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی برگشت کاهش ارزش: گزارش بی طرف یا مدیریت درآمد - امرالد 2017

Abstract

Purpose – To provide evidence that will inform the convergence debate regarding accounting standards. We assess the ability of impairment reversals allowed under IAS 36 but disallowed by FASB to provide useful information about a company. Design/Methodology/Approach - We use a sample of 182 Malaysian firms that reversed impairment charges and a matched sample of firms which chose not to reverse their impairments. Further analysis examines if reversing an impairment charge is associated with motivations for and evidence of earnings management. Findings - We find no evidence that the reversal of an impairment charge marks a company out as managing contemporaneous earnings. However, we document evidence that firms with high levels of abnormal accruals and weak corporate governance avoid earnings declines by reversing previously recognized impairments. In addition, companies that have engaged in big baths as evidenced by high accumulated impairment balances and prior changes in top management, use impairment reversals to avoid earnings declines. Research Implications - Our results support both the informative and opportunistic hypotheses of impairment reversal reporting using FRS 136. Practical Implications - The results also demonstrate how companies that use impairment reversals opportunistically can be identified. Originality/Value - The results support IASB’s approach to the reversal of impairments. They also provide novel evidence as to how companies exploit a cookie-jar reserve created by a prior big bath opportunistically.

5. Discussion and Conclusion

Fair value accounting has been claimed to provide the users of financial information with more relevant and up to date information. However, it is also claimed that the estimations implicit in arriving at fair values facilitate the manipulation of earnings which will hinder their faithful representation of the company’s performance and financial position and make them less useful. The study evaluates the use of fair value accounting by examining the application of fair value principles in the context of the reversal of impairments by Malaysian companies.

We first compare our reversal companies with a matched sample of companies that did not reverse their impairments. The empirical evidence presented here shows that firms that reverse their impairments using FRS 136 in Malaysia have no greater motivations to manage current earnings upwards than a sample of control firms based on industry class and size. Furthermore, their average level of AWCA and their standard of corporate governance are no different to those of the control sample. Thus firms that reverse impairments do not display any increased proclivity to manage earnings relative to companies that do not make such reversals. The contemporaneous earnings performance of reversal firms is significantly superior to that of the control firms. This indicates that the reversal is associated with improved performance and it would not be unreasonable to infer that Malaysian companies generally reverse impairments for unbiased reasons. However, results from a multivariate logit model also provides strong evidence that a major difference between reversal companies and companies that do not reverse their impairments is the level of the prior balance of impairment losses. This suggests that past impairment decisions impact strongly on current impairment reversals.