دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی نقش دارایی های نامشهود و بدهی ها در عملکرد شرکت - امرالد 2018

INTRODUCTION

Accounting researchers and practitioners have long discussed about the ability, or indeed inability, of standard financial reports to reflect the actual value of a firm (Lev, 2008; Skinner, 2008a; Penman, 2009). In particular, the accounting treatment of intangibles is one of the most debated, repeated and unresolved issues in accounting, both in academic research as well as in standard setting (Skinner, 2008a; Wrigley, 2008; Penman, 2009; Lev et al., 2009). The widening gap between market value of companies and reported book values is cited as an indication of the significance of intangibles in the modern economy, with the difference between market and book values, in some cases, reaching as high as 80 percent (Penman, 2009; Lev et al., 2009). For instance, market forecasts show that Apple’s market value, currently over 700 billion US dollars, is expected to hit the 1 trillion mark in few years (Reuters, 2015). Apple’s financial records show that its book value is substantially lower than its ballooning market value. The hidden, or unaccounted, value between market and book values of Apple, and many other companies such as Microsoft and Dell is categorically attributed to intangible (intellectual) assets (Penman, 2009; Lev et al., 2009; Edvinsson, 2013).

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

The literature and commentary discussions on intangibles were described as “one-sided”, focusing only on intangible assets, and failing to consider intangible liabilities (Gowthorpe, 2009; Stam, 2009). We find that the existing research on intangible liabilities as highly normative, with little or no concrete empirical evidence (De Santis and Giuliani, 2013). There, there still remain questions on whether there is such thing as ‘intangible liabilities’ (Caddy, 2000; Stam, 2009), and in particular, the role of intangible liabilities in firm performance. The purpose of this study is to explore the existence of ‘intangible liabilities’ and provide initial empirical account toward the roles of intangible assets and liabilities in firm performance. Following prior studies (e.g., Harvey and Lusch, 1999; Wrigley, 2008; De Santis and Giuliani, 2013), we use sustained positive/ negative hidden values to measure intangible assets and liabilities.

We find a significant number of our sample companies, between 34% and 59.33% from the largest 300 companies in Malaysia, have substantial amount of unrecorded intangible liabilities over the six-year period. The research results also show that a significant number of top 300 companies (50 firms) had sustained intangible liabilities throughout the sample period. Contrary to expectations, the findings reveal that the occurrence of ‘negative hidden values’, or hidden values altogether, is not a random, industry specific or smaller-size syndrome phenomena. Quite contrary, the existence of hidden values goes beyond specific industries, reforms in corporate governance, reporting and macroeconomics conditions.