Refine
Document Type
- Article (7)
- Working Paper (3)
- Doctoral Thesis (1)
Keywords
- Companies (1)
- Eigenkapital (1)
- Europe (1)
- Fixed asset write-offs (1)
- IAS 36 (1)
- IFRS (1)
- Impairment of assets (1)
Institute
Die internationalen Vorschriften über die Erfassung von Wertminderungen stehen seit ihrer Einführung im Fokus von Theorie und Praxis. Die umfangreichen Normen bringen neben erheblichen Anwendungsproblemen auch große Ermessensspielräume mit sich. Die vorliegende Studie untersucht, welche Faktoren Wertminderungen europäischer Unternehmen beeinflussen. Zu diesem Zweck werden zunächst sämtliche Wertminderungen von Unternehmen mit Sitz in den EU15-Mitgliedsstaaten für die Jahre 2005-2011 betrachtet. Im Anschluss erfolgt eine differenzierte Betrachtung der Wertminderungen auf den Goodwill, auf andere immaterielle Vermögenswerte und auf das Sachanlagevermögen.
We analyze under which situations it is optimal to opportunistically delay a fi xed asset write-off and when transparent reporting of write-offs is optimal. We apply a simplifi ed real options approach to find an answer to this question. Therefore, we analyze two settings, one of which does not allow for reporting discretion while the other one does. If there is no reporting discretion the expected carrying amount can be refl ected by reducing the carrying amount after depreciation by the pay-off of a put option, with the carrying amount as the strike price and the recoverable amount as the underlying. If reporting discretion exists regarding the reporting of write-offs, the payoff the fi rm earns when the write-off is delayed can be interpreted as the value of a barrier option with the carrying amount as the barrier and the recoverable amount as the underlying. We fi nd that the probability that write-offs are delayed increases with the benefits of earnings management and decreases with the costs of earnings management and the benefits of transparent reporting.
The objective of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is to provide useful information to the users of financial statements to assist in making economic decisions. To be useful, information has to be relevant and reliable, but the reliability of information suffers when the guidelines for the reporting of specific issues are not clear and managerial discretion arises. Write-offs are one of those accounting issues that are regularly related to earnings management. By now it is seen as common knowledge that write-offs, especially those on goodwill, do not reflect declines in asset value; rather, they are used as a device to manipulate financial reports. However, there is a striking lack of grounded theoretical research that can confirm this assessment. The aim of this dissertation is to provide valuable analytical and empirical insights on fixed asset write-offs under IFRS. In a first step, the practical implementation of IAS 36 in Europe has to be analyzed, which is best done empirically. Based on the findings from these empirical surveys, the most substantial questions remaining are subject to an in-depth analytical discussion. Since IAS 36 entails different measurement issues that have their origins in finance theory, this dissertation also aims to introduce some basic techniques from theoretical finance to accounting research. Lastly, as the analyses presented in this dissertation do not cover all open questions on fixed asset write-offs, the author hopes to encourage further research on this important topic. Erschienen als Online-Veröffentlichung, siehe Link unten. Published online, see link below.
This study examines the factors that influence write-off decisions in German-listed companies. Write-offs have been widely discussed, especially for the US-American market, and a relation to earnings management has been found in existing studies. German companies differentiate from the companies that have already been analyzed as they operate under different accounting standards (IFRS) and in a different institutional setting. Additionally, managers are confronted with the task to derive the IFRS annual statements from the existing annual statements according to local GAAP which follow a differing objective. Based on a sample of 805 observations of German companies listed in the DAX, MDAX, TecDax and SDAX indices between 2004 and 2010, we analyze the impact of firm performance as well as reporting incentives on the write-off decision. We find that the write-off probability rises significantly with decreasing overall firm performance, which is in line with the legal requirements. Additionally, we find a strong relation of the write-off probability with unexpectedly high earnings, which is an indicator for income smoothing. Besides influencing the shareholder’s perception, income smoothing can serve to minimize overall tax payments or to influence the bank’s risk assessment. In contrast with prior studies focusing on the US-American market, we found no evidence for other capital market motives, like big bath accounting and management changes; neither could we confirm the hypothesis that earnings-based management compensation or leverage have a significant influence on the write-off decision. These results indicate that German managers aim to influence tax payments and potential lenders in contrast to the perception of potential shareholders.
What drives companies?
(2013)
Based on a sample of 1,300 companies from the EU15 member states, this study examines the factors that influence fixed asset write-offs in Europe. Using the Cragg model for the corner solution outcome of asset write-offs we are able to separately analyze the determinants of the write-off decision and of the write-off magnitude. We show that in general the write-off decision seems to be driven by asset impairment while the write-off magnitude seems to be driven by earnings management. Further analyses are conducted of the write-offs separated into country clusters. We cannot confirm our assumption that earnings management decreases with greater iestor protection, but we show that companies from ‘outsider economies’ use income smoothing and big bath accounting to determine the write-off magnitude. We do not fi nd such clear patterns for ‘insider economies’, but nevertheless we are still able to show that it does not seem to be asset impairment alone that drives asset write-offs. By partitioning our sample period into two sub-periods we can additionally show that the processes that determine write-offs become more similar for ‘outsider economies’ and ‘insider economies with strong enforcement’, while those of ‘insider economies with weak enforcement’ change individually. We see that the infl uence of asset impairment seems to decrease over time.
Kapitalkosten vor Steuern
(2012)
Für die Zwecke der Nutzungswertbestimmung nach IAS 36 Impairment of Assets sind die Cashfl ows, die aus der künftigen Nutzung des betrachteten Vermögenswerts und dessen Abgang erwartet werden, mit einem Vorsteuer- Diskontsatz abzuzinsen, der unabhängig von der Kapitalstruktur des bilanzierenden Unternehmens ist. Wie ein solcher Diskontsatz zu ermitteln ist, wurde schon mehrfach diskutiert, eine befriedigende Lösung wurde bisher allerdings noch nicht gefunden. Im vorliegenden Artikel stellen wir dar, dass die Anforderungen des IAS 36 an den Diskontsatz durch die Verwendung der Eigenkapitalkosten des fiktiv uerschuldeten Unternehmens vor Steuern erfüllt werden können und leiten die Renditegleichung eines abgewandelten CAPM her, in dem Unternehmenssteuern ausdrücklich berücksichtigt werden. Die so berechneten Renditen können ohne weitere Anpassung für die Berechnung des Nutzungswerts verwendet werden.