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Accounting, Governance and the Crisis: Is Risk the Missing Link?

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  • Michel Magnan
  • Garen Markarian

Abstract

The period 2007-2010 marked one of the most severe economic and financial crises in living memory. In this paper, we focus on two of accounting's key functions within organisations and markets, financial reporting and governance. In this respect, we find that accounting exhibited shortcomings in its structural foundation and in its application. Salient is its failure to account for uncertainty and to adequately capture, measure and disclose the impact of risk-taking on the financial statements, thus undermining their reliability and, potentially, their relevance as indicators of economic performance. Consequently, boards were provided with misleading numbers, and compensation was based on paper profits that did not materialise. As such, accounting carried undesirable elements that interacted with other malicious market characteristics such as excessive risk-taking by bankers, and failure in regulatory and market oversight, thus potentially contributing to deteriorating economic conditions. The paper concludes with suggestions for further research in this area. Guns don't kill people, but they sure help. (Exchange between Clive Owen and Paul Giamatti, Shoot 'Em Up, 2007)

Suggested Citation

  • Michel Magnan & Garen Markarian, 2011. "Accounting, Governance and the Crisis: Is Risk the Missing Link?," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(2), pages 215-231.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:euract:v:20:y:2011:i:2:p:215-231
    DOI: 10.1080/09638180.2011.580943
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    2. M. Marinoni A. & Марко Маринони А., 2016. "СОВЕТ ЗАКОНОДАТЕЛЬНО НАЗНАЧАЕМЫХ АУДИТОРОВ - ЭТО ОРГАН, ПРИСПОСАБЛИВАЮЩИЙСЯ К СПЕЦИФИЧЕСКИМ ОСОБЕННОСТЯМ ИТАЛИИ, ИЛИ МОДЕЛЬ ЗАЩИТЫ В ТРАДИЦИОННОЙ СИСТЕМЕ КОРПОРАТИВНОГО УПРАВЛЕНИЯ? // Is the Board of ," Учет. Анализ. Аудит // Accounting. Analysis. Auditing, ФГОБУВО "Финансовый университет при Правительстве Российской Федерации" // Financial University under The Government of Russian Federation, issue 6, pages 93-101.
    3. Acheampong, Albert & Elshandidy, Tamer, 2021. "Does soft information determine credit risk? Text-based evidence from European banks," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    4. Mohamed Khalil & Aydin Ozkan, 2016. "Board Independence, Audit Quality and Earnings Management: Evidence from Egypt," Journal of Emerging Market Finance, Institute for Financial Management and Research, vol. 15(1), pages 84-118, April.
    5. Annisette, Marcia & Prasad, Ajnesh, 2017. "Critical accounting research in hyper-racial times," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 5-19.
    6. Yvonne Joyce, 2020. "Building Trust in Crisis Management: A Study of Insolvency Practitioners and the Role of Accounting Information and Processes," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(3), pages 1622-1657, September.
    7. Achim Luminita-Georgiana & Mitoi Elena & Turlea Ioan-Codrut, 2021. "A methodological approach to developing and validating IFRS 9 -LGD parameters," Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence, Sciendo, vol. 15(1), pages 683-694, December.
    8. Pierre-Emmanuel Thérond, 2014. "Alarm System for Credit Losses Impairment under IFRS 9," Post-Print hal-01152097, HAL.
    9. Crovini, Chiara & Ossola, Giovanni & Britzelmaier, Bernd, 2021. "How to reconsider risk management in SMEs? An Advanced, Reasoned and Organised Literature Review," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 118-134.
    10. Cooper, Christine, 2015. "Accounting for the fictitious: A Marxist contribution to understanding accounting's roles in the financial crisis," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 63-82.
    11. Akbar, Saeed & Kharabsheh, Buthiena & Poletti-Hughes, Jannine & Shah, Syed Zulfiqar Ali, 2017. "Board structure and corporate risk taking in the UK financial sector," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 101-110.
    12. Lim, Chu Yeong & Woods, Margaret & Humphrey, Christopher & Seow, Jean Lin, 2017. "The paradoxes of risk management in the banking sector," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 75-90.
    13. Shruti Kashyap & Einar Iveroth, 2021. "Transparency and accountability influences of regulation on risk control: the case of a Swedish bank," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 25(2), pages 475-508, June.
    14. Garen Markarian, 2018. "The role of Irving Fisher in the development of fair value accounting thought," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(3), pages 181-190, September.
    15. Emil Inauen & Margit Osterloh & Bruno Frey & Fabian Homberg, 2015. "How a multiple orientation of control reduces governance failures: a focus on monastic auditing," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 19(4), pages 763-796, November.
    16. Ravenscroft, Sue & Williams, Paul F., 2021. "Sustaining discreditable accounting research through ignorance: The mainstream elite’s response to the 2008 financial crisis," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    17. Couch, Robert & Thibodeau, Nicole & Wu, Wei, 2017. "Are fair value options created equal? A study of SFAS 159 and earnings volatility," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 15-29.

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