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Capital market reactions to earnings announcements: empirical evidence on the difference in the information content of IAS-based earnings and EC-Directives-based earnings

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  • Kurt Auer

Abstract

Listing on a foreign stock exchange and the aim to attract international investors usually forces European quoted companies to adapt information supplied in financial statements to different information needs of international investors. Because of the dominance of the American stock market, this adaptation raises especially the question whether Anglo-American-oriented accounting standards (for instance IAS — International Accounting Standards) convey a higher information content for investors than continental-Europe-oriented accounting standards (for instance EC-Directives). The study examines the information content of earnings announcements, i.e. abnormal returns resulting from un-expected earnings, for a sample of Swiss quoted companies which have changed the accounting standard used for presenting Swiss GAAP consolidated financial statements to either EC-Directives or IAS and can therefore contribute to this discussion. The results of the study suggest that IAS-based earnings announce-ments convey a statistically significant higher information content than earnings announcements based on the Swiss GAAP if a variance-approach is used. For investors in the Swiss capital market, the switch from Swiss GAAP to IAS has therefore increased the information content of financial statements. But comparing IAS-based and EC-Directives-based earnings announcements, the results suggest that for investors IAS-based earnings do not possess a statistically significant higher information content than EC-Directives-based earnings. This result has been achieved despite the fact that for Swiss financial analysts financial statements based on IAS convey a significant higher information content than financial statements based on EC-Directives. Avoiding problems in specifying a model for unexpected earnings by standardizing the mean of the abnormal returns of each event window to a positive value does not lead to a different conclusion if the variance approach is used.

Suggested Citation

  • Kurt Auer, 1996. "Capital market reactions to earnings announcements: empirical evidence on the difference in the information content of IAS-based earnings and EC-Directives-based earnings," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(4), pages 587-623.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:euract:v:5:y:1996:i:4:p:587-623
    DOI: 10.1080/09638189600000039
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Rory F. Knight, 1991. "The Information Content of Swiss Corporate Earnings and Dividend Announcements," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 127(III), pages 537-561, September.
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    1. De George, Emmanuel T. & Li, Xi & Shivakumar, Lakshmanan, 2016. "A review of the IFRS adoption literature," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 67599, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Emmanuel T. De George & Xi Li & Lakshmanan Shivakumar, 2016. "A review of the IFRS adoption literature," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 898-1004, September.
    3. Ernstberger, Jürgen & Vogler, Oliver, 2008. "Analyzing the German accounting triad -- "Accounting Premium" for IAS/IFRS and U.S. GAAP vis-à-vis German GAAP?," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 339-386, December.
    4. Benjamin Poulard & Lionel Touchais, 2013. "Bilan de l'application des IAS/IFRS : Vers une amélioration de la qualité de l'information financière ?," Post-Print hal-01737399, HAL.
    5. Juha Kinnunen & Jyrki Niskanen & Eero Kasanen, 2000. "To whom are IAS earnings informative? Domestic versus foreign shareholders' perspectives," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(4), pages 499-517.
    6. Pascal Dumontier & Bernard Raffournier, 2002. "Accounting and capital markets: a survey of the European evidence," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(1), pages 119-151.
    7. Ding, Yuan & Hope, Ole-Kristian & Jeanjean, Thomas & Stolowy, Herve, 2007. "Differences between domestic accounting standards and IAS: Measurement, determinants and implications," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 1-38.
    8. Pamela Edwards & Frank K. Birkin & David G. Woodward, 2002. "Financial comparability and environmental diversity: an international context," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(6), pages 343-359, November.
    9. Walid Guermazi, 2023. "International financial reporting standards adoption in the European Union and earnings conservatism: a review of empirical research," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(2), pages 200-211, June.
    10. Chiu, She-Chih & Lin, Hsuan-Chu & Chien, Chin-Chen & Liang, Chia-Chen, 2022. "Does Form 20-F reconciliation elimination for IFRS filers affect the risk forecasting ability of accounting numbers?," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(3).
    11. Gaëlle Lenormand & Lionel Touchais, 2009. "Do IFRS improve the quality of financial information? A value relevance approach [Les IFRS améliorent-elles la qualité des informations financières ? Approche par la value relevance]," Post-Print hal-03125421, HAL.
    12. Youssef Alami & Mohamed Rachid Ouezzani, 2015. "Evidence of the Impact of Methods of Implementation of IFRS on the Relevance of Accounting Information," Business and Economic Research, Macrothink Institute, vol. 5(1), pages 227-242, June.
    13. Ana Isabel Morais & José Dias Curto, 2009. "Mandatory Adoption of IASB Standards: Value Relevance and Country-Specific Factors," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 19(2), pages 128-143, June.
    14. Iatridis, George, 2010. "International Financial Reporting Standards and the quality of financial statement information," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 193-204, June.
    15. Djatej, Arsen & Gao, Grace & Sarikas, Robert H.S. & Senteney, David L., 2011. "Eastern and Western European firms public and private information quality: The comparative impact of degree of implementation of IFRS," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 111-129, June.
    16. M. Lambert & G. Hübner & P.-A. Michel & H. Olivier, 2006. "International Financial Reporting Standards and Market Efficiency: A European Perspective," LSF Research Working Paper Series 06-04, Luxembourg School of Finance, University of Luxembourg.
    17. Benjamin Poulard & Lionel Touchais, 2013. "Bilan de l’application des IAS/IFRS : vers une amélioration de la qualité de l’information financière ?," Post-Print hal-03125414, HAL.
    18. Abdulrahman Alomair & Alan Farley & Helen Hong Yang, 2022. "The impact of IFRS adoption on the value relevance of accounting information in Saudi Arabia," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(2), pages 2839-2878, June.
    19. M. Lambert & G. Hübner & P.-A. Michel & H. Olivier, 2006. "The Impact of International Financial Reporting Standards on Market Microstructure in Europe," LSF Research Working Paper Series 06-02, Luxembourg School of Finance, University of Luxembourg.
    20. Young Hwan Lee & Sun A Kang & Sang Min Cho, 2015. "The effect of voluntary IFRS adoption by unlisted fi rms on earnings quality and the cost of debt: empirical evidence from Korea," Journal of Business Economics and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(5), pages 931-948, October.

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