IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/coacre/v23y2006i3p655-692.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cherry Picking, Disclosure Quality, and Comprehensive Income Reporting Choices: The Case of Property†Liability Insurers

Author

Listed:
  • Yen†Jung Lee
  • Kathy R. Petroni
  • Min Shen

Abstract

Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 130: Reporting Comprehensive Income encourages enterprises to report comprehensive income on a performance statement rather than on a statement of equity. We investigate the reporting decisions of 82 publicly traded property†liability insurers that are fairly evenly split in their choice. Our results demonstrate that insurers with a tendency to manage earnings through realized securities' gains and losses (that is, cherry pickers), as well as insurers with a reputation for poor disclosure quality, are more likely to report comprehensive income in a statement of equity. Apparently, these insurers face the highest cost of transparency. We do not find a relation between the reporting decision and the volatility of comprehensive income relative to the volatility of net income. Our findings that insurers' comprehensive income reporting choices are a reflection of their proclivity toward cherry picking as well as their level of disclosure quality should be of interest to standard†setters because of the controversy over standard†setters' preference for mandating all firms to report comprehensive income in a performance statement.

Suggested Citation

  • Yen†Jung Lee & Kathy R. Petroni & Min Shen, 2006. "Cherry Picking, Disclosure Quality, and Comprehensive Income Reporting Choices: The Case of Property†Liability Insurers," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(3), pages 655-692, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:coacre:v:23:y:2006:i:3:p:655-692
    DOI: 10.1506/5QB8-PBQY-Y86L-DRYL
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1506/5QB8-PBQY-Y86L-DRYL
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1506/5QB8-PBQY-Y86L-DRYL?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Petroni, Kathy Ruby, 1992. "Optimistic reporting in the property- casualty insurance industry," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 485-508, December.
    2. David Aboody & Mary E. Barth & Ron Kasznik, 2004. "Firms' Voluntary Recognition of Stock‐Based Compensation Expense," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 123-150, May.
    3. Paul M. Healy & Amy P. Hutton & Krishna G. Palepu, 1999. "Stock Performance and Intermediation Changes Surrounding Sustained Increases in Disclosure," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(3), pages 485-520, September.
    4. Lim, Steve C & Lustgarten, Steven, 2002. "Testing for Income Smoothing Using the Backing Out Method: A Review of Specification Issues," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 273-289, November.
    5. Dhaliwal, Dan & Subramanyam, K. R. & Trezevant, Robert, 1999. "Is comprehensive income superior to net income as a measure of firm performance?1," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1-3), pages 43-67, January.
    6. Beatty, A & Chamberlain, Sl & Magliolo, J, 1995. "Managing Financial Reports Of Commercial-Banks - The Influence Of Taxes, Regulatory Capital, And Earnings," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 231-261.
    7. Fields, Thomas D. & Lys, Thomas Z. & Vincent, Linda, 2001. "Empirical research on accounting choice," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 255-307, September.
    8. Collins, Jh & Shackelford, Da & Wahlen, Jm, 1995. "Bank Differences In The Coordination Of Regulatory Capital, Earnings, And Taxes," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 263-291.
    9. Barth, Mary E. & Landsman, Wayne R. & Wahlen, James M., 1995. "Fair value accounting: Effects on banks' earnings volatility, regulatory capital, and value of contractual cash flows," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(3-4), pages 577-605, June.
    10. Hirst, DE & Hopkins, PE, 1998. "Comprehensive income reporting and analysts' valuation judgments," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36, pages 47-75.
    11. Harris, MS, 1998. "The association between competition and managers' business segment reporting decisions," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(1), pages 111-128.
    12. D. Eric Hirst & Kevin E. Jackson & Lisa Koonce, 2003. "Improving Financial Reports by Revealing the Accuracy of Prior Estimates," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(1), pages 165-193, March.
    13. Ahmed, Anwer S. & Takeda, Carolyn, 1995. "Stock market valuation of gains and losses on commercial banks' investment securities An empirical analysis," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 207-225, September.
    14. Steven J. Kachelmeier, 1996. "Discussion of “Tax Advice and Reporting Under Uncertainty: Theory and Experimental Evidence†," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(1), pages 81-89, March.
    15. Diamond, Douglas W & Verrecchia, Robert E, 1991. "Disclosure, Liquidity, and the Cost of Capital," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(4), pages 1325-1359, September.
    16. Petroni, K & Beasley, M, 1996. "Errors in accounting estimates and their relation to audit firm type," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1), pages 151-171.
    17. Scholes, Myron S & Wilson, G Peter & Wolfson, Mark A, 1990. "Tax Planning, Regulatory Capital Planning, and Financial Reporting Strategy for Commercial Banks," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 3(4), pages 625-650.
    18. Bushee, BJ & Noe, CF, 2000. "Corporate disclosure practices, institutional investors, and stock return volatility," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38, pages 171-202.
    19. Moyer, Susan E., 1990. "Capital adequacy ratio regulations and accounting choices in commercial banks," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 123-154, July.
    20. Kathy R. Petroni, 2003. "Discussion of “Improving Financial Reports by Revealing the Accuracy of Prior Estimates†," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(1), pages 195-199, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Cassell, Cory A. & Myers, Linda A. & Seidel, Timothy A., 2015. "Disclosure transparency about activity in valuation allowance and reserve accounts and accruals-based earnings management," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 23-38.
    2. Kristian D. Allee & Matthew D. Deangelis, 2015. "The Structure of Voluntary Disclosure Narratives: Evidence from Tone Dispersion," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 241-274, May.
    3. Mei Luo & Shuai Shao & Frank Zhang, 2018. "Does financial reporting above or below operating income matter to firms and investors? The case of investment income in China," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 1754-1790, December.
    4. Kim, Jung Hoon, 2016. "Presentation formats of other comprehensive income after accounting standards update 2011-05," Research in Accounting Regulation, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 118-122.
    5. Federica Doni & Silvia Rossetti & Roberto Verona, 2017. "Performance Reporting Choices after the Adoption of IAS 1 Revised: Comparative Evidence from Europe and the USA," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 7(4), pages 558-574.
    6. Dong, Feng & Doukas, John, 2021. "The effect of managers on M&As," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    7. Campa, Domenico & Hajbaba, Amir, 2016. "Do targets grab the cash in takeovers: The role of earnings management," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 56-64.
    8. Tuba Toksoz, 2022. "An Examination of Other‐than‐temporary Impairments: Evidence from FSP FAS 115‐2 and FAS 124‐2," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 58(2), pages 262-299, June.
    9. Alessandro Mechelli & Riccardo Cimini, 2013. "Assessing value relevance of comprehensive income in European banks and other financial institutions," FINANCIAL REPORTING, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2013(1), pages 13-41.
    10. Yiting Cao & Qi (Flora) Dong, 2020. "Does reporting position affect the pricing of the volatility of comprehensive income?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(9-10), pages 1113-1150, October.
    11. Ellul, Andrew & Jotikasthira, Chotibhak & Lundblad, Christian & Wang, Yihui, 2012. "Is historical cost accounting a panacea? Market stress, incentive distortions, and gains trading," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 119197, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    12. Anantharaman, Divya & Chuk, Elizabeth & Kamath, Saipriya, 2021. "Location, location, location! Real effects from the mandated removal of pension expected return from operating income," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 108931, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Abed Al-Nasser Abdallah & Wissam Abdallah & Feras M. Salama, 2018. "The Market Reaction to the Adoption of IFRS in the European Insurance Industry," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 43(4), pages 653-703, October.
    14. Andrew Ellul & Chotibhak Jotikasthira & Christian T. Lundblad & Yihui Wang, 2014. "Is Historical Cost Accounting a Panacea? Market Stress, Incentive Distortions, and Gains Trading," CSEF Working Papers 375, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy.
    15. Kristian D. Allee & Matthew D. Deangelis & James R. Moon, 2018. "Disclosure “Scriptability”," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(2), pages 363-430, May.
    16. Dirk E. Black & Spencer R. Pierce & Wayne B. Thomas, 2022. "A Test of Income Smoothing Using Pseudo Fiscal Years," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(7), pages 5533-5555, July.
    17. Igor Goncharov & Allan Hodgson, 2008. "Comprehensive Income In Europe: Valuation, Prediction And Conservative Issues," Annales Universitatis Apulensis Series Oeconomica, Faculty of Sciences, "1 Decembrie 1918" University, Alba Iulia, vol. 1(10), pages 1-1.
    18. Qi Yang & Dejun Wu, 2020. "Does an item change trigger earnings management? Evidence from asset disposal income in China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(5), pages 4593-4619, December.
    19. Karola Bastini & Rainer Kasperzak, 2013. "Erkenntnisfortschritt in der Rechnungslegung durch experimentelle Forschung? — Diskussion methodischer Grundsatzfragen anhand der Entscheidungsnützlichkeit des Performance Reporting," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 65(7), pages 622-660, December.
    20. Barua, Abhijit & Kim, Jung Hoon, 2017. "Reporting order of financial statements in SEC filings: Evidence from 10-K filings of S&P 500 entities," Research in Accounting Regulation, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 167-171.
    21. Alessandro Mechelli & Riccardo Cimini, 2014. "Is Comprehensive Income Value Relevant and Does Location Matter? A European Study," Accounting in Europe, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(1), pages 59-87, June.
    22. Ellul, Andrew & Lundblad, Christian T & Wang, Yihui & Jotikasthira, Chotibhak, 2015. "Is Historical Cost Accounting a Panacea? Market Stress, Incentive Distortions, and Gains Trading," CEPR Discussion Papers 10450, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    23. Schaberl, Philipp D. & Victoravich, Lisa M., 2015. "Reporting location and the value relevance of accounting information: The case of other comprehensive income," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 239-246.
    24. May Xiaoyan Bao & Matthew T. Billett & David B. Smith & Emre Unlu, 2020. "Does Other Comprehensive Income Volatility Influence Credit Risk and the Cost of Debt?," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(1), pages 457-484, March.
    25. Li Huang & Marc Cussatt & Bernard Wong-On-Wing, 2021. "The value relevance of comprehensive income under alternative presentation formats permitted by ASU 2011-05," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 1123-1153, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mary E. Barth & Javier Gomez-Biscarri & Ron Kasznik & Germán López-Espinosa, 2017. "Bank earnings and regulatory capital management using available for sale securities," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 1761-1792, December.
    2. Beatty, Anne & Liao, Scott, 2014. "Financial accounting in the banking industry: A review of the empirical literature," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 339-383.
    3. Bailey, Wendy J. & Sawers, Kimberly M., 2018. "Moving toward a principle-based approach to U.S. accounting standard setting: A demand for procedural justice and accounting reform," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 1-13.
    4. Kanagaretnam, Kiridaran & Lobo, Gerald J. & Yang, Dong-Hoon, 2005. "Determinants of signaling by banks through loan loss provisions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 58(3), pages 312-320, March.
    5. Adiel, Ron, 1996. "Reinsurance and the management of regulatory ratios and taxes in the property--casualty insurance industry," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1-3), pages 207-240, October.
    6. Beaver, William H. & Engel, Ellen E., 1996. "Discretionary behavior with respect to allowances for loan losses and the behavior of security prices," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1-3), pages 177-206, October.
    7. Xu, Xiaolu, 2019. "The association between fair value measurements and banks' discretionary accounting choices11I thank Roger Graham (editor) and two anonymous reviewers for the suggestions and guidance that substantial," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 108-120.
    8. Dechow, Patricia & Ge, Weili & Schrand, Catherine, 2010. "Understanding earnings quality: A review of the proxies, their determinants and their consequences," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 344-401, December.
    9. Shiyou Li & Emeka Nwaeze & Jennifer Yin, 2016. "Earnings management in the electric utility industry: profit incentives," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 46(3), pages 633-660, April.
    10. Shackelford, Douglas A., 1996. "Earnings, regulatory capital, and tax management: Comments," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1-3), pages 241-247, October.
    11. Maureen F. McNichols & Stephen R. Stubben, 2018. "Research Design Issues in Studies Using Discretionary Accruals," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 54(2), pages 227-246, June.
    12. Iftekhar Hasan & Larry D. Wall, 2004. "Determinants of the Loan Loss Allowance: Some Cross‐Country Comparisons," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 39(1), pages 129-152, February.
    13. Peter Chen & Lane Daley, 1996. "Regulatory Capital, Tax, and Earnings Management Effects on Loan Loss Accruals in the Canadian Banking Industry," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(1), pages 91-128, March.
    14. Emrah Arbak, 2017. "Identifying the provisioning policies of Belgian banks," Working Paper Research 326, National Bank of Belgium.
    15. Manuela M. Dantas & Kenneth J. Merkley & Felipe B. G. Silva, 2023. "Government Guarantees and Banks' Income Smoothing," Papers 2303.03661, arXiv.org.
    16. Dushyantkumar Vyas, 2011. "The Timeliness of Accounting Write‐Downs by U.S. Financial Institutions During the Financial Crisis of 2007–2008," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(3), pages 823-860, June.
    17. Han, Sangyong & Lai, Gene C. & Ho, Chia-Ling, 2018. "Corporate transparency and reserve management: Evidence from US property-liability insurance companies," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 379-392.
    18. Jiang Cheng & Travis Chow & Tzu‐Ting Lin & Jeffrey Ng, 2022. "The effect of accounting for income tax uncertainty on tax‐deductible loss accruals for private insurers," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 89(2), pages 505-544, June.
    19. Daniel Perez & Vicente Salas-Fumas & Jesus Saurina, 2008. "Earnings and Capital Management in Alternative Loan Loss Provision Regulatory Regimes," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 423-445.
    20. Shrieves, Ronald E. & Dahl, Drew, 2003. "Discretionary accounting and the behavior of Japanese banks under financial duress," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(7), pages 1219-1243, July.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:coacre:v:23:y:2006:i:3:p:655-692. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1911-3846 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.