Advanced Search
MyIDEAS: Login

Choice of Pension Discount Rate in Financial Accounting adn Stock Prices

Contents:

Author Info

  • Takashi Obinata

    (Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo)

Registered author(s):

    Abstract

    Under present financial accounting standards, in Japan and in U.S., firms can hoose pension discount rates, which they use for earnings measurement, at their discretion. First, this paper investigates, what factors affect their choice of pension discount rates. The sample firms in this paper reduced their discount rates, when market interest rate declined in 1990s, more slowly than the tendency in the market. We analyze the causes of this delay by logit model. Regression results show that, given declining interest rate, the significant factor affecting the firmsf choice is not leverage, but profitability (return on equity: ROE). Second, this research investigates empirically how stock prices reflect the size of pension discount rate. Both unamortized pension obligations and pension expenses in the year are positively associated with stock prices. However, the coefficients for the firms, whose discount rates are higher than median, are smaller than those for the firms choosing lower rates. Those coefficients are not significantly different from zero. These results indicate that the firms, which chose lower pension discount rates, are valued higher. This asymmetric result is consistent with the first point in this paper, concerning the firmsf motives for pension discount rate choice.

    Download Info

    If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
    File URL: http://www.cirje.e.u-tokyo.ac.jp/research/dp/2000/2000cf82.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    Bibliographic Info

    Paper provided by CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo in its series CIRJE F-Series with number CIRJE-F-82.

    as in new window
    Length: 54 pages
    Date of creation: Jul 2000
    Date of revision:
    Handle: RePEc:tky:fseres:2000cf82

    Contact details of provider:
    Postal: Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033
    Phone: +81-3-5841-5644
    Fax: +81-3-5841-8294
    Email:
    Web page: http://www.cirje.e.u-tokyo.ac.jp/index.html
    More information through EDIRC

    Related research

    Keywords:

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    References

    References listed on IDEAS
    Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
    as in new window
    1. Kormendi, Roger & Lipe, Robert, 1987. "Earnings Innovations, Earnings Persistence, and Stock Returns," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 60(3), pages 323-45, July.
    2. Zvi Bodie & John B. Shoven, 1983. "Financial Aspects of the United States Pension System," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number bodi83-1, October.
    3. Benjamin M. Friedman, 1983. "Pension Funding, Pension Asset Allocation, and Corporate Finance: Evidence from Individual Company Data," NBER Chapters, in: Financial Aspects of the United States Pension System, pages 107-152 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Francis, Jere R., 1987. "Lobbying against proposed accounting standards: The case of employers' pension accounting," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 35-57.
    5. Jeremy I. Bulow & Randall Morck & Lawrence H. Summers, 1987. "How Does the Market Value Unfunded Pension Liabilities?," NBER Chapters, in: Issues in Pension Economics, pages 81-110 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Barniv, Ran & McDonald, James B, 1999. " Review of Categorical Models for Classification Issues in Accounting and Finance," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 39-62, July.
    7. Zvi Bodie & John B. Shoven & David A. Wise, 1987. "Issues in Pension Economics," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number bodi87-1, October.
    8. Francis, Jere R. & Reiter, Sara Ann, 1987. "Determinants of corporate pension funding strategy," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 35-59, April.
    9. Ball, R. & Kothari, S.P. & Watts, R.l., 1990. "Economic Determinants of the Relation Between Earnings Changes and Stock Returns," Papers 91-04, Rochester, Business - Managerial Economics Research Center.
    10. Collins, Daniel W. & Kothari, S. P., 1989. "An analysis of intertemporal and cross-sectional determinants of earnings response coefficients," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(2-3), pages 143-181, July.
    11. Martin, Linda J. & Henderson, Glenn V., 1983. "On Bond Ratings and Pension Obligations: A Note," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 18(04), pages 463-470, December.
    12. Martin Feldstein & Stephanie Seligman, 1981. "Pension Funding, Share Prices, and National Saving," NBER Working Papers 0509, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Ali, Ashiq & Zarowin, Paul, 1992. "Permanent versus transitory components of annual earnings and estimation error in earnings response coefficients," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(2-3), pages 249-264, August.
    14. Thomas, Jacob K., 1988. "Corporate taxes and defined benefit pension plans," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 199-237, July.
    15. Martin Feldstein & Randall Morck, 1985. "Pension Funding Decisions, Interest Rate Assumptions and Share Prices," NBER Working Papers 0938, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Barth, Mary E. & Beaver, William H. & Landsman, Wayne R., 1992. "The market valuation implications of net periodic pension cost components," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 27-62, March.
    17. Kothari, S. P. & Zimmerman, Jerold L., 1995. "Price and return models," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 155-192, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Lists

    This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:tky:fseres:2000cf82

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (CIRJE administrative office).

    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 references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

    If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link 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 profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

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