IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jocaae/v19y2023i3s1815566923000322.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Covenant violation concern and investors’ pricing of Level 3 fair value adjustments

Author

Listed:
  • Mehnaz, Laura
  • Rahman, Asheq
  • Kabir, Humayun

Abstract

We examine the influence of concerns relating to violation of the borrowing covenant on the investors’ valuation of Level 3 fair value adjustments. We reason that managerial bias in Level 3 fair value estimation is greater for firms approaching violation of the borrowing covenant. Based on a sample of Australian real estate firms, we find that managers report upward adjustments to Level 3 investment property values when they approach the threshold where the borrowing covenant is violated; and further find that this deliberate use of discretion is significant for firms closer to the interest coverage thresholds, but not for those approaching the gearing thresholds. We then find that, while fair value adjustments are priced positively, investors apply incremental discounts for firms closer to the violation threshold, or firms which are in technical default of borrowing covenants relative to those that are far from violation. Additionally, we show that the pricing discount on fair value adjustments attributable to the concern over covenant violation is significant only for the weaker governance sub-sample, indicating that effective monitoring mitigates faithful representation concerns about Level 3 fair value estimations.

Suggested Citation

  • Mehnaz, Laura & Rahman, Asheq & Kabir, Humayun, 2023. "Covenant violation concern and investors’ pricing of Level 3 fair value adjustments," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jocaae:v:19:y:2023:i:3:s1815566923000322
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcae.2023.100382
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1815566923000322
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jcae.2023.100382?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. S.P. Kothari & Karthik Ramanna & Douglas J. Skinner, 2009. "Implications for GAAP from an Analysis of Positive Research in Accounting," Harvard Business School Working Papers 09-137, Harvard Business School, revised Sep 2010.
    2. Robert M. Bowen & Shivaram Rajgopal & Mohan Venkatachalam, 2008. "Accounting Discretion, Corporate Governance, and Firm Performance," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(2), pages 351-405, June.
    3. Bandyopadhyay, Sati P. & Chen, Changling & Wolfe, Mindy, 2017. "The predictive ability of investment property fair value adjustments under IFRS and the role of accounting conservatism," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 1-14.
    4. Paul Mather & Graham Peirson, 2006. "Financial covenants in the markets for public and private debt," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 46(2), pages 285-307, June.
    5. Elisa Menicucci & Guido Paolucci, 2016. "Fair value accounting and the financial crisis: a literature-based analysis," Journal of Financial Reporting and Accounting, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 14(1), pages 49-71, July.
    6. Aboody, David & Barth, Mary E. & Kasznik, Ron, 1999. "Revaluations of fixed assets and future firm performance: Evidence from the UK1," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1-3), pages 149-178, January.
    7. Paul Mather, 1999. "Financial Covenants in Australian Bank-Loan Contracts: Incidence, Measurement Rules and Monitoring," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 9(17), pages 63-72, March.
    8. Mary Barth, 2006. "Including estimates of the future in today's financial statements," BIS Working Papers 208, Bank for International Settlements.
    9. Sweeney, Amy Patricia, 1994. "Debt-covenant violations and managers' accounting responses," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 281-308, May.
    10. Duh, Rong-Ruey & Lee, Wen-Chih & Lin, Ching-Chieh, 2009. "Reversing an impairment loss and earnings management: The role of corporate governance," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 113-137, June.
    11. Joseph Ooi & Seow-Eng Ong & Lin Li, 2010. "An Analysis of the Financing Decisions of REITs: The Role of Market Timing and Target Leverage," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 130-160, February.
    12. Lin Liao & Helen Kang & Richard D. Morris, 2021. "The value relevance of fair value and historical cost measurements during the financial crisis," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(S1), pages 2069-2107, April.
    13. Hassan R. HassabElnaby, 2006. "Waiving Technical Default: The Role of Agency Costs and Bank Regulations," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(9‐10), pages 1368-1389, November.
    14. Hua-Wei Huang & Mai Dao & James M. Fornaro, 2016. "Corporate governance, SFAS 157 and cost of equity capital: evidence from US financial institutions," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 141-177, January.
    15. Barth, Mary E. & Beaver, William H. & Landsman, Wayne R., 2001. "The relevance of the value relevance literature for financial accounting standard setting: another view," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 77-104, September.
    16. Kalin S. Kolev, 2019. "Do Investors Perceive Marking-to-Model as Marking-to-Myth? Early Evidence from FAS 157 Disclosure," Quarterly Journal of Finance (QJF), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 9(02), pages 1-47, June.
    17. Denis, David J. & Wang, Jing, 2014. "Debt covenant renegotiations and creditor control rights," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(3), pages 348-367.
    18. Christian Laux & Christian Leuz, 2010. "Did Fair-Value Accounting Contribute to the Financial Crisis?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 24(1), pages 93-118, Winter.
    19. Easton, Pd & Eddey, Ph & Harris, Ts, 1993. "An Investigation Of Revaluations Of Tangible Long-Lived Assets," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31, pages 1-38.
    20. Edward J. Riedl & George Serafeim, 2011. "Information Risk and Fair Values: An Examination of Equity Betas," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(4), pages 1083-1122, September.
    21. Karl A. Muller, III & Edward J. Riedl & Thorsten Sellhorn, 2011. "Mandatory Fair Value Accounting and Information Asymmetry: Evidence from the European Real Estate Industry," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(6), pages 1138-1153, June.
    22. 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.
    23. Stephen Penman, 2007. "Financial reporting quality: is fair value a plus or a minus?," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(S1), pages 33-44.
    24. Kevin C. W. Chen & Feng Tang, 2017. "Post†IFRS Revaluation Adjustments and Executive Compensation," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 34(2), pages 1210-1231, June.
    25. Kanagaretnam, Kiridaran & Krishnan, Gopal V. & Lobo, Gerald J., 2009. "Is the market valuation of banks' loan loss provision conditional on auditor reputation?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 1039-1047, June.
    26. Douglas W. Diamond, 1984. "Financial Intermediation and Delegated Monitoring," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 51(3), pages 393-414.
    27. 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.
    28. DeAngelo, Harry & DeAngelo, Linda & Skinner, Douglas J., 1994. "Accounting choice in troubled companies," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1-2), pages 113-143, January.
    29. Laux, Christian & Leuz, Christian, 2009. "The crisis of fair-value accounting: Making sense of the recent debate," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(6-7), pages 826-834, August.
    30. Cem Demiroglu & Christopher M. James, 2010. "The Information Content of Bank Loan Covenants," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(10), pages 3700-3737, October.
    31. Ray Ball & Xi Li & Lakshmanan Shivakumar, 2015. "Contractibility and Transparency of Financial Statement Information Prepared Under IFRS: Evidence from Debt Contracts Around IFRS Adoption," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(5), pages 915-963, December.
    32. Juha Mäki & Antonio Somoza-Lopez & Stefan Sundgren, 2016. "Ownership Structure and Accounting Method Choice: A Study of European Real Estate Companies," Accounting in Europe, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(1), pages 1-19, April.
    33. Holthausen, Robert W. & Watts, Ross L., 2001. "The relevance of the value-relevance literature for financial accounting standard setting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 3-75, September.
    34. Barth, ME & Clinch, G, 1998. "Revalued financial, tangible, and intangible assets: Associations with share prices and non-market-based value estimates," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36, pages 199-233.
    35. Anne Beatty & Joseph Weber, 2006. "Accounting Discretion in Fair Value Estimates: An Examination of SFAS 142 Goodwill Impairments," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(2), pages 257-288, May.
    36. Barclay, Michael J. & Heitzman, Shane M. & Smith, Clifford W., 2013. "Debt and taxes: Evidence from the real estate industry," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 74-93.
    37. Hua-Wei Huang & Mai Dao & James Fornaro, 2016. "Corporate governance, SFAS 157 and cost of equity capital: evidence from US financial institutions," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 141-177, January.
    38. Emanuel Bagna & Giuseppe Di Martino & Davide Rossi, 2015. "No more discount under enhanced fair value hierarchy," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(51), pages 5559-5582, November.
    39. DeFond, Mark L. & Jiambalvo, James, 1994. "Debt covenant violation and manipulation of accruals," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1-2), pages 145-176, January.
    40. Audrey Wen-hsin Hsu & Grace Shu-Hsing Wu, 2019. "The fair value of investment property and stock price crash risk," Asia-Pacific Journal of Accounting & Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(1-2), pages 38-63, January.
    41. Richard Lambert & Christian Leuz & Robert E. Verrecchia, 2007. "Accounting Information, Disclosure, and the Cost of Capital," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(2), pages 385-420, May.
    42. Lee, Cheol & Park, Myung S., 2013. "Subjectivity in fair-value estimates, audit quality, and informativeness of other comprehensive income," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 218-231.
    43. Healy, Paul M. & Palepu, Krishna G., 1990. "Effectiveness of accounting-based dividend covenants," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1-3), pages 97-123, January.
    44. Doan, Trang & Nguyen, Nga Q., 2018. "Boards of directors and firm leverage: Evidence from real estate investment trusts," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 109-124.
    45. Peter R. Demerjian & John Donovan & Chad R. Larson, 2016. "Fair Value Accounting and Debt Contracting: Evidence from Adoption of SFAS 159," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 1041-1076, September.
    46. Livne, Gilad & Markarian, Garen & Milne, Alistair, 2011. "Bankers' compensation and fair value accounting," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 1096-1115, September.
    47. Greg Nini & David C. Smith & Amir Sufi, 2012. "Creditor Control Rights, Corporate Governance, and Firm Value," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(6), pages 1713-1761.
    48. Wayne Landsman, 2007. "Is fair value accounting information relevant and reliable? Evidence from capital market research," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(S1), pages 19-30.
    49. Mary Barth & Wayne Landsman, 2010. "How did Financial Reporting Contribute to the Financial Crisis?," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 399-423.
    50. Fama, Eugene F., 1985. "What's different about banks?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 29-39, January.
    51. Rajan, Raghuram & Winton, Andrew, 1995. "Covenants and Collateral as Incentives to Monitor," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(4), pages 1113-1146, September.
    52. David Easley & Maureen O'hara, 2004. "Information and the Cost of Capital," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(4), pages 1553-1583, August.
    53. Jimi Siekkinen, 2017. "Board characteristics and the value relevance of fair values," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 21(2), pages 435-471, June.
    54. Kabir, Humayun & Rahman, Asheq, 2016. "The role of corporate governance in accounting discretion under IFRS: Goodwill impairment in Australia," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 290-308.
    55. Dahlia Robinson & Thomas Smith & Adrian Valencia, 2018. "Does Managerial Opportunism Explain The Differential Pricing Of Level 3 Fair Value Estimates?," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 41(2), pages 253-289, June.
    56. Hassan R. HassabElnaby, 2006. "Waiving Technical Default: The Role of Agency Costs and Bank Regulations," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(9-10), pages 1368-1389.
    57. Lakshmanan Shivakumar, 2013. "The role of financial reporting in debt contracting and in stewardship," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(4), pages 362-383, August.
    58. Gin Chong & Henry Huang & Yi Zhang, 2012. "Do US commercial banks use FAS 157 to manage earnings?," International Journal of Accounting & Information Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 20(1), pages 78-93, February.
    59. Richard Dietrich, J. & Harris, Mary S. & MullerIII, Karl A., 2000. "The reliability of investment property fair value estimates," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 125-158, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. 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. 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. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. Ryan McDonough & Argyro Panaretou & Catherine Shakespeare, 2020. "Fair value accounting: Current practice and perspectives for future research," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3-4), pages 303-332, March.
    6. Lin Liao & Helen Kang & Richard D. Morris, 2021. "The value relevance of fair value and historical cost measurements during the financial crisis," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(S1), pages 2069-2107, April.
    7. Johannes Thesing & Patrick Velte, 2021. "Do fair value measurements affect accounting-based earnings quality? A literature review with a focus on corporate governance as moderator," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 91(7), pages 965-1004, September.
    8. Peter R. Demerjian & John Donovan & Chad R. Larson, 2016. "Fair Value Accounting and Debt Contracting: Evidence from Adoption of SFAS 159," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 1041-1076, September.
    9. Michel Magnan & Haiping Wang & Yaqi Shi(Sans nom), 2016. "Fair Value Accounting and the Cost of Debt," CIRANO Working Papers 2016s-32, CIRANO.
    10. Freudenberg, Felix & Imbierowicz, Björn & Saunders, Anthony & Steffen, Sascha, 2017. "Covenant violations and dynamic loan contracting," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 540-565.
    11. Marco Fasan & Carlo Marcon, 2014. "Accounting Tradition and other drivers of the Fair Value choice: An Opportunistic Management perspective," Working Papers 13, Department of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia.
    12. Baylis, Richard M. & Burnap, Peter & Clatworthy, Mark A. & Gad, Mahmoud A. & Pong, Christopher K.M., 2017. "Private lenders’ demand for audit," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 78-97.
    13. Kim, Jeong-Bon & Song, Byron Y. & Wang, Zheng, 2017. "Special purpose entities and bank loan contracting," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 133-152.
    14. Liao, Lin & Kang, Helen & Morris, Richard D. & Tang, Qingliang, 2013. "Information asymmetry of fair value accounting during the financial crisis," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 221-236.
    15. Yao, Dai Fei (Troy) & Percy, Majella & Hu, Fang, 2015. "Fair value accounting for non-current assets and audit fees: Evidence from Australian companies," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 31-45.
    16. Chao‐Jung Chen & Wen He & Chien‐Ju Lu & Xin Yu, 2022. "Bank loan covenants, accrual quality and firms’ information environment," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(1), pages 547-575, March.
    17. Marco Fasan & Carlo Marcon, 2018. "Accounting Choice under IFRS: The Role of Accounting Tradition and Managerial Opportunism," International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, vol. 8(3), pages 209-223, July.
    18. Alessandro Mechelli & Riccardo Cimini, 2021. "The effect of corporate governance and investor protection environments on the value relevance of new accounting standards: the case of IFRS 9 and IAS 39," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 25(4), pages 1241-1266, December.
    19. Cairns, David & Massoudi, Dianne & Taplin, Ross & Tarca, Ann, 2011. "IFRS fair value measurement and accounting policy choice in the United Kingdom and Australia," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 1-21.
    20. Ulf Mohrmann & Jan Riepe, 2019. "The link between the share of banks’ Level 3 assets and their default risk and default costs," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 52(4), pages 1163-1189, May.

    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:eee:jocaae:v:19:y:2023:i:3:s1815566923000322. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-contemporary-accounting-and-economics .

    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.