IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/acceur/v8y2011i1p49-67.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Reclassification of Financial Assets under IAS 39: Impact on European Banks' Financial Statements

Author

Listed:
  • Peter Fiechter

Abstract

In response to the financial crisis, the IASB issued on 13 October 2008 an amendment to IAS 39 which enables entities to reclassify non-derivative financial assets held for trading and financial assets available-for-sale. This paper examines the influence of this controversial amendment on the 2008 financial statements of 219 European banks which apply IFRS. I find that approximately one-third of the sample banks have taken extensive advantage of these reclassification opportunities. The mean reclassification amount is 3.9% of total assets and 131% of the book value of equity, respectively. I further document that reclassifying banks avoid substantial fair value losses, and hence, report significantly higher levels of return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE), book value of equity and regulatory capital. In particular, the mean ROE switches sign from a negative ROE of −1.4% to a positive ROE of 1.3% due to gains from reclassifications. Overall, this paper documents a substantial impact of the amendments on banks' financial statements and suggests analysing these reclassifications with particular caution.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Fiechter, 2011. "Reclassification of Financial Assets under IAS 39: Impact on European Banks' Financial Statements," Accounting in Europe, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(1), pages 49-67, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:acceur:v:8:y:2011:i:1:p:49-67
    DOI: 10.1080/17449480.2011.574409
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/17449480.2011.574409
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/17449480.2011.574409?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. Allen, Franklin & Carletti, Elena, 2008. "Mark-to-market accounting and liquidity pricing," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(2-3), pages 358-378, August.
    2. 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.
    3. Burgstahler, David & Dichev, Ilia, 1997. "Earnings management to avoid earnings decreases and losses," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 99-126, December.
    4. Joerg-Markus Hitz, 2007. "The Decision Usefulness of Fair Value Accounting - A Theoretical Perspective," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(2), pages 323-362.
    5. Degeorge, Francois & Patel, Jayendu & Zeckhauser, Richard, 1999. "Earnings Management to Exceed Thresholds," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 72(1), pages 1-33, January.
    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. Cho, Hyungjin & Chung, Ju Ryum & Kim, Young Jun, 2021. "Fixed asset revaluation and external financing during the financial crisis: Evidence from Korea," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    2. Kirsten Schmidt & Felix Noth & Lena Tonzer, 2022. "A Note of Caution on Quantifying Banks' Recapitalization Effects," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 54(4), pages 1123-1133, June.
    3. Onali, Enrico & Ginesti, Gianluca, 2015. "New Accounting Rules for Loan Loss Provisions in Europe: Much Ado about Nothing?," MPRA Paper 64266, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 10 May 2015.
    4. Isabel Argimón & Ángel Estrada & Michel Dietsch, 2015. "Prudential filters, portfolio composition and capital ratios in european banks," Working Papers 1538, Banco de España.
    5. Jannis Bischof & Ulf Brüggemann & Holger Daske, 2012. "Fair Value Reclassifications of Financial Assets during the Financial Crisis," SFB 649 Discussion Papers SFB649DP2012-010, Sonderforschungsbereich 649, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany.
    6. Jincheol Bae & Jaehong Lee & Eunsoo Kim, 2019. "Does Fixed Asset Revaluation Build Trust between Management and Investors?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-22, July.
    7. Nikolaos Eriotis & Theodoros Kounadeas & Dimitrios Vasiliou, 2019. "From IAS 39 To IFRS 9: Literature Review of Studies on the Implementation of IFRS in the European Banking Sector," International Journal of Finance, Insurance and Risk Management, International Journal of Finance, Insurance and Risk Management, vol. 9(3-4), pages 29-51.
    8. Viral V. Acharya & Stephen G. Ryan, 2016. "Banks’ Financial Reporting and Financial System Stability," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 277-340, May.
    9. Argimón, Isabel & Dietsch, Michel & Estrada, Ángel, 2018. "Prudential filters, portfolio composition at fair value and capital ratios in European banks," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 187-208.
    10. Peter Fiechter & Wayne R. Landsman & Kenneth Peasnell & Annelies Renders, 2017. "The IFRS option to reclassify financial assets out of fair value in 2008: the roles played by regulatory capital and too-important-to-fail status," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 1698-1731, December.
    11. Palea, Vera & Biancone, Paolo Pietro, 2017. "Which Accounting Rules for Economic and Social Sustainable Development? Engaging Critically with IFRS Adoption in the EU," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201733, University of Turin.
    12. Giuseppe Sannino & Gianluca Ginesti & Carlo Drago, 2014. "Impairment estimates for available-for-sale equity instruments under IFRS: evidence from italian Banks," FINANCIAL REPORTING, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2014(2-3-4), pages 115-140.
    13. Palea, Vera, 2018. "Financial reporting for sustainable development: Critical insights into IFRS implementation in the European Union," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 248-260.
    14. Palea, Vera, 2019. "Accounting for Sustainable Finance: Does Fair value Accounting Fit for Long-term Investing in Equity?," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201912, University of Turin.
    15. Asmaul Husna & Ibnu Satria, 2019. "Effects of Return on Asset, Debt to Asset Ratio, Current Ratio, Firm Size, and Dividend Payout Ratio on Firm Value," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 9(5), pages 50-54.
    16. Rene Johannes & Dedy Dedy & Abdullah Muksin, 2018. "The Preparation of Banking Industry in Implementing IFRS 9 Financial Instruments (A Case Study of HSBC Holdings Plc Listed on London Stock Exchange of Year 2015 2017)," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 8(6), pages 124-136.

    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. Li Yu (Colly) He & Sue Wright & Elaine Evans, 2018. "Is fair value information relevant to investment decision-making: Evidence from the Australian agricultural sector?," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 43(4), pages 555-574, November.
    2. Kohlbeck, Mark & Smith, Thomas & Valencia, Adrian, 2017. "Auditors and net transfers of Level 3 fair-valued financial instruments," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 27-39.
    3. Mary E. Barth & Javier Gomez-Biscarri & Ron Kasznik & Germán López-Espinosa, 2012. "Fair Value Accounting, Earnings Management and the use of Available-for-Sale Instruments by Bank Managers," Faculty Working Papers 05/12, School of Economics and Business Administration, University of Navarra.
    4. Bert Scholtens & Feng‐Ching Kang, 2013. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Earnings Management: Evidence from Asian Economies," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(2), pages 95-112, March.
    5. Bernhard Pellens & Stefan Jannett & André Schmidt, 2009. "Bilanzierungsstandards im Kontext der Finanzmarktkrise," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 10(4), pages 413-435, November.
    6. Adwan, Sami & Alhaj-Ismail, Alaa & Girardone, Claudia, 2020. "Fair value accounting and value relevance of equity book value and net income for European financial firms during the crisis," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    7. Fargher, Neil & Zhang, John Ziyang, 2014. "Changes in the measurement of fair value: Implications for accounting earnings," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 184-199.
    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. 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.
    10. Abhijit Barua & Joseph Legoria & Jacquelyn Sue Moffitt, 2006. "Accruals Management to Achieve Earnings Benchmarks: A Comparison of Pre‐managed Profit and Loss Firms," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5‐6), pages 653-670, June.
    11. Boon, L.N. & Brière, M. & Rigot, S., 2018. "Regulation and pension fund risk-taking," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 23-41.
    12. Craig J. Chapman & Thomas J. Steenburgh, 2011. "An Investigation of Earnings Management Through Marketing Actions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(1), pages 72-92, January.
    13. Li, Shaomin & Selover, David D. & Stein, Michael, 2011. ""Keep silent and make money": Institutional patterns of earnings management in China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 369-382, October.
    14. Ludovic Vigneron & Yves Mard, 2016. "Earnings management across publicly traded and privately held French SMEs," International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 29(3), pages 416-440.
    15. Xing, Lu & Gonzalez, Angelica & Sila, Vathunyoo, 2021. "Does cooperation among women enhance or impede firm performance?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(4).
    16. Kross, William J. & Ro, Byung T. & Suk, Inho, 2011. "Consistency in meeting or beating earnings expectations and management earnings forecasts," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1-2), pages 37-57, February.
    17. Rong-Ruey Duh & Audrey Hsu & Sidney Leung, 2015. "Earnings management and government restrictions on outward foreign direct investment: evidence from Taiwanese firms," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 41-67, January.
    18. Sarowar Hossain & Jeff Coulton & Jenny Jing Wang, 2023. "Client Importance and Audit Quality at the Individual Audit Partner, Office, and Firm Levels," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 59(2), pages 650-696, June.
    19. Akinobu Shuto, 2005. "Earnings Management to Exceed the Threshold: A Comparative Analysis of Consolidated and Parent-only Earnings," Discussion Paper Series 224, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University, revised Jul 2008.
    20. Yves Mard, 2003. "Performance Comptable Et Gestion Des Resultats," Post-Print halshs-00582798, HAL.

    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:taf:acceur:v:8:y:2011:i:1:p:49-67. 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RAIE20 .

    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.