IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/coacre/v9y1992i1p212-236.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Characteristics of early and late adopters of pension accounting standard SFAS No. 87

Author

Listed:
  • HEIBATOLLAH SAMI
  • MARY JEANNE WELSH

Abstract

. Although there was strong opposition to the FASB's pension standard, SFAS No. 87, there is evidence that adoption of the standard had a favorable transitory effect on the earnings of a number of companies. This study examines firms' decisions to adopt SFAS No. 87 earlier than the FASB required. The results indicate that there were significant differences among firms that chose to adopt SFAS No. 87 early and those that did not. Unlike earlier studies of income†increasing accounting choices, early adopters were large firms with large, more fully funded pension obligations. They were subject to more accounting†based debt constraints, especially on working capital, and were more constrained on interest coverage than were those that did not adopt. Of early adopters, officers and directors owned less stock than did outside owners. Résumé. Bien que la norme SFAS no 87 du FASB relative aux régimes de retraite soulève une forte opposition, les faits démontrent que l'adoption de cette norme a eu des conséquences transitoires favorables sur les bénéfices de nombreuses entreprises. Les auteurs se penchent sur la décision de certaines sociétés d'adopter la norme SFAS no 87 avant l'échéance fixée par le FASB. Leur analyse révèle d'importantes différences entre les entreprises qui ont choisi d'adopter la norme avant l'échéance et celles qui ont préféré attendre. Contrairement à ce qu'ont indiqué les études précédentes relatives aux choix comptables entraînant une hausse des bénéfices, les entreprises qui ont adopté la norme avant l'échéance sont de grandes entreprises dont les obligations au titre du régime de retraite sont importantes et dont le régime est davantage provisionné. Elles sont assujetties à des contraintes fondées sur leurs obligations comptables, en particulier en ce qui a trait au montant de fonds de roulement à maintenir, et doivent assurer une bonne couverture des intérêts. Les cadres et les administrateurs des entreprises qui ont pris les devants possèdent moins d'actions que ceux des entreprises qui ont préféré attendre.

Suggested Citation

  • Heibatollah Sami & Mary Jeanne Welsh, 1992. "Characteristics of early and late adopters of pension accounting standard SFAS No. 87," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 9(1), pages 212-236, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:coacre:v:9:y:1992:i:1:p:212-236
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1911-3846.1992.tb00877.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1911-3846.1992.tb00877.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1911-3846.1992.tb00877.x?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. Press, Eric G. & Weintrop, Joseph B., 1990. "Accounting-based constraints in public and private debt agreements : Their association with leverage and impact on accounting choice," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1-3), pages 65-95, January.
    2. Daley, Lane A. & Vigeland, Robert L., 1983. "The effects of debt covenants and political costs on the choice of accounting methods : The case of accounting for R&D costs," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 195-211, April.
    3. Ball, R & Foster, G, 1982. "Corporate Financial-Reporting - A Methodological Review Of Empirical-Research," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20, pages 161-234.
    4. Noreen, E, 1988. "An Empirical-Comparison Of Probit And Ols Regression Hypothesis Tests," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(1), pages 119-133.
    5. Ayres, Frances L., 1986. "Characteristics of firms electing early adoption of SFAS 52," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 143-158, June.
    6. Bowen, Robert M. & Noreen, Eric W. & Lacey, John M., 1981. "Determinants of the corporate decision to capitalize interest," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 151-179, August.
    7. Dhaliwal, Dan S. & Salamon, Gerald L. & Dan Smith, E., 1982. "The effect of owner versus management control on the choice of accounting methods," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 41-53, July.
    8. Duke, Joanne C. & Hunt, Herbert III, 1990. "An empirical examination of debt covenant restrictions and accounting-related debt proxies," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1-3), pages 45-63, January.
    9. Zmijewski, Mark E. & Hagerman, Robert L., 1981. "An income strategy approach to the positive theory of accounting standard setting/choice," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 129-149, August.
    10. Begley, Joy, 1990. "Debt covenants and accounting choice," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1-3), pages 125-139, January.
    11. Thomas W. Scott, 1991. "Pension disclosures under SFAS No. 87: Theory and evidence," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 8(1), pages 62-81, September.
    12. Hagerman, Robert L. & Zmijewski, Mark E., 1979. "Some economic determinants of accounting policy choice," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(2), pages 141-161, August.
    13. Ball, R & Foster, G, 1982. "Corporate Financial-Reporting - A Methodological Review Of Empirical-Research - Reply," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20, pages 245-248.
    14. Healy, Paul M., 1985. "The effect of bonus schemes on accounting decisions," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(1-3), pages 85-107, April.
    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. Laswad, Fawzi & Baskerville, Rachel F., 2007. "An analysis of the value of cash flow statements of New Zealand pension schemes," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 347-355.
    2. Merridee L. Bujaki & Bruce J. McConomy, 2007. "Income Tax Accounting Policy Choice: Exposure Draft Responses and the Early Adoption Decision by Canadian Companies," Accounting Perspectives, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 6(1), pages 21-53, February.
    3. Araceli Mora & William Rees, 1998. "The early adoption of consolidated accounting in Spain," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(4), pages 675-696.
    4. Iatridis, George, 2012. "Hedging and earnings management in the light of IFRS implementation: Evidence from the UK stock market," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 21-35.
    5. Martin Glaum & Tobias Keller & Donna L. Street, 2018. "Discretionary accounting choices: the case of IAS 19 pension accounting," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(2), pages 139-170, February.

    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. Thomas W. Scott, 1991. "Pension disclosures under SFAS No. 87: Theory and evidence," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 8(1), pages 62-81, September.
    2. Watts, Ross L., 1992. "Accounting choice theory and market-based research in accounting," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 235-267.
    3. 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.
    4. Rã‰Al Labelle, 1990. "Bond covenants and changes in accounting policy: Canadian evidence," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 6(2), pages 677-698, March.
    5. Balsam, Steven & Haw, In-Mu & Lilien, Steven B., 1995. "Mandated accounting changes and managerial discretion," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 3-29, July.
    6. Rã‰Al Labelle, 1990. "Clauses restrictives et modifications comptables: une étude canadienne," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 6(2), pages 699-723, March.
    7. Araceli Mora & William Rees, 1998. "The early adoption of consolidated accounting in Spain," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(4), pages 675-696.
    8. Han, Bong H. & Manry, David, 2004. "The value-relevance of R&D and advertising expenditures: Evidence from Korea," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 155-173.
    9. MARK L. DeFOND & JAMES JIAMBALVO, 1993. "Factors Related to Auditor†Client Disagreements over Income†Increasing Accounting Methods," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 9(2), pages 415-431, March.
    10. Brown, Lawrence D., 1996. "Influential accounting articles, individuals, Ph.D. granting institutions and faculties: A citational analysis," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 21(7-8), pages 723-754.
    11. Mirza, Malik, 1999. "Disclosure of reserves in the annual reports of Australian mining and petroleum firms," Journal of Energy Finance & Development, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 219-238.
    12. Connie L. Becker & Mark L. Defond & James Jiambalvo & K.R. Subramanyam, 1998. "The Effect of Audit Quality on Earnings Management," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(1), pages 1-24, March.
    13. Bowen, Robert M. & DuCharme, Larry & Shores, D., 1995. "Stakeholders' implicit claims and accounting method choice," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 255-295, December.
    14. Darrough, Masako N. & Pourjalali, Hamid & Saudagaran, Shahrokh, 1998. "Earnings management in Japanese companies," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 313-334.
    15. Susana Callao & José Ignacio Jarne, 2010. "Have IFRS Affected Earnings Management in the European Union?," Accounting in Europe, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(2), pages 159-189, December.
    16. Athanasios P. Bellas & Christos Tzovas, 2008. "The Effects of Dependency on Debt Financing On Financial Reporting Policy: The Case of Greece," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(1-2), pages 13-30.
    17. Rhoda Pierce-Brown & Tony Steele, 1999. "The economics of," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(2), pages 157-173.
    18. 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.
    19. Gill-de-Albornoz, Belen & Illueca, Manuel, 2005. "Earnings management under price regulation: Empirical evidence from the Spanish electricity industry," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 279-304, March.
    20. Øyvind Bøhren & Jørgen Haug, 2006. "Managing Earnings with Intercorporate Investments," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5‐6), pages 671-695, June.

    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:9:y:1992:i:1:p:212-236. 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.