IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/una/unccee/wp0512.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Fair Value Accounting, Earnings Management and the use of Available-for-Sale Instruments by Bank Managers

Author

Listed:
  • Mary E. Barth

    (Graduate School of Business, Stanford University)

  • Javier Gomez-Biscarri

    (Department of Economics and Business, University of Pompeu Fabra and Barcelona Graduate School of Ec)

  • Ron Kasznik

    (Graduate School of Business, Stanford University)

  • Germán López-Espinosa

    (School of Economics and Business Administration, University of Navarra)

Abstract

Fair value accounting in banking has been criticized for the increased volatility that it generates in some accounting variables. One of its advantages, however, is that it reduces the possibility of discretionary earnings management, given that all gains and losses are immediately recognized. In this paper we qualify both considerations. The accounting regime of available-for-sale (AFS) securities allows for some degree of earnings and capital management: an AFS asset is reported at fair value but gains and losses over historical cost go into net income and measures of regulatory capital only when the asset is sold and the gain or loss realized. We use comprehensive data from US commercial banks and bank holding companies and provide evidence that fair value gains in AFS assets have consistently been used for earnings and capital management and that the holdings of AFS assets are related to the intensity of this activity. Our results show that the earnings management behavior is present both in listed and non-listed banks, suggesting that the motivations go beyond the incentives provided by capital markets. We also uncover significant differences in earnings management behavior over the years of the financial crisis.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:una:unccee:wp0512
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.unav.edu/documents/10174/6546776/1352748790_WP_UNAV_05_12.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. Graham, John R. & Harvey, Campbell R. & Rajgopal, Shiva, 2005. "The economic implications of corporate financial reporting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1-3), pages 3-73, December.
    3. Benston, George J., 2008. "The shortcomings of fair-value accounting described in SFAS 157," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 101-114.
    4. Mitchell A. Petersen, 2009. "Estimating Standard Errors in Finance Panel Data Sets: Comparing Approaches," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 435-480, January.
    5. Xavier Freixas & Dimitrios P. Tsomocos, 2004. "Book vs. Fair Value Accounting in Banking, and Intertemporal Smoothing," OFRC Working Papers Series 2004fe13, Oxford Financial Research Centre.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. 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.
    9. 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.
    10. 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.
    11. Timothy W. Koch & Larry D. Wall, 2000. "Bank loan-loss accounting: a review of theoretical and empirical evidence," Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, vol. 85(Q2), pages 1-20.
    12. 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.
    13. 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.
    14. Eccher, Elizabeth A. & Ramesh, K. & Thiagarajan, S. Ramu, 1996. "Fair value disclosures by bank holding companies," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1-3), pages 79-117, October.
    15. 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.
    16. Carol Marquardt & Christine Wiedman, 2005. "Earnings Management through Transaction Structuring: Contingent Convertible Debt and Diluted Earnings per Share," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(2), pages 205-243, May.
    17. Michael Kirschenheiter & Nahum D. Melumad, 2002. "Can “Big Bath” and Earnings Smoothing Co‐exist as Equilibrium Financial Reporting Strategies?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(3), pages 761-796, June.
    18. Anand Mohan Goel, 2003. "Why Do Firms Smooth Earnings?," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 76(1), pages 151-192, January.
    19. 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.
    20. Heaton, John C. & Lucas, Deborah & McDonald, Robert L., 2010. "Is mark-to-market accounting destabilizing? Analysis and implications for policy," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(1), pages 64-75, January.
    21. 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.
    22. DeFond, Mark L., 2010. "Earnings quality research: Advances, challenges and future research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 402-409, December.
    23. 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.
    24. Dechow, Patricia M. & Myers, Linda A. & Shakespeare, Catherine, 2010. "Fair value accounting and gains from asset securitizations: A convenient earnings management tool with compensation side-benefits," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1-2), pages 2-25, February.
    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. Tamás Szücs & József Ulbert, 2017. "Role and Measurement of Fair Valuation in the Hungarian Credit Institution Sector," Financial and Economic Review, Magyar Nemzeti Bank (Central Bank of Hungary), vol. 16(3), pages 51-73.
    2. Piosik Andrzej & Strojek-Filus Marzena, 2013. "An Assessment of the Application of Earnings Management Objectives and Instruments in Financial Reporting – Evidence of Survey Research Results," Scientific Annals of Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 60(2), pages 1-26, December.
    3. Diéne Mohamed Kamara, 2017. "La Gestion opportuniste du ratio de solvabilité bancaire via les ajustements réglementaires des fonds propres : Etude d'un échantillon de banques européennes," Post-Print hal-01907414, HAL.

    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. 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.
    3. Dung Viet Tran & M. Kabir Hassan & Reza Houston, 2020. "Discretionary loan loss provision behavior in the US banking industry," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 605-645, August.
    4. Matt Pinnuck, 2012. "A Review of the Role of Financial Reporting in the Global Financial Crisis," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 22(1), pages 1-14, March.
    5. Huizinga, H.P. & Laeven, L., 2009. "Accounting Discretion of Banks During a Financial Crisis," Discussion Paper 2009-58, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    6. 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.
    7. Greiner, Adam J., 2015. "The effect of the fair value option on bank earnings and regulatory capital management: Evidence from realized securities gains and losses," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 33-41.
    8. Balboa, Marina & López-Espinosa, Germán & Rubia, Antonio, 2013. "Nonlinear dynamics in discretionary accruals: An analysis of bank loan-loss provisions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 5186-5207.
    9. Raffaela Casciello & Marco Maffei & David A. Ziebart, 2024. "Regulatory and contextual factors influencing earnings and capital management decisions: evidence from the European banking sector," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 63(1), pages 87-146, July.
    10. 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.
    11. 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.
    12. Palea, Vera, 2015. "The political economy of fair value reporting and the governance of the standards-setting process: Critical issues and pitfalls from a continental European union perspective," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 1-15.
    13. Ignacio Ferrero & Alejo José G. Sison, 2012. "A Survey on Virtue in Business and Management (1980-2011)," Faculty Working Papers 06/12, School of Economics and Business Administration, University of Navarra.
    14. 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.
    15. 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.
    16. Małgorzata Olszak & Mateusz Pipień & Iwona Kowalska & Sylwia Roszkowska, 2017. "What Drives Heterogeneity of Cyclicality of Loan-Loss Provisions in the EU?," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 51(1), pages 55-96, February.
    17. Stergios Leventis & Panagiotis Dimitropoulos, 2012. "The role of corporate governance in earnings management: experience from US banks," Journal of Applied Accounting Research, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 13(2), pages 161-177, September.
    18. Andrew Ellul & Chotibhak Jotikasthira & Christian T. Lundblad & Yihui Wang, 2012. "Is Historical Cost Accounting a Panacea? Market Stress, Incentive Distortions, and Gains Trading," FMG Discussion Papers dp701, Financial Markets Group.
    19. 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.
    20. Daifei Yao & Majella Percy & Jenny Stewart & Fang Hu, 2018. "Determinants of discretionary fair value measurements: the case of Level 3 assets in the banking sector," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 58(2), pages 561-597, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    fair value accounting; bank earnings; earnings management; income smoothing; available-for-sale asse;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates

    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:una:unccee:wp0512. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.unav.edu/web/facultad-de-ciencias-economicas-y-empresariales .

    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.