- 學位論文
Accounting Standards Codification and Financial Reporting Quality
Accounting Standards Codification and Financial Reporting Quality
摘要
此研究旨在探討於美國財務會計準則委員會(Financial Accounting Standards Board)發布財務會計準則第168號公報─The FASB Accounting Standards CodificationTM and the Hierarchy of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles – a replacement of FASB Statement No. 162 之前後期，美國上市櫃公司之財務報導品質是否產生差異。實證結果指出，企業內部之管理階層在適用新公報後可能較適用前使用較傾向進行盈餘平穩化的行為、較頻繁認列小額正盈餘、並且較不即時認列損失。此外，本文並發現美國上市公司在適用此公報後之會計數字較具有資訊內涵；本研究並發現對於非預期審計公費為正值之美國上市櫃公司，在適用新公報後之非預期審計公費較適用前顯著為低，因過去文獻(Choi, et al., 2010; Dye, 1991)指出當會計師收取高於預期之審計公費即代表審計品質有減損之狀況，本文之研究發現顯示在168號公報發佈之後，相對於發佈前，由審計公費所反映之審計品質顯著較佳。綜合上述之結果，對於企業內部之管理階層而言，新公報雖然簡化會計準則的表達形式，減少誤用準則之風險，但卻不能有效的減少操弄盈餘的狀況；然而新公報卻能幫助使用者更容易瞭解會計準則之內涵，因此在適用新公報後，美國企業所報導之會計數字較具資訊內涵，審計品質亦有提升的情況，此結果顯示投資人和會計師相信第168號公報之適用能提升整體之財務報導品質。
並列摘要
This paper compares accounting quality metrics for a sample of U.S. public firms in the regimes before and after the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 168, “The FASB Accounting Standards CodificationTM and the Hierarchy of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles – a replacement of FASB Statement No. 162 (Codification). The empirical results document that U.S. firms exhibit more income smoothing, more managing of earnings toward a target, and less timely recognition of losses in the post-codification period than in the pre-codification regime. However, the results indicate that U.S. firms exhibit a higher association of accounting amounts with share prices and returns in the post-codification period than in the pre-codification period. In addition, we find that U.S firms exhibit significantly lower abnormal audit fees in the post-codification period for observations with positive abnormal audit fees. Given that prior studies (e.g., Choi, et al., 2010; Dye, 1991) reveal that audit quality is impaired when auditors are overpaid, the finding seems to suggest that U.S. firms evidence an improvement in audit quality between the pre- and post-codification periods. Taken together, the combined results suggest that the Codification represents a simplification of the enormous body of accounting standards and may, therefore, improve the level of compliance, although the new pronouncement does not effectively reduce earnings management. On the other hand, the Codification renders U.S. GAAP more understandable and accessible for the users. Accordingly, accounting amounts of firms in the post-codification period exhibit higher value relevance and higher audit quality than those in the pre-codification regime. This comparison provides direct evidence that investors and auditors believe that accounting quality for U.S. firms improves between the pre- and post-codification periods.