The Discount Rate Used in the Current Expected Credit Loss Standard Creates Accounting Losses Where There Are No Economic Losses

2021 ◽  
pp. 0148558X2110349
Author(s):  
Joshua Ronen

The Current Expected Credit Loss (CECL) Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) standard that goes into effect for major banks in 2020 contains a serious conceptual error. Using the contractual rate rather than the hurdle rate (the competitive rate on a loan for which there is no expected loss) as the rate to discount expected cash collections gives rise to accounting losses where no economic losses exist. This can have a profound effect on required capital and hence lending, especially in economically depressed episodes.

2003 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
George J. Staubus

This is a review of how various experiences in my career have contributed to my understanding of accounting. I recall the circumstances surrounding several of my efforts towards the development of accounting theories, viz. (1) decision-usefulness theory, (2) activity costing, and (3) market simulation accounting, as well as my excursion into (4) market association research in seeking to validate decision-usefulness theory and (5) a search for the effects of firms' economic environments on the development of enterprise accounting in the 2nd millennium, C.E. I give my impressions of several of the important players in the evolution of accounting thought in the 20th century with whom I was closely associated, such as Vatter, Moonitz, Chambers, and Sterling, as well as other prominent figures in the broad field of accounting. Some of my gains from associations with three institutions—the American Accounting Association, The University of Chicago, and the Financial Accounting Standards Board—are identified. I conclude with a few summary thoughts on what I have learned.


2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Kirsch

ABSTRACT Utilizing archival materials as well as personal interviews and correspondence with personnel of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and International Accounting Standards Committee/Board (IASC/B), including former Board chairmen and staff members, this paper examines the development of the working relationships between the FASB and the IASC/B from their earliest interactions in 1973 through the transformation of the IASC into the IASB and the Convergence Program rooted in the 2002 Norwalk Agreement up to 2008.


2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-93
Author(s):  
Joel E. Thompson

ABSTRACT The purpose of financial reporting is to provide information to investors and creditors to help them make rational decisions (Financial Accounting Standards Board [FASB] 2010). Tracing the development of investors' methods should help with understanding the role of financial accounting. This study examines investment practices involving railways in 1890s America. As such, it furthers our knowledge about the development of investment methods and their necessary information. Moreover, it shows that as investment methods grew in sophistication, there was an enhanced demand for greater comparability in accounting data to make meaningful analyses. Competing investment strategies, largely devoid of accounting information, are also discussed.


2002 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 199-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul B. W. Miller

In 1996, a major financial reporting controversy emerged, escalated, and was resolved without substantial exposure or a formal due process. Specifically, a committee of the Financial Executives Institute (FEI) sent a letter to the chair of the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) asserting that the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) “process is broken and in need of substantive repair.” When Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Arthur Levitt determined that neither FAF nor public accounting leaders were dealing with the FEI proposals to his satisfaction, he acted to defeat this perceived threat to FASB's independence, focusing on the composition of the FAF. In response, the FAF trustees resisted because they viewed his intervention as a threat to FASB's independence. When the trustees did not voluntarily change, Levitt proposed reconsidering Accounting Series Release No. 150, which designates FASB as the sole source of GAAP for SEC filings. Eventually, Levitt prevailed. This paper describes this intervention as a case of policy making without a formal due process and adds to the already weighty evidence that accounting standards are political.


Author(s):  
Benjamin Y. Tai

The current study is undertaken to investigate the potential problems resulting from the proposed adoption of a new accounting standard concerning mandatory capitalization of all lease contracts.  In 2010, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued a joint exposure draft (ED2010/9) on accounting for leases.  Under the new standard, lessees are required to capitalize all lease contracts as assets and liabilities.  The distinction between operating leases and capital (finance) leases will no longer exist.  The long-standing off-balance sheet treatment of operating leases will be prohibited.  After the adoption of the proposed standard, companies with significant operating leases are likely to experience an increase in assets, increase in liabilities, and decrease in equity, resulting in the deterioration of their return-on- assets and debt-to-equity ratios.  This research examines two large fast-food restaurant chains based in Hong Kong; and through constructive capitalization, demonstrates how the companies’ key financial ratios are negatively impacted if the new standard is implemented.  The results indicate that both the return-on-assets and debt-to-equity ratios of the two companies, under various discount rates assumptions, suffer serious deterioration when their operating leases are capitalized.


2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 67
Author(s):  
Dale Buckmaster ◽  
David Durkee ◽  
Frederic M. Stiner

Studies that are based on content analyses of portions of the Financial Accounting Standards Board Public Record have appeared regularly in accounting and business literature since 1978. Inter-rater reliability is a crucial determinant of the validity of content analyses, yet none of the studies based on content analysis of the Public Record report any measure of inter-rater reliability. This study provides some evidence of the degree of inter-rater reliability of these studies. Krippendorffs coefficient of agreement, a measure of inter-rater reliability is derived for each of eight issues from four raters performing a content analysis of respondent letters in the Public Record volume, Exposure Draft: Accounting for Certain Acquisitions of Banking or Thrift Institutions. In general, the coefficients indicated that extreme caution should be exercised in making inferences from studies based on content analyses of the Financial Accounting Standards Board Public Record.


2021 ◽  
pp. 109-117
Author(s):  
Nicholas Alexander Tungga ◽  
Melithasya Angelina ◽  
Elliza .

Financial reports are important because they are useful for providing an overview for stakeholders in their decision making. Where in the preparation of financial statements the main regulation used is the Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (PSAK) established by the Indonesian Institute of Accountants (IAI) through the Financial Accounting Standards Board (DSAK). In the current status quo of Indonesia in facing the Covid-19 pandemic, the existence of PSAK has begun to be tested, adjustments must be made to financial accounting standards which are useful to strengthen the lines of corporate accountability in Indonesia and are able to answer the main urgency of Indonesia today, namely the weakening of the country's economy. The purpose of this paper is to produce a framework that can later become an alternative for banks in making decisions for implementing the PSAK 71 post model. The approach used in this paper is a qualitative approach by providing arguments and solutions for Indonesia's current economic conditions through the resulting framework design. After considering the aspects that affect the risk of bad credit, the conclusion is that PSAK 71 is able to trigger an economic upturn in Indonesia, because in its implementation it does not necessarily look at one aspect only but considers other aspects in responding to issues related to bad credit.  Keywords: PSAK 71, Post Model Framework, Bad Credit, Indonesian Economy


2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tongyu Cao ◽  
Hasnah Shaari ◽  
Ray Donnelly

Purpose This paper aims to provide evidence that will inform the convergence debate regarding accounting standards. The authors assess the ability of impairment reversals allowed under International Accounting Standard 36 but disallowed by the Financial Accounting Standards Board to provide useful information about a company. Design/methodology/approach The authors use a sample of 182 Malaysian firms that reversed impairment charges and a matched sample of firms which chose not to reverse their impairments. Further analysis examines if reversing an impairment charge is associated with motivations for and evidence of earnings management. Findings The authors find no evidence that the reversal of an impairment charge marks a company out as managing contemporaneous earnings. However, they document evidence that firms with high levels of abnormal accruals and weak corporate governance avoid earnings decline by reversing previously recognized impairments. In addition, companies that have engaged in big baths as evidenced by high accumulated impairment balances and prior changes in top management, use impairment reversals to avoid earnings declines. Research limitations/implications The results of this study support both the informative and opportunistic hypotheses of impairment reversal reporting using Financial Reporting Standard 136. Practical implications The results also demonstrate how companies that use impairment reversals opportunistically can be identified. Originality/value The results support IASB’s approach to the reversal of impairments. They also provide novel evidence as to how companies exploit a cookie-jar reserve created by a prior big bath opportunistically.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-124
Author(s):  
Robert H Herz ◽  
Duo Pei

ABSTRACT This paper is based on an interview on January 9, 2020, with Robert H. (Bob) Herz, the former two-term chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, on how the environment for business reporting has evolved and how it may continue to evolve. Bob Herz has also held decision-making positions as a part-time member of the IASB and on the board of the SASB. In this interview, we discuss a pragmatic reporting model suited to the era of Big Data and technology. We also explain the different interests of the reporting process, including the standard-setters, preparers, auditors, and users. The main idea of this paper focuses on how to incorporate Big Data and technology into reporting models working within the current framework and needs of the stakeholders. We then outline several use cases that illustrate a refined reporting model using Big Data and technology.


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