Abstract
The main purpose of the paper is to investigate the market valuation of accounting information in the European banking industry before and after the adoption of IFRS, the latest version of International Accounting Standards. In a value relevance framework, we apply panel methods to a multiplicative interaction model, in which the partial effects of earnings and book value on share prices are conditional on the adoption of IFRS. According to our evidence, the IFRS introduction enhanced the information content of both earnings and book value for more transparent banks. By contrast, less transparent entities did not experience significant increase in the value relevance of book value.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
The International Accounting Standards (IAS) originally issued by the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) have evolved into the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) issued by its successor body, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). IFRS comprise the standards issued by the IASB and those issued by the IASC, some of which have been amended by the IASB. IFRS have emerged as a leading alternative to US GAAP for global reporting. In 2005 the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) laid down a roadmap to permit cross-listing on US exchanges without requiring firms to reconcile IFRS with US GAAP.
On the features of this model, see Lo and Lys (2000).
Quality is defined for operational purposes as the timely accounting entry of amounts relevant to the income statement (particularly losses).
The sample period for Barth et al. (2008) predates the standards issued by IASB. Accordingly, they refer to use of IAS, not IFRS, by their sample of firms.
Other works deals with the effects produced in one country are Abellán and Aledo (2007), Gjerde et al. (2008), or in few countries are Capkun et al. (2008), Sellhorn and Skaife (2008) and Prather-Kinsey et al. (2008). Very recent empirical evidence on value relevance of banks is provided by Anandarajan et al. (2010).
In Arellano’s words, it becomes possible "to control for possibly correlated, time-invariant heterogeneity without observing it" (2003, p. 8). Previous research based on panel models and addressing the market impact of accounting information is scant and does not bear on Europe (see Naceur and Goaied 2004; Negash 2006, Worthington and West 2004).
The fixed effects estimator is used when the unobserved effects are assumed (or found, using the Hausman test) to be correlated with the explanatory variables. Since this correlation is left unrestricted, an OLS method would produce an inconsistent estimator. So the data must be transformed to eliminate the unobserved effects. The transformed data do so by subtracting the time mean (within-panel) for all observations. In the panel data literature, the OLS estimator on data shorn of the time mean is generally referred to as the fixed-effects or least squares dummy variable estimator (LSDV). The latter term reflects the fact that it is numerically the same as the estimator that would be obtained by running an OLS regression including N dummies, one for each individual.
The fixed effects account for all time-invariant cross-sectional effects may then be observed or unobserved. The internal data transformation eliminates any time-invariant regressors, such as country-fixed effects. Similarly, when a LSDV estimator is used, the bank-fixed effects subsume all other time-invariant effects.
Barth et al. (2006) use the same method to mitigate the potential influence of outliers. When, as an alternative way of coping with the presence of extreme values, we drop the observations lying in the first and last percentile of the distribution, results remain substantially unaltered (see Sect. 5.4).
When the unbalanced panel is converted into the balanced one, the number of banks falls from 221 to 81 and observations from 1,201 to 567.
A discrepancy between individual and joint significance, which will recur in other cases, is not unusual in multiplicative interaction models and can in fact be interpreted as a signal of multicollinearity (see Wooldridge 2003; Brambor et al. 2006) induced by the inclusion of interaction terms. As Brambor et al. (2006) point out, however, “even if there really is high multicollinearity and this leads to large standard errors on the model parameters, it is important to remember that these standard errors are never in any sense ‘too’ large—they are always the ‘correct’ standard errors. High multicollinearity simply means that there is not enough information in the data to estimate the model parameters accurately and the standard errors rightfully reflect this”.
According to Bernard et al. (1995) banks in Denmark report accounting information based on market values to a higher degree than other countries in Europe. Therefore, the different impact of mandatory IFRS may be due to this reason.
Actually, the figure used in determining the quartiles was the average market capitalization of each bank over the sample period.
While the earnings parameter is not significant in itself, the F-test for joint significance with its interaction term strongly rejects the null hypothesis of irrelevant regressors. See note 14 for further discussion on this point.
This segmentation differs from the former because some cooperative banks are large (e.g. Crédit-Agricole).
The overall F-test is only marginally significant (at 10%), probably because of the smallness of the sample. But it regains significance at 1% when the dependent variable is the closing price in March.
In 2000 Bankscope provides the Thomson BankWatch ratings as well. In the same database, information is missing on Moody and Standard and Poor ratings for the year 2003.
To economize on space, we omit all the results so far commented, making them accessible on demand.
Besides, when we limited our estimation sample to the 33 banks (175 observations year-observations) that used IFRS before 2005, once again, we found an increasing value relevance of the earnings per share and a decreasing value relevance of book value per share, only the marginal impact of earnings being statistically significant after 2005.
We are indebted to an anonymous reviewer for this suggestion.
Abbreviations
- IFRS:
-
International financial reporting standards
- IAS:
-
International accounting standards
- GAAP:
-
Generally accepted accounting principles
References
Abellán D, Aledo J (2007) Impact of IFRS on accounting returns and accounting-based residual income model: does it work? Working paper presented at the EAA Annual Congress, Lisbon 2007
Anandarajan A, Francis B, Hasan I, John K (2010) Value relevance of banks: global evidence. Rev Quant Finan Acc. doi:10.1007/s11156-010-0170-7
Arellano M (2003) Panel data econometrics. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Armstrong CS, Barth ME, Jagolinzer AD, Riedl EJ (2008) Market reaction to the adoption of IFRS in Europe. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=903429
Ashbaugh H, Olsson P (2002) An exploratory study of the valuation properties of cross-listed firms’ IAS and US GAAP earnings and book values. Account Rev 77:107–126
Ball R (2006) International financial reporting standards (IFRS): pros and cons for investors. Account Bus Res. Special Issue – International Accounting Policy Forum 2006, pp 5–27
Ball R, Robin A, Wu JS (2003) Incentives versus standards: properties of accounting income in four east Asian countries. J Account Econ 36:235–270
Banque de France (2005) The impact of the transition to IFRS for French banking groups. Annu Rep Comm Banc 145–156
Barron O, Stuerke PS (1998) Dispersion in analysts’ earnings forecasts as a measure of uncertainty. J Account Audit Financ 13(3):245–270
Barth ME, Beaver WH, Landsman WR (1996) Value-relevance of banks’ fair value disclosures under SFAS no 107. Account Rev 71(4):513–537
Barth ME, Beaver WH, Landsman WR (2001) The relevance of the value relevance literature for accounting standard setting: another view. J Account Econ 31:77–104
Barth ME, Landsman WR, Lang M, Williams CD (2006) Accounting quality: international accounting standards and US GAAP. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=897241
Barth ME, Landsman WR, Lang M (2008) International accounting standards and accounting quality. J Account Res 46(3):467–498
Bartov E, Goldberg S, Kim M (2005) Comparative value relevance among German, US and international accounting standards: a german stock market perspective. J Account Audit Financ 20(2):95–119
Bernard VL, Merton RC, Palepu KG (1995) Mark-to-market accounting for banks and thrifts: lessons from the Danish experience. J Account Res 33:1–32
Brambor T, Clark WR, Golder M (2006) Understanding interaction models: improving empirical analyses. Polit Anal 14:63–82
Cahan SF, Emanuel D, Sun J (2009) The effect of earnings quality and country-level institutions on the value relevance of earnings. Rev Quant Financ Account 33(4):371–391
Capkun V, Cazavan-Jeny A, Jeanjean T, Weiss LA (2008) Earnings management and value relevance during the mandatory transition from local GAAPs to IFRS in Europe (April 25,). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1125716
Christensen HB, Lee E, Walker M (2007) Do IFRS/UK-GAAP reconciliations convey new informations? Working Paper, University of Manchester and Manchester Business School
Collins D, Pincus M, Xie Hong (1999) Equity valuation and negative earnings: the role of book value of equity. Account Rev 1:29–62
Daske H, Hail L, Leuz C, Verdi R (2008) Mandatory IFRS reporting around the world: early evidence on the economic consequences. J Account Res 46(5):1085–1142
Dumontier P, Labelle R (1998) Accounting earnings and firm valuation: the French case. Eur Account Rev 7(2):163–183
Eccher E, Healy PM (2000) The role of international accounting standards in transitional economies: A study of the People’s Republic of China. Working paper, MIT Sloan School of Management and Harvard Business School
Eccher A, Ramesh K, Thiagarajan SR (1996) Fair value disclosures by bank holding companies. J Account Econ 22(1–3):79–117
European Community (EC) (2000) EU Statement on Lisbon Summit. EC, Brussels, pp 23–24
Francis J, LaFond R, Olsson P, Schipper K (2004) Costs of equity and earnings attributes. Account Rev 79:967–1010
Gjerde O, Knivsflå KH, Saettem F (2008) The Value-Relevance of Adopting IFRS: Evidence from 145 NGAAP restatements. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=966080
Harris MS, Muller KA III (1999) The market valuation of IAS versus US-GAAP accounting measures using form 20-F reconciliations. J Account Econ 26:285–312
Holthausen RW, Watts RL (2001) The relevance of the value-relevance literature for financial accounting standard setting. J Account Econ 31:3–75
Horton J, Serafeim G (2008) Market Reaction & Valuation of IFRS Reconciliation Adjustments: First Evidence from the UK. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=923582, forthcoming in Review of Accounting Studies
Hu D (2002) The usefulness of financial statements under Chinese-GAAP vs. IAS: evidence from the Shanghai stock exchange in PR. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=314001 or doi: 10.2139/ssrn.314001
Kao L (2007) Does investors’ sophistication affect persistence and pricing of discretionary accruals? Rev Pac Basin Financ Mark Polic 10(1):33–50
Leuz C (2003) IAS versus US GAAP: information asymmetry-based evidence from Germany’s New Market. J Account Res 41(3):445–472
Lo K, Lys T (2000) The Ohlson model: contribution to valuation theory, limitations, and empirical applications. J Account Audit Financ 15(3):337–367
Morais AI, Curto JJD (2007) IASB Standards adoption: value relevance and the influence of country-specific factors. 30th Annual conference of the European Accounting Association, Lisbon
Morgan DP (1999) Whether and why banks are opaque, 36th annual conference on bank structure and competition. Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
Morgan DP (2002) Rating banks: risk and uncertainty in an opaque industry. Am Econ Rev 92(4):874–888
Naceur SB, Goaied M (2004) The value relevance of accounting and financial information: panel data evidence. Appl Financ Econ 14:1219–1224
Negash M (2006) Liberalization and the value relevance of accrual accounting information: evidence from the Johannesburg securities exchange. Afro Asian J Financ Account 1(1):84–101
Nelson K (1996) Fair value accounting for commercial banks: an empirical analysis of SFAS No. 107. Account Rev 71:161–182
Nissim D (2003) Reliability of banks’ fair value disclosure for loans. Rev Quant Financ Account 20(4):355–384
Ohlson JA (1995) Earnings, book values, and dividends in equity valuation. Contemp Account Res 11(2):661–687
Park C (2005) Stock return predictability and the dispersion in earnings forecasts. J Bus (University of Chicago Press) 78(6):2351–2376
Park MS, Park T, Ro BT (1999) Fair value disclosures for investment securities and bank equity: evidence from SFAS No. 115. J Account Audit Financ 14(3):347–370
Prather-Kinsey J, Jermakowicz, EK, Vongphanith T (2008) Capital Market Consequences of European Firms’ Mandatory Adoption of IFRS. Working paper presented at the EAA annual congress, Rotterdam 2008 and at the AAA Annual Meeting 2008, California
Sellhorn T, Skaife H (2008) The cross-country comparability of IFRS earnings and book values: evidence from accounting-based valuation models Working paper presented at the EAA annual congress, Rotterdam 2008
Stolowy H, Ding Y (2003) Regulatory flexibility and management opportunism in the choice of alternative accounting standards: an illustration based on large French groups. Int J Account 38:195–213
Swartz G, Negash M (2006) Valuation of shares using the Ohlson (1995) model: evidence from the JSE securities exchange South Africa. S Afr J Account Res 20:1
Wooldridge JM (2003) Introductory econometrics, a modern approach, cengage learning
Worthington AC, West T (2004) Australian evidence concerning the information content of economic value-added. Aust J Manage 29(2):201–224
Wu SH, Koo M, Kao T (2005) Comparing the value-relevance of accounting information in China: standards and factors effects. Working paper
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Agostino, M., Drago, D. & Silipo, D.B. The value relevance of IFRS in the European banking industry. Rev Quant Finan Acc 36, 437–457 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11156-010-0184-1
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11156-010-0184-1