Financial Accounting in the Banking Industry: A Review of the Empirical Literature
121 Pages Posted: 30 Oct 2013
Date Written: October 23, 2013
Abstract
We survey research on financial accounting in the banking industry. After providing a brief background of the micro-economic theories of the economic role of banks, why bank capital is regulated, and how the accounting regime affects banks’ economic decisions, we review three streams of empirical research. Specifically we focus on research examining the relation between bank financial reporting and the valuation and risk assessments of outside equity and debt, the relation between bank financial reporting discretion, regulatory capital and earnings management, and banks’ economic decisions under differing accounting regimes. We provide our views about what we have learned from this research and about what else we would like to know. We also provide some empirical analyses of the various models that have been used to estimate discretion in the loan loss provision. We further discuss the inherent challenges associated with predicting how bank behavior will respond under alternative accounting and regulatory capital regimes.
Keywords: financial accounting; bank regulatory capital; information asymmetry
JEL Classification: E5, M4
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation