Research projects

I investigate how market prices the persistence of domestic and foreign earnings for multinational firms and whether the pricing is affected by the quality of geographic segment reporting. I find (1) market underprices the persistence of foreign earnings; (2) the mispricing of foreign earnings observed in firms with low quality reporting no longer exists in firms with high quality reporting. The latter is important because market's mispricing of foreign earnings lessens as segment reporting quality increases. In Japan, the new standard about segment reporting is effective for fiscal year beginning after March 31, 2010. New standard introduces management approach and achieves the convergence with international standards such as IFRS and SFAS. The results of this study suggest that positive effects may occur following the implementation of new standard in Japan.

本研究の目的は、会計情報の複雑性とその影響を分析し、負の影響がある場合はその軽減策（自発的開示）を明らかにすることにある。本年度は国内外の先行研究の整理を通じて、会計情報の複雑性の要因とその経済的帰結を分析した。その成果は、国際会計研究学会スタディグループの中間報告書に掲載されている。 本年度明らかになったのは次の4点である。①会計情報の複雑性の要因は、商取引の複雑化・高度化、会計・開示制度の複雑化、経営者の意図の3つに整理できる。②先行研究では、セグメント数などの企業特性、決算資料の単語数、決算資料の可読性、会計方針の単語数、注記における収益認識の単語数と収益認識方法の数、Compustatの項目数、XBRL決算資料の項目数といった7つの指標が、可読性の尺度には、Flesch-Kincaid readability、LIX readability、RIX readability、Gunning Fog readability、ARI readability、SMOG readabilityといった6つの指標が利用されている。いずれの指標も、値が高いほどテキストの可読性が低い（読みにくい）。③複雑な会計・開示制度は取引または企業の経済的実体を理解する投資家の能力を損ない、投資家の情報環境を悪化させるとして、基準設定者にネガティブに捉えられている。④基準設定者は会計情報の複雑性に対処するため、会計基準の簡素化に向けて取り組んでいる。企業においても、複雑な会計基準を適用する際に自発的開示（業績予想の開示）を増やしたり、会計情報が複雑な企業は取締役会や監査委員会に会計専門家を積極的に採用したりすることが観察されている。

We study earnings management and the market performance of Japanese firms in stock-for-stock mergers. We find (1) consistent with previous studies such as Erickson and Wang [1999], acquiring firms especially for group reorganization manage earnings upward preceding a stock swap announcement in order to lower the merger cost ; (2) the effect of merger on acquiring firms' stock prices is totally positive around a stock merger announcement ; (3) the merger for group reorganization has smaller effect on acquiring firms' stock prices than the merger for others ; (4) preceding stock-for-stock mergers, the market does not react to the earnings management of the acquiring firms for group reorganization ; and (5) around a stock merger announcement, the market reacts negatively to the earnings management on the latest two-interim periods prior to the announcement and discounts the stock price.

(1) 機関投資家・アナリストの実情、資本市場を非効率にさせる要因は何か、アナリストはどのような財務情報を有用と見るか等についてのインタビュー調査、(2)「利益の質」とは何か、利益マネジメントと利益の質との関係の検討、(3) 新興資本市場を対象に、開示情報の意義、企業の財務報告に対する態度、IR活動の特徴についてのアンケート調査、(4) 経営者の業績予想情報のもつ市場への影響、IPO市場の価格形成に対する監査の貢献についての実証分析、(5) 監査法人の組織文化についてのアンケート調査と実証分析、(6) 公会計制度改革の現状に関する全地方公共団体へのアンケート調査を行い、会計社会の実像を説明する多くの知見を得た。

The purpose of this research is to identify the earnings management by the managers of Japanese firms in the Management Buy Out(MBO) for going-private. The major problem of MBO is the conflict-of-interest transaction by the managers. The managers that are“Insider”as acquirer want to purchase at a price lower. On the other hand, higher purchase price is desirable for the managers as an agency. So, we investigate the earnings management by the managers prior to MBO using quarterly financial data and discretionary accruals. As a result, in our analysis, we are not able to obtain the evidence of the earnings management.

Our research objective is to present more useful disclosure systems of earnings information and a more effective approach of financial audit or assurance services related to the disclosure systems. We analyzed the factors which cause the change of earnings information based on five times questionnaires and interview survey to major stakeholders such as CPAs, managements, and analysts. We also investigated reform or improvement possibilities of disclosure systems, assurance methods of financial statements information reliability, and communication methods of assurance results.