The effect of disclosure level on the cost of equity is a matter of considerable interest and importance to the financial reporting community. In this research, the effects of the IAS/IFRS adoption in Europe on the cost of equity capital relative to the bank industry have been examined. Previous research has shown that the adoption of the IAS/IFRS reduces information asymmetry between investors and firms. Economic theory claims that a commitment to increased level of disclosure reduces the cost of capital component that arises from information asymmetries. This study shows empirically that the increase in the level of disclosure provided by the adoption of the IAS/IFRS in the European Union by Regulation 1606/2002 has led effectively to a lower cost of capital. From a practical point of view, these findings provide evidence that the Regulator's purpose of fostering a cost-efficient functioning of the capital market for firms could be considered as accomplished. Furthermore, they point out that firms which implemented the IAS/IFRS have gained a comparative advantage on the equity market over firms still adopting accounting standards based on the IV and VII European Directives.

The effects of disclosure level on the cost of equity are a matter of considerable interest and importance to the financial reporting community. Economic theory indeed claims that commitment to increased level of disclosure reduces the cost of capital component that arises from information asymmetries. Accordingly, this paper investigates the effects of IFRS adoption in Europe on the cost of equity for the bank industry. In doing so, it performs an event study, which isolates the effects of accounting changes on the cost of capital from institutional and enforcement mechanisms. This study shows that IFRS adoption has exerted, on average, a positive effect on the cost of capital for the bank industry at least in the very short run. Firms adopting IFRS seem to have experienced a lower cost of equity in the period immediately subsequent the release of financial reporting according to the new accounting standard set.

Seminar paper from the year 2019 in the subject Business economics - Investment and Finance, grade: 1,0, Otto Beisheim School of Management Vallendar, language: English, abstract: Starting in 2005, the portion of foreign shareholders in the Dax has risen from 45% to 58% in the last decade. In the same year, the regulation of the European Union from 2002 came into effect which required all listed firms in the European Union to report their consolidated accounts in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) from 2005 on instead of each countries’ generally accepted accounting standards (GAAP). This is just one example where the volume of investments increased concurrently with the adoption of IFRS. Therefore, the question arises if the mandatory adoption of IFRS in the EU in 2005 or in other cases significantly affected and continues to affect investment decisions among adopters or third parties. In order to better account for differences between different types of investors and investees, we differentiate between retail investors, institutional investors and corporate finance activities. Moreover, we focus on the consequence of IFRS adoption on equity investment decisions as most research appears to focus on the equity instead of the credit market. Additionally, Lourenco & Branco point out that most research which finds no significant effects of IFRS adoption on investment decisions appears to focus on voluntary adoption before 2005. Thus, this paper mainly focuses on mandatory IFRS adoption. In this context, research suggests that mandatory IFRS adopters experience significant capital markets benefits as well as enhanced foreign institutional ownership and enhanced M&A activity. Ultimately, we observe four overarching drivers behind the aforementioned observations that impact investment decisions across different types of investors and investees.

This review lays out a research perspective on earnings quality. We provide an overview of alternative definitions and measures of earnings quality and a discussion of research design choices encountered in earnings quality research. Throughout, we focus on a capital markets setting, as opposed, for example, to a contracting or stewardship setting. Our reason for this choice stems from the view that the capital market uses of accounting information are fundamental, in the sense of providing a basis for other uses, such as stewardship. Because resource allocations are ex ante decisions while contracting/stewardship assessments are ex post evaluations of outcomes, evidence on whether, how and to what degree earnings quality influences capital market resource allocation decisions is fundamental to understanding why and how accounting matters to investors and others, including those charged with stewardship responsibilities. Demonstrating a link between earnings quality and, for example, the costs of equity and debt capital implies a basic economic role in capital allocation decisions for accounting information; this role has only recently been documented in the accounting literature. We focus on how the precision of financial information in capturing one or more underlying valuation-relevant constructs affects the assessment and use of that information by capital market participants. We emphasize that the choice of constructs to be measured is typically contextual. Our main focus is on the precision of earnings, which we view as a summary indicator of the overall quality of financial reporting. Our intent in discussing research that evaluates the capital market effects of earnings quality is both to stimulate further research in this area and to encourage research on related topics, including, for example, the role of earnings quality in contracting and stewardship.

In this research, the effects of accounting standardization in Europe on the capital market has been investigated by focusing on the bank industry. In particular, since the main purpose of the European Regulation 1606/2002 is that of fostering an efficient and cost-effective functioning of the capital market, this paper directly relates accounting standardization to the cost of equity. The adoption of the same accounting standard set within the Community was expected to improve comparability and, in such a way, to reduce firms' differences in the cost of equity. Contrary to expectations, empirical evidence shows that the adoption of the IAS has led to an increase, instead of a reduction, in the cost of equity. The explanation that can be advanced for such a result is that while, on the one hand, accounting standardization has eliminated measurement errors in assessing firms' risk, reducing differences in their cost of equity, on the other hand, the IAS/IFRS adoption has improved firms' level of disclosure, allowing investors to better differentiate among firms' risk, hence increasing cost of capital variability.