THE PRESENTERS OF THE 1ST KPMG ACCOUNTING RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM TO BE HELD NOVEMBER 30TH AT ESCP (PARIS RÉPUBLIQUE CAMPUS), AMONG WHICH SEVERAL ESCP PROFESSORS, WILL ADDRESS THE INFLUENCE OF WOMEN AND OWNER LIABILITY ON FINANCIAL REPORTING, AS WELL AS THE EFFECT OF ACCOUNTING CONSERVATISM ON CSR AND DEBT COVENANT INTENSITY.
The KPMG-sponsored keynote speaker of the event coordinated by ESCP Professor Paul Pronobis - Professor Paul André (HEC Lausanne, Switzerland), who serves as the editor of Accounting in Europe -, examines how the presence of women involved in the financial reporting process of public companies, and especially the interactions between them (i.e. the simultaneous presence of a woman CFO, women sitting on the audit committee, and women auditors), impacts financial reporting quality. He will explain that his results support the idea that women can positively affect financial reporting quality, but only if several women are involved at various stages of the financial reporting process.
ESCP London Professor Seraina Anagnostopoulou tries to assess whether a conservative stance in financial reporting, expected to be beneficial for capital providers, is associated with a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) orientation. Overall, her evidence suggests that higher levels of conservatism are negatively associated with a CSR orientation by firms.
ESCP Madrid Professor Juana Aledo examines whether firms with more covenant intensity in their private debt contracts exhibit timelier recognition of economics losses, and whether conservatism plays a role in the design of the covenants in private debt agreements. Her results show that there is a negative relation between covenant intensity and the degree of timely loss recognition, and that a firm’s degree of conservatism prior to debt issue influences the lending agreements’ debt covenant design.
Freie University Berlin Professor Jochen Bigus examines whether owner liability affects the debt-related earnings properties of financial accounting. For a large sample of European owners of sole proprietorships and partnerships (who in contrast to corporations, are held liable for the firm’s liabilities), he shows that the debt-contracting role of financial accounting becomes less important in the presence of owner liability.
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