Empirical accounting research [Elektronische Ressource] : three essays with intersections to management and corporate governance / Tolga Davarcioglu. Gutachter: Joachim Gassen ; Joachim Schwalbach

Tolga Davarcioglu

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• Management

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• Publié par: humboldt-universitat_zu_berlin
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 59
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

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Empirical accounting research
─
Three essays with intersections to management and corporate govern-
ance

D I S S E R T A T I O N

zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades
doctor rerum politicarum
(Doktor der Wirtschaftswissenschaft)

eingereicht an der

Wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Fakultät
der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

von

Diplom-Ökonom Tolga Davarcioglu



Präsident der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin:
Prof. Dr. Jan-Hendrik Olbertz

Dekan der Wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Fakultät:
Prof. Oliver Günther, Ph.D.

Gutachter: 1. Prof. Dr. Joachim Gassen
2. Prof. Dr. Joachim Schwalbach
Tag des Kolloquiums: 22.07.2011
To the reader
Historically, German financial accounting and reporting was geared towards regulatory
requirements like taxation and dividend pay-outs. In recent years, German public firms
started adopting internationally accepted financial accounting standards to signal their
commitment to capital market communication. Nowadays, German financial accounting
and reporting is trying to meet multiple objectives: It is used as a communication device
to shareholders while at the same time it remains instrumental in regulatory settings
like, e.g. taxation. Also, financial accounting is a key ingredient to many issues of cor-
porate governance.
The dissertation thesis of Tolga Davarcioglu reflects this multi-objective nature by in-
vestigating the phenomenon of financial accounting from different angles. While the
first paper looks into the determinants of voluntary compliance to accounting standards,
the second paper assesses the effects of mandatory IFRS adoption. Finally, the third
paper studies the interplay of board structure and firm performance. In general, the pro-
jects find that some of the standard economic incentive stories do not seem to be able to
explain the financial accounting behavior of German firms. This calls for future re-
search into the (non-economic) determinants of managerial behavior.
The overarching theme of the three papers is methodological: all papers use empirical
archival approaches. This is considered to be “mainstream” in the current international
literature. Nevertheless, the work presented here is far from being mainstream as it is
based on carefully hand-collected data. In recent years, most studies in the area of em-
pirical financial accounting research have been based on publicly available standardized
databases. While these databases allow large-sample studies with obvious advantages in
terms of descriptive appeal and external validity, the data presented in these databases
are only a crude proxy for the financial accounting information available to market par-
ticipants. Financial accounting information is rich, multi-dimensional and qualitative as
well as quantitative in nature. Researchers which strive to understand the determinants
and consequences of financial reporting should be studying financial accounting data
“in the wild”. Focusing the analysis on key financial figures available from public data
sources is like studying the behavior of elephants by going to the zoo: It is useful but
likely to provide an incomplete picture.
The use of high-quality data is a significant contribution as it makes the mixed results of
some of the projects more interesting. Mixed findings based on standard archival data
can always be blamed to lacking construct validity. In turn, the findings presented here
clearly indicate the limitations of traditional economic theories which predict manage-
rial behavior. Thus, future work is needed to continue the work presented here by link-
ing theories of different paradigms. In that respect, the work of Tolga Davarcioglu adds
to our understanding of the real-world phenomenon of financial reporting and corporate
governance. I hope it will be widely read and used.

Berlin, October 17, 2011

Joachim Gassen
Acknowledgements
This thesis was written during the five years that I worked as research assistant at the
Institute for Accounting and Auditing of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. It was
accepted as a dissertation by the School of Business and Economics in the summer term
2011.
First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor Prof. Dr. Joachim Gassen. He
provided continuous support and motivation during the writing process; without his
advice the thesis would not have come to existence. He also allowed me insights into
scientific working that would have been hidden to me otherwise and encouraged me to
present results on conferences. Additionally, I am thankful that I could learn so much,
and that this fortunately was not restricted to accounting research.
I would also like to express my gratitude to Prof. Dr. Joachim Schwalbach for his will-
ingness to act as second supervisor and allowing for a smooth examination process. I
am indebted to Prof. Bärbel Gertich for chairing the dissertation committee as well as
for cordial and encouraging conversations at our institute.
While I was writing the thesis, I always referred to it as “my” work, however, my col-
leagues played an indispensible role in its successful completion. I will always keep my
occupation at the institute in fond memory because the boundaries between being col-
leagues and friends faded so quickly. Each and everyone made the time memorable in
an own special way: Heidlinde Völker, the institute’s “mastermind”, created a very
pleasant working atmosphere by her caring and helpful manner; her absence is an ele-
gant way to challenge the institute’s operability. I would like to highlight co-working
with Dr. Ulrich “Uli” Küting. His dedication to accounting related questions and – at
least to the same extent – our numerous non-work related discussions had a lasting posi-
tive influence on the writing process. Timo Eisenschink demonstrated impressively on a
day-to-day basis but especially on weekends, that there is a life aside from the office.
Nico Kavvadias was relentless in pointing out the relationship between good food and
academic work and provided valuable lessons in culinary Berlin. Matthias Weil did not
only bring a fresh breeze into the institute but was also (nearly) untiringly available for
sports activities. With Jochen Pierk, temporarily my office buddy, I had many semi-
serious discussions on the state of the nation over a cup of tea. I only shortly co-worked
with Marcus Witzky and Jens Günther, but therefore, discussions during our canteen
visits were intense and characterized by interestingly diverging perspectives. Our assis-
tant professor Prof. Urška Kosi, PhD, brought a welcome diversity to the boys club and
was cheerful, humorous and baked delicious goodies on top of that. I would like to ex-
press my gratitude to each of them for a memorable and instructional time, countless
discussions and proofreading the thesis partly or entirely.
I would like to say thank you to our student assistants particularly for the excellent sup-
port in getting required literature or data and the help with all other tasks that the re-
search assistant seems to unlearn after his studies. I will also not forget our many cor-
dial conversations or our book and movie reviews.
The Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Gesellschaft an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
e.V. supported me financially during my research stay at the Hong Kong University of
Science and Technology; thank you very much for that.
I am indebted to my friends for convenient breaks from research and teaching activities.
Especially Cornelius Mundt and Dr. Daniel Baumgarten have been friends for a long
time now and are a guarantee for a thrilling exchange of views. Additionally, Daniel did
not only bear my econometric questions but also answered them.
My special thanks go to my family: My brother Koray began my “education” – cer-
tainly without knowing – far before my schooldays and had an at least acceptable an-
swer to all the small as well as the big questions of life. I would like to thank my parents
for so much but particularly for supporting me at every time in every aspect and for ap-
proving and/or bearing my good as well as my not so good decisions.

Berlin, October 2011 Tolga Davarcioglu
-V-
Contents - Overview

An introductory summary ...................................................................................1

What drives voluntary accounting compliance? Evidence from German
Accounting Standards ........................................................................................11

Accounting quality after voluntary IFRS adoption – Evidence based on
provision disclosure of German firms...............................................................93

Multiple board appointments and firm performance - German evidence..171



-VI-
Contents

An introductory summary................................................................................... 1
Accounting research and empirical accounting.................................................. 1
References .................................................................................................