Why reduce profit? : accounting choice of impairments in Swedish listed corporations

• Positive accounting theory and institutional theory are used in conjunction in order to explain accounting choice. The theory is applied on IAS 36 (impairment of assets), and tested on a sample of listed Swedish corporations. We find that the choice is mainly induced by agency and general business factors and to a slighter degree by institutional factors. Especially, we find that institutional influence will be stronger when it is in the interest of important stakeholders; that impairments can be used as a mean of signalling trust to absent owners and that the institutional element of tradition cannot be tested separately from the agency element of opportunism.

Ämnesord

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Business Administration (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Företagsekonomi (hsv//swe)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

accounting choice

asset impairment

positive accounting theory

institutional theory

Sweden

stakeholders

trust

absent owners

tradition

opportunism

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)