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This paper aims to investigate the impact that governance mechanisms have on European Union ‘banks income smoothing behavior.

The authors examine the impact that corporate governance mechanisms included in European Commissions’ proposals regarding the improvement of corporate governance mechanisms (Green Paper) have upon European Union banks’ accounting policy decisions regarding the level of loan loss provisions (LLPs). In addition, the authors examine whether banks’ capital structure operates as an effective internal corporate governance practice. The authors investigate the association between certain corporate governance characteristics and the level of LLPs for a sample of 98 banks from 23 European Union countries for the period of 2010-2013, in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. To test the hypotheses, a multivariate regression model is run. Similar to previous research, the authors use ordinary least squares analysis to test the results.

Empirical findings provide evidence that there is a positive association between LLPs and accounting income, implying the existence of an income-smoothing pattern of provisions. In addition, the results suggest that banks managers’ decision to smooth income may differ with regard to the board structure, the level of leverage and the provision of disclosure for remuneration for chief executive officer.

The findings of this study contribute to the existing literature concerning banks’ income smoothing behavior. These findings can be useful to regulators, as the authors provide some evidence regarding the effectiveness of the European Union corporate governance framework.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the valuation impact of firm’s strategic choices in a setting of intangibles-rich industries.

The authors adopt the conceptual framework of Miles and Snow (1978, 2003), which identifies three viable types of firms based on their organizational strategy profiles: defenders, prospectors and analyzers. The authors use a replicable strategy score, whose scoring convention is based on rolling ratings of six ratios for the previous four years (Bentley et al., 2013), to distinguish between prospector and defender strategies.

The authors offer empirical evidence that supports the hypothesis that prospector strategies are positively associated with firm value in the industries of electronics and electrical equipment, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology and technology hardware and equipment. The authors do not find evidence to support such a relationship in the software and computer services sector.

The results of this study have significant implications for researchers, who adopt a market-based accounting research framework to examine the characteristics, performance and valuation of firms with different strategic orientation.

The findings of this paper are useful to managers, who would like to pursue a value-adding strategy in dynamic industrial environments that are characterized by high levels of innovation, risk and growth.

Although previous studies have yielded mixed results with respect to the association between firm’s performance and prospector strategy, the authors identify a set of R&D-intensive industries, where the implementation of the prospector strategy adds significant value to the shareholders’ wealth.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the market reaction to the accounting treatment of the marking‐to‐market of equity investments of Greek firms during the period 2002‐2004.

Using data for firms listed in the ASE, a treatment effects model of returns on control variables, the valuation adjustment and a dummy for the accounting treatment which is modeled as conditional to profitability, size and leverage.

It is found that firms chose to take valuation losses through equity but the market considered this treatment as a negative signal. The paper concludes that although market behavior is consistent with the efficient markets hypothesis, managerial behavior is more consistent with the mechanistic hypothesis.

This study contributes to understanding the factors that influence the accounting policy decisions of firms listed in the Athens Stock Exchange. In addition, this study contributes to evaluating the IASB's decision to give issuers of reclassify financial the ability to reclassify them.

This paper aims to examine the relevance of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in emerging markets, with special reference to the case of Greece.

This paper adopts a mixed methodology relying primarily on secondary sources such as the relevant legislation, published annual reports and reports on the effects of the application of IFRS by Greek firms as well as the results of a postal survey addressed to the finance managers of the top 100 Greek firms. For the postal survey, a modified version of the questionnaire used by Tyrall et al. was adopted.

Although the Greek environment was not appropriate for IFRS application, participants in the survey believe that their adoption improved the quality of financial reporting. The introduction of IFRS increased the reliability, transparency and comparability of the financial statements.

This study provides insights regarding the extent to which the introduction of IFRS influenced the accounting information supplied by firms operating within the European Union.

The paper empirically investigates the impact of the introduction of IFRS on the quality of financial statements within the context of emerging markets.

This study explores whether the implementation of Management Control Systems (MCS) by the Greek shipping companies influences the adoption of their performance measurement systems and the implication of this choice on organizational performance. The study uses data collected from semi-structured interviews and a survey instrument addressed to shipping companies located in Greece. The paper finds evidence that MCS are defined in terms of the informational purposes these MCS fulfill. Analysis of responses to the questionnaire results that the choice of MCS is contingent upon the strategy pursued by the shipping companies. In addition, evidence suggests that shipping companies with an optimal fit between their strategy and their MCS experience superior performance and higher perceived usefulness of MCS. Moreover, it is concluded that Greek shipping companies adopt subjective performance measures irrespective of the MCS they implement and that this choice leads to enhanced perceived performance.