Market risk reporting by the world's top banks:evidence on the diversity of reporting practice and the implications for international accounting harmonisation

Abstract

The increasing adoption of international accounting standards and global convergence of accounting regulations is frequently heralded as serving to reduce diversity in financial reporting practice. In a process said to be driven in large part by the interests of international business and global financial markets, one might expect the greatest degree of convergence to be found amongst the world’s largest multinational financial corporations. This paper challenges such claims and presumptions. Its content analysis of longitudinal data for the period 2000-2006 reveals substantial, on going diversity in the market risk disclosure practices, both numerical and narrative, of the world’s top-25 banks. The significance of such findings is reinforced by the sheer scale of the banking sector’s risk exposures that have been subsequently revealed in the current global financial crisis. The variations in disclosure practices documented in the paper apply both across and within national boundaries, leading to a firm conclusion that, at least in terms of market risk reporting, progress towards international harmonisation remains rather more apparent than real.

Divisions: College of Business and Social Sciences > Aston Business School > Accounting
College of Business and Social Sciences > Aston Business School
Additional Information: © 2008 The Authors
Uncontrolled Keywords: international accounting standards,accounting regulations,market risk
Publication ISSN: 1138-4891
Last Modified: 21 Mar 2024 08:10
Date Deposited: 14 Oct 2014 12:20
Full Text Link: http://www.rc-s ... s&magazineId=38
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PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2008
Authors: Woods, Margaret
Humphrey, Christopher
Dowd, Kevin

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