Search results for "conservatism"

Staying cool: preadaptation to temperate climates required for colonising tropical alpine-like environments.

2018

Plant species tend to retain their ancestral ecology, responding to temporal, geographic and climatic changes by tracking suitable habitats rather than adapting to novel conditions. Nevertheless, transitions into different environments or biomes still seem to be common. Especially intriguing are the tropical alpine-like areas found on only the highest mountainous regions surrounded by tropical environments. Tropical mountains are hotspots of biodiversity, often with striking degrees of endemism at higher elevations. On these mountains, steep environmental gradients and high habitat heterogeneity within small spaces coincide with astounding species diversity of great conservation value. The …

Social transmission of avoidance among predators facilitates the spread of novel prey.

2018

Warning signals are an effective defence strategy for aposematic prey, but only if they are recognized by potential predators. If predators must eat prey to associate novel warning signals with unpalatability, how can aposematic prey ever evolve? Using experiments with great tits (Parus major) as predators, we show that social transmission enhances the acquisition of avoidance by a predator population. Observing another predator’s disgust towards tasting one novel conspicuous prey item led to fewer aposematic than cryptic prey being eaten for the predator population to learn. Despite reduced personal encounters with unpalatable prey, avoidance persisted and increased over subsequent trials.…

Examining the "Veggie" personality: Results from a representative German sample.

2017

Abstract An increasing proportion of people choose to follow a vegetarian diet. To date, however, little is known about if and how individual differences in personality relate to following a vegetarian diet. In the two studies presented here, we aimed to (1) estimate the prevalence of self-defined vegetarians in two waves of a German representative sample (N = 4496 and 5125, respectively), (2) analyze the effect of socio-demographic variables on dietary behavior, and (3) examine individual differences between vegetarians and meat eaters in personality traits, political attitudes, and health-related variables. In Study 1, a strict definition of vegetarians was used, while in Study 2 the defi…

Bank Loan Loss Accounting and Its Contracting Effects: The New Expected Loss Models

2019

As a result of the recent financial crisis, several key institutions urged the IASB and the FASB to re-evaluate their models for loan loss accounting and use more forward-looking information. The paper examines the principal features of the new expected loss approach, taking into account the tensions between accounting and prudential objectives with respect to credit losses. We discuss the rationales for the change introduced by IFRS 9 and explore the differences between the IASB and the FASB models. Based on the notions of accounting conservatism and earnings management, we discuss the potential consequences of the new models. While both the FASB and the IASB model are more conservative th…

Do Cross-Country Differences in Accounting Conservatism Explain Variations in the Degree of Investor Diversification?

2009

We show that the level of conditional accounting conservatism of foreign markets is significantly and positively associated with decisions to diversify portfolios internationally. This positive association could be either because conditional conservatism per se is attractive to international investors, or because the un-modelled factors that attract foreign investors to a country also cause these countries to adopt conditionally conservative accounting practices. However, if conditional conservatism serves to alleviate foreign investors’ concerns related to insiders having asymmetric access to information then one would also expect the chosen mode of entry into a foreign market (as foreign …

The influence of conditional conservatism on ownership dispersion: An international analysis

2013

ABSTRACTWe study the influence of conditional accounting conservatism on domestic investor diversification decisions. We argue that a conservative accounting system that promotes the dissemination of bad news and which constrains managers from engaging in opportunistic activities reduces the need for investors to concentrate their ownership, and consequently helps investors to diversify their investments. Through a country-level analysis we show that increased domestic conditional conservatism and higher domestic diversification opportunities lead to higher levels of domestic ownership diversification. Our results are robust to alternative estimates of conditional conservatism, and indicate…

2015

This paper provides a commentary on the academic literature on accounting conservatism with a view to highlighting the insights of that literature that are potentially useful for accounting standar...

Audit and Earnings Management in Spanish SMEs

2016

Abstract Evidence about the relation between earnings management and voluntary audits is scarce, and there is no research about the effectiveness of mandatory audits to improve earnings quality. Using a sample of Spanish SMEs, where some companies are mandatorily audited and some are exempt from audit, we examine if audits, either mandatory or voluntary, help to improve accounting quality by constraining earnings management. We also examine differences between voluntary and mandatory audits, as well as the role of Big 4 and Middle-Tier auditors. After controlling for other characteristics that affect earnings management, we find that audited companies have lower absolute discretionary accru…

Bank Loan Loss Accounting: Research Implications for the Post-Crisis Debate

2016

The IASB and the FASB have recently re-evaluated the current model underlying loan loss accounting (the ‘incurred loss’). Taking into consideration the G20‘s advice on using more forward-looking information, they introduce a new approach (the ‘expected loss’ model). This paper reviews the academic literature to shed some light on the new expected loss models when applied to the financial industry. The accounting literature discussed in this study outlines both general theoretical findings and empirical evidence that help to infer the potential impact of the new models. Given the link between loan loss impairment and accounting conservatism as well as earnings management, we explore these co…

Supplementary material 2 from: Gehrke B (2018) Staying cool: preadaptation to temperate climates required for colonising tropical alpine-like environ…

2018

List of genera investigated for the analysis including information on generic distribution, coding and references to the literature used :