Handbook on the Financial Reporting Environment
Will be published approx. on 20. November 2025
Book
Hardback
444 pages
978-1-80088-867-8 (ISBN)
Description
This timely Handbook offers a practical guide to understanding the complex world of financial reporting. It depicts how the financial reporting environment is shaped by key players, including standard setters, managers, auditors, and regulators, and how sophisticated users like institutional investors and creditors use financial information for their decision making.
The efficient allocation of capital hinges on high-quality financial information. Today's financial reporting environment extends far beyond traditional financial statements. It includes forward-looking disclosures, sustainability reporting, and additional evolving forms of communication-making the landscape increasingly complex and, at times, daunting. This Handbook serves as a vital guide, offering clarity amid this complexity. Each chapter, written by leading experts, provides in-depth coverage of a specific area of financial reporting. Foundational concepts are paired with real-world examples and insights from academic research in a concise and accessible format.
Designed for a broad audience, including students, business professionals, and researchers, this Handbook provides essential understanding for anyone seeking to grasp the dynamics of financial reporting in today's business world.
The efficient allocation of capital hinges on high-quality financial information. Today's financial reporting environment extends far beyond traditional financial statements. It includes forward-looking disclosures, sustainability reporting, and additional evolving forms of communication-making the landscape increasingly complex and, at times, daunting. This Handbook serves as a vital guide, offering clarity amid this complexity. Each chapter, written by leading experts, provides in-depth coverage of a specific area of financial reporting. Foundational concepts are paired with real-world examples and insights from academic research in a concise and accessible format.
Designed for a broad audience, including students, business professionals, and researchers, this Handbook provides essential understanding for anyone seeking to grasp the dynamics of financial reporting in today's business world.
Reviews / Votes
'An essential guide to today's financial reporting ecosystem. This Handbook bridges academic insight and practical relevance, clearly illustrating the importance of financial information and how it is generated, validated, and used in real-world decisions.' -- Stephen Stubben, University of Utah, USA 'The Handbook on the Financial Reporting Environment is a must-read for anyone studying how accounting information flows through financial markets. The collection of chapters presents the latest thinking by the profession's leading scholars. This work is well organized, easy to read, and thought-provoking.' -- Russell Lundholm, University of British Columbia, CanadaMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cheltenham
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 244 mm
Width: 169 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-80088-867-8 (9781800888678)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Edited by Weili Ge, Moss Adams Endowed Professor of Accounting, Michael G. Foster School of Business, University of Washington, Allison Koester, Dean's Research Fellow Associate Professor of Accounting, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University and Sarah McVay, William A. Fowler Endowed Professor of Accounting, Michael G. Foster School of Business, University of Washington, USA
Content
Contents
Introduction to the Handbook on the Financial Reporting Environment xviii
Weili Ge, Allison Koester and Sarah McVay
PART I INFORMATION GENERATION
Section 1.1 Mandatory Disclosure
1 The role of standard setters in financial reporting 3
Christine Botosan, Derek Christensen, Michael Durney, Kurt Gee and
Cassie Mongold
2 Investments in the financial reporting process 15
Maria Khrakovsky and Nemit Shroff
3 Managers' financial reporting incentives 35
David Burgstahler and Elizabeth Chuk
4 Managers' tools to meet earnings management incentives 46
Kalash Jain and Doron Nissim
5 The role of the human element: managerial characteristics and the
financial reporting environment 67
Weili Ge, Katie Lem and Keehea Moon
6 Financial reporting effects of tax planning and execution 85
Allison Koester, Terry Shevlin and Ryan Wilson
Section 1.2 Voluntary Disclosure and Communication Channels
7 Alternative performance measures 117
Sarah McVay, Edgar Rodriguez-Vazquez, Sara Toynbee and Benjamin
C. Whipple
8 Management guidance 141
Mei Feng and Lian Fen Lee
9 Managers' channels of communication 158
Dawn A. Matsumoto and Gregory S. Miller
Section 1.3 Widening the Scope of Assessed Performance
10 Environmental impact disclosures 181
Peter Easton, Rachna Prakash, George Ruch and Gary Taylor
PART II INFORMATION VALIDATION AND MONITORING
11 The role of the board on corporate reporting 205
Gaizka Ormazabal
12 The role of external auditors in the financial reporting process 224
Lauren M. Cunningham and Sarah E. Stein
13 The role of regulators in financial reporting 249
Jonas Heese
14 Institutional factors: political economy, legal systems, and social norms 268
AJ Yuan Chen and T.J. Wong
PART III USERS' INFORMATION INTEGRATION
Section 3.1 Putting it all together
15 Information processing costs 290
Elizabeth Blankespoor and Ed deHaan
Section 3.2 Information intermediaries as users and monitors
16 The role of financial reporting in debt markets 304
Matthew A. Phillips and Regina Wittenberg-Moerman
17 Wall Street analysts: frenemies of both investors and managers 329
Mark Bradshaw and Andrew C. Call
Section 3.3 Assessing firm value
18 Value investing: integrating theory and practice 349
Charles M.C. Lee
19 Market efficiency with costly information 377
Charles M.C. Lee
PART IV BRIDGING RESEARCH AND PRACTICE
20 The financial reporting environment from a practitioner's perspective 391
Crystal Finkelstein and Christina Nichols
Introduction to the Handbook on the Financial Reporting Environment xviii
Weili Ge, Allison Koester and Sarah McVay
PART I INFORMATION GENERATION
Section 1.1 Mandatory Disclosure
1 The role of standard setters in financial reporting 3
Christine Botosan, Derek Christensen, Michael Durney, Kurt Gee and
Cassie Mongold
2 Investments in the financial reporting process 15
Maria Khrakovsky and Nemit Shroff
3 Managers' financial reporting incentives 35
David Burgstahler and Elizabeth Chuk
4 Managers' tools to meet earnings management incentives 46
Kalash Jain and Doron Nissim
5 The role of the human element: managerial characteristics and the
financial reporting environment 67
Weili Ge, Katie Lem and Keehea Moon
6 Financial reporting effects of tax planning and execution 85
Allison Koester, Terry Shevlin and Ryan Wilson
Section 1.2 Voluntary Disclosure and Communication Channels
7 Alternative performance measures 117
Sarah McVay, Edgar Rodriguez-Vazquez, Sara Toynbee and Benjamin
C. Whipple
8 Management guidance 141
Mei Feng and Lian Fen Lee
9 Managers' channels of communication 158
Dawn A. Matsumoto and Gregory S. Miller
Section 1.3 Widening the Scope of Assessed Performance
10 Environmental impact disclosures 181
Peter Easton, Rachna Prakash, George Ruch and Gary Taylor
PART II INFORMATION VALIDATION AND MONITORING
11 The role of the board on corporate reporting 205
Gaizka Ormazabal
12 The role of external auditors in the financial reporting process 224
Lauren M. Cunningham and Sarah E. Stein
13 The role of regulators in financial reporting 249
Jonas Heese
14 Institutional factors: political economy, legal systems, and social norms 268
AJ Yuan Chen and T.J. Wong
PART III USERS' INFORMATION INTEGRATION
Section 3.1 Putting it all together
15 Information processing costs 290
Elizabeth Blankespoor and Ed deHaan
Section 3.2 Information intermediaries as users and monitors
16 The role of financial reporting in debt markets 304
Matthew A. Phillips and Regina Wittenberg-Moerman
17 Wall Street analysts: frenemies of both investors and managers 329
Mark Bradshaw and Andrew C. Call
Section 3.3 Assessing firm value
18 Value investing: integrating theory and practice 349
Charles M.C. Lee
19 Market efficiency with costly information 377
Charles M.C. Lee
PART IV BRIDGING RESEARCH AND PRACTICE
20 The financial reporting environment from a practitioner's perspective 391
Crystal Finkelstein and Christina Nichols