The impact of SFAS133 on income smoothing by banks through loan loss provisions

Author

Emre Kilic, University of Houston
Gerald J. LOBO, University of Houston
Tharindra RANASINGHE, Singapore Management UniversityFollow
K. Sivaramakrishnan, Rice University

Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

Preprint

Publication Date

1-2013

Abstract

We examine the impact of SFAS 133, Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities, on the reporting behavior of commercial banks and the informativeness of their financial statements. We argue that because the stricter recognition and classification requirements of SFAS 133 reduced banks' ability to smooth income through derivatives, banks more affected by SFAS 133 will rely more on loan loss provisions to smooth income. We find evidence consistent with this argument. We also find that the increased reliance on loan loss provisions for smoothing income has impaired the informativeness of loan loss provisions.

Keywords

SFAS 133, Income Smoothing, Hedging, Derivatives, Loan Loss Provisions

Discipline

Accounting | Corporate Finance

Research Areas

Financial Performance Analysis

Publication

Accounting Review

Volume

88

Issue

1

First Page

233

Last Page

260

ISSN

0001-4826

Identifier

10.2308/accr-50264

Publisher

American Accounting Association

City or Country

USA

Citation

Kilic, Emre; LOBO, Gerald J.; RANASINGHE, Tharindra; and Sivaramakrishnan, K.. The impact of SFAS133 on income smoothing by banks through loan loss provisions. (2013). Accounting Review. 88, (1), 233-260.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soa_research/984

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Additional URL

http://doi.org/10.2308/accr-50264