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Purpose The purpose of this study is to construct and test a new measure of auditor orientation using two audit quality-related tasks. Design/methodology/approach The sample consists of 66 Dutch and US graduate auditing students. Participants complete two tasks: one involving a lease classification and another, supplemental experiment involving a contingent liability judgment. The purpose is to construct a new measure for rules-based/ principles-based orientation. Rigorous, psychometric testing confirms that parts of tolerance for ambiguity (TOA) and need for cognition (NFC), together, form a new construct the authors identify as auditor orientation. The authors next conduct a main and supplemental experiment with novice auditor participants from both the USA and the Netherlands. Findings The authors begin with rigorous, psychometric testing using participants from the USA and the Netherlands. The resulting 10-item scale combines parts of TOA and NFC to reflect auditor orientation. The common themes across scale items are high (low) adaptability to complexity and a substance-over-form (form-over-substance) preference for principles-oriented (PO) (rules-oriented [RO]) auditors. Conducting two experiments, results from two distinct tasks confirm our research question; novice auditors classified as RO (PO) are more (less) likely to recommend a more aggressive/client-favorable disclosure judgment. Originality/value Auditor orientation (i.e. rules or principles) has a significant impact on the application of rules-based or principles-based standards. How the standards are applied, therefore, influences auditor decision-making and thus audit quality. However, there is a paucity of auditor orientation research to date, including a validated measure. The study contributes a new measure for future research in the related accounting standards and audit quality literatures, while also identifying a potentially important construct in auditor training.

We examine the information role of accounting disclosures on warranties, utilizing a database that became available due to the requirements of FIN 45. First, because firms use warranty policies as a business strategy to promote their products, a warranty reserve can serve two roles: an information signal regarding product quality, as well as a contingent liability. Consistent with this view, we find that the stock market recognizes that: (1) the warranty reserve contains information about firms' future performance, and (2) the reserve is a liability. Second, because warranty accruals require estimation of future claims, they can be used as a tool of earnings management. Our evidence indicates that managers use warranty accruals to manage earnings opportunistically to meet earnings targets. Finally, we find that the stock market recognizes the understatement of warranty liabilities of firms that managed earnings.

Given the rapid growth of the Philippines' public-private partnership program (PPP), the government has initiated reforms to strengthen the framework for managing contingent liabilities arising from PPP projects. This study shows that major directions requiring further effort include (i) better pricing of government guarantees, (ii) adoption of methodology for quantification of contingent liabilities, (iii) setting prudential limits on PPP contingent liabilities, (iv) development of procedures for payment of materialized contingent liabilities from the national budget's unprogrammed fund, and (v) in the medium term, setting up a contingent liabilities fund financed through budget appropriations and contributions of project sponsors.

This study addresses an underexplored aspect of disclosure literature by examining how institutional investor heterogeneity – specifically foreign institutional investors (FII) and domestic institutional investors (DII) – influences contingent liabilities disclosure (CLD) in India. Drawing on agency, stakeholder, and resource dependence theories, this research analyzes how institutional investors reduce information asymmetry and enhance corporate transparency. Using data from 430 listed Indian firms spanning 5,483 firm-year observations (2006–2023), regression analysis is employed to assess the differential impacts of FII and DII on CLD, while controlling for firm-specific and sectoral variables. The results demonstrate that institutional ownership significantly enhances CLD, with FII exerting a notably stronger influence compared to DII. Larger firms exhibit higher disclosure levels due to increased scrutiny, whereas growth-oriented firms tend to limit disclosure strategically to protect competitive advantages. Sectoral analysis reveals stricter compliance in Basic Materials and Consumer Non-Cyclicals industries, with comparatively lower disclosure in the Financial and Technology sectors. The study contributes theoretically by highlighting institutional investors' multifaceted roles as governance agents, stakeholder representatives, and crucial capital providers. These findings offer timely insights for regulators and corporate leaders seeking to improve transparency standards and attract global investment through enhanced disclosure policies.

In the aftermath of the financial crisis, when countries are facing difficulties in raising the amounts of revenue needed to cover the expenditure side of the budget, fiscal risks can pose a significant threat to the sustainability of public finance. This became particularly evident in the case of public enterprises and their liabilities, which often increased public debt because of difficulties in meeting their financial obligations. The aim of this paper is to evaluate fiscal risks from government guarantees in Croatia and the European Union in general. Moreover, the paper aims to analyse the dynamics of the value and structure of government guarantees in Croatia in the period from 2009 to first half of 2015. Particular emphasis is placed on the impact of government guarantees on direct public debt in the context of methodological changes in the registration of public debt.

The aim of this research is to identify characteristics that influence the change in the probability of provisions and contingent liabilities of Brazilian companies. This has been widely observed in specific industries that disclose more information on provisions and contingent liabilities, namely: oil, gas and biofuels, non-cyclical consumption and public utility. The data consisted of 6,194 observations, of which 2,058 lawsuits were mentioned in more than one period, and there were 228 changes in the probability of loss in the period from 2010 to 2016. A logistic regression model with panel data was applied, counting on 11 explanatory variables for the change in the probability of loss, which are divided into two perspectives: (a) characteristics of the companies and, (b) characteristics of the lawsuits. The results indicate that companies listed as ‘New Market’, ADR issuers, change the audit firms, respond to environmental, labor and civil lawsuits with large amounts in dispute, and have financial materiality in terms of risk expectation regarding losses and the duration of the legal process – are more likely to affect the change in the probability of loss. Conversely, the lawsuits in the first or superior instances are more likely not to change the probability of loss.

Contingent liabilities have gained prominence in the analysis of public finance. Indeed, history is full of episodes in which the financial position of the public sector is substantially altered-or its true nature uncovered-as a result of government bailouts of financial or nonfinancial entities, in both the private and the public sector. The paper discusses theoretical and practical issues raised by contingent liabilities, including the rationale for taking them on, how to safeguard against the fiscal risks associated with them, how to account and budget for them, and how to disclose them. Country experiences are used to illustrate ways these issues are addressed in practice and challenges faced. The paper also points to good practices related to the mitigation, management and disclosure of risks from contingent liabilities.

We investigate whether recognition on the face of the financial statements versus disclosure in the footnotes influences the amount that financial managers report for a contingent liability. Using an experiment with corporate controllers and chief financial officers, we find that financial managers in public companies expend more cognitive effort and exhibit less strategic bias under recognition than disclosure. This difference appears to be associated with capital market pressures experienced by public company managers as we find that both the cognitive effort and bias exhibited by private company managers are unaffected by placement. As a result, public company managers make higher liability estimates for recognized versus disclosed liabilities. Their liability estimates are similar to those of private company managers for recognition but lower than private company managers' estimates for disclosure. Our results have implications for auditors and financial statement users in evaluating recognized versus disclosed information for public and private companies.

Purpose International Accounting Standards Rule 37 (IAS 37) for Contingent Liabilities and Assets were designed to make analysis of exposures facing a corporate entity easier to understand, but the rules may be insufficiently prescriptive making provisions inadequate predictors of potential outlays. The purpose of this research is to redress this problem. We apply financial option theory to objectively mark-to-market the appropriateness of provisions replacing subjective inputs with market derived calculations. Design/methodology/approach This study applies financial option theory to determine whether provisions are appropriate according to market data. This research supports inferences regarding the probability of a provision being used while evidencing scope for earnings management. Findings In addition to showing how IAS 37 provisions may be calibrated against market data, from the large sample of UK-listed companies, the proposition that over-provisioning is common and related to share price volatility, is supported, supporting the view that IAS 37 rules may facilitate earnings management. Practical implications The financial and reporting community have struggled in interpreting the appropriateness of IAS 37 provisions. Are they too large or too small? What is the probability they will be used? Using option theory and market data, various subjective judgements may now be validated. This research should have tangible value to analysts, auditors, investors and other stakeholders concerned in the accurate valuation of potential liabilities. Originality/value Replacing subjective judgement and insufficiently prescriptive guidance, this study shows that financial option theory and share price data may be used to objectively calibrate the size of IAS 37 provisions.

Local state-owned enterprises (SOEs) working together with local governments can promote economic growth. However, an increase in the implicit contingent liabilities of local governments due to implicit guarantees given to SOEs has a negative effect on economic growth. The classical socialist theories and the economic stability in each financial crisis of China show that the macroeconomic efficiency of SOEs is more important than the microeconomic efficiency, and microeconomic efficiency in neoclassical economic theory cannot reflect the nature of SOEs. It is of great practical and theoretical significance to make a more comprehensive and accurate judgment on the efficiency of SOEs. This paper constructs an index of local governments’ implicit contingent liabilities in 31 provinces based on the 488 local SOEs to study the impact of implicit contingent liabilities, and the time period is the year 2007 to the year 2020. Our findings show that an increase in local SOEs’ assets suppresses economic fluctuations at the cost of increasing government’s implicit contingent debt and has a negative impact on economic growth. Unlike the fiscal influence path of explicit debt, implicit contingent debt restrains local economic growth through financial markets. The deleveraging of local SOEs and improving their efficiency can improve the overall efficiency of local funds and reduce the negative effect of local governments’ implicit contingent liabilities on economic growth.