@article{65894, abstract = {{We examine the relation between voluntary audit and the cost of debt in private firms. We use a sample of 7420 small private firms operating in the period 2006-2022 that are not subject to mandatory audits. Firms self-select into voluntary audits because of the economic setting (e.g., ownership complexity, export, subsidiary status) or because firm fundamentals limit their access to financial debt. In the outcome analyses, we find that voluntary audits result in higher, rather than lower, interest rates with increases ranging from approximately 1.7 percentage points, but going higher depending on the exact specification. This effect is present regardless of the perceived audit quality (Big-4 vs. non-Big-4), consistent across auditor types. Audited firms’ earnings are less informative about future operating performance. Voluntary audits facilitate access to financial debt for high-risk firms. The price paid is reflected in higher interest rates for voluntary audits – firms with higher information/fundamental risk.}}, author = {{Ichev, Riste and Koren, Jernej and Kosi, Urska and Sitar Sustar, Katarina and Valentincic, Aljosa}}, issn = {{1059-0560}}, journal = {{International Review of Economics & Finance}}, publisher = {{Elsevier }}, title = {{{Cost of debt for private firms revisited: voluntary audits as a reflection of risk}}}, doi = {{10.1016/j.iref.2026.105474}}, volume = {{109}}, year = {{2026}}, } @article{65860, abstract = {{We investigate the role of stakeholders in the CSR reporting of non-listed savings banks in Germany. They are established by municipal trustees and serve clients in their distinct operating area. Reporting discretion under the Non-Financial Reporting Directive may lead to variation in CSR reporting due to differences in sustainability interests of banks’ stakeholders and CSR governance (e.g. existence of a CSR manager). We document that the CSR reports and specific CSR dimensions are intensely associated with the existence of strong CSR governance and to a lesser extent with the interests of municipal trustees and bank clients. However, the associations with these stakeholders are predominantly present in banks with strong CSR governance. Our findings inform policy discussions about detailed CSR disclosure requirements (e.g. the European Sustainability Reporting Standards) and extension of reporting scope to firms with regional orientation and absence of typical shareholders.}}, author = {{Gulenko, Maryna and Kohlhase, Saskia and Kosi, Urska}}, issn = {{1744-9480}}, journal = {{Accounting in Europe}}, pages = {{1--35}}, publisher = {{Informa UK Limited}}, title = {{{The Role of Stakeholders in CSR Reporting of Non-Listed Banks}}}, doi = {{10.1080/17449480.2026.2631702}}, year = {{2026}}, } @techreport{66348, author = {{Rahali, Mahdi and Beyer, Bianca and Gassen, Joachim and Geschonke, Sebastian}}, title = {{{Neue Mikrodaten zu Unternehmensinsolvenzen in Deutschland: Die insol Datenbank}}}, year = {{2026}}, } @techreport{66357, author = {{Rahali, Mahdi}}, title = {{{COVID-19 insolvency moratoria, firm selection, and allocative efficiency}}}, year = {{2026}}, } @techreport{65862, abstract = {{This study examines how private peers’ disclosure transparency affects public firms’ information environment, captured through analyst forecast behavior. Focusing on the most important private firms operating in U.S. industries, we investigate whether private peer disclosure—despite differing substantially from public firm disclosure—is incorporated into analysts’ forecasts. In a cross-sectional analysis, we document lower forecast quality in industries where private peers’ disclosure intensity is low. In contrast, when private peers’ disclosure intensity is high, forecast quality does not differ from that in industries with only public peers. We find consistent results for a subsample of U.S. private peers. Consistent with this interpretation, a difference-in-differences analysis documents increased analyst forecast activity around the disclosure dates of private peers. Together, these findings indicate that analysts incorporate private peers’ information when these peers are both economically important and sufficiently transparent, and highlight that variation in private firms’ disclosure intensity generates heterogenous externalities for public firms. Overall, our evidence supports a cost-benefit trade-off in analysts’ information acquisition, and, by documenting the relevance of private peers’ information for public firms, contributes to the debate on the externalities of private firms’ disclosure transparency.}}, author = {{Beyer, Bianca and Flagmeier, Vanessa and Kosi, Urska}}, issn = {{1556-5068}}, publisher = {{TRR 266 Accounting for Transparency}}, title = {{{Private Peers’ Disclosure Transparency and Public Firms’ Information Environment}}}, doi = {{10.2139/ssrn.4438123}}, year = {{2026}}, } @techreport{65896, author = {{Böing, Dennis and Kosi, Urska}}, title = {{{Dissemination of information by small caps}}}, year = {{2026}}, } @techreport{66347, author = {{Rahali, Mahdi and Kosi, Urska and Gassen, Joachim}}, title = {{{The spatial and sectoral incidence of Germany’s COVID-19 insolvency gap}}}, year = {{2026}}, } @techreport{65863, abstract = {{We investigate the impact of Brexit on the corporate bond market by analyzing a comprehensive database covering corporate bond listings on European and UK trading venues. We find a significant shift in bond market activity, evidenced by a 49% increase in the number of bond listings in the EEA30 countries relative to the UK market after Brexit. Country-level analyses reveal a staggered effect on market activity, with predominantly international issuers adjusting their bond listings between the initially scheduled Brexit date and the final withdrawal date. At the issuer level, our findings indicate that the relative attractiveness of the EEA30 market has increased post-Brexit. Overall, these results suggest that the European capital market has successfully adapted to the loss of its largest financial center and exhibits a rising corporate bond market activity.}}, author = {{Franke, Benedikt and Kosi, Urska and Stoczek, Pia}}, publisher = {{TRR 266 Accounting for Transparency }}, title = {{{Brexit and European Corporate Bond Markets}}}, doi = {{10.2139/ssrn.5230141}}, year = {{2025}}, } @article{65861, abstract = {{The study examines whether the announcement and passing of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) impacts the sustainability reporting of German firms. It sheds light on the interdependence of various actors, sectors and policy levels by examining how regulatory changes at the policy level affect the reporting practices of firms across multiple sectors. On the one hand, the scope of the CSRD is being extended, so that new firms falling within its scope may increase their voluntary sustainability reporting as part of the preparation process. On the other hand, the reporting requirements will be more stringent, so that firms currently under the mandate of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) may enhance their sustainability reporting disclosure practices in preparation for the CSRD. First, we find no increase in voluntary sustainability reporting by firms that are not under the scope of the NFRD but will be under the scope of the CSRD. Second, we find enhanced sustainability reporting practices by firms that are subject to the NFRD after the CSRD’s announcement and passing. This finding suggests that these firms begin to implement the new reporting requirements before the first reports are published in 2025. We illuminate the preparation for extensive reporting changes through sustainability reporting disclosure practices as an outcome of the preparation process. These changes may represent a high burden, particularly for firms with no previous experience of sustainability reporting.}}, author = {{Kosi, Urska and Relard, Paula}}, issn = {{2948-1627}}, journal = {{Sustainability Nexus Forum}}, number = {{1}}, publisher = {{Springer Science and Business Media LLC}}, title = {{{Are firms (getting) ready for the corporate sustainability reporting directive?}}}, doi = {{10.1007/s00550-024-00541-1}}, volume = {{32}}, year = {{2024}}, } @techreport{37131, abstract = {{This paper introduces a novel database on the European corporate bond market to analyze the role of transparency regulation and recent developments in bond markets. We use data from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) to build a comprehensive database covering daily corporate bond listing information in Europe starting in 2018. We then analyze the different market segments of the European bond market along four key areas: (i) time and cross-sectional trends in bond listings; (ii) composition of firms on the market; (iii) firms’ financial reporting transparency; (iv) bond contract terms. Furthermore, we discuss the impact of recent economic events on these key areas.}}, author = {{Franke, Benedikt and Kosi, Urska and Stoczek, Pia}}, keywords = {{Transparency regulation, Corporate bond, European market}}, title = {{{Current developments in the European corporate bond market}}}, year = {{2022}}, } @techreport{37088, abstract = {{We examine variation in mandatory CSR reporting practices based on a large sample of non-publicly listed savings banks in Germany. They do not have typical shareholders but rather are established by municipal trustees and can serve clients only in their distinct operating area. This setting permits us to identify demand for CSR information by their main stakeholder groups – municipal trustees and private and corporate clients. In this way, our analysis focuses on the double-materiality approach to CSR reporting. We find that demand for CSR information by supervisory board chairperson belonging to a left-wing or green party and the presence of more supervisory board members belonging to a left-wing or green party are associated with longer CSR reports and more disclosure on environmental, social, employee and human rights matters. In addition, competition for private clients and the sustainability orientation of corporate clients are associated with longer reports and more disclosure on environmental, employee and human rights matters. These findings suggest that savings banks’ CSR reports cater to their principal stakeholders’ demand for CSR information.}}, author = {{Gulenko, Maryna and Kohlhase, Saskia and Kosi, Urska}}, keywords = {{Corporate social responsibility, Mandatory reporting, Non-publicly listed banks, Double materiality, Stakeholder groups, Political influence}}, title = {{{CSR Reporting under the Non-Financial Reporting Directive: Evidence from Non-publicly Listed Firms}}}, doi = {{10.2139/ssrn.4040946}}, year = {{2022}}, } @techreport{37089, abstract = {{This research note links the legal framework of the insolvency process of German firms to the information available in the newly-constructed insol database. In particular, the database contains information from documents published by German insolvency courts in period 2005- 2022. This research note first presents the insolvency process with steps and events of the process as determined by the Insolvency Law (InsO). Next, it classifies the documents to specific steps and events, and then presents their information content using textual analysis. Specifically, we identify target phrases via manual document checks and then create regular expressions for the target phrases. Classification of documents allows us to sketch most common paths that insolvent firms go through.}}, author = {{Ahlers, Theresa and Edossa, Fikir Worku and Kosi, Urska and Uckert, Mathias}}, keywords = {{insol database, insolvency process, Germany, court fillings}}, publisher = {{TRR 266 Accounting for Transparency}}, title = {{{Insolvency Process in Germany and the insol database: A Research Note}}}, year = {{2022}}, } @techreport{37070, author = {{Beyer, Bianca and Flagmeier, Vanessa and Kosi, Urska}}, publisher = {{TRR 266 Accounting for Transparency}}, title = {{{Does private firms’ disclosure affect public peers’ information environment?}}}, year = {{2022}}, } @misc{65864, author = {{Gassen, Joachim and Kosi, Urska}}, booktitle = {{Bankruptcies: A victim of the corona crisis?}}, title = {{{Bankruptcies: A victim of the corona crisis? TRR 266 Accounting for Transparency.}}}, year = {{2021}}, } @article{5101, abstract = {{Prior literature finds that International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adopters enjoy lower financing costs subsequent to IFRS adoption. We predict and find that mandatory IFRS adopters exploit lower financing costs to increase market share vis-à-vis non-adopters. This effect is robust across several different model specifications in a sample capturing the universe of public and private firms in the EU, in a matched sample of public and private firms, and in a public firm sample comparing mandatory and voluntary IFRS adopters. We further find that IFRS is associated with an increase (decrease) in industry sales concentration (competition), consistent with large public firms increasing market share. In supplemental analyses, we find that mandatory adopters issue more equity and debt after IFRS adoption and that larger market share gains accrue to those mandatory IFRS adopters that issue more equity and debt after IFRS adoption. Overall, we provide evidence of unintended product market consequences of IFRS adoption.}}, author = {{Downes, Jimmy F and Flagmeier, Vanessa and Godsell, David}}, journal = {{Journal of Accounting and Public Policy}}, keywords = {{Financial reporting regulationProduct market competition}}, number = {{5}}, pages = {{376--401}}, publisher = {{Elsevier}}, title = {{{Product market effects of IFRS adoption}}}, doi = {{10.1016/j.jaccpubpol.2018.09.004}}, volume = {{37}}, year = {{2018}}, } @techreport{3540, abstract = {{We examine whether companies voluntarily disclose additional information about tax loss carryforwards when the recoverability is more uncertain. With this study, we aim to explain part of the huge cross-sectional variation in the tax footnote. To assess disclosure behavior, we hand-collect data from notes of large German firms’ IFRS financial statements and identify voluntarily disclosed information. First, our results support prior literature’s evidence of a considerable cross-sectional variation of disclosure in the tax footnote. Second, we find that uncertainty about the usability of tax losses has a significantly positive relation to the amount and quality of disclosure, controlling for other disclosure determinants derived from prior literature and for sample selection. Third, our results indicate that the observed disclosure behavior is not simply a reflection of the firm’s general disclosure behavior but specific to the tax footnote. These findings are robust to several historic and forward-looking indicators representing uncertainty. Our findings suggest that managers anticipate the investors’ need for more private information and disclose them voluntarily to reduce information asymmetries. This result indicates that part of the cross-sectional variation in the tax footnote can be explained by firms anticipating investors’ demand for additional information. }}, author = {{Flagmeier, Vanessa and Müller, Jens}}, pages = {{56}}, title = {{{Tax loss carryforward disclosure and uncertainty}}}, year = {{2017}}, } @techreport{3545, abstract = {{This is the first study that analyzes the predictive ability of deferred tax information under IFRS. I examine whether deferred taxes provide information about future tax payments and future performance, using a German sample of IFRS firms. The focus on tax loss carryforwards enables a separation of the two relations, testing on the one hand, the relation between recognized deferred tax assets and future tax payments and on the other hand, the relation between the non-usable part of tax losses and future earnings. I find significantly negative coefficients for both deferred tax items, indicating that higher recognized deferred tax assets are associated with lower future tax payments and higher non-usable tax loss carryforwards with lower future performance. Additionally, I compare the tax accounts' predictive ability for a matched German and US sample and find no significant differences between firms reporting under IFRS and US-GAAP. Taken together, the evidence suggests that deferred tax items for tax loss carryforwards reported under IFRS provide useful information about future outcomes and that this predictive ability does not differ significantly from firms reporting under US-GAAP.}}, author = {{Flagmeier, Vanessa}}, title = {{{The information content of tax loss carryforwards: IAS 12 vs. valuation allowance}}}, year = {{2017}}, } @techreport{4702, author = {{Flagmeier, Vanessa and Müller, Jens and Sureth-Sloane, Caren}}, title = {{{When Do Managers Highlight Their Effective Tax Rate?}}}, doi = {{arqus Working Paper No. 214}}, volume = {{214}}, year = {{2017}}, } @article{3542, abstract = {{We study the historical development of Slovenian Accounting Standards (SAS) and their association with accounting quality (AQ). We focus on private firms where the financial reporting process is characterised by low demand for high-quality reporting. We investigate three distinct editions of SAS since 1994 and test how their development towards international standards is related to AQ. Aggregate earnings management measures indicate that the use of accounting discretion decreases with less earnings smoothing over time. The main features of AQ have been consistent throughout historical development. Asymmetric timeliness of earnings, the ability of earnings to predict future cash flows, and the ability of accruals to mitigate mismatching are all present throughout. We also document typical departures from properties of high AQ. For example, accruals do not (always) facilitate timely recognition of losses. However, these can be attributed to the overwhelming influence of reporting incentives (e.g. taxation, debt, size) rather than to the (lower) quality of accounting standards.  Full Article  Figures & data References  Citations Metrics  Reprints & Permissions  PDF Abstract We study the historical development of Slovenian Accounting Standards (SAS) and their association with accounting quality (AQ). We focus on private firms where the financial reporting process is characterised by low demand for high-quality reporting. We investigate three distinct editions of SAS since 1994 and test how their development towards international standards is related to AQ. Aggregate earnings management measures indicate that the use of accounting discretion decreases with less earnings smoothing over time. The main features of AQ have been consistent throughout historical development. Asymmetric timeliness of earnings, the ability of earnings to predict future cash flows, and the ability of accruals to mitigate mismatching are all present throughout. We also document typical departures from properties of high AQ. For example, accruals do not (always) facilitate timely recognition of losses. However, these can be attributed to the overwhelming influence of reporting incentives (e.g. taxation, debt, size) rather than to the (lower) quality of accounting standards.}}, author = {{Valentincic, Aljosa and Novak, Ales and Kosi, Urska}}, journal = {{Accounting in Europe}}, keywords = {{private firms, accounting quality, development of accounting standards, IFRS-like standards, Slovenia}}, number = {{3}}, pages = {{358--387}}, title = {{{Accounting quality in private firms during the transition towards international standards}}}, doi = {{10.1080/17449480.2017.1378821}}, volume = {{14}}, year = {{2017}}, } @article{4034, abstract = {{We examine whether the credit relevance of financial statements, defined as the ability of accounting numbers to explain credit ratings, is higher after firms are required to report under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). We find an improvement in credit relevance for firms in 17 countries after mandatory IFRS reporting is introduced in 2005; this increase is higher than that reported for a matched sample of US firms. The increase in credit relevance is particularly pronounced for higher risk speculative-grade issuers, where accounting information is predicted to be more important; and for IFRS adopters with large first-time reconciliations, where the impact of IFRS is expected to be greater. These tests provide reassurance that the overall enhancement in estimated credit relevance is driven by accounting changes related to IFRS adoption. Our results suggest that credit rating analysts’ views of economic fundamentals are more closely aligned with IFRS numbers, and that analysts anticipate at least some of the effects of the IFRS transition.}}, author = {{Florou, Annita and Kosi, Urska and Pope, Peter F}}, journal = {{Accounting and Business Research}}, keywords = {{IFRS, debt markets, credit ratings, credit relevance}}, number = {{1}}, pages = {{1--29}}, title = {{{Are international accounting standards more credit relevant than domestic standards?}}}, doi = {{10.1080/00014788.2016.1224968}}, volume = {{47}}, year = {{2016}}, }