 |
An International Meeting of American Accounting
Association
|
Do Early Members of XBRL International Signal Superior Corporate Governance and Future Operating Performance? |
Dr. Somnath Bhattacharya
Florida Atlantic University
Ronald F. Premuroso
Florida Atlantic University
Abstract: XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language), a close relative of the more generic XML (eXtensible Markup Language), is an Internet-based technology that is rapidly emerging as an international standard for financial reporting. In this paper we examine whether voluntary early members of XBRL International demonstrate superior corporate governance and future operating performance relative to their non-adopting peers. We investigate performance, market, and structure-related variables. Our results suggest that corporate governance is significantly and positively related to a firm’s decision to be an early member of the XBRL Consortium; firm leverage and the type of audit firm utilized are also factors in the XBRL early membership decision. Our findings should be interesting to several stakeholders, the SEC among them, as it considers the corporate governance related motivations behind certain registrants’ responding to its call for XBRL-based filings voluntarily.