Laureen A. Maines, Linda S. McDaniel, Mary S. Harris, Implications of Proposed Segment Reporting Standards for Financial Analysts' Investment Judgements, Journal of Accounting Research, Vol. 35, Studies on Experts and the Application of Expertise in Accounting, Auditing, and Tax (1997), pp. 1-24

We investigate the market valuation of earnings and book value amounts prepared under IAS and US-GAAP to provide evidence for the debate between the US SEC and NYSE on whether foreign firms should be allowed to list in the US using IAS. We find that the US-GAAP earnings reconciliation adjustment is value-relevant and that US-GAAP amounts are valued differently for market value and return models, but not a price-per-share model. We also find that IAS amounts are more highly associated with price-per-share than US-GAAP amounts, and that US-GAAP amounts are more highly associated with security returns than IAS amounts.

Christine A. Botosan, Mary S. Harris, Motivations for a Change in Disclosure Frequency and Its Consequences: An Examination of Voluntary Quarterly Segment Disclosures, Journal of Accounting Research, Vol. 38, No. 2 (Autumn, 2000), pp. 329-353

We investigate the reliability of mandatory annual fair value estimates for UK investment property. We find that appraisal estimates understate actual selling prices and are considerably less biased and more accurate measures of selling price than respective historical costs. Investigations of managerial discretion over fair value reporting reveal that managers select among permissible accounting methods to report higher earnings, time asset sales to smooth reported earnings changes, smooth reported net asset changes and boost fair values prior to raising new debt. Finally, we find that the reliability of appraisal estimates increases when monitored by external appraisers and Big 6 auditors.