本科毕业论文（设计）外 文 翻 译外文出处 Accounting Horizons Sep92，vol6，issue3，p30-41 外文作者 Linda j.Zucca and David R.Campbell 原文：A Closer Look at Discretionary Writedowns of Impaired AssetThe Current EnviromentAn asset is said to be impaired when its book value exceeds some measure of its fair value. When a firm recognizes this impairment and subsequently records the effect by decreasing the book value of the asset and debiting an income statement account, the firm has recorded a writedown. GAAP clearly allows these writedowns in several situations. First, certain current assets, such as marketable securities and inventories, are examined periodically and adjusted to the lower of cost or market. Similarly, long term equity investments are adjusted periodically to the lower of cost or market although the income statement is not affected by the writedown. Finally, any long term assets for which disposal is contemplated (including assets being sold as part of a discontinued operation) are adjusted to their net realizable value (exit market value less costs of selling and readying for sale). These final typies of writedowns are adequately addressed by APB 30, and there appears to be no confusion on the application of the rules to these situations, nor any reason to reassess APB 30 at this time. Most of the writedowns which a firm might normally record would fall into one of these three categories. The writedowns which the FASB would specifically target with their potential regulation would be those which do not.Timing and MotivationAt the current time, partial writedowns of impaired long-lived assets are recognized at the discretion of management (and with the subsequent support of their auditors). Thus, it is important to investigate when management decides that the impairment should he recorded and what might motivate them to make such a dedsion. It is very difficult to assess the factors which might motivate a manager to record any discretionary event because of the managers inahility or reticence to describe the dedsion process. Often the researcher must draw conclusions from the available data to provide apparent motivating factors in the dedsion to record transactions. In this paper, earnings management will be examined as a possible explanation for the timingof and motivation for discretionary writedowns.By observing reported earnings surrounding the period in which the writedown was announced, two possihle patterns of earnings management can be identified: income smoothing and l)ig baths. Income smoothing describes sm earnings pattern in which management aspires to maintain a steady and predictable rate of earnings growth. Management may try to record discretionary gains, losses, or accruals in the period which will best help them to attain their goal of steady growth. This goal may he perceived as desirable because of a management incentive plan structured to reward smooth earnings patterns, or the hope that the market will equate smooth earnings with lower risk and subsequent higher stock prices. Thus, in the case of writedowns, a firm with an impaired asset may attempt to record the loss in a period of higher than normal earnings, or it may time the loss to coincide with a non-discretionary gain (for example, winning a substantial settlement in a lawsuit).A second form of earnings management has been referred to as the big bath. Under this scenario, the firm appears to save up discretionary losses or accruals and then record several in the same period or in a period in which the firm has already experienced below normal earnings. Management might undertake a big bath to signal investors that bad times are behind them and hetter times will follow. In the case of discretionary asset writedowns, this reasoning is particularly appropriate since a writedown results in decreased depredation expense in the future. The hig bath has been mentioned often as a probable motivation for recording asset writedowns. To determine whether earnings management was a possible motivation in the timing of writedowns in this study, a measure of expected eamings was compared to reported earnings for each firm in the period in which the writedown was recorded. Income smoothing is characterized by periods in which prewritedown earnings were higher than expected. By recording the writedown, reported earnings were closer to (but not less than) the level expected. A big bath is characterized by periods in which pre-writedown earnings were already below expected earnings. Thus, the firm recorded the writedown in a period in which other losses or accruals were already recorded or in a period of below normal operations.Financial Consequences of Discretionary WritedownsThe financial consequences of recording discretionary writedowns of impaired assets can be assessed by observing certain finandal indicators at the time of and after the write