Adjustments to US-GAAPS: empirical study on their relevance for brazilian companies with ADR traded on the New York exchange

Abstract

This study evaluated the value-relevance of the information disclosed by Brazilian companies with American Depositary Receipts traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Those companies must comply with the requirement of the Securities and Exchange Commission and elaborate their financial statements according to the United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US-GAAP) until 30th of June, annually. Thus, two sets of information are available, providing data to evaluate the value-relevance of the variables net income and stockholders equity, from 1999 to 2003. After applying the model Ohlson developed in 1995 and its further developments, results indicate that (1) the information elaborated according to the generally accepted accounting principles in Brazil are value-relevant; (2) the relevance of the information in US-GAAP made available in June is lower or equal to that disclosed in April; and (3) the adjustments to US-GAAP for stockholders equity are value-relevant to the Brazilian capital market.