Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2013, 61(7), 1977-1983 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201361071977

Income smoothing by valuation of repurchase obligations in the annual financial statements of car dealerships

Hans Guenther Barth
Lindenweg 9, 82205 Gilching, Deutschland

This paper deals with the accounting patterns of German car dealerships in the period from 2006 to 2010. In connection with the brokerage of passenger car leases the car dealers and lessors agree on hedging the residual values of the lease car returns. Such hedging instruments require accounting for expected losses in case of impairment. The relation of total amount of outstanding repurchase obligations as of balance sheet date to balance sheet totals qualifies the related risk assessment of the hedging instrument to be an outstanding device for artificial income smoothing. Annual financial statements of 42 dealerships were analysed whether accounting for future losses from repurchase obligations is used for income smoothing purposes. The influence of changes in income tax rulings is taken into account.

Keywords: car dealers, accounting for impairment, hedging instrument, income smoothing

Received: April 11, 2013; Published: December 24, 2013  Show citation

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Guenther Barth, H. (2013). Income smoothing by valuation of repurchase obligations in the annual financial statements of car dealerships. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 61(7), 1977-1983. doi: 10.11118/actaun201361071977
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