Banks and Bad Debts: Accounting for Loan Losses in International Banking

Bad debts are by far the most common cause of bank failure. In recent years international banks have suffered very large losses due to the non-repayment of loans, or because of provisions against non-repayment, and the size of these losses has at times posed a serious threat to financial stability. This book provides a self-contained, authoritative and coherent treatment of the issue of loan loss provisioning by banks in an international context. The authors examine the issue from a number of different perspectives ? accounting, regulatory, taxation, finance and economic ? and demonstrate that there are wide national differences in the accounting treatment of bank loan losses. These inconsistencies lead to competitive distortions, as well as supervisory problems and potential macro-economic instability. The authors conclude that there is an urgent need for the harmonisation of national accounting standards in this hitherto neglected area of banking behaviour. The book features a unique compendium, provided by Price Waterhouse, of up-to-date information describing the accounting and regulatory treatment of impaired loans in 14 major countries. This will be an invaluable source of practical information for bank auditors, lending officers, compliance officers, treasurers, financial analysts, and bank supervisors. The authors are academic specialists in accounting and finance, and have undertaken extensive consultancy in this area.