Off-Balance Sheet Activities »

JOSHUA RONEN is a Research Professor at New York University's Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Director of its Vincent C. Ross Institute of Accounting Research, and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Finance.

ANTHONY SAUNDERS is Professor of Finance and Yamaichi Faculty Fellow at New York University.

ASHWINPAUL C. SONDHI is an Associate Professor at the Stern School of Business at New York University.

The objective of Off-Balance Sheet Activities is to gain insights into, and propose meaningful solutions to, those issues raised by the current proliferation of off-balance sheet transactions. The book has its origins in a New York University conference that focused on this topic. Jointly undertaken by the Vincent C. Ross Institute of Accounting Research and New York University's Salomon Center for the study of Financial Institutions at the Stern School of Business, the conference brought together academic researchers and practitioners in the field of accounting and finance to address the issues with the broad-mindedness requisite of a group whose approaches to solutions are as different from each other as their respectively theoretical and applied approaches to the disciplines of finance and accounting. The essays are divided into two sections. The first covers issues surrounding OBS activities and banking and begins with a brief introduction that places the essays into context. OBS activities and the underinvestment problem, whether loan sales are really OBS, and money demand and OBS liquidity are examined in detail. Section two, which also begins with a brief introduction, focuses on issues of securitized assets and financing. A report on recognition and measurement issues in accounting for securitized assets is followed by three separate discussion essays. Other subjects covered include contract theoretic analysis of OBS financing, the use of OBS financing to circumvent financial covenant restrictions, and debt contracting and financial contracting. The latter two contributions are also followed by discussion essays. This unique collection of papers will prove to be aninteresting and valuable tool for accounting and finance professionals as well as for academics involved in these fields. It will also be an important addition to public, college, and university libraries.

Preface

Off-Balance Sheet Activities and Banking by Anthony Saunders

Off-Balance Sheet Activities and the Underinvestment Problem in Banking by Christopher James

Are Loan Sales Really Off-Balance Sheet? by Gary Gorton and George Pennacchi

Money Demand and Off-Balance Sheet Liquidity: Empirical Analysis and Implications for Monetary Policy by Reuven Glick and Steven E. Plaut

Discussion by Mark J. Flannery

Financial Reporting and Off-Balance Sheet Transactions by Joshua Ronen and Ashwinpaul C. Sondhi

Recognition and Measurement Issues in Accounting for Securitized Assets by Robert J. Swieringa

Discussion by Gerald I. White

Discussion Nicholas Dopuch and Grace Pownall

Discussion Benjamin S. Neuhausen

Contract Theoretic Analysis of Off-Balance Sheet Financing by Jim Donegan and Shyam Sunder

The Use of Off-Balance Sheet Financing to Circumvent Financial Covenant Restrictions by Samir El-Gazzar, Steven Lilien, and Victor Pastena

Discussion by Clifford W. Smith, Jr.

Debt Capacity and Financial Contracting: Finance Subsidiaries by Joshua Ronen and Ashwinpaul C. Sondhi

Discussion by Jacob G. Birnberg

Appendix

Index