Motives for fixed-asset revaluation: An empirical analysis with Swiss data Franck Missonier-Piera ESSEC Business School, Accounting and Management Control Department, Ave Bernard Hirsh BP 50105, 95021, Cergy-Pontoise Cedex, France Abstract This paper investigates the economic motives of fixed-asset revaluations of Swiss listed companies. We provide international insights on revaluation motives, particularly in a stakeholders' regime, over a period which is characterized by significant changes of the accounting standards relative to fixed-assets valuation. We also test the impact of international stakeholders on the choice of whether to revalue assets. Results from pooled data show positive associations between revaluation and both the proportion of foreign sales and leverage, and a negative association with the investment opportunities. These findings suggest that revaluation is used as a device to improve creditors' and foreign stakeholders' perceptions of the financial health of the firm and thereby improve the firm's borrowing capacity. Cross-sectional results show that although leverage has declined over the periods investigated, interest rates have become lower for firms that revalue upward their fixed assets (compared to non-revaluers), emphasizing the debt-costs hypothesis. © 2007 University of Illinois. All rights reserved. Keywords: Asset revaluation; Information asymmetry; International stakeholders; Leverage; Switzerland 1. Introduction In several countries (e.g., Australia, Belgium, and the United Kingdom), accounting laws allow the value of fixed assets to be revalued upward—without a previous write-down—at the managers' discretion. 1 Information asymmetry about the firm's assets value should be reduced The International Journal of Accounting 42 (2007) 186 – 205 E-mail address: missonier-piera@essec.fr . 1 Different countries have different regulations in this area. For example, upward revaluation is strictly forbidden in Canada and the United States but is authorized (under certain conditions) in Australia, Belgium, Spain, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom (Raffournier, Haller, & Walton, 1998, p. 438). 0020-7063/$30.00 © 2007 University of Illinois. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.intacc.2007.04.006