Essays on the relevance and use of dirty surplus accounting flows in Europe

This thesis intends to add empirical evidence to a recently heavily debated regulatory issue, the necessity of promoting a clean surplus income statement. I document the magnitude, and assess the relevance of dirty surplus accounting flows in European member states. In particular, this thesis evaluates the features of dirty surplus accounting flows, and clean surplus income, in terms of their relevance to stock returns, their persistence, and their use in forging accounting conservatism.