Income Smoothing, Earnings Quality and Firm Valuation

Abstract:   This study argues that lower variability of earnings does not guarantee income smoothers' higher firm values. Instead, smoothers' earnings should be more value‐relevant if they are of high quality, i.e., earnings quality should be considered simultaneously. Sample firms are divided into four groups: quality earnings smoothers, quality earnings non‐smoothers, non‐quality earnings smoothers, and non‐quality earnings non‐smoothers. Value relevance of reported earnings is then studied using both the levels and the changes approaches with indicator variables. Results show quality earnings smoothers have the highest price‐earnings multiple while non‐quality non‐smoothers have the lowest price‐earnings multiple.