Value Relevance of Nonfinancial Information: The Case of Patent Data

When used in conjunction with traditional R&D expenditure information, scientific information on patent quality appear to give investors a more useful basis upon which to judge the economic merit of the firm's R&D effort. This complementary relation suggests that consistent disclosure of patent quality information would be helpful to investors in their ongoing assessment of firms in the high tech sector.     

Investor Protection,Investment Efficiency and Value: The Case of Cross‐Listed Firms

We examine the impact of improved investor protection due to cross‐listing on foreign firms’ investment decisions and firm value. While we find that cross‐listing increases firms’ capital expenditures and mergers and acquisitions activities, cross‐listed firms also invest more in research and development, make better acquisition decisions, and have higher profitability compared to non‐cross‐listed firms. Moreover, cross‐listing is associated with better cash utilization by foreign firms for investments. These improvements in investments and cash utilization are more pronounced for firms cross‐listed on US exchanges and for firms from countries with weak investor protection laws.     

The Value Relevance of Revenue for Internet Firms: Does Reporting Grossed‐up or Barter Revenue Make a Difference?

This study provides evidence on (a) the market's response to revenue and revenue announcements, (b) the extent of the use of grossed-up and barter revenue by Internet firms, and (c) whether the value relevance of revenue differs when Internet firms report grossed-up or barter revenue. Results indicate that revenue announcements are highly associated with three-day market returns and provide information incremental to that contained in earnings announcements. The use of grossed-up and barter revenue is common for certain sectors of Internet firms, but not pervasive across sectors. Evidence suggests that the value relevance of revenue for firms reporting grossed-up and barter revenue declined subsequent to the "crash" in April 2000. Additional analyses explore the effect of active individual investors on the pricing of revenue for firms reporting grossed-up and barter revenue. Findings suggest higher pricing of revenue for firms reporting grossed-up or barter revenue with relatively greater individual investor following.     

公允价值的价值相关性:B股公司的证据

本文研究了B股公司按国际会计准则第39号(IAS39)披露公允价值的股价反映,以及公允价值揭示对会计信息价值相关性的影响。本研究发现,公允价值披露显著地增加了会计盈余的价值相关性。按公允价值计量的投资持有利得(损失)具有较弱的增量解释能力。而投资的公允价值调整没有显示出价值相关性。公允价值调整及持有利得(损失)对股价的影响存在差异,原因可能在于我国投资者对盈余的关注程度要高于对账面净值的关注程度。公允价值调整及持有利得(损失)缺乏很强的价值相关性的原因在于,公允价值存在计量误差,而投资者也看穿了这一计量误差。     

The Value Relevance of Mandatory Non‐GAAP Earnings

This paper examines the value relevance of earnings components where there is a mandatory requirement to report generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) earnings and non‐GAAP earnings, and where the items to be eliminated from GAAP earnings are defined in detail. The setting is different from non‐GAAP earnings disclosures presented in the United States and elsewhere, where managers have discretion over whether to report a non‐GAAP earnings number, and what to exclude from GAAP earnings. Our mandatory setting enables us to report value relevance results that are not confounded by managers' discretionary choices regarding non‐GAAP earnings exclusions. We use price‐level regressions, based on the Ohlson (1995) model, to test for incremental and relative value relevance. The results show that non‐GAAP earnings reported under a mandatory regime have higher value relevance than GAAP earnings. The disaggregation of these items is useful to investors in a setting where managerial motivations are minimized.     

证券分析师评级、投资者情绪与公允价值确认的价值相关性——来自中国A股上市公司可供出售金融资产的经验证据

本文实证检验了我国企业会计准则国际趋同背景下,长期股权投资-可供出售金融资产的公允价值确认之价值相关性。基于2007～2011年A股上市公司的174个样本数据,运用Feltham and Ohlson模型的修正模型,本文研究发现,长期股权投资重分类为可供出售金融资产的公允价值确认具有显著的价值相关性,而且对股票价格的解释力度强于影响净资产变动的其他项目。同时,证券分析师关于买入和增持的评级,对绩优公司的长期股权投资-可供出售金融资产之公允价值确认的价值相关性具有显著的正向影响作用,但是投资者情绪的影响作用则不显著。     

经济增加值的价值相关性——与盈余、现金流量、剩余收益指标的对比

本文通过实证分析对比了经济增加值、盈余、现金流量之间的价值相关性。我们的研究分为两个部分 :相对关联研究 (相对信息含量检验 )与增量关联研究 (增量信息含量检验 )。基于水平与变化模型的实证检验结果显示 :在相对信息含量方面 ,EVA没有表现出明显的优于传统收益指标 (净利润 )的特性 ;在增量信息含量方面 ,尽管EVA的独特构成部分 (资金成本和会计调整项 )显示了一定的增量价值相关性 ,但是与传统收益的构成部分 (现金流量和应计项 )相比较 ,这种增量效应不是十分显著。     

The Value Relevance of Equity Method Fair Value Disclosures

We assess the valuation implications of the fair value disclosures made for publicly traded securities accounted for under the equity method. We test the association between investors' stock price metrics and fair value disclosures while controlling for book values on a sample of 172 investor firm-years during 1993–1997. Our results indicate that the information in the fair value disclosures is incremental to the information provided by both an investment's equity method book value and equity method reported income. This suggests that there is nothing unique about investments in publicly traded common stock that involve significant influence that makes the fair value disclosures irrelevant for firm valuation.     

关联交易对金融企业信贷风险的影响

近年来,部分企业为了达到粉饰业绩、降低税负等目的,常常通过集团客户内部和关联企业之间的关联交易、资产重组等手段在内部关联方之间转移资产或利润。这类问题对于作为债权人的商业银行的稳健经营乃至整个银行系统的安全构成了很大的风险,对于企业持续经营及社会稳定带来负面影响。     

Earnings Conservatism, Litigation and Contracting: The Case of Cross‐Listed Firms

Abstract:   We compare earnings conservatism of UK companies cross‐listed in the US to that of UK companies without a US‐listing. We expect that conservatism will be more pronounced for cross‐listed firms than for firms with a UK listing only, because the cross‐listed firms face a stricter enforcement regime. Furthermore, cross‐listed firms may use a listing on a US exchange to signal high‐quality reporting to investors. Using a matched‐pairs research design, we find that earnings of UK cross‐listed firms are significantly more conservative than earnings of UK firms without a US listing. Moreover, cross listed firms display particularly high levels of conservatism during the early years of their cross‐listing. This indicates that firms use earnings conservatism to commit to highly demanding reporting requirements and in doing so communicate a perception of investor care.     

Institutions and Capital Structure: The Case of Chinese Property Firms

Different institutional features have been found to affect capital structure decisions, but their connections to corporate finance theories are not always clear. This study aims to assess the predictive power of the agency and pecking order theories in two distinct information environments. The strategy is to compare two similar groups of property firms listed on the Mainland and Hong Kong stock exchanges respectively. Both groups operate in the Mainland property market and are subject to the same tax code, but the degrees of transparency and integrity of the stock markets are weaker for the Mainland-listed firms. We find that factors related to agency conflicts and information asymmetries exert a stronger influence on the capital structure decisions of Mainland-listed firms than on those of the Hong Kong-listed firms. This is confirmed by a test of the agency theory using such corporate governance factors as managerial shareholding and shareholding concentration and by a test of the pecking order theory using an error correction model. A further test on the increments of R-squared in the regression models shows that variables derived from the two theories better explain the variations of the capital structure of Mainland-listed firms than those of Hong Kong-listed firms.     

Business Firms as Adaptive Entities: The Case of the Major Australian Banks 1983–94

The conventional accounting notion of 'going concern', that a firm will continue business operations in the same manner indefinitely, has influenced accounting thought and practice throughout this century. An alternative view, widely upheld in the literatures of economics and organizational behaviour, is that firms are generally innovative and adapt to changes in market and economic conditions. These conflicting ideas are put under inquiry by examining the business policies and practices of the four major Australian banks over the period 1983 to 1994. We conclude on analytical grounds that conventional cost allocation and deferral practices, being based on the static or conventional idea of a 'going concern', are flawed and yield balance sheets that are not indicative of the financial capacity of firms to engage in commerce at any time. We conclude on empirical grounds that the Australian banks, at least, are generally innovative and adaptive enterprises.     

Asset Write‐offs in Private Firms – The Case of German SMEs

This paper finds that private firms make the decision to write off, and write off more in terms of total amount, if they are: (i) more profitable, (ii) have more financial debt, and (iii) pay dividends. Our findings are contrary to expectations based on accounting standards and the existing revaluation literature. They are, however, consistent with the codified, high book‐tax alignment economic setting in which sample private firms operate. This includes agency problems faced by private firms’ stakeholders. We use a comprehensive sample of German SMEs reporting in local GAAP, based on the German commercial code (Handelsgesetzbuch) in 2003–2006. We view write‐offs as corrections of departures of book values from their underlying economic values, in contrast to upward asset revaluations. This governs our choice of estimation – the tobit regression.     

会计师事务所的价值链与信息化建设

价值链分析与会计师事务所信息化定义价值链是现代管理理论的基础,是实施企业流程再造,提高管理水平的主要手段,是识别、培育企业竞争优势的战略性工具。从构建和分析会计师事务所价值链入手,是全面系统分析事务所信息化的内涵、目的和途径的有效着眼点。(一)企业价值链与会计师事务所价值链企业价值链有传统意义上的和现代意义上的两种理论。传统意义上的价值链理论认为,任何一个企业都是其产品在投入、生产、销售、服务等方面所进行的各项价值活动的集合体,产品价值和企业利润正是沿着价值链进行增值的。价值链的价值活动分为基本价值活动…     

The Impacts of LBOs on the Performance of Acquired Firms: The French Case

This paper investigates the financial characteristics and changes in performance of French companies involved in a leveraged buy–out. The empirical study covers a sample of 161 MBOs in France from 1988 to 1994. The acquired firms outperform their counterparts in the same sector of activity before and after the buy–out. However, unlike findings concerning LBOs in the USA and the UK, the performance of French firms falls after the operation is completed. This downturn in performance seems to be less detrimental to former subsidiaries of groups than to former family businesses.     

Value Relevance of Comprehensive Income

In this paper, we investigate the value relevance of comprehensive income and its components for a sample of 92 New Zealand companies over the period 2003–2010. We find a stronger association of aggregate comprehensive income with stock price and market returns relative to net income. The change in the asset revaluation reserve and the change in fair value of available‐for‐sale securities drive this association. However, foreign currency translation and cash flow hedges are also associated with prices and returns.     

The Value Relevance of Multiple Occurrences of Nonrecurring Items

Discontinued operations, special items, or extraordinary items typically are nonrecurring items in firms' income statements. As such, prior research has theorized that these items are of minimal relevance to market valuation of the firm, since they are transitory in nature. Moreover, anecdotal evidence in the financial press is supportive of this notion. We examine firms that report either single or multiple occurrences of such items over a rolling six-year period between 1977 and 1996 and find in both cases that such items are value-relevant. When multiple occurrences are not partitioned by type (discontinued operations, special items, or extraordinary items), the more recent such event in the series has a negative effect upon market value of equity, whether it has had a positive or negative effect upon net income.This is consistent with at least two possible explanations, multiple occurrences of such items indicate firms in financial difficulty, or multiple occurrences indicate firms whose managers have engaged in repeated attempts at earnings management, and that the most recent attempt is being devalued by the market. We find patterns of discretionary accruals consistent with managers engaging in upward earnings management prior to multiple write-downs using special items. We also find that firms with multiple write-downs are more likely to go into liquidation or bankruptcy within the next five years. We find that single occurrences also are value-relevant and are positively correlated with market values. Tests on the sample when partitioned by type lead to similar results, though signs of the effects upon net income change in some instances.     

The Diversification Puzzle: Revisiting the Value Impact of Diversification for UK Firms

Abstract:  The literature on value impact of diversification decisions has focused on US firms and has examined industrial rather than geographic diversification . This study exploits the Lang and Stulz (1994) , Berger and Ofek (1995) and Bodnar et al. (1999) methodologies and controls for form of diversification in assessing value impact for a sample of UK firms, for the period 1996-2000. Using an adjusted value metric that controls for industry effects, we report a significant and perverse geographic discount of 14%, and no systematic industrial value impact, suggesting that sector characteristics may be a significant driver of diversification choice for UK firms.