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.     

场外市场会计盈余的信息含量

以万德数据库提供的新三板企业为样本,检验场外主体市场的会计盈余信息含量.混合样本检验显示,盈余信息披露对投资者超额收益有显著影响.分期检验中,2009年披露的盈余信息还不具备有效的信息含量;2010年披露的盈余信息具有信息含量,可能预示着场外市场的完善和成熟.此外,样本检验结果没有找到场外市场具有半强势有效的证据,但可以推断该市场处于弱势有效状态.     

The Differential Value Relevance of S&P's Core Earnings Versus GAAP Earnings: The Role of Stock Option Expense

In 2002, Standard & Poor's (S&P) introduced Core Earnings as a proprietary, uniform earnings metric, with the goal of improving financial reporting. The distinguishing feature of Core Earnings is its consistent treatment of seven adjustments to GAAP earnings for which there is no consensus adjustment by managers and analysts. We use stock price and return data to assess whether investors perceive Core Earnings to be more value relevant than GAAP earnings. The implementation of FASB 123R changed the calculation of GAAP and Core Earnings. This change allows us to assess the role of stock option expense in the valuation of earnings numbers by partitioning the sample into pre‐ and post‐FASB 123R periods and creating consistent measures of GAAP and Core Earnings. Our price results indicate that Core Earnings is more value relevant than GAAP earnings in the pre‐period after controlling for stock option expense, and in the post‐FASB 123R periods. The price results provide empirical evidence consistent with S&P's expectation that a uniformly calculated earnings measure is a more consistent and useful indicator of current performance and future earnings.     

The Impact of Earnings Guidance Cessation on Information Asymmetry

This paper studies the impact of quarterly earnings guidance cessation on information asymmetry using a large sample of firms during the years 2002–11. After earnings guidance cessation, information asymmetry may increase because less information is provided to the market. Alternatively, information asymmetry may decrease if managers have less pressure to manage reported earnings to meet guidance numbers. Our study shows guidance cessation significantly reduces information asymmetry compared to matched non‐guiders and guidance maintainers. We also find that firms engage in less earnings management after guidance cessation, especially for firms that had provided guidance on a persistent basis.     

Disclosure Prominence and the Quality of Non‐GAAP Earnings

The SEC prohibits the presentation of non‐GAAP measures before corresponding GAAP measures; however, a large proportion of non‐GAAP reporters present non‐GAAP EPS before GAAP EPS in their earnings announcements. This noncompliance raises questions about whether firms use prominence to highlight higher or lower quality non‐GAAP information. For firms reporting non‐GAAP EPS between 2003 and 2016, prominent non‐GAAP EPS is associated with higher quality non‐GAAP reporting. Further tests reveal that nonregulatory incentives, rather than regulatory costs, explain this relation. Specifically, prominence is associated with higher quality non‐GAAP reporting in settings where prominence is not regulated, investors ignore prominence when non‐GAAP reporting quality is lower, and the minority of firms using prominence to mislead exhibit characteristics associated with weaker investor monitoring. Overall, we provide evidence that regulatory noncompliance can reflect an intent to inform, and that most firms use prominence to highlight higher quality non‐GAAP information despite prohibitive regulation.     

Ex Ante Incentives for Earnings Management and the Informativeness of Earnings

This study examines the relation between ex ante incentives of insurance managers to engage in earnings management to meet regulatory standards and the informativeness of earnings. This study extends prior research by simultaneously examining the effects of earnings management and uncertainty about earnings as suggested by Collins and DeAngelo (1990) and Imhoff and Lobo (1992). Results from a sample of 375 quarterly earnings announcements of 41 property and liability insurers during the period 1989 to 1992 support the hypothesis that when managers' incentives for earnings management are high, earnings announcements are less informative to investors (even after controlling for uncertainty associated with exposure to large-scale catastrophes). Robustness tests suggest that our results are not attributable to firm size, time period effects, firm effects, accounting estimation error, or financial distress risk. These results are consistent with investors using publicly available information to predict P-L insurance managers' ex ante incentives to manage earnings to meet regulatory standards, and that they use this information in forming their beliefs about earnings quality.     

网络关注度对我国股票市场信息不对称程度的影响

以2013-2016年391支股票的360搜索指数中的投资者关注度和媒体关注度的指数作为网络关注度度量指标,同时基于股票市场交易数据采用多种信息不对称计算方法构建了信息不对称性度量指标,并进一步构造了信息不对称主成分综合指标。通过建立横截面回归模型,探究投资者和媒体关注度对我国股票市场的信息不对称程度的影响作用。实证分析及稳健性检验结果表明：投资者关注度的增加会减少知情交易及信息不透明程度,从而减少了股票市场的信息不对称程度,提高了股票市场的流动性;媒体关注度对不同的信息不对称性度量指标的影响存在着不一致性。本研究通过探索投资者关注度及媒体关注度在新兴市场中的应用,对于我国证券市场监管层制定政策以及对于普通投资者优化投资策略都具有重要的参考意义。     

The Impact of SFAS No. 14 Segment Information on Price Variability and Earnings Forecast Accuracy

This study provides empirical evidence on the economic effects of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) No. 14 segment disclosures. Required disclosures under this standard subsume those of the Securities and Exchange Commission' (SEC) 1970 line-of-business disclosure rule both in terms of the variables to be disclosed and the degree of decomposition of the consolidated information. Consequently, this study hypothesizes that stock price variability will be greater at the time of, and security analysts' earnings forecasts more accurate following, release of these disclosures. The results of the empirical analysis support these hypotheses. They indicate that SFAS No. 14 segment disclosures convey incremental information over previously reported SEC line-of-business information that is relevant to stockholders and to security analysts.     

The Effect of Earnings Management on the Asymmetric Timeliness of Earnings

Abstract:   Is earnings management affecting (driving) the measures of earnings conservatism? Ball et al. (2000) point out that the asymmetry in the recognition of good and bad news in earnings (faster recognition of bad news: earnings conservatism) is more pronounced in common‐law than in code‐law based accounting regimes. However, comparative studies on earnings conservatism in Europe have failed to identify significant differences between common‐law and code‐law based countries. We argue that in code‐law based countries managers have incentives to reduce earnings consistently. This enhances the association between earnings and returns in bad news periods. We find that after controlling for discretionary accruals, the differential earnings response to bad news in Germany and France decreases significantly.     

股票风险警示对同行企业盈余管理行为的影响研究

依据2007-2018年中国沪深A股被实施风险警示企业的同行企业样本,考量企业被实施股票风险警示对同行企业盈余管理行为的影响。结果发现：风险警示信息具有同行企业治理效应,即行业中有企业被实施风险警示后,同行企业盈余管理程度会显著降低,这种效应在非国有企业和市场竞争地位较低的企业中更为明显。作用路径分析表明：风险警示信息增加了债权人对同行企业的行业风险感知,提高了同行企业的债务资本成本,同行企业为了降低债务资本成本会主动增加信息透明度,降低盈余管理程度。     

On the Use of Intra-Industry Information to Improve Earnings Forecasts

We investigate whether earnings forecasts are improved by earlier earnings disclosures by firms in the same industry. We find improvements for time series forecasts, but not for analysts' forecasts. Considering prior earnings announcements reduces correlations between forecast errors and security price reactions to earnings announcements, even when incorporating these announcements improves forecast accuracy. Our explanation for this anomaly, which is supported by additional analysis, is that intra-industry information facilitates predicting transitory, rather than permanent, earnings components. The question of whether information transfers improve earnings forecasts provides the context for the analysis, but the primary contribution is the documentation of intra-industry information transfers in a setting other than capital markets.     

公司治理影响盈余管理的实证研究

尽管公司管理者有着各种各样的盈余管理动机,但是真正实施盈余管理行为会受到很多因素的影响,其中公司治理是最主要的影响因素。公司治理包括很多内容,本研究主要关注股权结构和董事会特征两方面与盈余管理之间的相关性。一般来讲,股权集中度与盈余管理呈正相关,董事会独立性与盈余管理呈负相关。本文在分析如何影响盈余管理的理论基础上,以2005至2009年我国上证180成分股为研究对象,提出研究假设并进行实证检验。结果显示,法人股比例、流通股比例与盈余管理呈现正相关关系,董事会特征则受制度影响,具有双重影响。文章最后,结合我国资本市场的实际提出相关建议。     

The effects of harmonization and convergence with IFRS on the timeliness of earnings reported under Chinese GAAP

This study examines the effects of a series of harmonization and convergence with IFRS on the timeliness of recognition of earnings in emerging Chinese markets. We find that earnings reported under Chinese GAAP have a lower earnings response coefficient, but a higher future earnings response coefficient, than earnings reported under IFRS before Chinese GAAP converged with IFRS in 2007. This indicates that earnings reported under Chinese GAAP are generally less timely than earnings reported under IFRS before convergence. We also find that the future earnings response coefficient of earnings reported under Chinese GAAP continues to increase, indicating that the timeliness of recognition of earnings reported under Chinese GAAP worsened after a series of harmonization and convergence with IFRS in China. Taken together, this study provides evidence indicating that harmonizing and converging national accounting standards with IFRS in emerging capital markets may not necessarily increase accounting quality.     

Transitory earnings components and the two faces of non‐generally accepted accounting principles earnings

Non‐generally accepted accounting principles (non‐GAAP) earnings reporting has been linked with both informative and strategic incentives. We seek to disentangle these conflicting effects by examining the association between non‐GAAP earnings disclosure and transitory items in GAAP earnings, conditional on managers' reporting incentives. We report evidence of a statistically and economically significant asymmetric relation between disclosure propensity and transitory items in GAAP earnings conditional on both the sign and magnitude of the GAAP earnings surprise. Our findings suggest that non‐GAAP earnings disclosures tend to be driven by a desire for informative (strategic) reporting when GAAP earnings beat (undershoot) market expectations.     

Conditional Mandates on Management Earnings Forecasts: The Impact on the Cost of Debt

Exploiting a unique conditional disclosure mandate on management earnings forecasts (MEFs) in China, we examine the differential effects of voluntary and mandatory MEFs on the cost of debt. We find that firms providing voluntary MEFs have lower cost of debt than do mandatory forecasters and nonforecasters. The results of the channel analyses reveal that voluntary forecasters have greater commitment to voluntary MEFs in future periods than do mandatory forecasters and nonforecasters, and the precision, accuracy, and timeliness of MEFs are higher for voluntary forecasters than for mandatory forecasters. Additional analyses show that the differential effects of voluntary and mandatory MEFs on cost of debt are stronger for voluntary forecasters operating in opaque information environments, issuing high-quality and confirming forecasts, controlled by private shareholders, and operating in highly competitive product markets. Overall, our results indicate that, compared with mandatory MEFs, voluntary MEFs are more informative for credit investors, particularly for firms facing greater information risk and operating uncertainty.     

Use of Fuller's Technique to Reduce Measurement Error in the Returns/Earnings Association

Empirical estimates of the earnings response coefficient have consistently been lower than theory predicts. This may be because empirical proxies for unexpected earnings contain measurement error. I demonstrate and evaluate the use of a recently developed technique by Fuller that yields consistent parameter estimates in the presence of measurement error. The empirical results indicate that this technique is successful at mitigating measurement error bias in the earnings response coefficient. The earnings response coefficient increases by as much as 52%. In contrast, replication of the techniques performed in previous studies increases the earnings response coefficient by only 8%.     

The Effect of Past Earnings and Dividend Patterns on the Information Content of Dividends When Earnings Are Reduced

This study pursues two objectives: first, to provide evidence on the information content of dividend policy, conditional on past earnings and dividend patterns prior to an annual earnings decline; second, to examine the effect of the magnitude of low earnings realizations on dividend policy when firms have more‐or‐less established dividend payouts. The information content of dividend policy for firms that incur earnings reductions following long patterns of positive earnings and dividends has been examined ( DeAngelo et al., 1992, 1996 ; Charitou, 2000 ). No research has examined the association between the informativeness of dividend policy changes in the event of an earnings drop, relative to varying patterns of past earnings and dividends. Our dataset consists of 4,873 U.S. firm‐year observations over the period 1986–2005. Our evidence supports the hypotheses that, among earnings‐reducing or loss firms, longer patterns of past earnings and dividends: (a) strengthen the information conveyed by dividends regarding future earnings, and (b) enhance the role of the magnitude of low earnings realizations in explaining dividend policy decisions, in that earnings hold more information content that explains the likelihood of dividend cuts the longer the past earnings and dividend patterns. Both results stem from the stylized facts that managers aim to maintain consistency with respect to historic payout policy, being reluctant to proceed with dividend reductions, and that this reluctance is higher the more established is the historic payout policy.     

Credibility Attributes and Investor Perceptions of Non‐GAAP Earnings Exclusions

Recent empirical evidence suggests that investors focus more on non‐GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) than on traditional GAAP earnings because non‐GAAP earnings are believed to proxy for a firm's ongoing profitability, a measure useful for valuation. Managers determine these non‐GAAP earnings by excluding certain items from their GAAP income. However, because these non‐GAAP earnings are both unaudited and may be disclosed by a firm to manage investors’ perceptions as opposed to inform, investors must infer the credibility of the disclosure through observable firm attributes. In this study we examine whether firms with stronger credibility attributes (corporate governance, higher‐quality auditors, and higher historical information quality) will be perceived as providing more credible non‐GAAP exclusions than those with weaker attributes. Our expectation is that the market reaction to non‐GAAP earnings exclusions of firms with stronger credibility attributes will be greater than for those with weaker attributes. Our results support our expectation.     

Impact of Foreign Strategic Investors on Earnings Management in Chinese Banks

Chinese authorities hoped that participation of foreign strategic investors (FSIs) could improve the profitability of Chinese banks both quantitatively and qualitatively. While past studies have typically focused on the effect of FSIs on banks' quantitative performance, this paper investigates the quality of profits through earnings management. We use matching theory to consider the selection bias. Our results demonstrate that banks with FSIs have improved the quality of their financial reports because they conducted less loss-avoidance management of earnings, but they engaged in as much management to avoid earnings growth decreases as non-FSI banks did.