The Association Between Management Earnings Forecast Errors and Accruals

Author(s):  
Guojin Gong ◽  
Laura Yue Li ◽  
Hong Xie

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guojin Gong ◽  
Laura Yue Li ◽  
Jundong (Jeff) Wang


2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 211-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mustafa Ciftci ◽  
Feras M. Salama

ABSTRACT We investigate the relationship between cost stickiness and management earnings forecasts. Prior research suggests that earnings are more volatile for sticky cost firms resulting in greater earnings forecast errors. The greater forecast errors might increase investors' demand for information and induce managers to issue earnings forecasts. Alternatively, managers might refrain from issuing earnings forecasts for sticky cost firms because greater forecast errors might damage managers' credibility and adversely affect their job security. We find that cost stickiness is positively associated with management earnings forecast issuance, suggesting that the benefits outweigh the costs. Prior research also suggests that cost stickiness has negative implications for earnings. We find a positive association between cost stickiness and management earnings forecast errors, suggesting that managers do not fully incorporate the negative implications of cost stickiness into their forecasts. Finally, we find that analysts' forecast errors for sticky cost firms are greater than managers'. JEL Classifications: M41; M46; G12.



2011 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 677-720 ◽  
Author(s):  
GUOJIN GONG ◽  
LAURA Y. LI ◽  
JEFF J. WANG


2009 ◽  
Vol 84 (2) ◽  
pp. 497-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guojin Gong ◽  
Laura Yue Li ◽  
Hong Xie

ABSTRACT: We investigate the association between errors in management forecasts of subsequent year earnings and current year accruals. In an uncertain operating environment, managers' assessments of their firms' business prospects are imperfect. Since managers' imperfect business assessments influence both accruals generation and earnings projection, we hypothesize that management earnings forecasts exhibit greater optimism (pessimism) when accruals are relatively high (low). Consistent with this hypothesis, we find a positive association between management earnings forecast errors and accruals. This positive association is stronger for firms operating in a more uncertain business environment and for firms in industries exhibiting greater covariation between accruals and growth-related activities. Moreover, this positive association is significant when accruals likely reflect managers' true beliefs about firms' business prospects, but is nonexistent when accruals are likely manipulated to boost managers' trading gains. Supplementary analysis reveals that the presence of management earnings forecasts does not significantly reduce accrual mispricing.



1979 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 316 ◽  
Author(s):  
William H. Beaver ◽  
Roger Clarke ◽  
William F. Wright






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