scholarly journals Persistence and Predictive Ability of Earnings: Evidence from France and the UK

2021 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 190-200
Author(s):  
Bilal Kimouche
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Earnings Quality ◽  
Predictive Ability ◽  
Listed Companies ◽  
Cash Flows ◽  
Earnings Persistence ◽  
Accounting Standard ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Future Cash Flows

Abstract The persistence and predictive ability are extensively requested as desirable attributes of earnings quality in the literature. The paper aims at investigating the persistence and predictive ability of earnings in French and UK companies. The study included a panel data of 1035 firm-year observations for 115 French listed companies from the CAC All-Tradable and 900 firm-year observations for 100 UK listed companies from the FTSE All-Share, during the period of 2011–2019. The research design was based on two equations starting from Sloan (1996) that were estimated using Fixed Effects Method. The study showed that earnings were persistent but they had no predictive ability regarding the future cash flows whether in French or UK companies and that earnings of UK companies were more persistent than those of the French companies. We argue that the persistence of earnings and the inability to predict future cash flows can be evidence of earnings management. The study contributes to the literature about earnings quality by studying earnings persistence and earnings predictive ability together in two different environments. The results require that users must take into consideration the illusory persistence of earnings, auditors must be cautious regarding the manipulation of earnings by managers, and accounting standard setters must review the reporting guidelines of cash flows to enhance their predictability by earnings.

The relative predictive ability of earnings and cash flows

2015 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 367-380
Author(s):  
Varun Dawar
Keyword(s):  
Prediction Models ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Predictive Ability ◽  
Cash Flows ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
Accounting Standard ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Aggregate Earnings ◽  
Future Cash Flows

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relative predictive abilities of current earnings (and its components) and cash flows for next period cash flows in case of Shariah-compliant companies in India. Design/methodology/approach – The study uses the list of CRISIL NSE Index (CNX) Nifty Shariah Index companies as its sample for a period of 10 years for conducting the analysis. The study utilizes the cash flow prediction models to examine the relative predictive abilities of current earnings (and its components) and cash flows for next period cash flows. Findings – The study report that contrary to Financial Accounting Standard Board assertion, current cash flows have superior predictive ability of next period cash flows than current aggregate earnings in case of Shariah-compliant companies in India. The results further show that there are no gains from decomposing earnings into accruals and cash flows in predicting future cash flows. There is no increase in explanatory power (measured by adjusted R2) when aggregate earnings are disaggregated into accruals and cash flows to predict next period cash flows. Practical implications – The empirical findings of the study will enable the Shariah compliant investors to understand the role of current earnings (and its components) and cash flows in predicting next period cash flows in case of Shariah-compliant companies in India. Originality/value – To the best of author’s knowledge, this is the first study which examines the relative predictive abilities of current earnings (and its components) and cash flows for next period cash flows in case of Shariah-compliant companies in India.

scholarly journals Do Big 4 auditors improve the ability of goodwill to forecast future cash flows?

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 164-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmad Al-Hiyari ◽  
Rohaida Abdul Latif ◽  
Noor Afza Amran
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Predictive Ability ◽  
Cash Flows ◽  
Reporting Standard ◽  
Accounting Firms ◽  
Big 4 ◽  
Business Combination ◽  
Accounting Rules ◽  
Future Cash Flows ◽  
Professional Judgement

The accounting rules prescribed in Malaysian Financial Reporting Standard (MFRS) 3, Business combination, and (MFRS) 136, Impairment of Assets, give managers considerable reporting discretion in allocating goodwill and estimating its actual value. Agency theory predicts that managers may use the accounting discretion granted by the new rules to pursue their own interests at the expense of shareholders. Hence, auditors are required to exercise professional judgement when investigating hard-to-verify management assumptions and valuations. We exploit this issue by examining whether predictive ability of goodwill improved in the presence of Big 4 auditors. We provide evidence that goodwill has a significant predictive ability for second and third-year ahead cash flows which exists only in the firms audited by the large international reputable accounting firms. This suggests that Big 4 auditors play an important role in ensuring appropriate implementation of the present accounting for goodwill.

scholarly journals A Study on the Relationship between Earnings Quality and Capital Cost-Takes the China Listed Companies as a Sample

2021 ◽  
pp. 48-56
Author(s):  
Chih-Yi Hsiao ◽  
Hui-Hui Kuang ◽  
Hui-Ling Li ◽  
Jia-Li Liu
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
Earnings Quality ◽  
Least Square Method ◽  
Listed Companies ◽  
Capital Cost ◽  
Least Square ◽  
Accounting System ◽  
Ordinary Least Square ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
The Relationship

The phenomenon of false financial statements still exists. However, in addition to the risk of being punished, what kind of price do companies have to pay? In recent decades, with China's rapid progress in economic, the relevant accounting system and corporate governance standards are actively improving, and the earnings quality is improving. This paper takes China's listed companies from 2015 to 2019 as samples, and adopts quantile regression supplemented by ordinary least square method to explore the relationship between earnings quality and capital cost. The research findings show that the higher the earnings management, the higher the capital cost, especially for the company with low capital cost. Nevertheless, for the extremely company with high capital cost, earnings management can reduce the capital cost. The research results can provide the focus of regulators of listed companies and reference for the revision of relevant accounting system.

scholarly journals Foreign Monitoring and Predictability of Future Cash Flow

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (18) ◽  
pp. 4832
Author(s):  
Jaehong Lee ◽  
Eunsoo Kim
Keyword(s):  
Cash Flow ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Predictive Ability ◽  
Financial Statements ◽  
Cash Flows ◽  
Foreign Investors ◽  
Future Cash Flow ◽  
Flow Components ◽  
Future Cash Flows

A company’s sustainability is generally determined by whether it is able to create a positive long-term cash flow. This paper investigates whether the predictive ability of cash flows and earnings in forecasting future cash flows differs depending on the foreign investors’ ownership. Based on firms listed in the Korea Stock Exchange market from 2000 to 2017, we find that earnings and cash flow components of financial statements enhance the predictability of future cash flow in the Korean stock market. Conversely, foreign investors showed a tendency to decide on investments based on operating cash flow instead of earnings when predicting future cash flow. These findings indicate that reliability towards earnings may fall since foreign investors’ concerns are on the prospects of earnings management. These results were strengthened by the addition of several more analyses including cluster analyses, consideration of information asymmetry and the chaebol governance.

scholarly journals Relationship between Earnings Management and Earnings quality in the Globalized Business Environment

2021 ◽  
Vol 92 ◽  
pp. 02011
Author(s):  
Juraj Cug ◽  
Aneta Cugova
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Earnings Quality ◽  
Information Economics ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Cash Flows ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Scientific Methods ◽  
High Level

Research background: Earnings management is a versatile phenomenon in firms’ financial reporting and It´s purpose is to demonstrate reasonable earnings quality. Thus, earnings management has much in common with earnings quality. Purpose of the article: This paper reviews earnings management and earnings quality in an information economics framework. We focus on earnings quality determinants, impact of earnings quality and the outcomes of earnings quality for companies. Methods: Basic scientific methods of analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction and abstraction were used to meet the stated goal. Findings & Value added: In general, earnings of high quality are those that have a high level of persistence, are more predictable, more timely, less volatile and have lower level of earnings management. Earnings management has a negative impact on the quality of earnings if it distorts the information in a way that is less useful for forecasting future cash flows.

scholarly journals Earnings quality across different reporting regimes

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siming Liu ◽  
Len Skerratt
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Earnings Quality ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Listed Companies ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Small Companies ◽  
Small Company ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Income Statement ◽  
The Uk

Purpose Since the UK Companies Act 1981, different reporting standards have developed for different classes of company to reduce the reporting burden on non-listed companies. There are now different regimes for listed, large private, medium-sized, small and micro companies. This strategy raises the issue of whether earnings quality across the different classes of company is comparable. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses the smoothness of earnings to measure reporting quality across the different types of companies from 2006 to 2013, based on 514,000 observations. Smoothness is an indicator of poor quality. Findings The authors find that listed companies have the highest earnings quality, closely followed by small and micro companies. In contrast, large private and medium-sized companies have much lower earnings quality. Overall, the authors find companies which switch between reporting regimes have lower earnings quality. The authors also find that earnings quality is not affected by the small company exemption from audit. Research limitations/implications Companies filing abbreviated accounts are excluded since they do not file an income statement. The recent revisions to UK GAAP (FRS 102 and FRS 105) are not examined due to insufficient data. Practical implications The Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC) strategy of reducing the financial reporting and auditing obligations for small companies seems not to have significantly affected earnings quality. However, the FRC may need to review the reporting requirements of large private and medium-sized companies and also the option of companies to switch between reporting regimes; in these settings earnings quality appears to be weaker. Originality/value The paper studies the effect of earnings quality across the different reporting regimes in the UK. Novel and important features of the study are that the sample covers a wide variety of small and micro companies which have not been analyzed previously; the results are disaggregated by year, for assurance that the results are not driven by a single rogue year; and the authors also address the small company exemption from audit, and the flexibility of non-listed companies to switch between regimes.

Discussion of the Quality of Accruals and Earnings: The Role of Accrual Estimation Errors

2002 ◽  
Vol 77 (s-1) ◽  
pp. 61-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maureen F. McNichols
Keyword(s):  
Measurement Error ◽  
Earnings Management ◽  
Earnings Quality ◽  
Discretionary Accruals ◽  
Cash Flows ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Estimation Errors ◽  
Empirical Estimates

Dechow and Dichev (2002) model earnings quality as the magnitude of estimation errors in accruals, and provide empirical estimates of this construct based on the relation between accruals and cash flows. I characterize the innovation and limitations in this approach, and provide empirical evidence of measurement error in their empirical specification. I also adapt their model to assess the specification of the Jones' (1991) model and document that this model provides estimates of discretionary accruals that are significantly associated with cash flows, which are likely to be substantially nondiscretionary. I conclude with suggestions for future research on earnings quality and earnings management.

scholarly journals Predictive ability of accruals before and after IFRS in the Brazilian stock market

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (78) ◽  
pp. 375-389
Author(s):  
Terence Machado Boina ◽  
Marcelo Alvaro da Silva Macedo
Keyword(s):  
Stock Market ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Predictive Ability ◽  
Discretionary Accruals ◽  
Cash Flows ◽  
Accounting Quality ◽  
Convenience Sample ◽  
Accounting Choices ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Future Cash Flows

ABSTRACT This study aimed to analyze and assess the predictive ability of discretionary accruals (DAs) and non-discretionary accruals (NDAs) for forecasting future cash flows before and after the convergence with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in Brazil. The study is warranted due to the scarcity of research in Brazil on the subject and is relevant because it aims to shed light on whether the changes occurring due to convergence with IFRS in Brazil have improved accounting quality. The accounting choices of managers and accountants in the Brazilian stock market, enabled by IFRS, contribute to an apparent improvement in accounting quality in terms of reliability, the faithful representation of entities’ equity and financial positions, and in particular, the predictive ability for forecasting future cash flows. The population was composed of publicly traded companies listed on the Bovespa and São Paulo Stock, Commodities, and Futures Exchange (BM&FBovespa) in 2004 to 2007 and 2010 to 2015. The non-probability convenience sample is composed of 715 enterprises, once companies from the “finance and insurance” and “funds” sectors and even those considered as “holding” were excluded. The data were pooled by year, as they contain different companies over the time series (unbalanced panel data). The DAs and NDAs produced prior to full convergence with IFRS are negative and statistically significant for predicting future cash flows in the Brazilian stock market, which indicated opportunistic/contractual earnings management. One of the possible explanations for this would be the influence of government tax authorities on Brazilian accounting norms, which could induce managers to manipulate accounting results with the aim of reducing earnings in order to pay fewer taxes, for example. The DAs and NDAs produced after IFRS are positive and statistically significant for predicting future cash flows in the Brazilian stock market, signaling the motivation of discretionary accounting choices under the informational aspect. Current DAs and NDAs add informational power compared to current aggregate accruals. It has also been observed that the current DAs and NDAs originating after IFRS in Brazil, compared to current aggregate accruals, have an informational gain in relation to those produced before.

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