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Full text available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/1400000004 Earnings Quality Full text available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/1400000004 Earnings Quality Jennifer Francis Duke University Durham, NC USA [email protected] Per Olsson Duke University Durham, NC USA [email protected] Katherine Schipper Duke University Durham, NC USA [email protected] Boston – Delft Full text available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/1400000004 Foundations and Trends R in Accounting Published, sold and distributed by: now Publishers Inc. PO Box 1024 Hanover, MA 02339 USA Tel. +1-781-985-4510 www.nowpublishers.com [email protected] Outside North America: now Publishers Inc. PO Box 179 2600 AD Delft The Netherlands Tel. +31-6-51115274 The preferred citation for this publication is J. Francis, P. Olsson and K. Schipper, Earnings Quality, Foundation and Trends R in Accounting, vol 1, no 4, pp 259–340, 2006 ISBN: 978-1-60198-114-1 c 2008 J. Francis, P. Olsson and K. Schipper All rights reserved. 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Reichelstein Graduate School of Business Stanford University Stanford, CA 94305 USA reichelstein [email protected] Editors Ronald Dye, Northwestern University David Larcker, Stanford University Stephen Penman, Columbia University Stefan Reichelstein, Stanford University (Managing Editor) Full text available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/1400000004 Editorial Scope Foundations and Trends R in Accounting will publish survey and tutorial articles in the following topics: • Auditing • Financial Reporting • Corporate Governance • Financial Statement Analysis and • Cost Management Equity Valuation • Disclosure • Management Control • Event Studies/Market Efficiency • Performance Measurement Studies • Taxation • Executive Compensation Information for Librarians Foundations and Trends R in Accounting, 2006, Volume 1, 4 issues. ISSN paper version 1554-0642. ISSN online version 1554-0650. Also available as a combined paper and online subscription. Full text available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/1400000004 Foundations and Trends R in Accounting Vol. 1, No. 4 (2006) 259–340 c 2008 J. Francis, P. Olsson and K. Schipper DOI: 10.1561/1400000004 Earnings Quality Jennifer Francis1, Per Olsson2 and Katherine Schipper3 1 Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA, [email protected] 2 Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA, [email protected] 3 Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA, [email protected] Abstract This review lays out a research perspective on earnings quality. We provide an overview of alternative definitions and measures of earnings quality and a discussion of research design choices encountered in earn- ings quality research. Throughout, we focus on a capital markets set- ting, as opposed, for example, to a contracting or stewardship setting. Our reason for this choice stems from the view that the capital market uses of accounting information are fundamental, in the sense of provid- ing a basis for other uses, such as stewardship. Because resource alloca- tions are ex ante decisions while contracting/stewardship assessments are ex post evaluations of outcomes, evidence on whether, how and to what degree earnings quality influences capital market resource alloca- tion decisions is fundamental to understanding why and how accounting matters to investors and others, including those charged with steward- ship responsibilities. Demonstrating a link between earnings quality and, for example, the costs of equity and debt capital implies a basic Full text available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/1400000004 economic role in capital allocation decisions for accounting informa- tion; this role has only recently been documented in the accounting literature. We focus on how the precision of financial information in capturing one or more underlying valuation-relevant constructs affects the assess- ment and use of that information by capital market participants. We emphasize that the choice of constructs to be measured is typically con- textual. Our main focus is on the precision of earnings, which we view as a summary indicator of the overall quality of financial reporting. Our intent in discussing research that evaluates the capital market effects of earnings quality is both to stimulate further research in this area and to encourage research on related topics, including, for example, the role of earnings quality in contracting and stewardship. Full text available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/1400000004 Contents 1 Introduction 1 2 Component of Information Quality in Capital Markets 7 2.1 Quality as an Attribute of Information in the Capital Markets 8 2.2 Financial Reporting Quality 10 2.3 Summary Indicator of Financial Reporting Quality 13 3 Determinants of Earnings Quality 17 3.1 Separating Innate and Discretionary Sources 19 3.2 Reporting (Discretionary) Determinants of Earnings Quality 24 4 Measures of Earnings Quality 37 5 Earnings Quality and Market Outcomes 53 5.1 Market Outcomes 53 5.2 Earnings Quality and Expected Returns 56 5.3 Earnings Quality and Abnormal Return 65 5.4 Earnings Quality and Other Market Outcomes 68 ix Full text available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/1400000004 6 Concluding Remarks 71 Acknowledgments 73 References 75 Full text available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/1400000004 1 Introduction This discussion review aims to provide insights on earnings quality. We describe and analyze several determinants and measures of earn- ings quality, and we discuss both research which uses those determi- nants and measures and research which provides evidence on the capital markets consequences of earnings quality. In discussing earnings quality research, we focus both on the question addressed and the researcher’s design choices. In our view, an examination of earnings quality and its determinants or consequences must address crucial research design issues, including the definition and measurement of both earnings qual- ity itself and the construction of tests for its capital market effects (such as the cost of capital). Our perspective, which is described in more detail in Section 2, can be summarized as follows. First, we associate earnings quality with precision, in the sense that higher quality earnings are more precise with respect to an underlying valuation-relevant construct that earn- ings is intended to describe. Differences in the construct chosen as the benchmark for earnings quality imply differences in the research ques- tion posed, and therefore also imply differences in how earnings qual- ity is measured. Researchers have proposed distinct constructs against 1 Full text available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/1400000004 2 Introduction which earnings quality is measured,1 as well as different approaches to measurement. Second, we take a capital allocation view of earnings quality, as opposed to a contracting or stewardship view, and there- fore we are concerned with the capital market consequences of earn- ings quality. Third, we view earnings quality as comprising both an innate, relatively stable component that is driven by factors intrinsic to business models and operating environments and a relatively more discretionary and fluctuating component that is driven or influenced by management’s financial reporting decisions. We do not view earnings quality as only, or even primarily, the outcome of a period-by-period management choice; rather, we view the precision of earnings as arising from both reporting decisions and long-run strategic decisions about, for example, what should be the firm’s lines of business. Earnings quality is of considerable interest to participants in the financial reporting process, including standard setters, preparers, audi- tors, regulators, analysts, and financial press commentators. It is also of interest to accounting educators and accounting researchers. As evidence of this interest, we point to several analyses of earnings quality, including