IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/abacus/v52y2016i1p176-210.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Structural Accounting Framework for Estimating the Expected Rate of Return on Equity

Author

Listed:
  • Demetris Christodoulou
  • Colin Clubb
  • Stuart Mcleay

Abstract

type="main"> This paper shows how the expected rate of return (ERR) on equity may be estimated using only published accounting results, based on the information dynamics of reported earnings. As accounting-based valuation models conditional upon financial statement articulation lead to a rank deficient system of estimating equations, the paper introduces a nonlinear constraint on the articulation that allows the information system simultaneously to produce an estimate for the ERR by iteration, together with predictions for the key clean surplus forecasts of net earnings, net dividend, and the book value of equity. Further decomposition produces estimates of expected capital gain, expected earnings, and the expected change in equity book value, and by rearrangement, the expected change in unrecorded goodwill. The clean surplus relation is maintained in the forecast variables. Exploratory data methods are used to examine the nonlinear relationship between components of the accounting-based ERR and realized stock returns. Findings show that realized returns are higher (lower) than estimated ERR in expansionary (recessionary) periods, with evidence of a stronger returns impact in recessionary periods. For the large majority of firms, realized returns revert to the estimated ERR, and the time-varying accounting components are strongly related to future realized stock returns, consistent with time variation in the ERR around a long-run average. Predicted earnings and dividends provide useful additional information on short-run variations in the ERR.

Suggested Citation

  • Demetris Christodoulou & Colin Clubb & Stuart Mcleay, 2016. "A Structural Accounting Framework for Estimating the Expected Rate of Return on Equity," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 52(1), pages 176-210, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:abacus:v:52:y:2016:i:1:p:176-210
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/abac.12073
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fama, Eugene F & French, Kenneth R, 1992. "The Cross-Section of Expected Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(2), pages 427-465, June.
    2. Tuomo Vuolteenaho, 2002. "What Drives Firm‐Level Stock Returns?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(1), pages 233-264, February.
    3. Campbell, John Y, 1991. "A Variance Decomposition for Stock Returns," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 101(405), pages 157-179, March.
    4. Jeffrey L. Callen, 2016. "Accounting Valuation and Cost of Equity Capital Dynamics," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 52(1), pages 5-25, March.
    5. Greene, William H & Seaks, Terry G, 1991. "The Restricted Least Squares Estimator: A Pedagogical Note," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 73(3), pages 563-567, August.
    6. John Y. Campbell & Tuomo Vuolteenaho, 2004. "Bad Beta, Good Beta," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(5), pages 1249-1275, December.
    7. Hou, Kewei & van Dijk, Mathijs A. & Zhang, Yinglei, 2012. "The implied cost of capital: A new approach," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 504-526.
    8. Easton, Peter D. & Harris, Trevor S. & Ohlson, James A., 1992. "Aggregate accounting earnings can explain most of security returns : The case of long return intervals," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(2-3), pages 119-142, August.
    9. Berk, Jonathan B, 1995. "A Critique of Size-Related Anomalies," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 8(2), pages 275-286.
    10. Campbell, John Y, 1993. "Intertemporal Asset Pricing without Consumption Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(3), pages 487-512, June.
    11. Merton H. Miller & Franco Modigliani, 1961. "Dividend Policy, Growth, and the Valuation of Shares," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34, pages 411-411.
    12. James Claus & Jacob Thomas, 2001. "Equity Premia as Low as Three Percent? Evidence from Analysts' Earnings Forecasts for Domestic and International Stock Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(5), pages 1629-1666, October.
    13. Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky, 2013. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 6, pages 99-127, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    14. William R. Gebhardt & Charles M. C. Lee & Bhaskaran Swaminathan, 2001. "Toward an Implied Cost of Capital," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 135-176, June.
    15. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1993. "Common risk factors in the returns on stocks and bonds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 3-56, February.
    16. Demetris Christodoulou, 2018. "The accounting identity trap: identification under stock-and-flow rank deficiency," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(13), pages 1413-1427, March.
    17. Stephen Penman, 2016. "Valuation: Accounting for Risk and the Expected Return," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 52(1), pages 106-130, March.
    18. Peter D. Easton & Steven J. Monahan, 2016. "Review of Recent Research on Improving Earnings Forecasts and Evaluating Accounting-based Estimates of the Expected Rate of Return on Equity Capital," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 52(1), pages 35-58, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yi Jiang & Stewart Jones, 2018. "Corporate distress prediction in China: a machine learning approach," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 58(4), pages 1063-1109, December.
    2. Pengguo Wang, 2018. "Future Realized Return, Firm‐specific Risk and the Implied Expected Return," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 54(1), pages 105-132, March.
    3. Stewart Jones & Nurul Alam, 2019. "A machine learning analysis of citation impact among selected Pacific Basin journals," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 59(4), pages 2509-2552, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pengguo Wang, 2018. "Future Realized Return, Firm‐specific Risk and the Implied Expected Return," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 54(1), pages 105-132, March.
    2. Richardson, Scott & Tuna, Irem & Wysocki, Peter, 2010. "Accounting anomalies and fundamental analysis: A review of recent research advances," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 410-454, December.
    3. Atif Ellahie, 2021. "Earnings beta," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 81-122, March.
    4. Jeffrey L. Callen & Matthew R. Lyle, 2020. "The term structure of implied costs of equity capital," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 342-404, March.
    5. Erica X. N. Li & Dmitry Livdan & Lu Zhang, 2009. "Anomalies," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(11), pages 4301-4334, November.
    6. Jan A. Kempkes & Francesco Suprano & Andreas Wömpener, 2023. "An empirical evaluation of dynamic approaches for estimating firms’ expected cost of equity capital," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 58(4), pages 859-886, November.
    7. Mohsen Jafarian & Fauzias Mat Nor & Izani Ibrahim, 2018. "The Relative Importance of Cash Flow News and Discount Rate News at Driving Stock Price Change," Capital Markets Review, Malaysian Finance Association, vol. 26(1), pages 56-72.
    8. Stephen Penman, 2016. "Valuation: Accounting for Risk and the Expected Return," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 52(1), pages 106-130, March.
    9. Bin Li, 2021. "Separating Information About Cash Flows from Information About Risk in Losses," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(6), pages 3570-3595, June.
    10. Ketterer, Simeon & Dionysiou, Dionysia & Eierle, Brigitte & Tsalavoutas, Ioannis, 2023. "Validating implied cost of capital with realized returns by using alternative measures of cash-flow news," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(6).
    11. Mike Qinghao Mao & K. C. John Wei, 2016. "Cash-Flow News and the Investment Effect in the Cross Section of Stock Returns," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(9), pages 2504-2519, September.
    12. Christian Bach, 2011. "Conservatism in Corporate Valuation," CREATES Research Papers 2011-32, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    13. Mao, Mike Qinghao & Wei, K.C. John, 2014. "Price and earnings momentum: An explanation using return decomposition," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 332-351.
    14. Hail, Luzi & Leuz, Christian, 2009. "Cost of capital effects and changes in growth expectations around U.S. cross-listings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(3), pages 428-454, September.
    15. Khimich, Natalya, 2017. "A comparison of alternative cash flow and discount rate news proxies," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 31-52.
    16. Khan, Mozaffar, 2008. "Are accruals mispriced Evidence from tests of an Intertemporal Capital Asset Pricing Model," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 55-77, March.
    17. Yin, Libo & Liao, Huiyi, 2021. "Big is brilliant: Understanding the Chinese size effect through profitability shocks," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    18. Echterling, F. & Eierle, B. & Ketterer, S., 2015. "A review of the literature on methods of computing the implied cost of capital," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 235-252.
    19. Kartick Gupta, 2018. "Environmental Sustainability and Implied Cost of Equity: International Evidence," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 147(2), pages 343-365, January.
    20. Stefan Nagel, 2013. "Empirical Cross-Sectional Asset Pricing," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 5(1), pages 167-199, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:abacus:v:52:y:2016:i:1:p:176-210. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0001-3072 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.