IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/acctfi/v60y2020i3p2549-2583.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Return windows and the value relevance of earnings

Author

Listed:
  • Wen He
  • Hwee Cheng Tan
  • Leon Wong

Abstract

Research on the value relevance of annual earnings commonly accumulate stock returns over a 12‐month period starting from the fourth month of the fiscal year, resulting in a mismatch between the return window and the earnings period (i.e. the fiscal year). By comparing this return window with alternative windows, we show that the mismatch produces a downward bias in the estimated R2 from the regression of stock returns on earnings, especially for firms that announce earnings early. Our results also show that both profits and losses are more value relevant when announced earlier, supporting regulatory calls for timely disclosure.

Suggested Citation

  • Wen He & Hwee Cheng Tan & Leon Wong, 2020. "Return windows and the value relevance of earnings," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(3), pages 2549-2583, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:acctfi:v:60:y:2020:i:3:p:2549-2583
    DOI: 10.1111/acfi.12392
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/acfi.12392
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/acfi.12392?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kothari, S. P. & Sloan, Richard G., 1992. "Information in prices about future earnings : Implications for earnings response coefficients," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(2-3), pages 143-171, August.
    2. Karl Majeske & Terri Lynch-Caris & Janet Brelin-Fornari, 2010. "Quantifying R2 bias in the presence of measurement error," Journal of Applied Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(4), pages 667-677.
    3. Barth, Mary E. & Beaver, William H. & Landsman, Wayne R., 2001. "The relevance of the value relevance literature for financial accounting standard setting: another view," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 77-104, September.
    4. Charles E. Wasley & Joanna Shuang Wu, 2006. "Why Do Managers Voluntarily Issue Cash Flow Forecasts?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(2), pages 389-429, May.
    5. Santanu Mitra & Mahmud Hossain, 2009. "Value-relevance of pension transition adjustments and other comprehensive income components in the adoption year of SFAS No. 158," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 279-301, October.
    6. 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.
    7. Chen, Peter & Zhang, Guochang, 2007. "How do accounting variables explain stock price movements? Theory and evidence," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2-3), pages 219-244, July.
    8. Zhang, GC, 2000. "Accounting information, capital investment decisions, and equity valuation: Theory and empirical implications," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(2), pages 271-295.
    9. Holthausen, Robert W. & Watts, Ross L., 2001. "The relevance of the value-relevance literature for financial accounting standard setting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 3-75, September.
    10. Bronson, Scott N. & Hogan, Chris E. & Johnson, Marilyn F. & Ramesh, K., 2011. "The unintended consequences of PCAOB auditing Standard Nos. 2 and 3 on the reliability of preliminary earnings releases," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1-2), pages 95-114, February.
    11. Ball, R & Brown, P, 1968. "Empirical Evaluation Of Accounting Income Numbers," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(2), pages 159-178.
    12. Alastair Lawrence & Richard Sloan & Estelle Sun, 2018. "Why Are Losses Less Persistent Than Profits? Curtailments vs. Conservatism," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(2), pages 673-694, February.
    13. Chambers, Ae & Penman, Sh, 1984. "Timeliness Of Reporting And The Stock-Price Reaction To Earnings Announcements," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 21-47.
    14. Stefano Dellavigna & Joshua M. Pollet, 2009. "Investor Inattention and Friday Earnings Announcements," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(2), pages 709-749, April.
    15. Lev, B, 1989. "On The Usefulness Of Earnings And Earnings Research - Lessons And Directions From 2 Decades Of Empirical-Research," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27, pages 153-192.
    16. Peter M. Clarkson & Yue Li & Matthew Pinnuck & Gordon D. Richardson, 2015. "The Valuation Relevance of Greenhouse Gas Emissions under the European Union Carbon Emissions Trading Scheme," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(3), pages 551-580, September.
    17. Mark Bagnoli & William Kross & Susan G. Watts, 2002. "The Information in Management’s Expected Earnings Report Date: A Day Late, a Penny Short," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(5), pages 1275-1296, December.
    18. Louise Yi Lu & Greg Shailer & Yangxin Yu, 2017. "Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure and the Value of Cash Holdings," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(4), pages 729-753, October.
    19. Easton, Pd & Harris, Ts, 1991. "Earnings As An Explanatory Variable For Returns," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 19-36.
    20. George P. Baker & Robert E. Kennedy, 2002. "Survivorship and the Economic Grim Reaper," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(2), pages 324-361, October.
    21. Kothari, S. P., 2001. "Capital markets research in accounting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 105-231, September.
    22. Steven F. Cahan & Charl De Villiers & Debra C. Jeter & Vic Naiker & Chris J. Van Staden, 2016. "Are CSR Disclosures Value Relevant? Cross-Country Evidence," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(3), pages 579-611, September.
    23. Vuong, Quang H, 1989. "Likelihood Ratio Tests for Model Selection and Non-nested Hypotheses," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 57(2), pages 307-333, March.
    24. Burgstahler, David & Dichev, Ilia, 1997. "Earnings management to avoid earnings decreases and losses," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 99-126, December.
    25. Steven Cahan & David Emanuel & Jerry Sun, 2009. "The effect of earnings quality and country-level institutions on the value relevance of earnings," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 33(4), pages 371-391, November.
    26. Francis, J & Schipper, K, 1999. "Have financial statements lost their relevance?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 319-352.
    27. Bronson, Scott N. & Hogan, Chris E. & Johnson, Marilyn F. & Ramesh, K., 2011. "The unintended consequences of PCAOB auditing Standard Nos. 2 and 3 on the reliability of preliminary earnings releases," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 95-114.
    28. Ray Ball & Lakshmanan Shivakumar, 2008. "How Much New Information Is There in Earnings?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(5), pages 975-1016, December.
    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. Abdulrahman Alomair & Alan Farley & Helen Hong Yang, 2022. "The impact of IFRS adoption on the value relevance of accounting information in Saudi Arabia," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(2), pages 2839-2878, June.

    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. S. P. Kothari & Charles Wasley, 2019. "Commemorating the 50‐Year Anniversary of Ball and Brown (1968): The Evolution of Capital Market Research over the Past 50 Years," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(5), pages 1117-1159, December.
    2. Wen He & Ki Hoon Hong & Eliza Wu, 2020. "Does Investor Sentiment Affect the Value Relevance of Accounting Information?," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 56(4), pages 535-560, December.
    3. Vinay Goyal & Subrata K. Mitra, 2022. "Is the asymmetric impact of aggregate revenue and aggregate earnings on the stock index in accordance with the prospect theory?," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 22(1), pages 200-222, March.
    4. Schaberl, Philipp D., 2016. "Beyond accounting and back: An empirical examination of the relative relevance of earnings and “other” information," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 98-113.
    5. Igor Goncharov & Allan Hodgson, 2008. "Comprehensive Income In Europe: Valuation, Prediction And Conservative Issues," Annales Universitatis Apulensis Series Oeconomica, Faculty of Sciences, "1 Decembrie 1918" University, Alba Iulia, vol. 1(10), pages 1-1.
    6. Habib, Ahsan, 2008. "The role of accruals and cash flows in explaining security returns: Evidence from New Zealand," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 51-66.
    7. Mohamed Sellami, 2006. "Typologie des déterminants comptables de la valeur : Apports de l'approche économique de l'information dans la mesure de la valeur," Post-Print halshs-00558252, HAL.
    8. Alessandro Mechelli & Riccardo Cimini, 2014. "The value relevance of earnings and book value across the EU. A comparative Analysis," FINANCIAL REPORTING, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2014(2-3-4), pages 83-113.
    9. Misund, Bård & Asche, Frank & Osmundsen, Petter, 2008. "Industry upheaval and valuation: Empirical evidence from the international oil and gas industry," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 398-424, December.
    10. Misund, Bård & Osmundsen, Petter, 2015. "The Value Relevance of Accounting Figures in the Oil & Gas Industry: Cash Flow or Accruals?," UiS Working Papers in Economics and Finance 2015/19, University of Stavanger.
    11. Helena Isidro & José G. Dias, 2017. "Earnings quality and the heterogeneous relation between earnings and stock returns," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 49(4), pages 1143-1165, November.
    12. Chen, Peter & Zhang, Guochang, 2007. "How do accounting variables explain stock price movements? Theory and evidence," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2-3), pages 219-244, July.
    13. Eddie Chamisa & Musa Mangena & Hamutyinei Harvey Pamburai & Venancio Tauringana, 2018. "Financial reporting in hyperinflationary economies and the value relevance of accounting amounts: hard evidence from Zimbabwe," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 1241-1273, December.
    14. Goncharov, Igor & Werner, Joerg R. & Zimmermann, Jochen, 2009. "Legislative demands and economic realities: Company and group accounts compared," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 334-362, December.
    15. Daniel, Kent & Hirshleifer, David & Teoh, Siew Hong, 2002. "Investor psychology in capital markets: evidence and policy implications," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 139-209, January.
    16. Abdulrahman Alomair & Alan Farley & Helen Hong Yang, 2022. "The impact of IFRS adoption on the value relevance of accounting information in Saudi Arabia," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(2), pages 2839-2878, June.
    17. Isidro, Helena & Raonic, Ivana, 2012. "Firm incentives, institutional complexity and the quality of “harmonized” accounting numbers," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 407-436.
    18. Ray Ball & Lakshmanan Shivakumar, 2008. "How Much New Information Is There in Earnings?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(5), pages 975-1016, December.
    19. Blankespoor, Elizabeth & deHaan, Ed & Marinovic, Iván, 2020. "Disclosure processing costs, investors’ information choice, and equity market outcomes: A review," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2).
    20. Fargher, Neil & Wee, Marvin, 2019. "The impact of Ball and Brown (1968) on generations of research," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 55-72.

    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:acctfi:v:60:y:2020:i:3:p:2549-2583. 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: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaanzea.html .

    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.