IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v19y2016icp146-157.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does the earnings quality matter? Evidence from a quasi-experimental setting

Author

Listed:
  • Baschieri, Giulia
  • Carosi, Andrea
  • Mengoli, Stefano

Abstract

Investor preference for local stocks provides a quasi-experimental setting to investigate whether the market rewards firms that comply with generally accepted accounting principles. We show firms with low earnings quality trade at a premium compared to firms in compliance with accounting principles; the difference in values is greater when the role of local investor over-trading is stronger in stock price-formation, in other words for the more isolated firms. The value of the information not conveyed to the market through accounting disclosure accounts for 30% of the market-to-book. Results are robust to earnings quality definition, and show while non-local investors are sensitive to the quality of accounting information, local and better-informed investors are not. Overall, accounting quality matters.

Suggested Citation

  • Baschieri, Giulia & Carosi, Andrea & Mengoli, Stefano, 2016. "Does the earnings quality matter? Evidence from a quasi-experimental setting," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 146-157.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:19:y:2016:i:c:p:146-157
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2016.07.006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S154461231630126X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2016.07.006?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
    ---><---

    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. Francis, Jennifer & LaFond, Ryan & Olsson, Per & Schipper, Katherine, 2005. "The market pricing of accruals quality," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 295-327, June.
    2. Zoran Ivković & Scott Weisbenner, 2005. "Local Does as Local Is: Information Content of the Geography of Individual Investors' Common Stock Investments," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(1), pages 267-306, February.
    3. Marco Bigelli & Stefano Mengoli, 2011. "Self‐Expropriation versus Self‐Interest in Dual‐Class Voting: The Pirelli Case Study," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 40(3), pages 677-699, September.
    4. Michael C. Jensen, 1968. "The Performance Of Mutual Funds In The Period 1945–1964," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 23(2), pages 389-416, May.
    5. Kothari, S. P., 2001. "Capital markets research in accounting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 105-231, September.
    6. Jin, Li & Myers, Stewart C., 2006. "R2 around the world: New theory and new tests," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(2), pages 257-292, February.
    7. Ecker, Frank & Francis, Jennifer & Olsson, Per & Schipper, Katherine, 2013. "Estimation sample selection for discretionary accruals models," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 190-211.
    8. Hong, Harrison & Kubik, Jeffrey D. & Stein, Jeremy C., 2008. "The only game in town: Stock-price consequences of local bias," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 20-37, October.
    9. Chen, Joseph & Hong, Harrison & Stein, Jeremy C., 2001. "Forecasting crashes: trading volume, past returns, and conditional skewness in stock prices," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 345-381, September.
    10. Douglas Cumming & Sofia Johan, 2006. "Provincial preferences in private equity," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 20(4), pages 369-398, December.
    11. Mitchell A. Petersen, 2009. "Estimating Standard Errors in Finance Panel Data Sets: Comparing Approaches," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 435-480, January.
    12. Chaney, Paul K. & Faccio, Mara & Parsley, David, 2011. "The quality of accounting information in politically connected firms," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 58-76.
    13. Dechow, Patricia & Ge, Weili & Schrand, Catherine, 2010. "Understanding earnings quality: A review of the proxies, their determinants and their consequences," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 344-401, December.
    14. Huberman, Gur, 2001. "Familiarity Breeds Investment," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 14(3), pages 659-680.
    15. Leuz, Christian & Nanda, Dhananjay & Wysocki, Peter D., 2003. "Earnings management and investor protection: an international comparison," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 505-527, September.
    16. George M. Korniotis & Alok Kumar, 2013. "State-Level Business Cycles and Local Return Predictability," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(3), pages 1037-1096, June.
    17. Chung, Huimin & Sheu, Her-Jiun & Wang, Juo-Lien, 2009. "Do firms' earnings management practices affect their equity liquidity?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 152-158, September.
    18. Bagella, Michele & Becchetti, Leonardo & Carpentieri, Andrea, 2000. ""The first shall be last". Size and value strategy premia at the London Stock Exchange," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 893-919, June.
    19. repec:bla:jfinan:v:53:y:1998:i:6:p:1839-1885 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Annalisa Prencipe, 2004. "Proprietary costs and determinants of voluntary segment disclosure: evidence from Italian listed companies," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 319-340.
    21. Tom Aabo & Christos Pantzalis & Maja Stoholm S?rensen, 2013. "Game hoarding in Europe: stock-price consequences of local bias?," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(4), pages 318-335, April.
    22. Birz, Gene & Lott Jr., John R., 2011. "The effect of macroeconomic news on stock returns: New evidence from newspaper coverage," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(11), pages 2791-2800, November.
    23. Hall, Bronwyn H. & Oriani, Raffaele, 2006. "Does the market value R&D investment by European firms? Evidence from a panel of manufacturing firms in France, Germany, and Italy," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 971-993, September.
    24. Baruch Lev, 2003. "Corporate Earnings: Facts and Fiction," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 17(2), pages 27-50, Spring.
    25. David Hirshleifer, 2001. "Investor Psychology and Asset Pricing," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(4), pages 1533-1597, August.
    26. Cumming, Douglas & Zambelli, Simona, 2013. "Private equity performance under extreme regulation," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 1508-1523.
    27. Baschieri, Giulia & Carosi, Andrea & Mengoli, Stefano, 2015. "Local IPOs, local delistings, and the firm location premium," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 67-83.
    28. Konan Chan & Louis K. C. Chan & Narasimhan Jegadeesh & Josef Lakonishok, 2006. "Earnings Quality and Stock Returns," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 79(3), pages 1041-1082, May.
    29. Henry Lahr, 2014. "An Improved Test for Earnings Management Using Kernel Density Estimation," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(4), pages 559-591, December.
    30. Kent D. Daniel & David Hirshleifer & Avanidhar Subrahmanyam, 2001. "Overconfidence, Arbitrage, and Equilibrium Asset Pricing," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(3), pages 921-965, June.
    31. Hutton, Amy P. & Marcus, Alan J. & Tehranian, Hassan, 2009. "Opaque financial reports, R2, and crash risk," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(1), pages 67-86, October.
    32. Joshua D. Coval & Tobias J. Moskowitz, 1999. "Home Bias at Home: Local Equity Preference in Domestic Portfolios," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(6), pages 2045-2073, December.
    33. Shan, Liwei & Gong, Stephen X., 2012. "Investor sentiment and stock returns: Wenchuan Earthquake," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 36-47.
    34. Joshua D. Coval & Tobias J. Moskowitz, 2001. "The Geography of Investment: Informed Trading and Asset Prices," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 109(4), pages 811-841, August.
    35. Louis K. C. Chan & Josef Lakonishok & Theodore Sougiannis, 2001. "The Stock Market Valuation of Research and Development Expenditures," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(6), pages 2431-2456, December.
    36. van Dijk, Mathijs A., 2011. "Is size dead? A review of the size effect in equity returns," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 3263-3274.
    37. Mark Grinblatt & Matti Keloharju, 2001. "How Distance, Language, and Culture Influence Stockholdings and Trades," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(3), pages 1053-1073, June.
    38. Keloharju, Matti & Kulp, Kaj, 1996. "Market-to-book ratios, equity retention, and management ownership in Finnish initial public offerings," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(9), pages 1583-1599, November.
    39. Korniotis, George M. & Kumar, Alok, 2013. "Do Portfolio Distortions Reflect Superior Information or Psychological Biases?," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 48(1), pages 1-45, February.
    40. Bhattacharya, Utpal & Daouk, Hazem & Welker, Michael, 2003. "The World Price of Earnings Opacity," Working Papers 127185, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    41. Core, John E. & Guay, Wayne R. & Verdi, Rodrigo, 2008. "Is accruals quality a priced risk factor?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 2-22, September.
    42. Huang, Alex YiHou & Cheng, Chiao-Ming, 2013. "Information risk and credit contagion," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 116-123.
    43. 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.
    44. Khaled Al Jifri & David Citron, 2009. "The Value-Relevance of Financial Statement Recognition versus Note Disclosure: Evidence from Goodwill Accounting," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 123-140.
    45. Arnold, Patricia J., 2009. "Global financial crisis: The challenge to accounting research," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(6-7), pages 803-809, August.
    46. Cumming, Douglas & Dai, Na, 2010. "Local bias in venture capital investments," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 362-380, June.
    47. Kumar, Alok, 2009. "Hard-to-Value Stocks, Behavioral Biases, and Informed Trading," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(6), pages 1375-1401, December.
    48. Peter O. Christensen & Hans Frimor & Florin Sabac, 2013. "The Stewardship Role of Analyst Forecasts, and Discretionary Versus Non-discretionary Accruals," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(2), pages 257-296, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Carosi, Andrea, 2016. "Do local causations matter? The effect of firm location on the relations of ROE, R&D, and firm SIZE with MARKET-TO-BOOK," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 388-409.
    2. Baschieri, Giulia & Carosi, Andrea & Mengoli, Stefano, 2015. "Local IPOs, local delistings, and the firm location premium," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 67-83.
    3. Pantzalis, Christos & Park, Jung Chul, 2014. "Exuberance out of left field: Do sports results cause investors to take their eyes off the ball?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 107(PB), pages 760-780.
    4. Xu, Limin & Yu, Chia-Feng (Jeffrey) & Zurbruegg, Ralf, 2020. "The benefit of being a local leader: Evidence from firm-specific stock price crash risk," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    5. Chan, Kalok & Covrig, Vicentiu, 2012. "What determines mutual fund trading in foreign stocks?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 793-817.
    6. 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.
    7. Ding, Xiaoya (Sara) & Ni, Yang & Rahman, Abdul & Saadi, Samir, 2015. "Housing price growth and the cost of equity capital," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 283-300.
    8. Dong, Dayong & Jiang, Danling & Wu, Keke & Zhu, Hongquan, 2024. "Game in another town: Geography of stock watchlists and firm valuation," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    9. Pietro Perotti & Alfred Wagenhofer, 2014. "Earnings Quality Measures and Excess Returns," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(5-6), pages 545-571, June.
    10. Bai, Min & Xu, Limin & Yu, Chia-Feng (Jeffrey) & Zurbruegg, Ralf, 2020. "Superstition and stock price crash risk," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    11. Yaniv Konchitchki & Yan Luo & Mary L. Z. Ma & Feng Wu, 2016. "Accounting-based downside risk, cost of capital, and the macroeconomy," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 1-36, March.
    12. Bo Becker & Zoran Ivković & Scott Weisbenner, 2011. "Local Dividend Clienteles," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(2), pages 655-683, April.
    13. Christina Guenther & Sofia Johan & Denis Schweizer, 2018. "Is the crowd sensitive to distance?—how investment decisions differ by investor type," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 50(2), pages 289-305, February.
    14. Chen, Changling & Kim, Jeong-Bon & Yao, Li, 2017. "Earnings smoothing: Does it exacerbate or constrain stock price crash risk?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 36-54.
    15. Shao, Ran & Wang, Na, 2021. "Trust and local bias of individual investors," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    16. Barth, Mary E. & Konchitchki, Yaniv & Landsman, Wayne R., 2013. "Cost of capital and earnings transparency," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 206-224.
    17. Guiso, Luigi & Sodini, Paolo, 2013. "Household Finance: An Emerging Field," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1397-1532, Elsevier.
    18. David Hirshleife, 2015. "Behavioral Finance," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 7(1), pages 133-159, December.
    19. Dougal, Casey & Rettl, Daniel A., 2021. "Firm listing status and the investment home bias," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    20. Sadok El Ghoul & Omrane Guedhami & Yang Ni & Jeffrey Pittman & Samir Saadi, 2012. "Does Religion Matter to Equity Pricing?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 111(4), pages 491-518, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Earnings quality; Accounting information; Local Home Bias;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates

    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:eee:finlet:v:19:y:2016:i:c:p:146-157. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/frl .

    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.