IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/lrc/larijb/v2y2012i2p12-19.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Earnings volatility and the role of cash flows in the capital markets: Empirical evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Dr. Melita Charitou

    (Associate Professor of ,Finance and Accounting,University of Nicosia, Cyprus)

Abstract

The recent global financial crisis brought to the forefront of the capital markets the importance of firm fundamentals and especially, the valuation role of cash flows. In this study, we examine the role of earnings and cash flows in two major capital markets, namely, USA and France. We hypothesize that the relationship between cash flows and security returns improves when earnings are transitory and this robustness is country specific. The dataset consists of more than 37,000 USA and French firm-year observations over an eight-year period. Multivariate statistical regression analysis is undertaken to test the major research hypotheses. Results indicate that when earnings are transitory (unstable), investors pay more attention to cash flows and less attention to earnings, a result indicating that investors penalize firms with unstable earnings. In summary, the evidence provided in this study supports that there are substantial differences in the way investors and financial analysts perceive financial information such as earnings and cash flows in France and USA. These results should be of great importance to the major stakeholders such as investors, creditors, financial analysts, especially after the recent global financial crisis and the collapse of giant organizations worldwide.

Suggested Citation

  • Dr. Melita Charitou, 2012. "Earnings volatility and the role of cash flows in the capital markets: Empirical evidence," International Journal of Business and Social Research, LAR Center Press, vol. 2(2), pages 12-19, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:lrc:larijb:v:2:y:2012:i:2:p:12-19
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://thejournalofbusiness.org/index.php/site/article/view/187/186
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tuomo Vuolteenaho, 2002. "What Drives Firm‐Level Stock Returns?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(1), pages 233-264, February.
    2. Neil, Mahdi Garrod Hadi, 1998. "Investor Response to Cash Flow Information," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(5‐6), pages 613-630, June.
    3. Rajiv D. Banker & Rong Huang & Ramachandran Natarajan, 2009. "Incentive Contracting and Value Relevance of Earnings and Cash Flows," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3), pages 647-678, June.
    4. Dechow, Patricia M., 1994. "Accounting earnings and cash flows as measures of firm performance : The role of accounting accruals," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 3-42, July.
    5. Uhrig-Homburg, Marliese, 2005. "Cash-flow shortage as an endogenous bankruptcy reason," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 1509-1534, June.
    6. Pascal Dumontier & Bernard Raffournier, 2002. "Accounting and capital markets: a survey of the European evidence," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(1), pages 119-151.
    7. Ali, A & Hwang, LS, 2000. "Country-specific factors related to financial reporting and the value relevance of accounting data," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1), pages 1-21.
    8. Ball, Ray & Kothari, S. P. & Robin, Ashok, 2000. "The effect of international institutional factors on properties of accounting earnings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-51, February.
    9. Ball, Ray & Robin, Ashok & Wu, Joanna Shuang, 2003. "Incentives versus standards: properties of accounting income in four East Asian countries," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1-3), pages 235-270, December.
    10. Neil Garrod, 1998. "Investor Response to Cash Flow Information," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(5&6), pages 613-630.
    11. Cheng, CSA & Liu, CS & Schaefer, TF, 1996. "Earnings permanence and the incremental information content of cash flows from operations," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1), pages 173-181.
    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. Dr. Melita Charitou, 2012. "Earnings volatility and the role of cash flows in the capital markets: Empirical evidence," International Journal of Business and Social Research, MIR Center for Socio-Economic Research, vol. 2(2), pages 12-19, April.
    2. Melita CHARITOU & Petros LOIS & Adamos VLITTIS, 2010. "Do Capital Markets Value Earnings And Cash Flows Alike? International Empirical Evidence," Journal of Applied Economic Sciences, Spiru Haret University, Faculty of Financial Management and Accounting Craiova, vol. 5(3(13)/Fal), pages 173-183.
    3. Hao, Qian & Shi, Xiangyan & Bu, Danlu, 2018. "The Chinese stimulus program from 2008 to 2010 and accounting information quality," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 64-78.
    4. Takashi Obinata, 2002. "Concept and Relevance of Income," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-171, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    5. Karampinis, Nikolaos I. & Hevas, Dimosthenis L., 2011. "Mandating IFRS in an Unfavorable Environment: The Greek Experience," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 304-332, September.
    6. Hanlon, Michelle & Maydew, Edward L. & Shevlin, Terry, 2008. "An unintended consequence of book-tax conformity: A loss of earnings informativeness," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(2-3), pages 294-311, December.
    7. Macías, Marta & Muiño, Flora, 2011. "Examining dual accounting systems in Europe," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 51-78, March.
    8. Oz, Ibrahim Onur & Yelkenci, Tezer, 2018. "Examination of real and accrual earnings management: A cross-country analysis of legal origin under IFRS," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 24-37.
    9. Todd A. Gormley & Bong Hwan Kim & Xiumin Martin, 2012. "Do Firms Adjust Their Timely Loss Recognition in Response to Changes in the Banking Industry?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 159-196, March.
    10. C.S. Agnes Cheng & Simon S.M. Yang, 2003. "The Incremental Information Content of Earnings and Cash Flows from Operations Affected by Their Extremity," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1‐2), pages 73-116, January.
    11. Zhaoyang Gu, 2007. "Across‐sample Incomparability of R2s and Additional Evidence on Value Relevance Changes Over Time," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(7‐8), pages 1073-1098, September.
    12. Ball, Ray & Shivakumar, Lakshmanan, 2008. "Earnings quality at initial public offerings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(2-3), pages 324-349, August.
    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. Hung, Mingyi, 2000. "Accounting standards and value relevance of financial statements: An international analysis," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 401-420, December.
    15. Cristina Gaio, 2010. "The Relative Importance of Firm and Country Characteristics for Earnings Quality around the World," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(4), pages 693-738.
    16. Manganaris, Panayotis & Beccalli, Elena & Dimitropoulos, Panagiotis, 2017. "Bank transparency and the crisis," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 121-137.
    17. Juan Manuel García Lara & Beatriz García Osma & Belén Gill de Albornoz Noguer, 2006. "Effects of database choice on international accounting research," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 42(3‐4), pages 426-454, September.
    18. Filip, Andrei & Raffournier, Bernard, 2010. "The value relevance of earnings in a transition economy: The case of Romania," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 77-103, March.
    19. Peter F. Pope, 2003. "Discussion of Disclosure Practices, Enforcement of Accounting Standards, and Analysts' Forecast Accuracy: An International Study," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(2), pages 273-283, May.
    20. Elisabete F. Simões Vieira, 2016. "Earnings Management in Public Family Firms under Economic Adversity," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 26(2), pages 190-207, June.

    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:lrc:larijb:v:2:y:2012:i:2:p:12-19. 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: Al Hossain (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.thejournalofbusiness.org .

    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.