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Experimental study of implications of SFAS 131: The effects of the new standard on the informativeness of segment reporting

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  • Bar-Yosef, Sasson
  • Venezia, Itzhak

Abstract

This paper analyzes whether the new business segment reporting disclosure rules, SFAS 131, will actually provide capital market participants with more predictive ability than the previous rules. For this we conduct three experiments. Two experiments with advanced accounting students as subjects, where the experiments differ in the firm the subjects analyze, and the third with professional financial analysts. In each experiment we provide one group of subjects with accounting reports based on the new standard (New Rules Group, NRG), and another group with reports based on the old standard (Old Rules Group, ORG). We ask both groups to forecast several accounting and market values of a firm. We then compare the performance predictions and analyses of the two groups. Most of the forecasts of the NRG are neither significantly different from those of the ORG, nor significantly more accurate. Subjects also report the variables that they consider important in their analysis. 25% of the NRG students in Experiment I mention the segment data as being central in their decisions and 33% say they used segment or sector data. Among the analysts in Experiment II the corresponding percentages are 0% and 60%, respectively. Also in experiment III, where the subjects rank the top 4 variables they use in their predictions according to importance, segment repots receive a mediocre rank. It therefore appears that the reports according to the new rules, whereas noticeable by the subjects, do not have a major positive impact on their responses. The subjects also exhibit a considerable degree of overconfidence.

Suggested Citation

  • Bar-Yosef, Sasson & Venezia, Itzhak, 2004. "Experimental study of implications of SFAS 131: The effects of the new standard on the informativeness of segment reporting," Discussion Papers 2004/13, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:fubsbe:200413
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Philip G. Berger & Rebecca Hann, 2003. "The Impact of SFAS No. 131 on Information and Monitoring," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(2), pages 163-223, May.
    2. Richard H. Thaler & Shlomo Benartzi, 2001. "Naive Diversification Strategies in Defined Contribution Saving Plans," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(1), pages 79-98, March.
    3. Balakrishnan, R & Harris, Ts & Sen, Pk, 1990. "The Predictive Ability Of Geographic Segment Disclosures," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 305-325.
    4. Maines, LA & McDaniel, LS & Harris, MS, 1997. "Implications of proposed segment reporting standards for financial analysts' investment judgments," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35, pages 1-24.
    5. Otley, Dt & Dias, Fjb, 1982. "Accounting Aggregation And Decision-Making Performance - An Experimental Investigation," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(1), pages 171-188.
    6. Harris, MS, 1998. "The association between competition and managers' business segment reporting decisions," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(1), pages 111-128.
    7. Hopkins, PE, 1996. "The effect of financial statement classification of hybrid financial instruments on financial analysts' stock price judgments," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34, pages 33-50.
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    Cited by:

    1. Bitzer, Jurgen & Schrettl, Wolfram & Schroder, Philipp J.H., 2007. "Intrinsic motivation in open source software development," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 160-169, March.
    2. Boom, Anette, 2004. ""Download for Free": When do providers of digital goods offer free samples?," Discussion Papers 2004/28, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    3. Sasson Bar-Yosef & Itzhak Venezia, 2014. "An Experimental Study of Overconfidence in Accounting Numbers Predictions," International Journal of Economic Sciences, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2014(1), pages 78-89.
    4. Volckart, Oliver & Wolf, Nikolaus, 2004. "Estimating medieval market integration: Evidence from exchange rates," Discussion Papers 2004/21, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    segment reporting; FASB 131; experimental economics; overconfidence;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M40 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - General

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