Download or read book Earnings Management or Forecast Guidance to Meet Analyst Expectations written by Vasiliki E. Athanasakou and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 53 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We examine whether UK firms engage in earnings management or forecast guidance to ensure that their reported earnings meet analyst earnings expectations. We explore two earnings management mechanisms: a) positive abnormal working capital accruals and b) classification shifting of core expenses to non-recurring items. We find no evidence of a positive association between income-increasing abnormal working capital accruals and the probability of meeting analyst forecasts. Instead we find evidence consistent with a subset of larger firms shifting small core expenses to other non-recurring items to just hit analyst expectations with core earnings. We also find that the probability of meeting analyst expectations increases with downward guided forecasts. Overall our results suggest that UK firms are more likely to engage in earnings forecast guidance or, for a subset of larger firms, in classification shifting rather than in accruals management to avoid negative earnings surprises.

Download or read book Earnings Management Or Forecast Guidance to Meet Analyst Expectations written by Vasiliki Athanasakou and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 41 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Earnings Management and Forecast Guidance as Mechanisms to Meet Or Beat Analysts Earnings Forecasts written by Lixin Su and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Real Earnings Management and the Properties of Analysts Forecasts written by Lisa Eiler and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 43 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We examine how analysts' earnings forecast properties vary when accounting information is more difficult to process. Specifically, we investigate whether analysts' forecast properties are associated with traditional real earnings management (REM) measures. We hypothesize and find that analysts' forecast errors and dispersion are greater for REM firms. Next, we investigate cross-sectional differences among REM firms based on the presence of management guidance. We find some evidence that management guidance reduces the association between REM and analysts' forecast error, and strong evidence that management guidance reduces the association between REM and dispersion. Finally, we investigate cross-sectional differences among REM firms based on their earnings management incentives. We find that firms with low earnings management incentives drive the association between REM and analysts' forecast error and dispersion. This result suggests earnings are most difficult to forecast for REM firms lacking obvious financial reporting objectives. Our results are consistent across numerous proxies for REM. To the best of our knowledge, our paper is the first to provide robust evidence of a relation between REM and the properties of analysts' forecasts.

Download or read book Analyst Forecasts Earnings Management and Insider Trading Patterns written by Garen Markarian and published by VDM Publishing. This book was released on 2008 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For at least two decades, it was believed that making managers into owners could ameliorate many agency conflicts existing in capital markets settings. In fact, it now appears that managerial ownership of stock itself may encourage earnings manipulations. In this study, we show that CEO insider trading, earnings manipulations, and the ability to meet and exceed market benchmarks are all interrelated. Managers manipulate earnings to exceed analyst earnings forecasts. Additionally, managerial insider selling increases with performance relative to analyst forecasts, and is magnified by stock option holdings. Insider selling is more intense among managers who have used earnings manipulations to exceed forecasts. Additionally, managers who sell following the announcement of an earnings surprise are able to earn abnormal profits. Firms having both positive earnings surprises and insider selling exhibit lower subsequent accounting performance. This study is of interest to academics, practitioners who are interested in the finer mechanisms of markets, and advanced finance students, alike.

Download or read book Management Bias Across Multiple Accounting Estimates written by Timothy A. Seidel and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 69 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We examine whether managers appear to aggregate bias in multiple subjective accrual estimates to meet or just beat analyst expectations. We also consider whether the updated language in recent PCAOB auditing standards, focusing auditors on the potential for bias across multiple estimates, impacted this method of managing earnings. Using hand-collected data from a sample of manufacturing firms, we find that meeting or just beating the most recent consensus analyst earnings forecast is positively associated with income-increasing bias aggregated from multiple accounting estimates. We also find that this relation attenuates in the years following the issuance of PCAOB auditing standards focusing auditors on this issue. Further analyses reveal that after these standards were released, firms increased the use of income-increasing, unexpected non-GAAP exclusions to meet or just beat expectations, an alternative technique subject to less auditor scrutiny. Additionally, firms using bias from multiple accounting estimates after the updated guidance in these PCAOB standards do so using bias spread in smaller amounts across more individual estimates. These findings provide important insight into how managers use accruals to meet or just beat an important benchmark as well as the impact of PCAOB auditing standard updates on this earnings management practice.

Download or read book Mechanisms to Meet Beat Analyst Earnings Expectations in the Pre and Post Sarbanes Oxley Eras written by Eli Bartov and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper asks two questions. First, has the prevalence of expectations management tomeet/beat analyst expectations changed in the aftermath of the 2001-2002 accountingscandals and the passage of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)? Second, has the mixamong the three mechanisms used for meeting earnings targets: accrual earningsmanagement, real earnings management, and earnings expectations management shiftedin the Post-SOX Period? We document that the propensity to meet/beat analystexpectations has declined significantly in the Post-SOX Period. Our primary findingsexplain this pattern. In particular, we find a decline in the use of expectationsmanagement and accrual management, and no change in real earnings management in thePost-SOX Period relative to the preceding seven-year period. Our results are robust tocontrolling for varying macro economic conditions. These findings contribute to theacademic literature, investors, and regulators.

Download or read book Management Earnings Forecast Issuance and Earnings Surprises written by T. Sabri Oncu and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper studies the impact of firms' public management guidance on their ability to meet or beat analysts' consensus forecasts. The model set forth here accounts for endogeneity of firms' management earnings forecast issuance to examine whether their public management guidance raises their probability of generating favorable earnings surprises. In addition, the model allows for state dependence to investigate whether the firms' past outcomes have any impact on the probabilities of their meeting or beating analysts' consensus forecasts and management forecast issuance. Based on a panel dataset of 1,807 firms and 28,031 firm-quarters between 1994 and 2002, I find the following: Firstly, firms that meet or beat their own management forecast are more likely to meet or beat the analysts' consensus forecast. Secondly, firms with a long history of meeting or beating the analysts' consensus forecasts are more likely to repeat their previous performance. Thirdly, firms with a long history of meeting or beating their own forecasts are more likely to issue management forecasts that they can meet or beat. And lastly, firms with a long history of meeting or beating analysts' consensus forecasts are more likely to issue management forecasts that they can meet or beat. The evidence presented in this paper suggests that not only firms' public management guidance but also their past outcomes play an important role in their ability to generate favorable earnings surprises.

Download or read book Analyst s Forecasts as Earnings Expectations written by Patricia C O'Brien and published by Palala Press. This book was released on 2018-03-04 with total page 74 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Download or read book Does Quarterly Earnings Guidance Increase Or Reduce Earnings Management written by Andrew Alexei Acito and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study adds to the earnings guidance debate by investigating whether quarterly guidance is related to two forms of earnings management: (1) benchmark beating and (2) accounting irregularities. Using a post-Regulation Fair Disclosure sample, I find that firms regularly issuing earnings guidance display a discontinuity around zero in their distribution of management forecast errors and a larger discontinuity in their distribution of analyst forecast errors compared to non-guiding firms. Multivariate tests reveal that guiding firms recognize large abnormal accruals to beat their own guidance, but not to beat analyst forecasts, whereas non-guiding firms do recognize large abnormal accruals to beat analyst forecasts. Overall, guiding firms and non-guiding firms use similar levels of abnormal accruals to beat benchmarks. I also find no statistical relation between quarterly guidance and the likelihood of accounting irregularities. In sum, the evidence shows that while guiding firms and non-guiding firms manage earnings to different benchmarks, they are similar in terms of their aggregate earnings management.

Download or read book Analysts Response to Earnings Management written by Xiaohui Liu and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 91 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Previous literature studies analysts' earnings forecasts without considering firms' response to analysts' forecasts. This study improves upon previous research by considering firms' earnings management with respect to analysts' forecasts. I hypothesize that analysts understand these earnings management practices, and incorporate firms' expected behavior into their forecasts. I demonstrate that for firms with high tendencies and flexibilities to manage earnings downwards, and/or firms with negatively skewed earnings, analysts account for earnings management practices by lowering the otherwise optimal forecasts. Comparing analysts' consensus forecasts with proxy for non-strategic forecasts (otherwise optimal forecasts), I find that analysts' forecasts are systematically below the non-strategic forecasts for firm-quarters that have: high accounting reserves available to manage earnings downwards, high unmanaged earnings, low debt to equity ratios, negative forecasted earnings, and negatively skewed unmanaged earnings. These results suggest that analysts forecast below the non-strategic level in order to avoid the large optimistic forecast errors that occur when firms who cannot meet forecasts manage earnings downward. The test results also suggest that analysts forecast above the non-strategic forecasts when earnings are positively skewed, and/or when firms have high tendencies and flexibilities to manage earnings upwards.

Download or read book Meeting Individual Analyst Expectations written by Marcus Kirk and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 49 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The expectations management literature has so far focused on firms meeting the analyst consensus forecast -- the expectations of analysts as a group -- at earnings announcements. In this study we argue that investors may use individual analyst forecasts as additional benchmarks in evaluating reported earnings because the consensus forecast underutilizes private information contained in individual analyst forecasts. We predict that measures reflecting such private information have incremental explanatory power over the consensus forecast for the market's reaction to earnings news. We find results consistent with this prediction by examining two measures: (1) the percentage of individual forecasts met and (2) meeting the key analyst forecast. We extend the literature by documenting the role of individual analyst forecasts in investors' evaluations of reported earnings.

Download or read book The Market Reward for Achieving Analyst Earnings Expectations written by Vasiliki E. Athanasakou and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 51 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study explores the market response to achieving analyst earnings expectations, distinguishing between expectations achieved through earnings forecast guidance and earnings management. We consider three earnings management tools: real earnings management, working capital accruals management, and classification shifting. Analysis indicates that UK firms use earnings forecast guidance and classification shifting to achieve analyst expectations. The market does not reward firms that achieve expectations through forecast guidance, and achievers that classification shift receive a lower market reward than genuine achievers. The market response aligns with information on future profitability and rational pricing tests show that there is no overall mispricing of achievers. Evidence of stock price incentives to engage in earnings forecast guidance is found only within more opportunistic downward forecast revisions mainly driven by high market growth expectations.

Download or read book Whisper Forecasts and Earnings Management written by Arnoldo Jose Rodriguez and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Management s Incentives to Guide Analysts Forecasts written by Dawn A. Matsumoto and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 54 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent reports in the popular press allege that managers guide analysts' forecasts downward to improve their chances of meeting or beating these forecasts when earnings are announced. Since the majority of this alleged guidance is unobservable, I use systematic patterns in analysts' forecast errors as a proxy for firm-provided guidance and examine both the change in guidance over time as well as the characteristics of firms exhibiting evidence of this guidance. The evidence is consistent with an increase in firm-provided guidance in recent years and differences across firms in the propensity to guide forecasts downward. In particular, I find: 1) an increasing number of forecast errors exactly equal to zero particularly for firms with initially high forecasts; 2) when firms miss analysts' expectations at the earnings announcement, the proportion that miss quot;highquot; (positive earnings surprise) versus miss quot;lowquot; (negative earnings surprise) has increased in recent years particularly for firms with initially high forecasts; 3) firms with higher growth prospects, higher institutional ownership, and higher litigation risk are more likely to guide analysts' forecasts downward to ensure reported earnings meet expectations at the earnings announcement, while firms with low value relevance of earnings are less likely to do so; and 4) firms with high institutional ownership and reliance on implicit claims with their stakeholders tend to exceed rather than fall short of expectations at the earnings announcement.

Download or read book The Effect of Meeting Analyst Forecasts and Systematic Positive Forecast Errors on the Information Content of Unexpected Earnings written by Thomas J. Lopez and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 39 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper focuses on two distinct, but related, issues with respect to managers' incentives to report earnings that meet or exceed analysts' expectations. First, we assess the differential stock price sensitivity to earnings that meet or exceed analysts' expectations compared to those that do not. Second, we examine whether the market implicitly revises analysts' earnings forecasts for firms that systematically report earnings that exceed forecasts. We find that the earnings response coefficient (ERC) is significantly higher for firms that meet analysts' forecasts. Additionally, we find that the market recognizes and adjusts the forecast error of firms that exhibit a systematic pattern of reporting positive or negative unexpected earnings. The market fully adjusts for the systematic component of the forecast error when it is negative; however, only a partial adjustment is made when the systematic component is positive. Overall, our evidence suggests that managers who try to report earnings that meet analysts' forecasts are responding to two market incentives. First, the market provides a premium to positive forecast errors and assigns a higher multiple to the level of positive unexpected earnings. Second, though the market recognizes systematic bias in analysts' forecasts, it does not fully adjust for systematically positive forecast errors. Our evidence provides, at a minimum, a partial explanation for managers' fixation on reporting positive unexpected earnings.

Download or read book Analysts Forecasts as Earnings Expectations Classic Reprint written by Patricia C. O'Brien and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2018-02-26 with total page 74 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Analysts' Forecasts as Earnings Expectations Analysts' forecasts of earnings are increasingly used in accounting and finance research as expectations data, to proxy for the unobservable market expectation of a future 'realization. 'since a diverse set of forecasts is available at any time for a given firm's earnings. Composites are used to distill the information from the diverse set into a single expectation. This paper considers the relative merits of several composite forecasts as expectations data. One of the primary results is that the most current forecast available outperforms more commonly used aggregations such as the mean or the median. Mthis result is consistent-with forecasters incorporating information from others' previous predictions into their own. It also suggests that the forecast date, which previous research has largely ignored, is a characteristic relevant for distinguishing better forecasts. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.