We examine the value relevance of accounting-driven losses that result from the immediate expensi... more We examine the value relevance of accounting-driven losses that result from the immediate expensing of firms’ internally-generated intangible investments vs. losses occurring irrespective of intangible investments. Contrary to the long-held view that losses are irrelevant for valuation, we find that once the accounting bias of intangibles-expensing is undone, earnings of firms reporting intangibles-related losses are as informative as earnings of profitable firms. Contrary to the view that persistent losses decrease earnings relevance, our evidence shows no decrease in the relevance of earnings for firms reporting persistent intangibles-related losses. We also find that firms reporting intangibles-related losses outperform other loss firms and even profitable firms in value creation from technological innovation and human capital. Our evidence further shows that firms reporting intangibles-related losses have stronger future performance than other firms. Taken together, the results of this study demonstrate the fundamental differences between losses driven by the immediate expensing of internally-generated intangible investments and losses reflecting genuine business performance shortfalls. Standard accounting reports, however, do not properly reflect these differences and their implications.
1. The decreasing usefulness of financial information............................................... more 1. The decreasing usefulness of financial information............................................................................... 4 2. Business change and the deterioration of usefulness............................................................................ 13 3. Intangibles, innovation and change...................................................................................................... 22
Whether managers should provide earnings guidance, especially quarterly guidance, has been a hotl... more Whether managers should provide earnings guidance, especially quarterly guidance, has been a hotly debated policy issue. Influential organizations have urged firms to stop providing earnings guidance to reduce earnings fixation and short-termism in the capital markets. Little attention has been paid to an alternative proposal: instead of ceasing earnings guidance, companies could provide disaggregated earnings guidance. No archival evidence exists regarding the determinants of disaggregated earnings guidance and its effects on the firm and its information environment. We find that once managers provide guidance, the decision to disaggregate this guidance is primarily driven by demand-and-supply factors that exhibit little change from year to year rather than by opportunistic factors. We find more timely analyst forecast revisions (with no compromise of forecast accuracy), a greater magnitude of revisions, and a larger reduction in analyst disagreement for disaggregating firms than f...
Estimates and projections are embedded in most financial statement items. These estimates potenti... more Estimates and projections are embedded in most financial statement items. These estimates potentially improve the relevance of financial information by providing managers the means to convey to investors forward-looking, inside information (e.g., on future collections from customers via the bad debt provision, or on expected assets' cash flows reflected in impairment charges). On the other hand, the quality of financial information is compromised by: (i) the increasing difficulty of making reliable forecasts in a fast-changing, often turbulent economy, and (ii) the frequent managerial misuse of estimates to manipulate financial data. Given the prevalence of estimates in accounting data, whether these opposing forces result in an improvement in the quality of financial information or not is arguably the most fundamental issue in accounting.We examine in this study the contribution of accounting estimates embedded in accruals to the quality of financial information by focusing on...
ABSTRACTWe examine recent confrontational activism campaigns by hedge funds and other private inv... more ABSTRACTWe examine recent confrontational activism campaigns by hedge funds and other private investors. The main parallels between the groups are a significantly positive market reaction for the target firm around the initial Schedule 13D filing date, significantly positive returns over the subsequent year, and the activist's high success rate in achieving its original objective. Further, both activists frequently gain board representation through real or threatened proxy solicitations. Two major differences are that hedge funds target more profitable firms than other activists, and hedge funds address cash flow agency costs whereas other private investors change the target's investment strategies.
We propose a measure of managerial ability, based on managers' efficiency in generating reven... more We propose a measure of managerial ability, based on managers' efficiency in generating revenues, which is available for a large sample of firms and outperforms existing ability measures. We find that our measure is strongly associated with manager fixed effects and that the stock price reactions to chief executive officer (CEO) turnovers are positive (negative) when we assess the outgoing CEO as low (high) ability. We also find that replacing CEOs with more (less) able CEOs is associated with improvements (declines) in subsequent firm performance. We conclude with a demonstration of the potential of the measure. We find that the negative relation between equity financing and future abnormal returns documented in prior research is mitigated by managerial ability. Specifically, more able managers appear to utilize equity issuance proceeds more effectively, illustrating that our more precise measure of managerial ability will allow researchers to pursue studies that were previousl...
Manipulated earnings played a central role in the slew of corporate scandals which surfaced durin... more Manipulated earnings played a central role in the slew of corporate scandals which surfaced during the last three years. This article focuses on the vulnerability of earnings to manipulation by managers: it surveys the empirical record of manipulation, their major objectives, and the means of manipulation. It then focuses on the major source of earnings manipulation--the multitude of estimates and subjective judgments underlying the comutation of earnings. The article accordingly concludes with a proposal to curb manipulation by requiring managers to routinely compare key estimates with ex post realizations, and revise earnings in case of large deviations.
We examine the value relevance of accounting-driven losses that result from the immediate expensi... more We examine the value relevance of accounting-driven losses that result from the immediate expensing of firms’ internally-generated intangible investments vs. losses occurring irrespective of intangible investments. Contrary to the long-held view that losses are irrelevant for valuation, we find that once the accounting bias of intangibles-expensing is undone, earnings of firms reporting intangibles-related losses are as informative as earnings of profitable firms. Contrary to the view that persistent losses decrease earnings relevance, our evidence shows no decrease in the relevance of earnings for firms reporting persistent intangibles-related losses. We also find that firms reporting intangibles-related losses outperform other loss firms and even profitable firms in value creation from technological innovation and human capital. Our evidence further shows that firms reporting intangibles-related losses have stronger future performance than other firms. Taken together, the results of this study demonstrate the fundamental differences between losses driven by the immediate expensing of internally-generated intangible investments and losses reflecting genuine business performance shortfalls. Standard accounting reports, however, do not properly reflect these differences and their implications.
1. The decreasing usefulness of financial information............................................... more 1. The decreasing usefulness of financial information............................................................................... 4 2. Business change and the deterioration of usefulness............................................................................ 13 3. Intangibles, innovation and change...................................................................................................... 22
Whether managers should provide earnings guidance, especially quarterly guidance, has been a hotl... more Whether managers should provide earnings guidance, especially quarterly guidance, has been a hotly debated policy issue. Influential organizations have urged firms to stop providing earnings guidance to reduce earnings fixation and short-termism in the capital markets. Little attention has been paid to an alternative proposal: instead of ceasing earnings guidance, companies could provide disaggregated earnings guidance. No archival evidence exists regarding the determinants of disaggregated earnings guidance and its effects on the firm and its information environment. We find that once managers provide guidance, the decision to disaggregate this guidance is primarily driven by demand-and-supply factors that exhibit little change from year to year rather than by opportunistic factors. We find more timely analyst forecast revisions (with no compromise of forecast accuracy), a greater magnitude of revisions, and a larger reduction in analyst disagreement for disaggregating firms than f...
Estimates and projections are embedded in most financial statement items. These estimates potenti... more Estimates and projections are embedded in most financial statement items. These estimates potentially improve the relevance of financial information by providing managers the means to convey to investors forward-looking, inside information (e.g., on future collections from customers via the bad debt provision, or on expected assets' cash flows reflected in impairment charges). On the other hand, the quality of financial information is compromised by: (i) the increasing difficulty of making reliable forecasts in a fast-changing, often turbulent economy, and (ii) the frequent managerial misuse of estimates to manipulate financial data. Given the prevalence of estimates in accounting data, whether these opposing forces result in an improvement in the quality of financial information or not is arguably the most fundamental issue in accounting.We examine in this study the contribution of accounting estimates embedded in accruals to the quality of financial information by focusing on...
ABSTRACTWe examine recent confrontational activism campaigns by hedge funds and other private inv... more ABSTRACTWe examine recent confrontational activism campaigns by hedge funds and other private investors. The main parallels between the groups are a significantly positive market reaction for the target firm around the initial Schedule 13D filing date, significantly positive returns over the subsequent year, and the activist's high success rate in achieving its original objective. Further, both activists frequently gain board representation through real or threatened proxy solicitations. Two major differences are that hedge funds target more profitable firms than other activists, and hedge funds address cash flow agency costs whereas other private investors change the target's investment strategies.
We propose a measure of managerial ability, based on managers' efficiency in generating reven... more We propose a measure of managerial ability, based on managers' efficiency in generating revenues, which is available for a large sample of firms and outperforms existing ability measures. We find that our measure is strongly associated with manager fixed effects and that the stock price reactions to chief executive officer (CEO) turnovers are positive (negative) when we assess the outgoing CEO as low (high) ability. We also find that replacing CEOs with more (less) able CEOs is associated with improvements (declines) in subsequent firm performance. We conclude with a demonstration of the potential of the measure. We find that the negative relation between equity financing and future abnormal returns documented in prior research is mitigated by managerial ability. Specifically, more able managers appear to utilize equity issuance proceeds more effectively, illustrating that our more precise measure of managerial ability will allow researchers to pursue studies that were previousl...
Manipulated earnings played a central role in the slew of corporate scandals which surfaced durin... more Manipulated earnings played a central role in the slew of corporate scandals which surfaced during the last three years. This article focuses on the vulnerability of earnings to manipulation by managers: it surveys the empirical record of manipulation, their major objectives, and the means of manipulation. It then focuses on the major source of earnings manipulation--the multitude of estimates and subjective judgments underlying the comutation of earnings. The article accordingly concludes with a proposal to curb manipulation by requiring managers to routinely compare key estimates with ex post realizations, and revise earnings in case of large deviations.
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Papers by Baruch Lev