IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/reacre/v25y2013i2p169-184.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Regulation FD and analysts’ vs. investors’ weightings of the cash components of earnings

Author

Listed:
  • Lo, May H.
  • Xu, Le (Emily)

Abstract

This paper investigates whether investors’ bias in processing the information contained in the cash components of annual earnings has been reduced, and whether the difference in bias between financial analysts and investors has decreased subsequent to Regulation Fair Disclosure (hereafter, Reg FD). We compare analysts’ and investors’ weightings of the three cash flow components of earnings, defined by Dechow, Richardson, and Sloan (2008), from 1985 to 2008, using historical weightings as benchmarks. Our results show that, in the post Reg FD period, the magnitude of investors’ (analysts’) mis-weightings has decreased (increased), and the differences between analysts’ and investors’ mis-weightings have become smaller. Overall, these results suggest that financial analysts’ information advantages over investors declined after Reg FD took effect, and that investors consequently are less biased in assessing the persistence of the cash flow components of earnings following the implementation of Reg FD.

Suggested Citation

  • Lo, May H. & Xu, Le (Emily), 2013. "Regulation FD and analysts’ vs. investors’ weightings of the cash components of earnings," Research in Accounting Regulation, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 169-184.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:reacre:v:25:y:2013:i:2:p:169-184
    DOI: 10.1016/j.racreg.2013.08.006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1052045713000192
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.racreg.2013.08.006?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. Cornett, Marcia Millon & Tehranian, Hassan & Yalcin, Atakan, 2007. "Regulation fair disclosure and the market's reaction to analyst investment recommendation changes," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 567-588, March.
    2. Jorion, Philippe & Liu, Zhu & Shi, Charles, 2005. "Informational effects of regulation FD: evidence from rating agencies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 309-330, May.
    3. Frankel, Richard & Lee, Charles M. C., 1998. "Accounting valuation, market expectation, and cross-sectional stock returns," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 283-319, June.
    4. Anup Agrawal & Sahiba Chadha & Mark A. Chen, 2006. "Who Is Afraid of Reg FD? The Behavior and Performance of Sell-Side Analysts Following the SEC's Fair Disclosure Rules," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 79(6), pages 2811-2834, November.
    5. Warren Bailey & Haitao Li & Connie X. Mao & Rui Zhong, 2003. "Regulation Fair Disclosure and Earnings Information: Market, Analyst, and Corporate Responses," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(6), pages 2487-2514, December.
    6. May H. Lo & Le (Emily) Xu, 2008. "Do analysts mislead investors?," Accounting Research Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 21(1), pages 33-54, August.
    7. Richard A. DeFusco & Suchi Mishra & K. Raghunandan, 2010. "Changes in the Information Efficiency of Stock Prices: Additional Evidence," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 45(1), pages 153-165, February.
    8. May H. Lo & Le (Emily) Xu, 2008. "Do analysts mislead investors?," Accounting Research Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 21(1), pages 33-54, August.
    9. Karim, Khondkar E. & Pinsker, Robert E., 2011. "Has Form 8-K reporting become timelier post-regulation fair disclosure and the Sarbanes–Oxley Act? Initial evidence," Research in Accounting Regulation, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 167-171.
    10. 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.
    11. Elgers, Pieter T. & Lo, May H. & Pfeiffer, Ray Jr., 2003. "Analysts' vs. investors' weightings of accruals in forecasting annual earnings," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 255-280.
    12. Patricia M. Dechow & Scott A. Richardson & Richard G. Sloan, 2008. "The Persistence and Pricing of the Cash Component of Earnings," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(3), pages 537-566, June.
    13. Chiraphol N. Chiyachantana & Christine X. Jiang & Nareerat Taechapiroontong & Robert A. Wood, 2004. "The Impact of Regulation Fair Disclosure on Information Asymmetry and Trading: An Intraday Analysis," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 39(4), pages 549-577, November.
    14. Arthur Kraft & Andrew J. Leone & Charles E. Wasley, 2007. "Regression‐Based Tests of the Market Pricing of Accounting Numbers: The Mishkin Test and Ordinary Least Squares," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(5), pages 1081-1114, December.
    15. Abarbanell, Jeffrey S & Bernard, Victor L, 1992. "Tests of Analysts' Overreaction/Underreaction to Earnings Information as an Explanation for Anomalous Stock Price Behavior," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(3), pages 1181-1207, July.
    16. Duarte, Jefferson & Han, Xi & Harford, Jarrad & Young, Lance, 2008. "Information asymmetry, information dissemination and the effect of regulation FD on the cost of capital," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 24-44, January.
    17. Kalelkar, Rachana & Nwaeze, Emeka T., 2011. "Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the quality of earnings and accruals: Market-based evidence," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 275-294, May.
    18. Partha S. Mohanram & Shyam V. Sunder, 2006. "How Has Regulation FD Affected the Operations of Financial Analysts?," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(2), pages 491-525, June.
    19. Eleswarapu, Venkat R. & Thompson, Rex & Venkataraman, Kumar, 2004. "The Impact of Regulation Fair Disclosure: Trading Costs and Information Asymmetry," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 39(2), pages 209-225, June.
    20. Scott Findlay & Prem G. Mathew, 2006. "An Examination of the Differential Impact of Regulation FD on Analysts' Forecast Accuracy," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 41(1), pages 9-31, February.
    21. Gintschel, Andreas & Markov, Stanimir, 2004. "The effectiveness of Regulation FD," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 293-314, September.
    22. Mark T. Bradshaw & Scott A. Richardson & Richard G. Sloan, 2001. "Do Analysts and Auditors Use Information in Accruals?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 45-74, June.
    23. Yu, Fang (Frank), 2008. "Analyst coverage and earnings management," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 245-271, May.
    24. Canace, Thomas G. & Caylor, Marcus L. & Johnson, Peter M. & Lopez, Thomas J., 2010. "The effect of Regulation Fair Disclosure on expectations management: International evidence," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 403-423, September.
    25. Hsihui Chang & Guy D. Fernando & Woody Liao, 2009. "Sarbanes‐Oxley Act, perceived earnings quality and cost of capital," Review of Accounting and Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 8(3), pages 216-231, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Smith, Antoinette L. & Alfonso, Elio & Hogan, Robert, 2018. "The impact of an SEC investigation on conference call participation and analysts’ forecast quality," Research in Accounting Regulation, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 148-158.
    2. Franzen, Laurel & Meckfessel, Michele & Moehrle, Stephen R. & Reynolds-Moehrle, Jennifer A., 2015. "Developments in accounting regulation: A synthesis and annotated bibliography of evidence and commentary in the 2013 academic literature," Research in Accounting Regulation, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 138-159.
    3. Edmonds, Christopher T. & Edmonds, Jennifer E. & Leece, Ryan D. & Vermeer, Thomas E., 2015. "Do risk management activities impact earnings volatility?," Research in Accounting Regulation, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 66-72.

    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. Beyer, Anne & Cohen, Daniel A. & Lys, Thomas Z. & Walther, Beverly R., 2010. "The financial reporting environment: Review of the recent literature," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 296-343, December.
    2. Christian Leuz & Peter D. Wysocki, 2016. "The Economics of Disclosure and Financial Reporting Regulation: Evidence and Suggestions for Future Research," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 525-622, May.
    3. Winnie P. H. Poon & Dorla A. Evans, 2013. "Regulation Fair Disclosure's Effect on the Information Content of Bond Rating Changes," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 19(4), pages 775-800, September.
    4. Ramnath, Sundaresh & Rock, Steve & Shane, Philip, 2008. "The financial analyst forecasting literature: A taxonomy with suggestions for further research," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 34-75.
    5. Edward Lawrence & Gordon Karels & Arun Prakash & Siddharth Shankar, 2011. "Effect of regulation FD on disclosures of information by firms," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(13), pages 979-996.
    6. Cowan, Arnold R. & Salotti, Valentina, 2020. "Anti-selective disclosure regulation and analyst forecast accuracy and usefulness," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    7. Mehran, Hamid & Stulz, Rene M., 2007. "The economics of conflicts of interest in financial institutions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(2), pages 267-296, August.
    8. Dana Hollie & Philip B. Shane & Qiuhong Zhao & Steven Cahan, 2017. "The role of financial analysts in stock market efficiency with respect to annual earnings and its cash and accrual components," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 57(1), pages 199-237, March.
    9. Albring, Susan & Huang, Shawn & Pereira, Raynolde & Xu, Xiaolu, 2020. "Disclosure and liquidity management: Evidence from regulation fair disclosure," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3).
    10. Anderson, Ronald C. & Reeb, David M. & Zhang, Yuzhao & Zhao, Wanli, 2013. "The efficacy of regulatory intervention: Evidence from the distribution of informed option trading," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 4337-4352.
    11. Mustafa Onur Caglayan & Umut Celiker & Edward R. Lawrence, 2021. "Sell‐side analyst recommendation revisions and hedge fund trading before and after regulation fair disclosure," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 56(3), pages 563-590, August.
    12. Duarte, Jefferson & Han, Xi & Harford, Jarrad & Young, Lance, 2008. "Information asymmetry, information dissemination and the effect of regulation FD on the cost of capital," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 24-44, January.
    13. Harold Mulherin, J., 2007. "Measuring the costs and benefits of regulation: Conceptual issues in securities markets," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 13(2-3), pages 421-437, June.
    14. Susan Albring & Monica Banyi & Dan Dhaliwal & Raynolde Pereira, 2016. "Does the Firm Information Environment Influence Financing Decisions? A Test Using Disclosure Regulation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(2), pages 456-478, February.
    15. Smith, Antoinette L. & Alfonso, Elio & Hogan, Robert, 2018. "The impact of an SEC investigation on conference call participation and analysts’ forecast quality," Research in Accounting Regulation, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 148-158.
    16. Hueiling Chen & Cheng-Tsu Huang & Hsiou-Wei W. Lin, 2016. "Changes in analyst following for less covered firms accompanying Regulation Fair Disclosure: the roles of ability and industry experience," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 46(3), pages 519-541, April.
    17. Gomes, Armando & Gorton, Gary & Madureira, Leonardo, 2007. "SEC Regulation Fair Disclosure, information, and the cost of capital," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 13(2-3), pages 300-334, June.
    18. Baljit Sidhu & Tom Smith & Robert E. Whaley & Richard H. Willis, 2008. "Regulation Fair Disclosure and the Cost of Adverse Selection," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(3), pages 697-728, June.
    19. Beixin Lin & Rong Yang, 2012. "Does Regulation Fair Disclosure affect analysts’ forecast performance? The case of restructuring firms," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 38(4), pages 495-517, May.
    20. Guanming He & Helen Mengbing Ren & Richard Taffler, 2020. "The impact of corporate tax avoidance on analyst coverage and forecasts," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 447-477, February.

    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:reacre:v:25:y:2013:i:2:p:169-184. 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: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/research-in-accounting-regulation .

    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.