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The Allocational Effects of the Precision of Accounting Estimates

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  • RONALD A. DYE
  • SRI S. SRIDHAR

Abstract

This paper studies the allocational effects associated with the precision of accounting estimates when the precision of estimates is a choice variable for firms. One part of the paper considers the effects of the observability of precision choices. We show that, generally, making precision choices private increases firms' equilibrium precision choices and also, as a by‐product, their equilibrium investment choices. We further show that, when firms' precision choices are private, there may be a “disclosure trap,” in which, unless investors conjecture the owner has chosen an estimate with the highest possible precision, the owner will respond to investors' conjecture by choosing an estimate whose precision is higher than investors' conjecture. In a multifirm version of the model with endogenous investment, we show that the equilibrium investment by the firm increases in the precision of the firm's own estimate and decreases in the precisions of other firms' estimates. Finally, we show that, in a setting where the firm's initial owner sells his stake in the firm over the course of two periods, with disclosures of estimates of the firm's value occurring prior to each sale of shares, if the precisions of the estimates are public, the equilibrium precisions of the estimates increase over time when the owner sells a sufficiently large fraction of the firm in the first period, and otherwise the equilibrium precisions of estimates remain constant over time.

Suggested Citation

  • Ronald A. Dye & Sri S. Sridhar, 2007. "The Allocational Effects of the Precision of Accounting Estimates," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(4), pages 731-769, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:joares:v:45:y:2007:i:4:p:731-769
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-679X.2007.00249.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Singh, Rajdeep & Yerramilli, Vijay, 2014. "Market efficiency, managerial compensation, and real efficiency," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 561-578.
    2. Pierre Jinghong Liang & Lin Nan, 2014. "Endogenous Precision of Performance Measures and Limited Managerial Attention," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(4), pages 693-727, December.
    3. Gao, Pingyang, 2008. "Disclosure Quality, Cost of Capital, and Investors’ Welfare," MPRA Paper 9478, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Jun 2008.
    4. Ronald A. Dye, 2010. "Disclosure “Bunching”," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(3), pages 489-530, June.
    5. Wu, Sang & Xue, Wenjie, 2023. "Accounting comparability and relative performance evaluation by capital markets," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(1).
    6. Samuel C. A. Pereira, 2021. "On the precision of information," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 569-584, August.

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