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On the Stewardship and Valuation Implications of Accrual Accounting Systems

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  • GEORGE DRYMIOTES
  • THOMAS HEMMER

Abstract

In this paper we explore the role of accruals in determining “earnings quality” from both a stewardship and a valuation perspective. We show that the valuation and stewardship qualities of accrual accounting are maximized by either an “aggressive” or a “conservative” accrual strategy. Furthermore, accrual strategy choices can be delegated to management as it does not benefit by implementing a strategy that is not in the best interests of the shareholders. We also investigate the implications of accrual strategies for standard empirical measures of “earnings quality”: regression coefficients and R2s from price‐earnings and market‐to‐book regressions. We show that such measures respond differently, and in some cases adversely, to the kind of strategies that make accounting constructs more correlated with the underlying economic activities of firms.

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  • George Drymiotes & Thomas Hemmer, 2013. "On the Stewardship and Valuation Implications of Accrual Accounting Systems," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(2), pages 281-334, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:joares:v:51:y:2013:i:2:p:281-334
    DOI: 10.1111/joar.12000
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    Cited by:

    1. Pietro Perotti & Alfred Wagenhofer, 2014. "Earnings Quality Measures and Excess Returns," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(5-6), pages 545-571, June.
    2. Thomas Hemmer & Eva Labro, 2019. "Management by the Numbers: A Formal Approach to Deriving Informational and Distributional Properties of “Unmanaged” Earnings," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(1), pages 5-51, March.
    3. Pavlopoulos, Athanasios & Magnis, Chris & Iatridis, George Emmanuel, 2017. "Integrated reporting: Is it the last piece of the accounting disclosure puzzle?," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 23-46.
    4. Ralf Ewert & Alfred Wagenhofer, 2015. "Economic Relations Among Earnings Quality Measures," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 51(3), pages 311-355, September.
    5. Marinovic, Iván & Povel, Paul, 2017. "Competition for talent under performance manipulation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 1-14.
    6. Günther Gebhardt & Araceli Mora & Alfred Wagenhofer, 2014. "Revisiting the Fundamental Concepts of IFRS," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 50(1), pages 107-116, March.
    7. Ilan Guttman, 2013. "Discussion of On the Stewardship and Valuation Implications of Accrual Accounting Systems," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(2), pages 335-347, May.
    8. Cascino, Stefano & Clatworthy, Mark A. & Osma, Beatriz Garcia & Gassen, Joachim & Imam, Shahed, 2021. "The usefulness of financial accounting information: evidence from the field," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 107569, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Judson Caskey & Volker Laux, 2017. "Corporate Governance, Accounting Conservatism, and Manipulation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(2), pages 424-437, February.
    10. Christoph Kuhner & Christoph Pelger, 2015. "On the Relationship of Stewardship and Valuation—An Analytical Viewpoint," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 51(3), pages 379-411, September.

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