IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/scaman/v29y2013i3p314-324.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Earnings sustainability, economic conditions and the value relevance of accounting information

Author

Listed:
  • Beisland, Leif Atle
  • Hamberg, Mattias

Abstract

This study demonstrates that the value relevance of accounting information is influenced by the ability to capitalize investments in valuable resources. We use data from Sweden to show that firms that operate in industries in which accounting conservatism limits this capitalization display lower value relevance as a result of more unsustainable earnings components. However, when controlling for the different properties of sustainable and unsustainable earnings components, the difference vanishes. Moreover, we show that firms operating in industries in which more investments are immediately expensed display systematic temporal variations in the level of value relevance. We contend that economic conditions in the form of investment levels and growth expectations explain this variation. Thus, value relevance can be substantially affected by the prevailing economic context.

Suggested Citation

  • Beisland, Leif Atle & Hamberg, Mattias, 2013. "Earnings sustainability, economic conditions and the value relevance of accounting information," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 314-324.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:scaman:v:29:y:2013:i:3:p:314-324
    DOI: 10.1016/j.scaman.2013.02.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956522113000262
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.scaman.2013.02.001?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. Mary E. Barth & Wayne R. Landsman & Mark H. Lang, 2008. "International Accounting Standards and Accounting Quality," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(3), pages 467-498, June.
    2. Shleifer, Andrei & Summers, Lawrence H, 1990. "The Noise Trader Approach to Finance," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 4(2), pages 19-33, Spring.
    3. Kothari, S. P., 2001. "Capital markets research in accounting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 105-231, September.
    4. Thinggaard, Frank & Damkier, Jesper, 2008. "Has financial statement information become less relevant? Longitudinal evidence from Denmark," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 375-387, December.
    5. Mattias Hamberg & Mari Paananen & Jiri Novak, 2011. "The Adoption of IFRS 3: The Effects of Managerial Discretion and Stock Market Reactions," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(2), pages 263-288.
    6. 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.
    7. Beaver, William & Lambert, Richard & Morse, Dale, 1980. "The information content of security prices," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 3-28, March.
    8. Collins, Daniel W. & Maydew, Edward L. & Weiss, Ira S., 1997. "Changes in the value-relevance of earnings and book values over the past forty years," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 39-67, December.
    9. Jennifer Francis & Katherine Schipper & Linda Vincent, 2003. "The Relative and Incremental Explanatory Power of Earnings and Alternative (to Earnings) Performance Measures for Returns," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(1), pages 121-164, March.
    10. Zhaoyang Gu, 2007. "Across-sample Incomparability of "R"-super-2s and Additional Evidence on Value Relevance Changes Over Time," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(7-8), pages 1073-1098.
    11. Core, John E. & Guay, Wayne R. & Buskirk, Andrew Van, 2003. "Market valuations in the New Economy: an investigation of what has changed," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(1-3), pages 43-67, January.
    12. Alex Dontoh & Suresh Radhakrishnan & Joshua Ronen, 2004. "The Declining Value†relevance of Accounting Information and Non†Information†based Trading: An Empirical Analysis," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(4), pages 795-812, December.
    13. Francis, J & Schipper, K, 1999. "Have financial statements lost their relevance?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 319-352.
    14. Barth, Mary E. & Beaver, William H. & Landsman, Wayne R., 1998. "Relative valuation roles of equity book value and net income as a function of financial health," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 1-34, February.
    15. Collins, Daniel W. & Kothari, S. P. & Shanken, Jay & Sloan, Richard G., 1994. "Lack of timeliness and noise as explanations for the low contemporaneuos return-earnings association," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 289-324, November.
    16. Fama, Eugene F & MacBeth, James D, 1973. "Risk, Return, and Equilibrium: Empirical Tests," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(3), pages 607-636, May-June.
    17. Givoly, Dan & Hayn, Carla, 2000. "The changing time-series properties of earnings, cash flows and accruals: Has financial reporting become more conservative?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 287-320, June.
    18. Zhaoyang Gu, 2007. "Across‐sample Incomparability of R2s and Additional Evidence on Value Relevance Changes Over Time," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(7‐8), pages 1073-1098, September.
    19. Gjerde, Øystein & Knivsflå, Kjell & Sættem, Frode, 2011. "The value relevance of financial reporting in Norway 1965-2004," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 113-128, March.
    20. Lev, B & Zarowin, P, 1999. "The boundaries of financial reporting and how to extend them," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 353-385.
    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. Veltri, Stefania & Ferraro, Olga, 2018. "Does other comprehensive income matter in credit-oriented systems? Analyzing the Italian context," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 18-31.

    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. Dechow, Patricia & Ge, Weili & Schrand, Catherine, 2010. "Understanding earnings quality: A review of the proxies, their determinants and their consequences," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 344-401, December.
    2. Gjerde, Øystein & Knivsflå, Kjell & Sættem, Frode, 2011. "The value relevance of financial reporting in Norway 1965-2004," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 113-128, March.
    3. Hamberg, Mattias & Beisland, Leif-Atle, 2014. "Changes in the value relevance of goodwill accounting following the adoption of IFRS 3," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 59-73.
    4. Veith, Stefan & Werner, Jörg R., 2014. "Comparative Value Relevance Studies: Country Differences Versus Specification Effects," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 301-330.
    5. Tswei, Keshin, 2013. "Is transaction price more value relevant compared to accounting information? An investigation of a time-series approach," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 1062-1078.
    6. Maigoshi, Zaharaddeen Salisu & Latif, Rohaida Abdul & Kamardin, Hasnah, 2018. "Change in value-relevance of disclosed RPT across accounting regimes: Evidence from Malaysia," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 422-433.
    7. Kothari, S. P., 2001. "Capital markets research in accounting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 105-231, September.
    8. Schaberl, Philipp D., 2016. "Beyond accounting and back: An empirical examination of the relative relevance of earnings and “other” information," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 98-113.
    9. Yoshie Saito, 2012. "The demand for accounting information: young NASDAQ listings versus S&P 500 NYSE listings," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 38(2), pages 149-175, February.
    10. Mohamed Sellami, 2006. "Typologie des déterminants comptables de la valeur : Apports de l'approche économique de l'information dans la mesure de la valeur," Post-Print halshs-00558252, HAL.
    11. Helena Isidro & José G. Dias, 2017. "Earnings quality and the heterogeneous relation between earnings and stock returns," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 49(4), pages 1143-1165, November.
    12. Dickinson, Victoria & Kassa, Haimanot & Schaberl, Philipp D., 2018. "What information matters to investors at different stages of a firm's life cycle?," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 22-33.
    13. Vinay Goyal & Subrata K. Mitra, 2022. "Is the asymmetric impact of aggregate revenue and aggregate earnings on the stock index in accordance with the prospect theory?," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 22(1), pages 200-222, March.
    14. repec:mth:ijafr8:v:8:y:2018:i:2:p:126-151 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Eddie Chamisa & Musa Mangena & Hamutyinei Harvey Pamburai & Venancio Tauringana, 2018. "Financial reporting in hyperinflationary economies and the value relevance of accounting amounts: hard evidence from Zimbabwe," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 1241-1273, December.
    16. Atoche, Teresa duarte & Pérez lópez, José ángel & Camúñez ruiz, Jose antonio, 2012. "La relevancia de los gastos de I+D. Estudio empírico en el sector del automóvil," Revista de Contabilidad - Spanish Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 257-286.
    17. Hanlon, Michelle & Laplante, Stacie Kelley & Shevlin, Terry, 2005. "Evidence for the Possible Information Loss of Conforming Book Income and Taxable Income," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 48(2), pages 407-442, October.
    18. David S. Jenkins & Gregory D. Kane & Uma Velury, 2009. "Earnings Conservatism and Value Relevance Across the Business Cycle," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(9-10), pages 1041-1058.
    19. Abdulrahman Alomair & Alan Farley & Helen Hong Yang, 2022. "The impact of IFRS adoption on the value relevance of accounting information in Saudi Arabia," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(2), pages 2839-2878, June.
    20. Igor Goncharov & Allan Hodgson, 2008. "Comprehensive Income In Europe: Valuation, Prediction And Conservative Issues," Annales Universitatis Apulensis Series Oeconomica, Faculty of Sciences, "1 Decembrie 1918" University, Alba Iulia, vol. 1(10), pages 1-1.
    21. Peng-Chia Chiu & Timothy D. Haight, 2020. "Investor learning, earnings signals, and stock returns," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 671-698, 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:scaman:v:29:y:2013:i:3:p:314-324. 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: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/872/description#description .

    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.