IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/arjpps/v24y2011i2p150-177.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

R&D profitability, intensity and market‐to‐book: evidence from Australia

Author

Listed:
  • Kamran Ahmed
  • John Hillier
  • Elisabeth Tanusasmita

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to assess the financial disclosurevis‐á‐viseconomic reality of research and development (R&D) expensed by Australian firms under the pre‐2005 Australian generally accepted accounting principles (A‐GAAP) regime via the lens of market‐to‐book. Design/methodology/approach - The authors estimated firms' R&D profit rate, measured R&D revenue intensity and modelled the impacts of these and related economic factors, via economic and financial disclosure channels, on market‐to‐book using data for 1988‐2004. Findings - R&D, on average, was profit neutral and had undetectable impacts on market‐to‐book whether via equity valuation or financial disclosure. Research limitations/implications - Market‐to‐book's information content is best viewed as conditional on the reference disclosure regime. Australian firms' typically at best minimal R&D profitability is an international anomaly. Data limitations in terms of the generating process and availability mean that R&D's impact on market‐to‐book via financial reporting is not definitively determined. Practical implications - Restrictive rules on the capitalization of intangible asset‐related expenditures under A‐GAAP apparently did not adversely impact market‐to‐book's economic information. AIFRS's more permissive rule risks compromising market‐to‐book's reliability in such a role. Originality/value - For Australia, the paper is anticipated to be the first to estimate the profit rate of R&D, measure the intensity of R&D, and model R&D's influence on the market‐to‐book ratio. It develops a framework for the economic and financial reporting impacts of investments on a key indicator of firms' financial standing and contributes to the debate on identifiable intangibles' disclosure.

Suggested Citation

  • Kamran Ahmed & John Hillier & Elisabeth Tanusasmita, 2011. "R&D profitability, intensity and market‐to‐book: evidence from Australia," Accounting Research Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 24(2), pages 150-177, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:arjpps:v:24:y:2011:i:2:p:150-177
    DOI: 10.1108/10309611111163691
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/10309611111163691/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/10309611111163691/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/10309611111163691?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. Hausman, Jerry, 2015. "Specification tests in econometrics," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 38(2), pages 112-134.
    2. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-838, May.
    3. Cohen, Wesley M & Levinthal, Daniel A, 1989. "Innovation and Learning: The Two Faces of R&D," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 99(397), pages 569-596, September.
    4. Newey, Whitney & West, Kenneth, 2014. "A simple, positive semi-definite, heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation consistent covariance matrix," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 33(1), pages 125-132.
    5. Hirschey, M & Weygandt, Jj, 1985. "Amortization Policy For Advertising And Research And Development Expenditures," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(1), pages 326-335.
    6. Fama, Eugene F & French, Kenneth R, 1992. "The Cross-Section of Expected Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(2), pages 427-465, June.
    7. Ryan, Sg, 1995. "A Model Of Accrual Measurement With Implications For The Evolution Of The Book-To-Market Ratio (Vol 33, Pg 95, 1995)," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 417-417.
    8. Tobin, James, 1969. "A General Equilibrium Approach to Monetary Theory," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 1(1), pages 15-29, February.
    9. Yuan Ding & Hervé Stolowy & Michel Tenenhaus, 2007. "R&D productivity: an exploratory international study," Review of Accounting and Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 6(1), pages 86-101, February.
    10. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1993. "Common risk factors in the returns on stocks and bonds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 3-56, February.
    11. Feltham, GA & Ohlson, JA, 1996. "Uncertainty resolution and the theory of depreciation measurement," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(2), pages 209-234.
    12. Mary E. Barth & Sanjay Kallapur, 1996. "The Effects of Cross†Sectional Scale Differences on Regression Results in Empirical Accounting Research," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(2), pages 527-567, September.
    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. Grzybek, Olga, 2023. "Are accounting choices for intangible assets informative or opportunistic? Evidence from Poland," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).

    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. Drobetz, Wolfgang & Erdmann, Thomas & Zimmermann, Heinz, 2007. "Predictability in the cross-section of European bank stock returns," Working papers 2007/21, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.
    2. Racicot, François-Éric & Rentz, William F., 2018. "Does Illiquidity Matter? An Errors-in-Variables Perspective/¿Es importante la iliquidez? Un análisis desde el enfoque de errores en variables," Estudios de Economia Aplicada, Estudios de Economia Aplicada, vol. 36, pages 251-262, Enero.
    3. Linnenluecke, Martina K. & Chen, Xiaoyan & Ling, Xin & Smith, Tom & Zhu, Yushu, 2017. "Research in finance: A review of influential publications and a research agenda," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 188-199.
    4. 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.
    5. Andreou, Christoforos K. & Lambertides, Neophytos & Panayides, Photis M., 2021. "Distress risk anomaly and misvaluation," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(5).
    6. Daniel Hoechle, 2007. "Robust standard errors for panel regressions with cross-sectional dependence," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 7(3), pages 281-312, September.
    7. Cujean, Julien & Andrei, Daniel & Fournier, Mathieu, 2019. "The Low-Minus-High Portfolio and the Factor Zoo," CEPR Discussion Papers 14153, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Carolin Pflueger & Emil Siriwardane & Adi Sunderam, 2019. "Financial Market Risk Perceptions and the Macroeconomy," NBER Working Papers 26290, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Maio, Paulo & Santa-Clara, Pedro, 2012. "Multifactor models and their consistency with the ICAPM," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(3), pages 586-613.
    10. Hollstein, Fabian & Prokopczuk, Marcel, 2022. "Testing Factor Models in the Cross-Section," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    11. Grobys, Klaus, 2021. "What do we know about the second moment of financial markets?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    12. Nikolaev, V. & van Lent, L.A.G.M., 2005. "The Endogeneity Bias in the Relation Between Cost-of-Debt Capital and Corporate Disclosure Policy," Discussion Paper 2005-67, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    13. Liu, Jianan & Stambaugh, Robert F. & Yuan, Yu, 2019. "Size and value in China," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(1), pages 48-69.
    14. Robert J Bianchi & Adam E Clements & Michael E Drew, 2009. "HACking at Non-linearity: Evidence from Stocks and Bonds," School of Economics and Finance Discussion Papers and Working Papers Series 244, School of Economics and Finance, Queensland University of Technology.
    15. Kim, Dongcheol & Kim, Tong Suk & Min, Byoung-Kyu, 2011. "Future labor income growth and the cross-section of equity returns," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 67-81, January.
    16. Shum, Wai Cheong & Tang, Gordon Y.N., 2005. "Common risk factors in returns in Asian emerging stock markets," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(6), pages 695-717, December.
    17. Chan, Konan & Lin, Yueh-hsiang & Wang, Yanzhi, 2015. "The information content of R&D reductions," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 131-155.
    18. Serkan Yilmaz Kandir & Ahmet Erismis, 2010. "Investigating Exchange Rate Exposure of Bank Shares: Empirical Evidence From ISE," Istanbul Stock Exchange Review, Research and Business Development Department, Borsa Istanbul, vol. 12(46), pages 49-83.
    19. Angelidis, Timotheos & Sakkas, Athanasios & Tessaromatis, Nikolaos, 2015. "Stock market dispersion, the business cycle and expected factor returns," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 265-279.
    20. Auer, Benjamin R. & Rottmann, Horst, 2019. "Have capital market anomalies worldwide attenuated in the recent era of high liquidity and trading activity?," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 61-79.

    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:eme:arjpps:v:24:y:2011:i:2:p:150-177. 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: Emerald Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.