IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/accper/v20y2021i1p79-107.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Financial Reporting Quality and Investors' Divergence of Opinion†

Author

Listed:
  • Diogo Silva
  • António Cerqueira

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to analyze the association of financial reporting quality and investors' divergence of opinion. We focus on UK firms listed on the London Stock Exchange. Divergence of opinion is measured by two proxies based on unexpected trading volume and by dispersion in analysts' forecasts made one and two years ahead. Previous literature shows that the amount of firms' disclosure is negatively associated with the dispersion in analysts' forecasts. The results obtained in our study show that the quality of the disclosure is negatively associated with divergence of opinion, whether it is proxied by measures of unexpected trading volume or dispersion in analysts' forecasts. Financial reporting quality affects divergence of opinion not only in the months that immediately follow the disclosure of the reports but in the whole year that follows. QUALITÉ DE L'INFORMATION FINANCIÈRE ET DIVERGENCE D'OPINIONS CHEZ LES INVESTISSEURS Le principal objectif de la présente étude est d'analyser le lien entre la qualité de l'information financière divulguée par les sociétés et la divergence d'opinions chez les investisseurs. Nous examinons des sociétés du Royaume‐Uni inscrites à la Bourse de Londres. La divergence d'opinions est mesurée à l'aide de deux indicateurs fondés sur des volumes de transactions inattendus et par la dispersion des prévisions des analystes faites un ou deux ans à l'avance. La documentation existante montre que la quantité d'information divulguée par les sociétés est négativement associée à la dispersion des prévisions des analystes. Les résultats obtenus dans le cadre de notre étude indiquent que la qualité de l'information est négativement associée à la divergence d'opinions, que celle‐ci soit mesurée à l'aide des indicateurs axés sur les volumes de transactions inattendus ou par la dispersion des prévisions des analystes. La qualité de l'information financière influence la divergence d'opinions non seulement dans les mois suivant sa divulgation, mais également pendant toute l'année qui suit.

Suggested Citation

  • Diogo Silva & António Cerqueira, 2021. "Financial Reporting Quality and Investors' Divergence of Opinion†," Accounting Perspectives, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(1), pages 79-107, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:accper:v:20:y:2021:i:1:p:79-107
    DOI: 10.1111/1911-3838.12250
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1911-3838.12250
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1911-3838.12250?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Francis, Jennifer & LaFond, Ryan & Olsson, Per & Schipper, Katherine, 2005. "The market pricing of accruals quality," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 295-327, June.
    2. John Y. Campbell & Martin Lettau & Burton G. Malkiel & Yexiao Xu, 2001. "Have Individual Stocks Become More Volatile? An Empirical Exploration of Idiosyncratic Risk," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(1), pages 1-43, February.
    3. Karl B. Diether & Christopher J. Malloy & Anna Scherbina, 2002. "Differences of Opinion and the Cross Section of Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(5), pages 2113-2141, October.
    4. Adem Atmaz & Suleyman Basak, 2018. "Belief Dispersion in the Stock Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 73(3), pages 1225-1279, June.
    5. Beaver, Wh, 1968. "Information Content Of Annual Earnings Announcements," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6, pages 67-92.
    6. Hui Guo & Robert Savickas, 2008. "Average Idiosyncratic Volatility in G7 Countries," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(3), pages 1259-1296, May.
    7. Mihir A. Desai, 2005. "The Degradation of Reported Corporate Profits," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 19(4), pages 171-192, Fall.
    8. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    9. Doukas, John A. & Kim, Chansog (Francis) & Pantzalis, Christos, 2010. "Arbitrage Risk and Stock Mispricing," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 45(4), pages 907-934, August.
    10. Berkman, Henk & Dimitrov, Valentin & Jain, Prem C. & Koch, Paul D. & Tice, Sheri, 2009. "Sell on the news: Differences of opinion, short-sales constraints, and returns around earnings announcements," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(3), pages 376-399, June.
    11. Chen, Joseph & Hong, Harrison & Stein, Jeremy C., 2002. "Breadth of ownership and stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2-3), pages 171-205.
    12. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1997. "Industry costs of equity," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 153-193, February.
    13. Berrada, Tony & Hugonnier, Julien, 2013. "Incomplete information, idiosyncratic volatility and stock returns," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 448-462.
    14. Buzby, Sl, 1975. "Company Size, Listed Versus Unlisted Stocks, And Extent Of Financial Disclosure," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(1), pages 16-37.
    15. Nilabhra Bhattacharya & Hemang Desai & Kumar Venkataraman, 2013. "Does Earnings Quality Affect Information Asymmetry? Evidence from Trading Costs," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(2), pages 482-516, June.
    16. Jiang, George J. & Xu, Danielle & Yao, Tong, 2009. "The Information Content of Idiosyncratic Volatility," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(1), pages 1-28, February.
    17. Jones, Jj, 1991. "Earnings Management During Import Relief Investigations," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 193-228.
    18. Julien Cujean & Michael Hasler, 2017. "Why Does Return Predictability Concentrate in Bad Times?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 72(6), pages 2717-2758, December.
    19. Verrecchia, Re, 1981. "On The Relationship Between Volume Reaction And Consensus Of Investors - Implications For Interpreting Tests Of Information-Content," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(1), pages 271-283.
    20. Kothari, S.P. & Leone, Andrew J. & Wasley, Charles E., 2005. "Performance matched discretionary accrual measures," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 163-197, February.
    21. Burgstahler, David & Dichev, Ilia, 1997. "Earnings management to avoid earnings decreases and losses," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 99-126, December.
    22. Miller, Edward M, 1977. "Risk, Uncertainty, and Divergence of Opinion," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(4), pages 1151-1168, September.
    23. Rajgopal, Shiva & Venkatachalam, Mohan, 2011. "Financial reporting quality and idiosyncratic return volatility," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1-2), pages 1-20, February.
    24. Wallace, R. S. Olusegun & Naser, Kamal, 1995. "Firm-specific determinants of the comprehensiveness of mandatory disclosure in the corporate annual reports of firms listed on the stock exchange of Hong Kong," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 311-368.
    25. 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.
    26. Aabo, Tom & Pantzalis, Christos & Park, Jung Chul, 2017. "Idiosyncratic volatility: An indicator of noise trading?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 136-151.
    27. Rajgopal, Shiva & Venkatachalam, Mohan, 2011. "Financial reporting quality and idiosyncratic return volatility," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 1-20.
    28. Robert F. Stambaugh & Jianfeng Yu & Yu Yuan, 2015. "Arbitrage Asymmetry and the Idiosyncratic Volatility Puzzle," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(5), pages 1903-1948, October.
    29. Shujun Ding & Mingzhi Liu & Zhenyu Wu, 2016. "Financial Reporting Quality and External Debt Financing Constraints: The Case of Privately Held Firms," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 52(3), pages 351-373, September.
    30. Hou, Kewei & Loh, Roger K., 2016. "Have we solved the idiosyncratic volatility puzzle?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(1), pages 167-194.
    31. Karpoff, Jonathan M, 1986. "A Theory of Trading Volume," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 41(5), pages 1069-1087, December.
    32. Jon A. Garfinkel, 2009. "Measuring Investors' Opinion Divergence," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(5), pages 1317-1348, December.
    33. Sris Chatterjee & Kose John & An Yan, 2012. "Takeovers and Divergence of Investor Opinion," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(1), pages 227-277.
    34. Doukas, John A. & Kim, Chansog (Francis) & Pantzalis, Christos, 2006. "Divergence of Opinion and Equity Returns," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 41(3), pages 573-606, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Min, Byoung-Kyu & Qiu, Buhui & Roh, Tai-Yong, 2022. "What drives the dispersion anomaly?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    2. Carlo D'Augusta & Sasson Bar-Yosef & Annalisa Prencipe, 2016. "The Effects of Conservative Reporting on Investor Disagreement," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(3), pages 451-485, September.
    3. Ana Isabel Ramos Domingues & António de Melo da Costa Cerqueira & Elísio Fernando Moreira Brandão, 2016. "Idiosyncratic Volatility and Earnings Quality: Evidence from United Kingdom," FEP Working Papers 579, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    4. Guo, Hui & Savickas, Robert, 2010. "Relation between time-series and cross-sectional effects of idiosyncratic variance on stock returns," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(7), pages 1637-1649, July.
    5. Mostafa Monzur Hasan & Ahsan Habib, 2019. "Social capital and idiosyncratic return volatility," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 44(1), pages 3-31, February.
    6. Zhong, Angel, 2018. "Idiosyncratic volatility in the Australian equity market," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 105-125.
    7. Kryzanowski, Lawrence & Mohsni, Sana, 2015. "Earnings forecasts and idiosyncratic volatilities," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 107-123.
    8. Andreou, Christoforos K. & Lambertides, Neophytos & Panayides, Photis M., 2021. "Distress risk anomaly and misvaluation," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(5).
    9. Sati P. Bandyopadhyay & Alan Guoming Huang & Kevin Jialin Sun & Tony S. Wirjanto, 2017. "The return premiums to accruals quality," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 83-115, January.
    10. Fargher, Neil & Wee, Marvin, 2019. "The impact of Ball and Brown (1968) on generations of research," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 55-72.
    11. Yen‐Cheng Chang & Pei‐Jie Hsiao & Alexander Ljungqvist & Kevin Tseng, 2022. "Testing Disagreement Models," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 77(4), pages 2239-2285, August.
    12. Rajgopal, Shiva & Venkatachalam, Mohan, 2011. "Financial reporting quality and idiosyncratic return volatility," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 1-20.
    13. Rajgopal, Shiva & Venkatachalam, Mohan, 2011. "Financial reporting quality and idiosyncratic return volatility," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1-2), pages 1-20, February.
    14. Huang, Dashan & Li, Jiangyuan & Wang, Liyao, 2021. "Are disagreements agreeable? Evidence from information aggregation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(1), pages 83-101.
    15. Andreou, Panayiotis C. & Kagkadis, Anastasios & Philip, Dennis & Tuneshev, Ruslan, 2018. "Differences in options investors’ expectations and the cross-section of stock returns," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 315-336.
    16. D’Augusta, Carlo & De Vito, Antonio & Grossetti, Francesco, 2023. "Words and numbers: A disagreement story from post-earnings announcement return and volume patterns," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    17. 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.
    18. Wang, Jianqiu & Wu, Ke & Pan, Jiening & Jiang, Ying, 2023. "Disagreement, speculation, and the idiosyncratic volatility," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 232-250.
    19. Hillert, Alexander & Jacobs, Heiko & Müller, Sebastian, 2018. "Journalist disagreement," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 57-76.
    20. Chen, Tao, 2020. "Does news affect disagreement in global markets?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 174-183.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:wly:accper:v:20:y:2021:i:1:p:79-107. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1911-3838 .

    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.