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Income Smoothing, Information Uncertainty, Stock Returns, and Cost of Equity

Author

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  • Linda H. Chen

    (Department of Accounting, College of Business, Washington State University, Pullman, WA99164-4729, United States)

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of income smoothing on information uncertainty, stock returns, and cost of equity. I show that income smoothing through both total accruals and discretionary accruals tends to reduce firms' information uncertainty, as measured by stock return volatility, analyst earnings forecast dispersion, and analyst earnings forecast error. Further, I provide evidence that stocks of income smoothing firms are priced with a premium. Controlling for earnings shocks and other firm characteristics, income smoothing firms have significantly higher abnormal returns around earnings announcement. In addition, I show that income smoothing reduces firms' implied cost of equity or expected returns. The result is more robust over short horizons up to two years.

Suggested Citation

  • Linda H. Chen, 2013. "Income Smoothing, Information Uncertainty, Stock Returns, and Cost of Equity," Review of Pacific Basin Financial Markets and Policies (RPBFMP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 16(03), pages 1-34.
    • Handle: RePEc:wsi:rpbfmp:v:16:y:2013:i:03:n:s0219091513500203
    DOI: 10.1142/S0219091513500203
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jonathan Lewellen & Jay Shanken, 2000. "Estimation Risk, Market Efficiency, and the Predictability of Returns," NBER Working Papers 7699, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Wensheng Kang & Jing Wang, 2018. "Oil shocks, policy uncertainty and earnings surprises," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 375-388, August.
    2. Hassan Tanha & Michael Dempsey, 2016. "The Information Content of ASX SPI 200 Implied Volatility," Review of Pacific Basin Financial Markets and Policies (RPBFMP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 19(01), pages 1-14, March.
    3. Robert J. Bianchi & Michael E. Drew & Timothy Whittaker, 2016. "The Predictive Performance of Asset Pricing Models: Evidence from the Australian Securities Exchange," Review of Pacific Basin Financial Markets and Policies (RPBFMP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 19(04), pages 1-18, December.
    4. Curtis Nicholls, 2016. "The impact of SEC investigations and accounting and auditing enforcement releases on firms’ cost of equity capital," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 57-82, July.
    5. Abdullah Mamun & Md Didarul Alam & George Tannous, 2019. "Did the regulatory changes of 1999 and 2001 affect income smoothing behavior of US banks?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 52(4), pages 1011-1041, May.
    6. Shanshan Pan & Michael Lacina & Haeyoung Shin, 2019. "Income Classification Shifting and Financial Analysts’ Forecasts," Review of Pacific Basin Financial Markets and Policies (RPBFMP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 22(02), pages 1-48, June.
    7. Hua-Wei Huang & Mai Dao & James Fornaro, 2016. "Corporate governance, SFAS 157 and cost of equity capital: evidence from US financial institutions," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 141-177, January.
    8. Alex Petkevich & Andrew Prevost, 2018. "Managerial ability, information quality, and the design and pricing of corporate debt," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 1033-1069, November.
    9. Christian Blecher, 2019. "The influence of uncertainty on the standard-setting decision between fair value and historical cost accounting under asymmetric information," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 53(1), pages 47-72, July.
    10. Hua-Wei Huang & Mai Dao & James M. Fornaro, 2016. "Corporate governance, SFAS 157 and cost of equity capital: evidence from US financial institutions," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 141-177, January.
    11. Chang, Hsihui & Ho, L.C. Jennifer & Liu, Zenghui & Ouyang, Bo, 2021. "Income smoothing and audit fees," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    12. Ahmad N. Obaidat, 2017. "Income Smoothing Behavior at the Times of Political Crises," International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, vol. 7(2), pages 1-13, April.
    13. Troy Pollard, 2016. "Sneaking in the back door? An evaluation of reverse mergers and IPOs," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 305-341, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Income smoothing; information uncertainty; stock returns; cost of equity; G12; G14; M41; M43;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G1 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets
    • G2 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services
    • G3 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance

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