Commonly used Jones-type discretionary accrual models applied in quarterly settings do not adequately control for nondiscretionary accruals that naturally occur due to firm growth. We show that the relation between quarterly accruals and backward-looking sales growth (measured over a rolling four-quarter window) and forward-looking firm growth (market-to-book ratio) is non-linear. Failure to co...

We investigate whether the accruals anomaly (Sloan 1996), characterized by U.S. stock prices over-weighting the role of accrual persistence and under-weighting the role of operating cash flow persistence for future earnings, is a local manifestation of a global phenomenon. Hence, we examine whether stock prices in six other major capital markets and Japan) fully reflect the implications of the ...

We examine the association between employee quality and financial reporting outcomes. Using the average workforce education level in MSA(s) where the firm operates as a proxy for employee quality, we find that firms with a high-quality workforce exhibit higher accruals quality, fewer internal control violations, and fewer restatements. These firms also issue superior management forecasts, in te...

The accrual anomaly is a phenomenon that investors gain future abnormal returns through accruals-based hedge portfolios. This paper first shows that China's institutional investors have a better understanding of the persistence of accounting accruals and they more accurately assess stock prices, and that an accrual-based hedge portfolio yields smaller future abnormal returns for firms with high...

This paper theoretically and empirically investigates the role of CEO career concerns on accruals based and real activities earnings management. We develop a model of earnings management, rooted in career concerns, that alternatively incorporates the features of the accrual accounting performance measurement system and the negative value-destroying effects of real activities earnings management...

We construct empirical proxies for cash-flow timing and matching problems and provide evidence on the ability of this accrual generating factor to explain accruals. Researchers lament our meager understanding of the process that spawns accruals (Owens et al., 2013, Ball, 2013, McNichols, 2000). Our aim is to map the explanatory power boundaries demarcated by our current knowledge of the role of...