Motivated by the findings that the aggregate (discretionary) accruals positively predicts oneyear-ahead firm-level stock returns and that there is a considerable amount of co-movement in firm-level (discretionary) accruals, we decompose firm-level (discretionary) accruals into a market-wide component and a firm-specific component. We document robust evidence that the two orthogonal (discretiona...

We find that the positive relation between aggregate accruals and one-year-ahead market returns documented in Hirshleifer, Hou and Teoh [2009] is driven by discretionary accruals but not normal accruals. The return forecasting power of aggregate discretionary accruals is robust to choices of sample periods, return measurements, estimation methods, business condition and risk premium proxies, an...

This thesis examines anomalies related to the discretionary accruals usage during the tenures of CEOs in listed U.S. companies since the implementation of Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The approach used in this thesis is quantitative in nature. Four well-known discretionary accruals models: Healy model, DeAngelo model, Jones model and modified Jones are used in to separate discretionary accruals from the...

BACKGROUND The Health Star Rating (HSR) is an interpretive front-of-pack labelling system that rates the overall nutritional profile of packaged foods. The algorithm underpinning the HSR includes total sugar content as one of the components. This has been criticised because intrinsic sugars naturally present in dairy, fruits, and vegetables are treated the same as sugars added during food proce...

Efficient use of assets in agriculture is a goal for policy-makers and farmers. Agricultural input resources are scarce therefore optimum use of inputs in different agricultural operations is important. Mathematical programming technique such as data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a well-known approach for estimation efficiency of agricultural DMUs. In this study, efficiency of kidney bean produ...

Data indicate that substance abuse problems are common in the elderly but are largely ignored. The elderly cohort of abusers is divided into early and late onset groups. Abuse moderating factors include cohort effects, socioeconomic status, and frail health, while exacerbating factors include discretionary income, status as a hidden population, and caregiver complicity. Physiological and psycho...