The Effects of Analysts’ Access to Management’s Private Information and the Precision of Publicly Available Information on Analyst Forecast Accuracy

44 Pages Posted: 17 Apr 2011 Last revised: 29 Jun 2013

See all articles by Sami Keskek

Sami Keskek

Florida State University

Linda A. Myers

University of Tennessee, Haslam College of Business, Accounting and Information Management

Thomas C. Omer

University of Nebraska at Lincoln - School of Accountancy

Marjorie K. Shelley

University of Nebraska at Lincoln - School of Accountancy

Date Written: June 1, 2013

Abstract

We posit and find that the importance of analyst and forecast characteristics for analyst forecast accuracy varies with analysts’ access to management’s private information and with the precision of publicly available information. In particular, more experienced analysts and All-Star analysts do not maintain their superior forecast accuracy and analysts employed by large brokerage houses perform even worse than other analysts following the enactment of Regulation Fair Disclosure (Reg FD). In addition, we find a decrease in the importance of effort, the number of industries and firms followed, days elapsed since the last forecast, forecast horizon, and forecast boldness post-Reg FD. The decrease in the importance of most of these characteristics is greater when the precision of publicly available information is low. Our results suggest that the positive effects of experience, effort, brokerage house size, All-Star status for forecast accuracy pre-Reg FD were due to the information advantage these analysts enjoyed, rather than their ability to generate private information. In contrast, following the enactment of Reg FD, the importance of prior forecast accuracy increases and this increase is even greater when the precision of publicly available information is low. This suggests that prior forecast accuracy is related to analysts’ ability to generate private information. Because prior evidence suggests that investors consider analyst and forecast characteristics when they evaluate the relevance of analyst forecasts, our findings can help investors to better assess and use the information in analyst forecasts.

Keywords: Analyst forecast errors, Analyst disagreement, Information uncertainty, Private information

JEL Classification: M4, M41

Suggested Citation

Keskek, Sami and Myers, Linda A. and Omer, Thomas C. and Shelley, Marjorie, The Effects of Analysts’ Access to Management’s Private Information and the Precision of Publicly Available Information on Analyst Forecast Accuracy (June 1, 2013). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1809200 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1809200

Sami Keskek

Florida State University ( email )

Department of Accounting
College of Business
Tallahassee, FL 32306
United States

Linda A. Myers (Contact Author)

University of Tennessee, Haslam College of Business, Accounting and Information Management ( email )

Knoxville, TN
United States

Thomas C. Omer

University of Nebraska at Lincoln - School of Accountancy ( email )

307 College of Business Administration
Lincoln, NE 68588-0488
United States

Marjorie Shelley

University of Nebraska at Lincoln - School of Accountancy ( email )

445E Howard L. Hawkes Hall
Lincoln, NE 68588-0488
United States

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