Abnormal Accrual Estimates and Evidence of Mispricing
52 Pages Posted: 1 Dec 2011 Last revised: 5 Dec 2011
Date Written: December 1, 2011
Abstract
To estimate abnormal accruals, prior research employs a wide variety of models and estimation procedures. We evaluate the performance of three representative models – modified Jones model (MJ), MJ with operating cash flows (MJOCF), and MJ with return on assets (MJROA) – and two estimation procedures – industry-specific and firm-specific regressions. In evaluating the performance of various models, we use mispricing tests (i.e. relating current accruals to future returns) as our main test. We find that the best performing model is the firm-specific MJOCF model followed by the industry-specific MJROA model. However, when we use the recursive firm-specific procedure (i.e. based on current and previous years’ information only), we do not find the firm-specific MJOCF model outperforms the industry-specific MJROA model. We recommend that researchers use the industry-specific MJROA model to estimate abnormal accruals when investigating earnings management. For evaluating earnings quality that can include management estimation error, the firm-specific MJOCF remains clearly the best model from the perspective of abnormal accrual mispricing.
Keywords: abnormal accruals, accrual model(s)
JEL Classification: M41, M43
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?
Recommended Papers
-
By Christine Botosan and Marlene Plumlee
-
By Christine Botosan and Marlene Plumlee
-
By Paul M. Healy and Krishna Palepu
-
Information and the Cost of Capital
By Maureen O'hara and David Easley
-
Toward an Implied Cost of Capital
By William R. Gebhardt, Charles M.c. Lee, ...
-
Toward an Ex Ante Cost-of-Capital
By William R. Gebhardt, Charles M.c. Lee, ...
-
The World Price of Insider Trading
By Utpal Bhattacharya and Hazem Daouk
-
The Market Pricing of Earnings Quality
By Jennifer Francis, Ryan Lafond, ...