We examine changes in banks' market-to-book ratios over the last decade, focusing on the dramatic and persistent declines witnessed during the financial crisis. The extent of the decline and its persistence cannot be explained by the delayed recognition of losses. Rather, it is declines in the...

This study provides evidence relevant for estimating and evaluating the terminal value term used in DCF valuation. Consistent with common practice, exit multiples based on EBITDA dominate those based on either net operating profit after tax (NOPAT) or net operating assets (NOA). However, both...

Overproduction reduces cost of goods sold by spreading fixed costs over an inflated number of units. An estimate of the overproduction bias helps predict future profitability, and adjusting profitability measures to undo this distortion improves their explanatory power for future profitability....

Over the last thirty years there has been a strong positive trend in the magnitude of amortization charges, due to both economic and accounting changes. This trend has accelerated over the last decade, following the implementation of a revised accounting standard for business combinations....

Estimating expected credit losses on banks' portfolios has long been difficult. The issue has become of increasing interest to academics and regulators, as the FASB and IASB consider new regulations for impairment of loans. This study develops a measure of the one-year-ahead expected rate of...

This study develops and evaluates a model that generates synthetic credit ratings using accounting and market based information. The model performs very well in explaining agency ratings, suggesting that fitted values for unrated companies are likely to be reasonably precise. In addition, the...

This monograph provides a thorough review of earnings quality issues and analysis. Its primary objectives are to help gain a deep understanding of earnings quality and facilitate the development of comprehensive, granular, and contextual earnings quality indicators and analyses. While there are...

The DuPont decomposition of profitability into profit margin and asset turnover has been applied extensively to forecast future profits. This paper provides a complementary analysis under which the DuPont decomposition also informs about the risk that profits may differ from expectation. In the...

The starting point for estimating firm-specific steady-state growth, which is a critical assumption in implementing fundamental valuation, is the expected long-term growth rate of the economy in which the company operates. This study provides evidence that supports using the risk-free long-term...