The accounting literature has used the midpoint of range forecasts in various research settings, assuming that the midpoint is the best proxy for managers' earnings expectations revealed in range forecasts. We argue that given managers' asymmetric loss functions regarding earnings surprises,...

We examine whether financial analysts—sophisticated market participants—are subject to limited attention. We find that when analysts have another firm in their coverage portfolio announcing earnings on the same day as the sample firm (a “concurrent announcement”), they are less likely to...

Despite the prevalence of IR among firms and its role as the functional area dedicated to financial communications, we know little about the relationship between IR and financial reporting quality. This paper examines the earnings management choices of firms with a professional IR presence. I...

We theorize that accounting systems affect analysts' forecast accuracy through changes in earnings variability. We argue that the matching and historical cost principles reduce earnings variability, and hence, reduce analysts' earnings forecast errors. We also argue that restricting the choice...

An examination of analysts' accuracy in predicting annual earnings for firms reporting losses and firms reporting profits finds that analysts are ten times more accurate in predicting the earnings of profit firms. They have also improved their predictive ability for profit firms since the...

We argue that accounting conservatism makes earnings forecasting difficult by introducing transitory components in reported earnings. These transitory components are likely to be disproportionately represented in firms reporting losses. We show that analysts' mean forecast errors and absolute...

Earnings announcement days on average provide more information to the stock market than any other days in each quarter. In particular, the proportions of the variation in annual returns explained by returns on days with dividend announcements, management forecasts, preannouncements, or 10-K and...