On a broader plank, Can future be forecasted? The answer is not affirmative. If there is something known or defined as ‘the future’ then it can be attempted. The word future is a relational term it can be discussed as the future of something. Is it possible to forecast results? The answer is...

The size of the equity risk premium remains an unanswered question in the accounting and finance literature. This study proposes a new approach to reverse-engineer the equity risk premium, distinct from prior research, in that it does not rely on analysts’ forecasts to proxy for the market’s...

This paper extends the study of Herrmann and Thomas (2005) on granularity in analyst forecasts at multiples of nickels and finds that forecasts at multiples of nickels are more optimistic, and induce weaker market responses. Granularity in analyst forecasts combined with managers’ incentive to...

This paper discusses the ability of models on cheap talk, and of audit and liability regulations, to provide analytically-based assessment of credibility of management forecast disclosure in market and regulated settings. While credibility is linked to restrictive conditions in pure market...

This paper examines differences in the trading patterns of institutions. Investee firms with different levels and types of institutions are also examined. A method is developed to categorize institutions as active or inactive. Changes in the level of information, changes in the CAR response,...

Managerial behavior differs considerably when managers report quarterly profits versus losses. When they report profits, managers seek to just meet or slightly beat analyst estimates. When they report losses, managers do not attempt to meet or slightly beat analyst estimates. Instead, managers...

This paper examines cross-sectional differences in the optimistic behavior of financial analysts. Specifically, we investigate whether the predictive accuracy of past information (e.g., time-series of earnings, past returns, etc.) is associated with the magnitude of the bias in analysts'...

We investigate firms' propensity to meet analysts' forecasts of cash flows and earnings, and identify factors pertaining to market valuation, financial analysts, and firms' financial condition to explain why firms sometimes meet cash flow forecasts but miss earnings forecasts. Firms meet cash...

We study the effects of company diversification and analyst diversification on consensus and individual analysts' earnings forecasts. Company diversification is measured both as the number of segments reported by a company and as an entropy measure which decomposes the total diversification into...

Under the assumption that audit quality relates positively to unobservable financial reporting reliability, we investigate whether audit quality is associated with the predictability of accounting earnings by focusing on analyst earnings forecast properties. The evidence shows that analysts'...