I argue that external financial reporting quality has at best a 2nd order effect on firm value of U.S. publicly traded companies and that attempts to improve a firm's external reporting quality has a 3rd order effect on these firms' value. Recognizing that external financial reporting quality is...

Deferred tax and accruals have the characteristic of causing reported earnings to be above or below normal. Both are permitted to be used by companies in financial reporting. This study examines whether large deferred taxes and large accruals have an impact on the relationship between earnings...