The discontinuities at zero in the frequency distributions of reported net income (deflated by beginning-of-period market capitalization), deflated change in net income, I/B/E/S quot;actualquot; earnings, and analysts' forecast errors are the most widely cited evidence of earnings management. We...

We develop and implement a method for comparing the measurement error in estimates of the expected rate of return on equity. We combine the Campbell [1991] and Vuolteenaho [2002] return decomposition with the econometric method described in Garber and Klepper [1980] and Barth [1991] to infer...

I describe a model of earnings and earnings growth and I demonstrate how this model may be used to obtain estimates of the expected rate of return on equity capital. These estimates are compared with estimates of the expected rate of return implied by commonly used heuristics - viz., the PEG...

We investigate write-downs of assets of oil and gas firms due to the application of the SEC full-cost ceiling test during the period of the largest decline in oil and gas prices since this test was mandated. The correlation between the write-down amounts and contemporaneous returns is...

The focus of this discussion is on the possible effects of scale in regressions that have price (or value) per share as the dependent variable. My argument rests on the fact that this dependent variable may reflect no more than the choice by management of the number of shares outstanding....

We investigate the role of bank regulatory reports in the information environments of banks. We find that: (1) Call Reports, but not FR Y-9Cs, elicit economically significant stock price and volume reactions when they are publicly released despite the fact that Call Reports usually follow...

Our analyses are based on the observation that the portion of change in enterprise value captured in earnings differs according to the source of value change. These sources are: (1) cash flows to/from debt holders, equity holders, and/or cash reserves; and, (2) changes in value of assets in...

Studies related to the measurement of accounting numbers have tended to focus on accounting as it relates to: changes in equity values; equity valuation; estimation of the cost of equity capital; and, prediction of equity earnings. I propose and justify a perspective for financial accounting...

On average, across the years 1980 to 2018, almost 8.5 percent of firms on the Compustat Annual data set, which had earnings observations in year t-1, did not have earnings observations in year t. Because these disappearances were not random, there is attrition bias in estimates of earnings...

We extend Easton's (2007) review of the literature on accounting-based estimates of the expected rate of return on equity capital, which we refer to as the ERR. We begin by reiterating the reasons why accounting-based estimates are used. Next, we briefly review the recent literature that focuses...