[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/acctfi/v62y2022i3p3645-3675.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Have existing theories explained the accrual anomaly? An evaluation based on the decomposition method

Author

Listed:
  • Zhi‐an Hu
  • Zhuo Huang
  • Dawei Lin
  • Zhimin Qiu
Abstract
Using the decomposition method proposed by Hou and Loh (2016), we evaluate whether the existing theories have explained the negative correlation between accruals and the cross‐section returns (the accrual anomaly). The results show that cash‐based operating profitability best explains the anomaly, with an explanatory power of about 94 percent. Among the three explanation groups, explanations about investment and cash flows explain efficiently, whereas the contributions of arbitrage costs and information asymmetry are quite limited. Together, our findings suggest that the existing theories, especially explanations about investment and cash flows, have explained most of the anomaly and the unexplained fraction is negligible.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhi‐an Hu & Zhuo Huang & Dawei Lin & Zhimin Qiu, 2022. "Have existing theories explained the accrual anomaly? An evaluation based on the decomposition method," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(3), pages 3645-3675, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:acctfi:v:62:y:2022:i:3:p:3645-3675
    DOI: 10.1111/acfi.12900
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/acfi.12900
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/acfi.12900?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Harrison Hong & Terence Lim & Jeremy C. Stein, 2000. "Bad News Travels Slowly: Size, Analyst Coverage, and the Profitability of Momentum Strategies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 265-295, February.
    2. Richardson, Scott A. & Sloan, Richard G. & Soliman, Mark T. & Tuna, Irem, 2005. "Accrual reliability, earnings persistence and stock prices," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 437-485, September.
    3. Lewellen, Jonathan, 2010. "Accounting anomalies and fundamental analysis: An alternative view," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 455-466, December.
    4. Khan, Mozaffar, 2008. "Are accruals mispriced Evidence from tests of an Intertemporal Capital Asset Pricing Model," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 55-77, March.
    5. Baruch Lev & Doron Nissim, 2006. "The Persistence of the Accruals Anomaly," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(1), pages 193-226, March.
    6. Daniel, Kent, et al, 1997. "Measuring Mutual Fund Performance with Characteristic-Based Benchmarks," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(3), pages 1035-1058, July.
    7. Ball, Ray & Gerakos, Joseph & Linnainmaa, Juhani T. & Nikolaev, Valeri, 2016. "Accruals, cash flows, and operating profitability in the cross section of stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(1), pages 28-45.
    8. Kewei Hou & Chen Xue & Lu Zhang, 2015. "Editor's Choice Digesting Anomalies: An Investment Approach," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(3), pages 650-705.
    9. Hou, Kewei & Loh, Roger K., 2016. "Have we solved the idiosyncratic volatility puzzle?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(1), pages 167-194.
    10. Fama, Eugene F & French, Kenneth R, 1996. "Multifactor Explanations of Asset Pricing Anomalies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(1), pages 55-84, March.
    11. Rosalyn Oei & Alan Ramsay & Paul Mather, 2008. "Earnings persistence, accruals and managerial share ownership," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 48(3), pages 475-502, September.
    12. Dechow, Patricia M., 1994. "Accounting earnings and cash flows as measures of firm performance : The role of accounting accruals," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 3-42, July.
    13. Patricia M. Dechow & Scott A. Richardson & Richard G. Sloan, 2008. "The Persistence and Pricing of the Cash Component of Earnings," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(3), pages 537-566, June.
    14. Greg Clinch & Damian Fuller & Brett Govendir & Peter Wells, 2012. "The accrual anomaly: Australian evidence," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 52(2), pages 377-394, June.
    15. Nelson, Karen K. & Barth, Mary E. & Cram, Donald, 2001. "Accruals and the Prediction of Future Cash Flows," Research Papers 1594r, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    16. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1997. "The Limits of Arbitrage," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 35-55, March.
    17. Han, Xing & Li, Kai & Li, Youwei, 2020. "Investor overconfidence and the security market line: New evidence from China," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    18. Chuan ‘Chewie’ Ang, Tze & Lam, F.Y. Eric C. & Ma, Tai & Wang, Shujing & Wei, K.C. John, 2019. "What is the real relationship between cash holdings and stock returns?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 513-528.
    19. Paul Hribar & Daniel W. Collins, 2002. "Errors in Estimating Accruals: Implications for Empirical Research," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(1), pages 105-134, March.
    20. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1993. "Common risk factors in the returns on stocks and bonds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 3-56, February.
    21. Mashruwala, Christina & Rajgopal, Shivaram & Shevlin, Terry, 2006. "Why is the accrual anomaly not arbitraged away? The role of idiosyncratic risk and transaction costs," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1-2), pages 3-33, October.
    22. LaFond, Ryan, 2005. "Is the Accrual Anomaly a Global Anomaly?," Working papers 27856, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    23. Shumway, Tyler, 1997. "The Delisting Bias in CRSP Data," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 327-340, March.
    24. Mark T. Bradshaw & Scott A. Richardson & Richard G. Sloan, 2001. "Do Analysts and Auditors Use Information in Accruals?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 45-74, June.
    25. Yu, Fang (Frank), 2008. "Analyst coverage and earnings management," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 245-271, May.
    26. Jeremiah Green & John R. M. Hand & Mark T. Soliman, 2011. "Going, Going, Gone? The Apparent Demise of the Accruals Anomaly," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(5), pages 797-816, May.
    27. Collins, Daniel W. & Hribar, Paul, 2000. "Earnings-based and accrual-based market anomalies: one effect or two?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 101-123, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Richardson, Scott & Tuna, Irem & Wysocki, Peter, 2010. "Accounting anomalies and fundamental analysis: A review of recent research advances," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 410-454, December.
    2. Dana Hollie & Philip B. Shane & Qiuhong Zhao & Steven Cahan, 2017. "The role of financial analysts in stock market efficiency with respect to annual earnings and its cash and accrual components," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 57(1), pages 199-237, March.
    3. Cordeiro Moreira, Jeíce Catrine & Lima, Gerlando A.S.F. & Góis, Alan Diógenes, 2019. "Effects of institutional factors on the accruals anomaly in Latin America," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 1-1.
    4. R. Jared DeLisle & H. Zafer Yüksel & Gulnara R. Zaynutdinova, 2020. "What'S In A Name? A Cautionary Tale Of Profitability Anomalies And Limits To Arbitrage," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 43(2), pages 305-344, May.
    5. Chad R. Larson & Richard Sloan & Jenny Zha Giedt, 2018. "Defining, measuring, and modeling accruals: a guide for researchers," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 827-871, September.
    6. David Hirshleifer & Kewei Hou & Siew Hong Teoh, 2012. "The Accrual Anomaly: Risk or Mispricing?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(2), pages 320-335, February.
    7. Jawad Mohammad & Attiya Yasmin Javid, 2015. "An Analysis of Accrual Anomaly in Case of Karachi Stock Exchange," PIDE-Working Papers 2015:116, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics.
    8. Andrew Detzel & Philipp Schaberl & Jack Strauss, 2018. "There are two very different accruals anomalies," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 24(4), pages 581-609, September.
    9. Chichernea, Doina C. & Holder, Anthony D. & Petkevich, Alex, 2015. "Does return dispersion explain the accrual and investment anomalies?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 133-148.
    10. Khan, Mozaffar, 2008. "Are accruals mispriced Evidence from tests of an Intertemporal Capital Asset Pricing Model," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 55-77, March.
    11. Shi, Linna & Zhang, Huai & Guo, Jun, 2014. "Analyst cash flow forecasts and pricing of accruals," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 95-105.
    12. Eero J. Pätäri & Timo H. Leivo & Sheraz Ahmed, 2022. "Can the FSCORE add value to anomaly-based portfolios? A reality check in the German stock market," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 36(3), pages 321-367, September.
    13. Georgios A. Papanastasopoulos, 2014. "Accounting Accruals and Stock Returns: Evidence from European Equity Markets," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(4), pages 729-768, December.
    14. Dechow, Patricia & Ge, Weili & Schrand, Catherine, 2010. "Understanding earnings quality: A review of the proxies, their determinants and their consequences," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 344-401, December.
    15. Doukakis, Leonidas C. & Papanastasopoulos, Georgios A., 2014. "The accrual anomaly in the U.K. stock market: Implications of growth and accounting distortions," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 256-277.
    16. Mateus, Irina B. & Mateus, Cesario & Todorovic, Natasa, 2019. "Review of new trends in the literature on factor models and mutual fund performance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 344-354.
    17. Adam Zaremba & Jacob Koby Shemer, 2018. "Price-Based Investment Strategies," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-319-91530-2, December.
    18. Ming‐Chang Wang & Yu‐Jia Ding, 2021. "Does the quarterly accrual anomaly exist in Taiwan's stock market? Evidence from Manager's earnings management," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(3), pages 688-701, April.
    19. Konstantinidi, Theodosia, 2022. "Firm life cycle, expectation errors and future stock returns," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    20. Eero J. Pätäri & Timo H. Leivo & Janne Hulkkonen & J. V. Samuli Honkapuro, 2018. "Enhancement of value investing strategies based on financial statement variables: the German evidence," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 813-845, October.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:acctfi:v:62:y:2022:i:3:p:3645-3675. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaanzea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.