Market's perception of deferred tax accruals

This study investigates the value relevance and incremental information content of deferred tax accruals reported under the 'income statement method' (AASB 1020 "Accounting for Income Taxes") over the period 2001-2004. Our findings suggest that deferred tax accruals are viewed as assets and liabilities. We document a positive relation between recognized deferred tax assets and firm value using the levels model, while the results from the returns model suggest that deferred tax liabilities reflect future tax payments. The balance of unrecognized deferred tax assets provides a negative signal to the market about future profitability, particularly for companies from the materials and energy sectors and loss-makers. Copyright (c) The Authors. Journal compilation (c) 2009 AFAANZ.

The market response to beating after-tax earnings targets revisited using analysts' pre-tax earnings forecasts and concurrent tax note disclosures

We investigate whether the premium for achieving after-tax earnings targets is informed by the availability of pre-tax and after-tax earnings forecasts. We find evidence the premium is discounted for firms achieving only after-tax earnings forecasts compared with firms achieving both forecast targets. This is likely due to the uncertainty about future profitability and earnings quality created by failing to attain pre-tax earnings targets. For firms achieving only pre-tax earnings forecasts, no premium is documented. Taken together, our results indicate that while pre-tax earnings forecasts may not move the market, they have an informational role in providing a context for assessing the achievement of after-tax earnings targets. We also consider the usefulness of the tax note disclosures of deferred tax assets from carry-forward losses for assessing the premium for achieving after-tax earnings targets. Reflecting the duality of this tax deferral, we find evidence that recognition of these tax assets conveys information about lower earnings quality when recognition is likely to be opportunistic (in the case of firms achieving only after-tax forecasts), and provides a signal of future profitability (in the case of firms achieving only pre-tax forecasts)

Respondent lobbying in the Australian accounting standard-setting process : ED49 : a case study

Submissions made on Exposure Draft 49, Accounting for Identifiable Intangible Assets (ED49) are analyzed as a case study of the strategies employed by lobbyists in their attempt to influence the accounting standard setters. Previous studies on respondents' submissions have ignored the possiblity that, in responding to exposure drafts, lobbyists are provided with a means of persuasion in excess of casting votes. A form of content analysis is used to study the political process of standard setting. The results suggest that respondents on ED49 attempted to weight their lobby positions with the use of supporting arguments that utilized conceptual and economic consequences rationale and presented positions of differing strengths

Accept or reject? The Influence of CEO, institutional ownership and corporate governance on takeover bid recommendations

The extensive literature on target characteristics predominantly focuses on takeover likelihood; or, given the event of a bid, the likelihood of the success of a bid. This study endeavours to shed light on the role of the CEO around takeover activity, and the influences on the target board’s decision to either accept or reject a takeover offer. When looking at the ownership structure of the target, the bidder needs to trade off the degree of insider (board) ownership with the extent of other blockholder ownership (institutional investors). Using ASX listed firms that were targets between 2001 and 2007 where there is both CEO ownership and blockholder interest, we investigate which influence prevails

Does the market price the nature and extent of earnings management for firms that beat their earnings benchmark?

This study investigates whether the abnormal returns at the quarterly earnings announcement date varies according to the market’s expectations of the nature (informative vs opportunistic) and extent of discretionary accruals for firms that meet or beat expectations (MBE). In doing so, this study introduces an innovative model that measures the market’s expectation of the informativeness of earnings at the earnings announcement date and assesses the impact on the abnormal return for the interaction between the nature and expected extent of earnings management. A large sample of Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 firms that meet or exceed their earnings expectation over the period of 1998 to 2007 is analyzed. The results reveal that the expected extent of earnings management has a positive (negative) relation with the abnormal return when earnings management is informative (opportunistic)