• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• 제6권4호
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• pp.91-98
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• 2019

Dividend policy is an important business decision and is considered a channel to communicate a firm's performance to shareholders. Given the empirical findings that earnings quality significantly affects financial analysts' forecasting activities, it is predicted that higher earnings quality would positively influence forecast accuracy. Specifically, it is expected that financial analysts would forecast dividends more accurately for firms with higher earning quality. Unlike the research on financial analysts' earnings forecasts was heavily conducted, there is little study about financial analysts' dividend forecasts. This paper examines the effect of earnings quality on financial analysts' dividend forecast accuracy. We use a sample of South Korean firms for the period of 2011-2015 for multivariate regression. Earnings quality is measured by accruals quality and performance-adjusted discretionary accruals followed by prior studies. We first compare the accuracy between dividend forecasts and earnings forecasts using t-test and Wilcoxon singed-rank test. It is confirmed that financial analysts' dividend forecasts are more accurate than earnings forecasts in Korea. We find that financial analysts' dividend forecasts are more accurate for firms with higher earnings quality. We also find that the result is still valid after controlling for the accuracy of financial analysts' earnings forecasts. This confirms that earnings quality positively affects financial analysts' dividend forecasts.

• 동아시아경상학회지
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• 제7권1호
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• pp.17-25
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• 2019

Purpose - The international market provides a growth momentum for firms by allowing them to tap into a new market. Given information asymmetry between firms and financial analysts, firms' international growth can be perceived as a higher business prospect by analysts. This paper explores the possibility of analysts' over-emphasis on foreign income growth in predicting earnings. Research design, data, and methodology - We utilize a sample of U.S. firms to test the relationship between foreign income growth and analysts' forecast optimism. Our sample of publicly listed and traded U.S. firms between 1976 and 2016 consists of 6,120 firm-year observations. Results - Empirical analyses show that firms that show higher international growth in earnings are likely to face forecast inaccuracy by financial analysts. From the perspective of firms, their earnings are less than what analysts forecasted. Contrary to our prediction on the moderating effect of innovative capabilities, optimistic bias is not intensified - rather, it is reduced - when firms have higher innovative capabilities. Conclusions - Our results imply that while analysts favor firms with higher international growth, innovative capability on the international market places additional risks to firms' operation.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• 제6권2호
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• pp.45-54
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• 2019

This study examines whether auditors restrain the analysts' opportunistic behavior as reviewing the companies' interim reports. Analysts' forecasts show a walkdown pattern in which their optimism has decreased as the earnings announcement date has approached. At the beginning of the year, there is a lack of high-quality benchmark information that enables information users to judge the accuracy of analyst's earnings forecasts. Thus, early in the year, analysts are highly inspired to disseminate optimistic forecasts in order to gain manager's favor. In this study, we examine adequate benchmarks prevent analysts from disclosing optimistically biased forecasts. We conjecture that auditors' efforts might mitigate analysts' walkdown pattern. To test this hypothesis, we use data from Korea, where it is mandatory to disclose auditor's review hours. We find that the analyst forecast's walkdown decreases with the ratio as well as the number of audit hours. It implies that an auditor's effort in reviewing interim financial information has a monitoring function that reduces analysts' opportunistic optimism at the beginning of the year. We conjecture that the tendency will be more pronounced when BIG4 auditors review the interim reports. Consistent with the prediction, BIG4 auditors' interim review effort is more effective in suppressing the analysts' walkdown.

• 재무관리연구
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• 제27권1호
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• pp.31-62
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• 2010

본 연구는 시장효율성을 증대시키는 재무분석가의 이익예측 의사결정에 기업지배구조에서 중추적 역할을 하고 있는 소유구조가 미치는 영향을 분석하였다. 본 연구의 분석기간은 2000년부터 2006년까지이며 표본은 증권거래소에 상장된 기업들로 재무분석가의 이익예측치가 존재하는 12월말 결산법인으로 하였다. 본 연구의 결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 대주주지분율이 높은 기업은 질 낮은 회계이익을 바탕으로 재무분석가가 낙관적인 이익 예측을 하여 이익예측오차는 크나 대주주와의 우호관계를 통해 기업의 사적정보를 입수할 가능성이 있기 때문에 정확성이 높은 것으로 보인다. 기관투자자지분율이 높은 기업은 질 높은 회계이익을 바탕으로 재무분석가가 신중한 이익예측을 하여 이익예측오차는 감소하나 정확성은 높지 않은 것으로 보인다. 한편, 이러한 결과들은 재무분석가의 이익예측이 낙관적인 집단에 기인하며, 정확성은 상대적으로 떨어지는 집단에 기인하였다. 둘째, 소유구조와 재무분석가의 이익예측간의 관련성에 기업지배구조관련변수들의 영향력을 추가로 살펴보았다. 분석결과, 약간의(marginal) 의미만을 지니며 소유구조 전반으로 일반화하기에는 무리가 있었다. 추후 재무분석가들이 이미 선행연구들에서 밝혀진 기업경영의 투명성에 지대한 공헌을 한 지배구조 변수들을 의사결정 시에 반영하면 이러한 결과들이 더 뚜렷해 질 것으로 보인다. 본 연구는 상기의 결과들에도 불구하고 다음과 같은 한계점을 지니고 있다. 재무분석가의 이익예측정확성 차이를 구분함에 있어서 이익예측치의 중위수를 기준으로 높고 낮음을 판단하였다. 이러한 구분은 자의적인 방법이므로 추후 개선된 방법이 필요할 것이다. 그리고 재무분석가들의 이익예측치 발표시점에 대하여 독립변수들을 시장상황에 맞게 대응시키지 못하였다. 마지막으로 소유구조가 재무분석가의 이익예측에 미치는 직접적인 영향과 간접적인 영향을 명확히 구분하지 못하였다. 추후 자본시장의 효율성 증대를 위해 재무분석가가 더 많은 기업에 대해 정보를 제시해야 하며 그들의 제공된 정보가 시장효율성을 왜곡시키지 않도록 많은 견제와 감시제도가 존재해야 할 것이다.

• 지식경영연구
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• 제20권1호
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• pp.195-213
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• 2019

This paper investigates the effects of firms' foreign market focus on the optimistic bias of analysts' earnings forecasts. Based on a sample of 852 U.S. manufacturing firms between 1994 and 2015, our empirical results suggest that higher growth of foreign market focus is associated with greater levels of analysts' forecast optimism. Drawing on the CEO career horizon and the upper echelon theory literature, we find evidence that CEOs' career horizon and functional background as a CFO moderates the relationship between the growth rate of foreign market focus and analysts' forecast optimism. This shows that while financial analysts perceive internationalization strategies as signaling growth potential, such perception can vary depending on CEOs' individual characteristics.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• 제15권3호
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• pp.53-77
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• 2013

As advertising and promotions are categorized as operating expenses, managers tend to reduce marketing budget to improve their short term profitability. Gauging the value and accountability of marketing spending is therefore considered as a major research priority in marketing. To respond this call, recent studies have documented that financial market reacts positively to a firm's marketing activity or marketing related outcomes such as brand equity and customer satisfaction. However, prior studies focus on the relation of marketing variable and financial market variables. This study suggests a channel about how marketing activity increases firm valuation. Specifically, we propose that a firm's marketing activity increases the level of the firm's product market information and thereby the dispersion in financial analysts' earnings forecasts decreases. With less uncertainty about the firm's future prospect, the firm's managers and shareholders have less information asymmetry, which reduces the firm's cost of capital and thereby increases the valuation of the firm. To our knowledge, this is the first paper to examine how informational benefits can mediate the effect of marketing activity on firm value. To test whether marketing activity contributes to increase in firm value by mitigating information asymmetry, this study employs a longitudinal data which contains 12,824 firm-year observations with 2,337 distinct firms from 1981 to 2006. Firm value is measured by Tobin's Q and one-year-ahead buy-and-hold abnormal return (BHAR). Following prior literature, dispersion in analysts' earnings forecasts is used as a proxy for the information gap between management and shareholders. For model specification, to identify mediating effect, the three-step regression approach is adopted. All models are estimated using Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods to test the statistical significance of the mediating effect. The analysis shows that marketing intensity has a significant negative relationship with dispersion in analysts' earnings forecasts. After including the mediator variable about analyst dispersion, the effect of marketing intensity on firm value drops from 1.199 (p < .01) to 1.130 (p < .01) in Tobin's Q model and the same effect drops from .192 (p < .01) to .188 (p < .01) in BHAR model. The results suggest that analysts' forecast dispersion partially accounts for the positive effect of marketing on firm valuation. Additionally, the same analysis was conducted with an alternative dependent variable (forecast accuracy) and a marketing metric (advertising intensity). The analysis supports the robustness of the main results. In sum, the results provide empirical evidence that marketing activity can increase shareholder value by mitigating problem of information asymmetry in the capital market. The findings have important implications for managers. First, managers should be cognizant of the role of marketing activity in providing information to the financial market as well as to the consumer market. Thus, managers should take into account investors' reaction when they design marketing communication messages for reducing the cost of capital. Second, this study shows a channel on how marketing creates shareholder value and highlights the accountability of marketing. In addition to the direct impact of marketing on firm value, an indirect channel by reducing information asymmetry should be considered. Potentially, marketing managers can justify their spending from the perspective of increasing long-term shareholder value.

• 유통과학연구
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• 제17권10호
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• pp.41-48
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• 2019

Purpose - This study investigates whether financial analysts consider the intangible investment implicit in selling, general, and administrative (SG&A) expenditures to forecast firms' future earnings. Research design, data, and methodology - Using 52,609 U.S. firm-year observations spanning 1984-2016, this study examines the association between the Intangible investment implicit in SG&A expenditures and properties of analysts' earnings forecasts. To estimate the Intangible investment of SG&A, I decompose SG&A excluding R&D and advertising expenditures into maintenance and investment components following Enache and Srivastava (2017). Results - The main results show that analysts' earnings forecast errors and dispersion in analysts' forecasts increase with the intangible investment derived from SG&A because the investment component of SG&A affects future earnings and the uncertainty of those earnings. However, these results are weakened in the wholesale and retail industries where firms have a higher level of investment component of SG&A. I attribute the weaker results to low R&D expenditures in those industries. Conclusion - This study indicates that financial analysts incorporate the intangible investment of SG&A into their earnings forecasts differently across firms and industries. Furthermore, this study supports the argument for the separate reporting of the investment nature of SG&A from other operating expenses such as maintenance nature of SG&A.

• 한국빅데이터학회지
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• 제1권2호
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• pp.21-34
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• 2016

재무분석가의 투자전략 보고서는 전문가의 금융정보 분석으로 사람들간의 금융 정보 격차를 줄일 수 있게 만들어 줄 수 있다. 하지만 여러 다른 인센티브로 말미암아 투자전략 보고서는 왜곡의 소지가 있을 수 있다. 만약, 투자전략 보고서 제목만으로 예측에 미치는 영향을 파악할 수 있다면, 예측력이 높은 투자전략 보고서를 분별할 수 있게 된다. 이에 본 연구는 재무분석가의 투자전략 보고서의 제목과 예측의 관계를 파악하려 한다. 텍스트 마이닝을 사용하여, 국내 재무분석가의 투자전략 보고서 제목으로부터 연구의 중요변수인 투자의견을 추출하고 모형을 구축하여 재무분석가의 예측 정확도와 예측 달성도를 측정하였다. 분석 결과, 강한 매수의견과 매도의견이 제목에 있을수록 재무분석가의 예측 정확도와 예측 달성도가 높아짐을 검증하였다. 본 연구 결과가 투자자에게 더 정확한 투자전략 보고서를 판단하는 기준를 제시하기를 바라고 빅데이터를 통한 분석 연구에 시사점을 주길 기대한다.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• 제1권3호
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• pp.29-36
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• 2014

This paper attempts to measure the impact of non-financial factors including analyst practices and broker resources on performance of sell side research. Results reveal that these non-financial factors have a measurable impact on performance of target price forecasts. Number of pages written by an analyst (surrogate for analyst practice) is significantly and directly linked with target price accuracy indicating a more elaborate analyst produces better target price forecasts. Analyst compensation (surrogate for broker resource) is significantly and inversely linked with target price accuracy. Out performance by analysts working with lower paying firms is possibly associated with motivation to migrate to higher paying broking firms. The study finds that employing more number of analysts per research report has no significant impact on target price accuracy -negative coefficient indicates that team work may not result in better target price forecasts. Though insignificant, long term forecast horizon negatively affects target price accuracy while stock volatility improves target price accuracy.

• 경영과정보연구
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• 제36권3호
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• pp.151-165
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• 2017

본 연구는 수주산업 기업의 진행기준 수익인식 방법이 재무분석가 이익 예측 정보에 미치는 영향을 분석한다. 구체적으로 미청구공사 계정 잔액 보고여부 및 잔액 수준에 따라 달라지는 재무분석가 이익예측 정보의 특성을 살펴보았다. 미청구공사 계정 정보는 K-IFRS 도입 이후부터 제공되고 있으므로, 본 연구는 2010년부터 2014년까지 한국거래소에 상장된 기업 중 수주산업에 속한 453개 기업-연도 표본을 대상으로 분석하였다. 분석결과, 미청구공사 계정 잔액이 존재하는 기업은 미청구공사 계정 잔액이 없는 기업에 비해 재무분석가 이익예측 정보의 정확성이 낮았고, 더불어 미청구공사 보고금액의 수준이 높아질 경우 재무분석가 이익예측 정보의 정확성이 감소됨을 확인하였다. 미청구공사 계정은 수주업체 수익(진행률) 인식이 발주자의 수익 인정 시점(실제진척도) 보다 먼저 인식될 경우 생성된다. 이는 진행률 측정 시 경영자의 재량적인 판단과 추정이 가능하기 때문이며, 결국 실제진척도와 진행률의 차이는 재무제표의 예측가치를 하락시킨다. 따라서 진행기준에 의한 수익인식 방법을 적용 시 미청구공사 잔액을 보고한 기업의 경우, 재무분석가의 이익예측은 보다 어려울 수 있음을 본 연구의 결과가 보여준다. 추가적으로 미청구공사 계정잔액을 보고한 기업은 재무분석가의 이익예측 성향이 낙관적인 것으로 나타났다. 본 연구는 경영자에게는 실제진척도를 반영할 수 있는 진행률 측정 방식의 도입과 더불어 진행률 측정시에 자의적인 조정과 추정을 줄이는 노력을 제안하며, 투자자들에게는 수주산업의 진행기준 회계처리의 특성을 감안한 투자와 분석을 권고한다. 아울러 본 연구의 결과는 정책당국의 수주산업 회계투명성 제고 방안에도 힘을 실어 준다.