Disclosure-Derived Financial Statement Adjustments in Equity Valuation

48 Pages Posted: 25 Jan 2011 Last revised: 2 Jun 2011

See all articles by George E. Batta

George E. Batta

Claremont McKenna College - Robert Day School of Economics and Finance

Ananda R. Ganguly

Claremont McKenna College - Robert Day School of Economics and Finance

Joshua G. Rosett

Claremont McKenna College - Robert Day School of Economics and Finance

Date Written: January 25, 2011

Abstract

In this paper, we assess the equity value relevance of disclosure-derived financial statement adjustments. Prior literature has explored only the incremental explanatory power of individual adjustments, or has assessed the superiority of earnings recast using only a subset of prescribed adjustments. Measurement error differences among different adjustments may, however, mitigate aggregated adjustments’ relative or incremental explanatory power. In price levels and returns tests, we find that reported financial numbers have relatively superior explanatory power over adjusted numbers, though adjustments still retain economically significant incremental explanatory power above reported numbers alone. We find a severe loss of information upon aggregating different adjustment categories and find that adjustments for nonrecurring income items, operating leases, pensions, and LIFO reserves have highly economically significant effects on equity valuation. Results suggest that financial statement adjustments complement, rather than substitute for, reported financial numbers and that aggregating disparate adjustments together severely diminishes their valuation relevance.

Keywords: Financial statement recasting, financial statement analysis, equity valuation, financial disclosures

JEL Classification: M40, G12

Suggested Citation

Batta, George E. and Ganguly, Ananda Roop and Rosett, Joshua G., Disclosure-Derived Financial Statement Adjustments in Equity Valuation (January 25, 2011). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1747352 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1747352

George E. Batta (Contact Author)

Claremont McKenna College - Robert Day School of Economics and Finance ( email )

500 E. Ninth Street
Claremont, CA 91711
United States

Ananda Roop Ganguly

Claremont McKenna College - Robert Day School of Economics and Finance ( email )

500 E. Ninth Street
Claremont, CA 91711
United States
(909) 607-0720 (Phone)
(909) 621-8249 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.claremontmckenna.edu/academic/faculty/profile.asp?Fac=519

Joshua G. Rosett

Claremont McKenna College - Robert Day School of Economics and Finance ( email )

500 E. Ninth St.
Claremont, CA 91711-6420
United States
909-607-3625 (Phone)
909-621-8249 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.claremontmckenna.edu/academic/faculty/profile.asp?Fac=372

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