Changing Business Environment and the Value Relevance of Accounting Information

10.6293/AQAFA.2009.07.03

Virginia Cortijo；Dan Palmon；Ari Yezegel

Capital markets ； Financial reporting ； Equity Valuation ； Econometric models

Advances in Quantitative Analysis of Finance and Accounting

7期（2009 / 06 / 01）

49 - 69

英文

The R^2 of yearly regressions of prices on Earnings per Share (EPS) and Book Value per Share (BVPS) has commonly been used to measure the value relevance of accounting information. However, Brown, Lo & Lys (1999) analytically show that the scale effects that are present in levels regressions increase the R-square value and this causes it to be an unreliable measure of relevance. Accordingly, this study examines the value relevance of accounting using a different methodology that does not rely on R^2. Specifically, we measure value relevance using price deflated residuals derived from the estimation of the Ohlson (1995) valuation model. Empirical results based on this methodology clearly indicate the presence of a downward trend in the relevance of accounting during the past 51 years. Further, a comparison of High-Tech companies versus Low-Tech companies suggests accounting information to be less value relevant for companies belonging to high technology industries.

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