November 09, 2012
1:15 PM - 3:00 PM
1:15 PM - 3:00 PM
Acctg. Seminar: Qi Chen (Duke). Asset Informativeness and Market Valuation of Firm Assets
We empirically examine whether market valuations of firm assets are higher when the accounting measurement of these assets provide more information about the efficiency of firm assets in generating future economic incomes (i.e., "asset informativeness"), holding the level of efficiency constant. We proxy for asset informativeness by the R-square from a firm-specific regression of future earnings on past assets. We document a significant (both statistically and economically) positive relation between our measure of asset informativeness and both marginal and average values of firm assets. The relation
is robust to alternative estimation methods, and to the inclusion of a variety of measures controlling for firms' profitability, volatility, and risk. Cross-sectionally, we find that the value of asset informativeness is stronger for growth firms, firms with better shareholder protection, and fewer financial constraints. We do not find any significant relation between returns and asset informativeness. We interpret these findings as consistent with the idea that accounting assets provide information about the efficiency of firm decisions that generate future earnings and such information facilitates better decision-making at
firm levels and increases firm values.