RATINGS: IT'S ACCRUAL WORLD
研究发现保险公司损失准备金误差越低（应计质量越高），其财务实力评级越高，且这一关系同时适用于固有和可自由支配的应计质量。
Abstract Loss reserves are a discretionary tool for managing insurer earnings, with more accurate and/or less volatile reserve errors resulting in higher accruals quality. We investigate whether accruals quality is related to insurer financial strength ratings. Specifically, we use insurer loss reserve errors as a measure of the quality of accruals and examine whether overall accruals quality, as well as a decomposition into innate and discretionary accruals quality, is related to insurer financial strength ratings. We find that firms with lower‐quality (noisier) accruals receive lower financial strength ratings from A.M. Best. This result holds for both innate and discretionary accruals. Overall, we provide the first evidence that the quality of accounting information is a significant factor in ratings of insurance firms.