The Link between Earnings Conservatism and the Price‐to‐Book Ratio*
发现市账率越低的公司，其盈余稳健性（即及时确认坏消息的倾向）越强，且这种负相关主要来自应计项目而非现金流。研究提醒，若不控制市账率差异，盈余-回报关联研究可能得出错误结论。
Abstract We hypothesize and find that (1) earnings conservatism, the tendency of firms to recognize bad news in earnings on a more timely basis than good news, is substantially greater in portfolios of firms with lower price‐to‐book ratios than in portfolios of firms with higher price‐to‐book ratios; and (2) the negative association between earnings conservatism and the price‐to‐book ratio stems primarily from the accrual component of earnings, not the operating cash flow component of earnings. Our results suggest that studies using earnings‐returns associations to investigate cross‐sectional or time‐series differences in earnings conservatism risk drawing erroneous inferences unless the research designs control for cross‐sectional or time‐series variation in price‐to‐book ratios.