Implications of Impairment Decisions and Assets' Cash-Flow Horizons for Conservatism Research
研究了会计人员评估资产减值时使用的多个指标（如股票回报、销售变化、经营现金流变化）如何因资产现金流期限不同而影响减值确认，并发现指标间存在交互效应，对稳健性和减值研究有启示。
ABSTRACT Accountants examine multiple indicators when assessing whether individual assets are impaired. Different indicators predict cash flows over varying time horizons, and their importance varies with how far into the future individual assets are expected to generate cash flows. We predict that earnings exhibits asymmetric timeliness with respect to multiple indicators, including stock return, sales change, and operating cash flow change, which differentially explain write-downs of current assets, long-lived tangible assets, and indefinite-lived goodwill. We predict an interaction effect between indicators, such that the total impact of several consistent indicators is greater than the sum of their individual impacts. Empirical estimates for U.S. firms are consistent with our predictions and yield new insights about the effects of multiple indicators for both conservatism and impairment research. Our multi-indicator asymmetric models also change inferences about the relative explanatory power of economic factors versus reporting incentives in asset impairments. JEL Classifications: G32; L25; M41; M42.