A Measure of Financial Statement Benchmarking
提出一种成对财务报表基准比较度量（FSB），用于衡量两家公司财务报表项目重叠程度，验证其与实际同行选择关联，并发现低FSB同行选择与乐观盈余预测及CEO超额薪酬相关。
ABSTRACT We propose a pairwise measure of financial statement benchmarking (FSB) that captures the degree of overlap in the financial statement line items reported by two firms. We validate FSB by showing its association with actual peer choices of analysts and corporate boards. We then test the practical implications of FSB in the context of strategic peer selection by these parties. We find that analyst (board) chosen peers with low pairwise FSB are more likely to be strategic selections and that the set of peers assembled by an analyst (board) collectively having low FSB is associated with more optimistic earnings forecasts (higher CEO overpay). We also demonstrate alternative applications of FSB by aggregating the pairwise measure at the firm level and decomposing it into finer financial statement-specific components. Our evidence suggests that FSB can be a relevant tool for those using benchmarking applications, including practitioners and academics. Data Availability: Data are available from sources identified in the paper. JEL Classifications: M41.