Cost Structure and the Usefulness of Earnings
研究了经营杠杆（固定成本与变动成本的比例）如何影响盈余对外部使用者的有用性，发现经营杠杆越高，盈余有用性越低，部分原因是高杠杆企业更易激进确认收入且盈余波动更大。
We investigate the relation between the usefulness of earnings and firm cost structure. We document that the usefulness of earnings to external users decreases in the degree of operating leverage, which measures the proportion of fixed to variable costs, and that this decline extends at least partially from the relation between the degree of operating leverage and two earnings properties: aggressive revenue recognition to meet an earnings target and earnings volatility. Our results illustrate how firm fundamentals influence a firm’s information environment and thereby the usefulness of earnings to external users. This paper was accepted by Ranjani Krishnan, accounting. Supplemental Material: The data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2021.03023 .