A Content Analysis of Sell-Side Financial Analyst Company Reports.
研究了479份卖方分析师公司报告，发现分析师主要依据公司收入而非资产负债表或现金流做出推荐，关注核心盈余、盈余管理、非GAAP现金流及非财务信息，对会计政策有直接启示。
Abstract This study assesses the information needs of sell-side financial analysts. It departs from the technical earnings-per-share (EPS) and analyst survey methods employed in previous studies and directly examines the content of a sample of 479 sell-side analyst company reports comprising over 3,500 pages of text. This sample of reports is stratified by exchange, industry, and size, across three recent time periods, and includes reports from over 40 brokerage firms. Our principal findings are that analysts: (1) base their recommendations primarily on an evaluation of company income, relative to balance sheet or cash flow evaluations; (2) disaggregate company performance into a greater number of operating units (segments) than required under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP); (3) emphasize company core earnings, including earnings per share, and earnings variability; (4) prefer conservative earnings management that establishes or adjusts discretionary reserves, allowances, and off-balance-sheet assets; (5) give attention to earnings momentum; (6) commonly evaluate assets and liabilities on a cost, not market- value, basis; (7) develop non-GAAP cash flow schedules, including per-share calculations; and (8) extensively consider nonfinancial information, including company risks and concerns, anticipated changes, competitive position, management, and strategy. These findings have direct implications for accounting and financial reporting policy, and for future research on user information needs.