Analyst Forecast, Financial Statement Comparability, and Information Transfer Effect*

초록

We investigate the information transfer effect by examining the effect of financial analysts’ forecasts for other firms in the same industry on the stock price response of investors to focal firms. In addition, we examine whether financial statement comparability between the focal and other firms affects the magnitude of information transfer and whether the role of financial statement comparability after the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (hereafter IFRS) expands or weakens, compared with pre-adoption period. The empirical results are as follows. First, when the financial analysts announce earnings forecasts for other firms, we find a significant positive effect on the stock price response to the focal firms. These results support the existence of the information transfer effect. Second, the higher financial statement comparability between the focal and other firms is, the stronger information transfer effect is. In other words, if, in the same industry, the financial statements of the two firms are not comparable, the effect of financial analysts’ earnings forecasts for other firms on the stock price changes to the focal firms weakens. Third, however, the incremental effect of financial statement comparability on information transfer is significant before IFRS adoption, but not after IFRS adoption. This implies that, after IFRS adoption, the use of information for other firms in investors’ decision making in the capital market decreases and the role of financial statement comparability also weakens. Therefore, this result suggests that IFRS, which is based on principle-based accounting, should supplement the limited use of financial statement comparability. © 2019, Korean Accounting Association. All rights reserved.

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