Sunday, January 16, 2011

Earnings Quality

Earnings Quality
Sample caseReasoningEarnings Quality
Discretionary expenses
  • Discretionary expense items are declining as the:
    • Investment in capital assets (∵CFIt > depreciationt)
    • Sales
Doubt about manipulation.Low
Depreciation method
  • Changed from the double-declining balance method to the straight-line method.
  • This is aimed at being more comparable with the accounting practices of other firms within the industry.
  • The change was not retroactively applied and only affects assets that were acquired on or after a certain specified date.
  • Measuring earnings quality based on conservative earnings (with double-declining balance method) is inferior measure as most accruals will correct over time.




  • Higher under the straight-line method than the double-declining method.





  • Inventory/COGS
    • LIFO
    • Under stable or rising prices.
    • It would cause net earnings to reflect economic (real) earnings.
    Higher
    Lease
    • Finance (capital) lease
    • A finance lease is reported on the B/S as an asset and as a liability.
    • In the I/S, the leased asset is depreciated and interest expense is recognized on the liability.
    Higher (than operating lease).
    Receivable sale
    • Receivable sale with recourse
    • CFO ↑
    • However, the receivable sale is a collateralized borrowing arrangement that remains off-balance-sheet.
    Lower

    0 comments:

    Post a Comment