應記項目持續性與穩健會計之非線性關係

The Nonlinear Relationship between Accruals Persistence and Accounting Conservatism

盈餘持續性為企業評價之重要參考依據，過去文獻認為會計穩健會降低盈餘持續性，本研究延伸之前的研究，探討區分不同程度的會計穩健（穩健程度較高、最不穩健及介於兩者之間）情況下盈餘持續性的變化，發現盈餘持續性隨穩健程度增加呈現先增加而後下降之趨勢，在穩健值趨近於零（傾向會計中立時）盈餘持續性最高。即隨穩健程度增加，盈餘持續性具轉折現象，盈餘持續性與穩健會計間為非線性關係。進一步檢測不同穩健程度對不同盈餘組成要素之持續性影響，發現盈餘持續性具轉折現象存在於應計盈餘要素；且再區分應計盈餘要素為裁量性與非裁量性盈餘要素後，盈餘持續性具轉折現象僅存在於裁量性應計要素。另外，目前國際會計準則為避免穩健會計與中立性之間的衝突，已不再包括穩健性於忠實表達中，本研究實證結果與IASB推動財務報導品質特性之目標一致。

Earnings Persistence impacts pricing of the firms and past studies find that conservatism is negatively related to earnings persistence. Extending these prior studies, we examine how earnings persistence varies when the level of conservatism changes. The results show that, when the level of conservatism increases, earnings persistence coefficient first increases and then decreases afterwards. Sample firms with conservatism index near zero (i.e., when the firms' accounting is neutral) have the most persistent earnings. The relationship between earnings persistence and conservatism is a kinked nonlinear function. Decomposing earnings into the accrual component and the operating cash flow component, we also find that the kinked nonlinear relationship only exists between persistence of the accruals component and conservatism. Based on this result, we further decompose the accrual component into the discretionary component and the non-discretionary component and document that the effect of conservatism on the discretionary accruals component is the sole cause of the kinked nonlinear relationship. To address the inconsistency between conservatism and neutrality, the IASB excludes conservatism from the notion of faithful presentation. The empirical results, that earnings are more persistent when accounting is neutral, in this paper are consistent with this IASB decision.