Research Article
Repeated Recognition of Impairment Losses and Corporate Characteristics and Stock Price Relevance
Published: January 2007 · Vol. 36, No. 3 · pp. 657-678
Full Text
Abstract
This study analyzed the differential stock price relevance of impairment losses based on the repeated recognition of such losses. Specifically, after examining whether the repeated recognition of impairment losses is systematically associated with certain firm characteristics, this study investigated whether impairment losses recognized for the first time and those recognized repeatedly are differentially evaluated in the stock market. According to prior research, impairment losses negatively affect stock prices, but this negative impact is reported to differ depending on the specific characteristics of the impairment losses. That is, the recognition of impairment losses generally conveys a negative signal to market participants that the potential for generating future economic benefits from the assets held by the firm may diminish. On the other hand, repeatedly recognized impairment losses may represent additional impairment of already impaired assets, and market participants may react relatively less sensitively to events that have already been experienced and anticipated, potentially reducing the information effect embedded in repeatedly recognized impairment losses. At the same time, repeatedly recognized impairment losses in the context of favorable operating performance or a high level of audit quality may be perceived by market participants as a signal of conservative accounting policies, and thus may receive a relatively less negative evaluation in the stock market compared to impairment losses recognized for the first time. Therefore, it is predicted that a differential stock price relevance of impairment losses exists in the stock market depending on the frequency of recognition. Accordingly, this study analyzed the differential stock price relevance based on the number of impairment recognitions, using a sample of 251 firms listed on the Korea Exchange that reported impairment losses and were not in the financial industry, from 2000 to 2003. The analysis results first showed that firms with relatively better operating performance, larger firm size, and higher levels of audit quality had a higher tendency toward repeated recognition of impairment losses. Furthermore, the stock price multiple for repeatedly recognized impairment losses was found to be significantly greater than the stock price multiple for impairment losses recognized for the first time. This indicates that, due to the diminished negative information effect compared to previously recognized impairment losses and the signaling effect of conservative accounting policies by managers and external auditors, repeatedly recognized impairment losses receive a relatively less negative evaluation in the stock market compared to those recognized for the first time. These results were consistently observed even when the analysis was limited to firms that recognized impairment losses repeatedly. This study is significant in that it examined the repeated recognition of impairment losses and the resulting differential value relevance in the stock market at a time when the frequency and magnitude of impairment loss recognition have been continuously increasing since the introduction of impairment accounting. Furthermore, the results of this study are expected to positively influence changes in existing perceptions regarding impairment losses by empirically demonstrating to managers—who may use impairment losses as an opportunistic recognition tool—that repeatedly recognized impairment losses can receive a relatively less negative evaluation in the stock market. That is, the findings suggest to managers with opportunistic incentives to recognize impairment losses all at once, prematurely, or belatedly due to big bath or income smoothing motivations, the importance of repeated recognition that is faithful to the perspective of the future economic benefit generation potential of assets subject to impairment.
