Using a sample of 51 banking organizations, I examine the effect of the Statement of Financial Accounting Standard 133 on the belief heterogeneity of market participants and how this heterogeneity affects abnormal trading volume surrounding earnings announcements. SFAS 133 is the first standard to require that all derivatives be recognized at fair-value and that the fluctuations in derivative fair-values be reported in either net income or other comprehensive income. The behavior of derivative instruments and the fair-valuation and treatment prescribed by SFAS 133 are complex. Due to the underlying complexity of both derivatives and the accounting treatment prescribed by the SFAS 133 standard, I expect that investors may have differing interpretations of the newly provided information. My hypothesis is that the income effects arising from the fair-value accounting for derivatives (SFAS 133) are associated with an increase in differing beliefs among individuals. I find that the income effects of SFAS 133 are significantly and positively related to belief heterogeneity among investors. The net income and other comprehensive income effects of SFAS 133 are significantly and positively related to increasing levels of abnormal trading volume surrounding earnings announcements. Additionally, levels of SFAS 133 net income is positively and significantly associated with three measures of belief heterogeneity derived from analysts’ forecasts. In an extended analysis I model the SFAS 133 income effects on abnormal volume using the three belief heterogeneity measures as the conduit. I find support for two of the three heterogeneity measures acting as a conduit for the effect of the SFAS 133 related income measures on abnormal volume. The results of this study indicate that, while the recognized fair-value of derivatives is value relevant to equity prices (Ahmed, Kilic, & Lobo, 2006), the income effects of the same financial standard causes heterogeneity in beliefs about the firm. This suggests that, at least in the case of derivative fair-values, there exists a trade-off between value relevance and the strength of consensus surrounding beliefs in the market.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:vcu.edu/oai:scholarscompass.vcu.edu:etd-2704 |
| Date | 21 April 2009 |
| Creators | Dorminey, Jack |
| Publisher | VCU Scholars Compass |
| Source Sets | Virginia Commonwealth University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | © The Author |
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