盈余质量：用时间测量和报告外文翻译.docVIP

外文翻译 Earnings Quality: It’s Time to Measure and Report Source: /cpajournal/2005/1105/essentials/p32.htm Author: Jodi L. Bellovary, Don E. Giacomino, and Michael D. Akers NOVEMBER 2005 - Earnings quality is an important aspect of evaluating an entity’s financial health, yet investors, creditors, and other financial statement users often overlook it. Earnings quality refers to the ability of reported earnings to reflect the company’s true earnings, as well as the usefulness of reported earnings to predict future earnings. Earnings quality also refers to the stability, persistence, and lack of variability in reported earnings. The evaluation of earnings is often difficult, because companies highlight a variety of earnings figures: revenues, operating earnings, net income, and pro forma earnings. In addition, companies often calculate these figures differently. The income statement alone is not useful in predicting future earnings. The SEC and the investing public are demanding greater assurance about the quality of earnings. Analysts need a more suitable basis for earnings estimates. Credit rating agencies are under increased scrutiny of their ratings by the SEC. Such comfort level and information are not provided in the audit report or the financial statements. Only 27% of finance executives recently surveyed by CFO “feel ‘very confident’ about the quality and completeness of information available about public companies” [“It’s Better (and Worse) Than You Think,” by D. Durfee May 3, 2004]. There are a variety of definitions and models for assessing earnings quality. The authors have proposed a uniform, independent definition of quality of earnings that allows for the development of an Earnings Quality Assessment (EQA) model. The proposed EQA model evaluates the degree to which a company’s income statement reports its true earnings and the extent to which it can predict and anticipate future earnings. Earnings Quality Defined A variety of earnings-quality definitions