자산손상회계와 경영자 영업이익예측 간의 관련성

[Purpose]Previous studies on asset impairment accounting argue that managerial discretion of asset impairment accounting is exploited to achieve opportunistic objectives, but the issue on whether managers use asset impairment accounting to meet their self－reported operating earnings forecasts have been overlooked. This study examines whether the reversal of impairment loss and the impairment loss have a differential effect on meeting expected operating earnings forecasts and whether the impairment loss is utilized as a means of income smoothing or a big bath strategy. [Methodology]This study analyzed 447 firm－year observations listed on KOSPI from 2008 to 2017. Multiple regression models were estimated to verify the effect of asset impairment accounting on managers’ operating profit forecast. [Findings]The results show that recognition of reversal of impairment loss is not related to managerial operating profit forecast error and its accuracy, but recognition of impairment loss is related to large operating profit forecast error and its low accuracy. These results suggest that managers use asset impairment accounting differently to comply with operating profit forecasts and impairment losses are used for big bath strategy. Furthermore, since the error and accuracy of operating profit before the recognition of the impairment loss were relatively small as the magnitude of the impairment loss increased, this once again supports the assertion that the impairment loss was utilized for the big bath strategy. [Policy Implications]This study is expected to contribute to efficient allocation of limited resources in the capital market and rational decision making of stakeholders.