기업수명주기와 미래이익에 대한 주가 정보성

This study examines the effect of firm life cycle on stock price informativeness of future earnings. We define firm life cycle according to Dickinson’s (2011) cash flow pattern and measure stock price informativeness of future earnings by the future earnings response coefficient (henceforth FERC), which is the association between current period stock returns and future earnings. Useful accounting information reduces uncertainty in forecasting future earnings, so that future earning information is properly reflected in the current stock price. This means high useful accounting information shows high FERC. Therefore, we expect that firms in the mature stage have higher FERC than firms in other life cycle stages. The results show that firms in mature stage have a higher FERC than firms in other life cycles, which means accounting information of firms in maturity is more useful. And we compare the FERC across life cycle stages and find that the FERC of firms in the introduction is significantly lower than that of firms in other life cycles. The contribution of this study is that the usefulness of accounting information differs according to the life cycle of the firms. The life cycle can be identified by the cash flow patterns provided in the cash flow statement, making it a practically convenient method for investors.