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It is well known that investors often react negatively to the announcements of seasoned equity offerings (SEOs). We posit that issuers can use positive discretionary (higher than expected) R&D investments before the SEO to signal their investment prospects to mitigate the negative announcement effect. Alternatively, positive discretionary R&D may be attributed to managerial overoptimism about future returns of R&D investments. We find strong support for the signaling hypothesis among high-tech issuers: investors respond more favorably to the SEO announcements of high-tech issuers with positive discretionary R&D; these issuers are more likely to use new capital in future R&D and they produce better post-SEO operating performance. In contrast, we find some evidence of managerial overoptimism among low-tech issuers: investors tend to penalize low-tech firms with positive discretionary R&D at SEO announcements; they are more likely to hold new capital as cash and they fail to produce better post-SEO operating performance.

Under rationality, firms should shift to alternative earnings management methods to achieve their earnings management goals whenever the alternatives provide greater benefit. New accounting regulation can alter the net benefit derivable from existing earnings management methods and thus may provide the impetus for method-shifting. This study investigates whether firms circumvent regulatory-imposed restrictions on their use of specific methods for accelerating earnings by shifting to alternative methods. Specifically, the study examines whether the US's adoption of a reporting standard that placed restrictions on the recognition of software revenue prompted US software-firm managers to method-shift to expense components for accelerated earnings reporting. A comparison of discretionary revenue and expense accruals and discretionary R&D expenses before and after the adoption of the standard confirmed a reduction of accelerated revenue recognition after the adoption and supported the hypothesized method-shift to expense components for accelerated earnings reporting. Copyright (c) 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether deferred revenue changes can serve as a leading indicator for firms listed on China’s stock markets, and whether China’s market participants can appropriately incorporate future performance implications of deferred revenue changes. Design/methodology/approach Empirical/archival/regression analysis. Findings The authors find that deferred revenue changes are positively associated with the next two years’ sales growth, gross profit margin, profit margin, and return on assets, suggesting that deferred revenue changes can serve as a valid leading indicator for future financial performance. The authors also find that Chinese investors tend to underweight future performance implications of deferred revenue changes. Originality/value To the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first research to examine deferred revenue changes as a leading fundamental indicator and market underreaction to reported accounting information for firms listed on China’s stock markets.