Market-Based Empirical Research in Accounting: A Review, Interpretation, and Extension

Abstract

A decade and a half of the most concerted and ambitious effort in accounting history is evaluated here. It is the search into the relationship between publicly disclosed accounting information and the consequences of the use of this information by the major group of usersequity investors-as such consequences are reflected in characteristics of common stocks traded in major exchanges. This effort, known as market-based accounting research (MBAR), obtained its impetus from major developments in finance theory during the late 1950s and early 1960s. These were the portfolio selection theory and its offspring, the capital asset pricing model (CAPM); and the concept of informationally efficient capital markets (ECM). Subsequent developments in information economics, agency theory, and optimal incentive-signaling models were quickly incorporated into MBAR. While the impetus to this line of came from other disciplines, accounting was not only a beneficiary but also, to a modest extent, a benefactor. MBAR is relevant to the study of capital market efficiency, the CAPM, information economics, and regulation. This contribution distinguishes MBAR from most accounting areas, whose contributions to other disciplines are negligible. In