The Impact of Income Smoothing on the Information Content of Financial Reports An Applied Study on Damascus Stock Market

Abstract

The aim of this research is to study the impact of income smoothing on the information content of financial reports. The study was applied on a study population that consisted of all the companies in Damascus Stock Market (DSM) ; the number of these companies are 24. The sample consisted of 13 companies, working in many economic sectors (industrial sector, traditional banks, Islamic banks, insurance) during the period 2015 - 2017. In order to achieve the objective of the study, the two researchers used the index of standard deviation of the net operational income, divided on the standard deviation of operational cash flow to measure income smoothing. This study also studied the information content of financial reports through measuring the abnormal returns during four periods around the date of publishing the financial reports. These periods are, four weeks before publishing the financial reports, the week of publishing the reports, four weeks after publishing the financial reports, and the period around the date of publishing the financial reports. The study used regression analysis method to test the impact of income smoothing on the information content of financial reports. The main results of the research can be stated as follows:
1- The companies listed on DSM practiced income smoothing during the period 2015 - 2017 at 84. 62%.
2- The income smoothing as a control variable had a negative impact limited to the period prior to publishing the financial reports, but that impact was weak. The two researchers suggest that the reason for that is the lack of investors’ dependence on the financial reports to make their decisions, which implies the inefficiency of (DSM).
3- The company size as a control variable had a positive impact on the information content of the financial reports, limited to the period prior to the publishing of financial reports.
4- The sector type did not have an impact as a control variable on the information content of the financial reports in all periods.
This study concluded a number of recommendations, the most important of which are; raising awareness among investors on income smoothing practices and their impact on the information content of financial reports, and the necessity for conducting more research and studies to develop references, to differentiate between the opportunistic and informative income smoothing and their impact on the information content of financial reports.

DOI: 10.33977/1760-005-013-007