| dc.description.abstract | The objective of the master thesis is to investigate value relevance of accounting information for the firms listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. We employ 16 years of data (from 2005 until 2020) and explore three broad empirical questions. First, we investigate the value relevance of earnings, book value of equity and the combined value relevance of earnings and book value of equity. The second part of the study addresses the topic of value relevance of accounting information over time. The third part of the research focuses on the examination of the value relevance of operating cash flows in relation to earnings and the value relevance of intangible assets.
The empirical questions are answered by testing five hypotheses with the help of cross-sectional price level regressions derived from the Ohlson model (1995). In the course of the study, we examine both if particular pieces of accounting information are significantly related to the stock prices by reviewing the significance level of individual regression coefficients as well as how much variation in stock prices is explained by accounting information with the help of adjusted R2 of regression models.
The assessment of the value relevance provides evidence that financial statement information produced by Norwegian firms is value relevant. We document that the book value of equity and net income jointly explain 27.9 percent of the variation in stock prices. Furthermore, we conclude that operating cash flow is more value relevant than net income when partitioning net income into an accrual and operating cash flow components. However, we find only partial evidence of value relevance of research and development expenditures and intangible assets for the firms listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. With regard to value relevance over time, we document a slight increase in the value relevance of earnings as well as an increase in the combined value relevance of book value of equity and net income over time. | en_US |
