Firm Performance and Analyst Forecast Accuracy Following Discontinued Operations: Evidence from the Pre-SFAS 144 and SFAS 144 Eras

Because of the non-recurring and transitory nature of discontinued operations, accounting standards require that the results of discontinued operations be separately reported on the income statement. Prior accounting literature supports the view that discontinued operations are non-recurring or transitory in nature, and also suggests that income classified as transitory has minimal relevance in firm valuation. Finance and management literature, however, suggest that firms discontinue operations to strategically utilize their scarce resources. Assuming that discontinued operations are a result of managerial motives to strategically concentrate resources into remaining continued operations, this dissertation examines the informativeness of discontinued operations. In doing so, this dissertation empirically tests the financial performance, investment efficiency, valuation, and analyst forecast accuracy effects of discontinued operations. In 2001, Financial Accounting Standards Board's (FASB) Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) 144 (hereafter SFAS 144) replaced Accounting Principles Board's Opinion 30 (hereafter APB 30) and broadened the scope of divestiture transactions to be presented in discontinued operations. Some stakeholders of financial statements argued that discontinued operations were less decision-useful in the SFAS 144 era because too many transactions that do not represent a strategic shift in operations were separately stated as discontinued operations on the income statement. With the possibility that the discontinued operations reported in SFAS 144 era may not reflect a major strategic reallocation of resources, this dissertation examines whether the relationship between discontinued operations, firm performance, investment efficiency, and analyst forecast accuracy are different in the pre-SFAS 144 and SFAS 144 era. Using a sample of firms that discontinued operations between 1990 and 2012, this dissertation study finds limited evidence that firms experience improvement in financial performance following discontinued operations and that such improvement is only observed in pre-SFAS 144 era. The results also suggest that any improvement in financial performance documented is conditional on the profitability of the operations discontinued and provide no support for investment efficiency improvement following discontinued operations. Related to the valuation implications of discontinued operations, this dissertation shows that investors differentially value profitable and loss discontinued operations. However, such valuation differences are not dependent on the performance improvement implications. Finally, results support that analyst forecast accuracy of earnings decreases following the reporting of discontinued operations, but such effect is only observed in the pre-SFAS 144 era. This dissertation makes several contributions to the literature. First, this study extends the literature on corporate divestment by using a large sample of discontinuation decisions and hand-collected data on the profitability of the operations discontinued. Second, this research extends the literature on market studies by analyzing whether market response to a discontinuation decision is dependent upon the profitability of the operation discontinued. Third, based upon a review of the literature, it is believed that this is the first study to examine the possibility that analyst forecast accuracy may change following a discontinuation decision. Finally, this study extends the literature that examines the effects of changes in accounting rules and regulations on the informativeness of financial statement items. These results should be of interest to investors, regulators, and analysts