Standing on the shoulders of giants: Financial reporting comparability and knowledge accumulation

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Tseng, Kevin; Zhong, Rong (Irene)
• 署名单位: Chinese University of Hong Kong; National Taiwan University; National Taiwan University; University of Illinois System; University of Illinois Chicago; University of Illinois Chicago Hospital
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ACCOUNTING & ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0165-4101
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jacceco.2024.101685
• 发表日期: 2024
• 关键词: research-and-development; mandatory ifrs adoption; earnings management; statement comparability; accounting standards; resource-allocation; MARKET; spillovers; INFORMATION; TECHNOLOGY

摘要

This study examines whether and how financial statement comparability facilitates the dissemination of innovative knowledge between firms and stimulates the creation of new knowledge. Using cross-patent citations to track interfirm knowledge transfers, we find that comparability increases firms' incentives to learn from peers and create new patents that cite their peers' existing patents. The investigation into the mechanism reveals that comparability improves firms' ability to estimate the monetary value of peer knowledge and predict their own financial benefits from knowledge acquisition. The impact of comparability is more pronounced when peer knowledge is more publicly accessible or of higher monetary value. Consequently, the acquired knowledge fosters follow-on innovation, enabling firms to produce more patents with greater economic significance. Evidence from two quasi-natural experiments suggests that our findings are plausibly causal. Overall, our study highlights the important role of accounting comparability in facilitating knowledge dissemination.