Analysts' Forecast Accuracy in Germany : The Effect of Different Accounting Principles and Changes of Accounting Principles

This paper assesses the influence of an adoption of IAS/IFRS or US GAAP on the financial analysts forecastaccuracy in a homogenous institutional framework. Our findings suggest that the forecast accuracy ishigher for estimates based on IFRS or US GAAP data than for forecasts based on German GAAP data.Moreover, in the year of switching from German GAAP to US GAAP the forecast accuracy is lower than inother years. The paper contributes to prior research by providing evidence about the usefulness of internationalaccounting data and about the adoption effects of a change to such accounting principles.