The accounting literature has used the midpoint of range forecasts in various research settings, assuming that the midpoint is the best proxy for managers' earnings expectations revealed in range forecasts. We argue that given managers' asymmetric loss functions regarding earnings surprises,...

The expectations management literature has so far focused on firms meeting the analyst consensus forecast — the expectations of analysts as a group — at earnings announcements. In this study we argue that investors may use individual analyst forecasts as additional benchmarks in evaluating...