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,...

Chinese regulators mandate management earnings forecasts when managers' earnings expectations meet bright-line thresholds and allow voluntary forecasts in other circumstances. We examine the effects of this mixed approach. We find that Chinese mandatory forecasts have significant information...

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...

We investigate whether the reputation-herding theory or the tradeoff theory explains variation in the timing of individual analysts' forecasts. Using forecast accuracy improvements, forecast boldness, and the price impact of forecasts as measures of forecast quality, we find that in the...

Management earnings forecasts (MEFs) may reduce information risk by corroborating the inferences that lenders draw from their private communication with borrowers. Consistent with this idea, we find that among firms with a general policy of issuing MEFs, those providing MEFs in the six months...