A Study on the Relationship of Earnings and Cash Flows: Evidence of Finance Sector in Iran

Abstract

The present study is investigating the quality of annual accounting earnings in banking firms that have been listed in Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) and it evaluates the most important information of accounting that is earnings and cash flows. The study also intends to investigate the relationship between earnings and cash flows regarding their relationship with the expected return of stocks and the extent of informing in the analysis of the inevitable return of stocks. The analyses of data during 6 years revealed that the earnings in comparison to the cash flows are very important as they have positive effects on the stock. Moreover, in the case of the relations of earnings and earnings changes with the expected return of stocks and the relation of cash flows and cash flow changes with the expected return of stock, it was found that there is only a meaningful relationship between earning changes and the expected return of stock in banking groups. However, there is no meaningful relationship between earning and cash flows with the expected return of stock. The result was that the informational content test didn’t support the value relation of earning and cash flows. Furthermore, the classifying of information through banking group indicated that the changes of earning was in the first rank and next were earning, the changes of cash flow and cash flows.

Keywords: Earnings; Cash flows; expected return; Value relevance; Banking risks