Can the Capital Market Recognize a Manager's Financial Reporting Style?

This study examines whether investors can recognize idiosyncratic differences in managers' financial reporting behavior. Specifically, I investigate whether the capital market can recognize a manager's financial reporting aggressiveness and whether investors' recognition of a manager's style follows a Bayesian learning process. I use a manager's specific effect on discretionary accruals to measure her financial reporting aggressiveness. My results show that investors find earnings forecasts issued by aggressive managers to be less credible and thus respond less strongly. I also find investors follow a Bayesian learning process to identify a manager's individual style. As a manager's financial reporting history becomes longer, there is less uncertainty about the manager's true style. Consequently, the discount on the market reaction to earnings forecast news due to the manager's aggressiveness becomes larger. In sum, these results suggest that a manager's prior financial reporting history allows her to develop a financial reporting reputation, which can be inferred by investors through rationally processing historical information.