The time series behaviour of net profit, cash flow from operating activities and accruals of South African listed industrial companies for the period December 1988 to November 2002

Abstract

Harmonising South African accounting methods with international trends led to basically all South African accounting statements being revised after December 1994. This resulted in changes in accounting policies and methods and, quite often, involved more conservative requirements than previously.

A structural change like this change in accounting policies poses some difficulty for the financial analyst with regard to the use of time series analysis. This article examines whether there was a trend towards more conservative accounting methods in the data of South African listed industrial companies during the period December 1988 to November 2002.

Test results indicated an increase in reporting conservatism, especially in the latter part of the 14-year period under review.

Key Words:

• Conservatism
• financial reporting
• harmonisation
• net profit
• cash flow from operating activities
• accruals
• time series