Accounting Accruals, Future Operating Performance, and Public-Listing Age

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of public-listing age on the future operating performance of Chinese firms making initial public offerings (IPOs) during the period 1998-2010 and examines whether accounting accruals contribute to this impact. We found that, on average, public-listing age has a negative incremental effect on future operating performance in China and that accounting accruals do play a role in postissue underperformance. However, our industrial analysis reveals that the listing-age effect does not persist in industry-specific models; this implies that listing age has heterogeneous effects on post-IPO operating performance and that these effects deserve further attention.

Keywords:

• accounting accruals
• future operating performance
• industrial heterogeneity
• initial public offering