Effect of disclosure quality on earnings forecast accuracy with an emphasis on the role of information accrual component of earnings volatility

Financial misinformation is now largely categorized as a major concern by various companies and businesses worldwide and has called into attention the vital importance of quality information. Access to this information can facilitate the means for effective communication between companies and investor communities in matters of assessment and decision making. Accordingly, the present study addresses this issue from the unique perspective of involving earnings volatility and cash flows in estimating information disclosure quality for investor decision, thereby exposing a novel branch of this field as well as a new outlook on the role of quality. Data on companies listed in the Tehran Stock Exchange were extracted from the Stock Exchange Database, Rahavard Novin Dataset, and Codal System, for the fiscal period from 2008-2017, concerning predefined inclusion criteria. As the final results from both proposed models suggest, disclosure quality wielded a significantly positive impact on the accuracy of earnings forecasting and influenced investors decisions. Other findings indicate that the accrual part of earnings volatility in the short term has been able to influence the effect of disclosure quality on investors decisions. In the final analysis, it was revealed that reducing the earnings volatility relative to cash flows strengthens the effect of disclosure quality on forecast accuracy and thereby increases earnings information.