Melola Discovery

← Melola Discovery

Journal SINTA 1

Do Income Smoothing Practices Explain the Lower Earnings-Price Ratio of Japanese Firms Compared to Those of the U.S. Firms?

Gadjah Mada International Journal of Business (GamaIJB) · Vol. 7 No. 1 (2005) · pp. 69–94

DOI
10.22146/gamaijb.5564
ISSN
2338-7238, 1411-1128
Published
2005-01-12
Publisher
Master in Management, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Gadjah Mada
Language
eng

Abstract

This study examines the variation in earnings-price ratios across Japanese and U.S. firms. The earnings-price ratio is one of the indicators often used by investors to determine their trading strategy. Previous literature document that Japanese firms have consistently lower earnings-price ratios than U.S. firms even though the earnings of Japanese firms have been adjusted to the U.S. GAAP. The objective of this study is to show that Japanese firms engage in income smoothing practices that stabilize earnings, thereby increasing Japanese investors’ willingness to pay higher prices for Japanese stocks. Comparing the income smoothing index and proportion of firms identified as smoothers shows that the intensity of Japanese firms practicing income-smoothing is greater than that of U.S. firms. The results also show that income-smoothing index is significant in explaining the cross-sectional variation of earnings-price ratios for Japanese firms but it is not significant for U.S. firms. Two potential explanations for the results of U.S. firms are as follows. First, income smoothing is not practiced widely across firms in the U.S. Therefore, the variation of income smoothing does not explain the variation in the cross-sectional earnings-price ratios. Second, even if U.S. firms practice income smoothing, the investors are aware of it and do not take earnings figures literally.Another results show that controlling for income smoothing does not eliminate the differences in the earnings-price ratios of the Japanese and U.S. firms. It is appropriate to conclude that although income smoothing plays a role in explaining the variations of earnings-price ratios across Japanese firms, it is not the only factor that contributes to the differences in the earnings-price ratios of Japanese and U.S. firms. Other factors may play a role which are either country-specific (such as inflationary expectations, tax regimes) or firm-specific (such as quality of earnings, real returns) as suggested by Brown (1989). The overall results are consistent across samples.

Keywords

Collaboration network of the authors

3 authors · 2 co-authorship links · 1 across different organisations

Hover or tap a name to highlight its co-authors. Double-click to open the author's page.

  • Universitas Gadjah Mada
  • University of Sarjanawiyata Tamansiswa
  • Affiliation unknown
  • Different organisations
  • Same organisation
  • Affiliation unknown
  • Thicker line = more joint articles · bigger circle = more articles
Show as table
Co-authorOrganisationJoint articles
Dewi Kusuma WardaniUniversity of Sarjanawiyata Tamansiswa1
- FrendyAffiliation unknown1

Affiliations come from OpenAlex; journal OAI-PMH metadata carries none. Authors without an OpenAlex ID are matched by name, which can merge or split people.

Metadata source: OAI-PMH (metadata jurnal) https://journal.ugm.ac.id/gamaijb/oai, first harvested 28 Oct 2026, last seen 8 Nov 2026.
Original metadata (oai_dc) 
<oai_dc:dc xmlns="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/  http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd">
	<dc:title xml:lang="en-US">Do Income Smoothing Practices Explain the Lower Earnings-Price Ratio  of Japanese Firms Compared to Those of the U.S. Firms?</dc:title>
	<dc:creator>Kusuma, Indra Wijaya</dc:creator>
	<dc:subject xml:lang="en-US">earnings price ratio; income smoothing, Japanese earnings adjustment, Japanese firms; U.S. firm</dc:subject>
	<dc:description xml:lang="en-US">This study examines the variation in earnings-price ratios across Japanese and U.S. firms. The earnings-price ratio is one of the indicators often used by investors to determine their trading strategy. Previous literature document that Japanese firms have consistently lower earnings-price ratios than U.S. firms even though the earnings of Japanese firms have been adjusted to the U.S. GAAP. The objective of this study is to show that Japanese firms engage in income smoothing practices that stabilize earnings, thereby increasing Japanese investors’ willingness to pay higher prices for Japanese stocks. Comparing the income smoothing index and proportion of firms identified as smoothers shows that the intensity of Japanese firms practicing income-smoothing is greater than that of U.S. firms. The results also show that income-smoothing index is significant in explaining the cross-sectional variation of earnings-price ratios for Japanese firms but it is not significant for U.S. firms.  Two potential explanations for the results of U.S. firms are as follows.  First, income smoothing is not practiced widely across firms in the U.S.  Therefore, the variation of income smoothing does not explain the variation in the cross-sectional earnings-price ratios.  Second, even if U.S. firms practice income smoothing, the investors are aware of it and do not take earnings figures literally.Another results show that controlling for income smoothing does not eliminate the differences in the earnings-price ratios of the Japanese and U.S. firms. It is appropriate to conclude that although income smoothing plays a role in explaining the variations of earnings-price ratios across Japanese firms, it is not the only factor that contributes to the differences in the earnings-price ratios of Japanese and U.S. firms.  Other factors may play a role which are either country-specific (such as inflationary expectations, tax regimes) or firm-specific (such as quality of earnings, real returns) as suggested by Brown (1989). The overall results are consistent across samples.</dc:description>
	<dc:publisher xml:lang="en-US">Master in Management, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Gadjah Mada</dc:publisher>
	<dc:date>2005-01-12</dc:date>
	<dc:type>info:eu-repo/semantics/article</dc:type>
	<dc:type>info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion</dc:type>
	<dc:type xml:lang="en-US">Peer-reviewed Article</dc:type>
	<dc:format>application/pdf</dc:format>
	<dc:identifier>https://journal.ugm.ac.id/gamaijb/article/view/5564</dc:identifier>
	<dc:identifier>10.22146/gamaijb.5564</dc:identifier>
	<dc:source xml:lang="en-US">Gadjah Mada International Journal of Business; Vol 7, No 1 (2005): January-April; 69-94</dc:source>
	<dc:source>2338-7238</dc:source>
	<dc:source>1411-1128</dc:source>
	<dc:language>eng</dc:language>
	<dc:relation>https://journal.ugm.ac.id/gamaijb/article/view/5564/4535</dc:relation>
</oai_dc:dc>