Macroeconomic Variables Fluctuations and Management Earnings Forecast

This paper assesses the impact of a comprehensive set of macroeconomic factors (including changes in exchange rate, changes in inflation rate, changes in liquidity, changes in trade balance, and changes in gross domestic production) on error of management earnings forecast in companies annual reports. Detailed analysis of research related to earnings forecasting by managers and especially researches in Iran, indicates lack of adequate attention to the impact of the macroeconomic variables on earnings forecast error so this paper seeks to fill this research gap. The data set includes 80 companies listed on Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) for the period of 1386 - 1393. The study used Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression model to examine the relationship between above mentioned macroeconomic factors and management earnings forecast. The empirical results show that among the macroeconomic variables that have been examined, there are only significant positive relationships between two of above mentioned macroeconomic factors (including changes in exchange rate, and changes in gross domestic product) and management earnings forecast. We did not find any statistically significant association between other macroeconomic factors (including changes in inflation rate, liquidity, and trade balance) and management earnings forecast. The results suggest that macroeconomic variables can affect the accuracy of earnings forecasts by management, hence the neglecting of such factors can result in increasing in the error of earnings forecasts.