The Relationship between Accounting Information Quality and Firm Value with an Emphasis on controlling operating volatility

This study examines the importance of financial information properties for investors by estimating accruals quality and operating volatility criteria revealed from observed stock prices. The accruals quality parameters were measured based on model developed by Nikolaev (2018), which separates volatility of accounting error from volatility of accruals performance component. The research hypotheses were tested using a sample of 93 companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange between 2002 and 2017 using multiple regression based on combined data technique. The results show that traditional accrual quality criteria such as Dechow & Dichev (2002) does not enable us to measure the effect of accruals quality on firm value. However, following Nikolaev (2018)’s model which decomposes total volatility of accruals to accounting error and performance component indicate that accruals quality have a statistically significant relationship with firm value. Furthermore, a 1% increase in the volatility of accounting error results in a 0.3% increase in the firm value and a 1% increase in the operating volatility results in a .43% decrease in the firm value.  Overall, findings suggest that effect of financial information quality on the firm value is affected by operating risk.