Financial Reporting Quality: Aggregate Accruals
Earnings can be decomposed into cash and accrual components. The accrual component (aggregate accruals) has been found to have less persistence than the cash component, and therefore (1) earnings with higher accrual component are less persistent than earnings with smaller accrual component, all else equal; and (2) the cash component of earnings should receive a higher weighting evaluating company performance.
Balance-Sheet-Based Accruals Ratio
Yahoo! Inc., balance sheet computation of aggregate accruals
US$ in thousands
| Dec 31, 2016 | Dec 31, 2015 | Dec 31, 2014 | Dec 31, 2013 | Dec 31, 2012 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating Assets | ||||||
| Total assets | 48,083,079) | 45,203,966) | 61,960,344) | 16,804,959) | 17,103,253) | |
| Less: Cash and cash equivalents | 1,119,469) | 1,631,911) | 2,667,916) | 2,077,590) | 2,667,778) | |
| Less: Short-term marketable securities | 5,700,925) | 4,225,112) | 5,327,412) | 1,330,304) | 1,516,175) | |
| Operating assets | 41,262,685) | 39,346,943) | 53,965,016) | 13,397,065) | 12,919,300) | |
| Operating Liabilities | ||||||
| Total liabilities | 16,999,003) | 16,124,546) | 23,174,752) | 3,674,362) | 2,497,650) | |
| Less: Convertible notes | 1,299,945) | 1,233,485) | 1,170,423) | 1,110,585) | —) | |
| Less: Net lease obligations | 23,000) | 33,000) | 47,000) | 44,000) | 37,000) | |
| Operating liabilities | 15,676,058) | 14,858,061) | 21,957,329) | 2,519,777) | 2,460,650) | |
| Net operating assets1 | 25,586,627) | 24,488,882) | 32,007,687) | 10,877,288) | 10,458,650) | |
| Balance-sheet-based aggregate accruals2 | 1,097,745) | (7,518,805) | 21,130,399) | 418,638) | —) | |
| Financial Ratio | ||||||
| Balance-sheet-based accruals ratio3 | 4.38% | -26.62% | 98.54% | 3.92% | — | |
| Benchmarks | ||||||
| Balance-Sheet-Based Accruals Ratio, Competitors4 | ||||||
| Accenture PLC | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Adobe Inc. | — | — | — | — | — | |
| International Business Machines Corp. | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Intuit Inc. | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Microsoft Corp. | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Oracle Corp. | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Palo Alto Networks Inc. | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Salesforce Inc. | — | — | — | — | — | |
| ServiceNow Inc. | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Synopsys Inc. | — | — | — | — | — | |
Based on: 10-K (reporting date: 2016-12-31), 10-K (reporting date: 2015-12-31), 10-K (reporting date: 2014-12-31), 10-K (reporting date: 2013-12-31), 10-K (reporting date: 2012-12-31).
1 2016 Calculation
Net operating assets = Operating assets – Operating liabilities
= 41,262,685 – 15,676,058 = 25,586,627
2 2016 Calculation
Balance-sheet-based aggregate accruals = Net operating assets2016 – Net operating assets2015
= 25,586,627 – 24,488,882 = 1,097,745
3 2016 Calculation
Balance-sheet-based accruals ratio = 100 × Balance-sheet-based aggregate accruals ÷ Avg. net operating assets
= 100 × 1,097,745 ÷ [(25,586,627 + 24,488,882) ÷ 2] = 4.38%
4 Click competitor name to see calculations.
| Financial ratio | Description | The company |
|---|---|---|
| Balance-sheet-based accruals ratio | Ratio is found by dividing balance-sheet-based aggregate accruals by average net operating assets. | Using the balance-sheet-based accruals ratio, Yahoo! Inc. improved earnings quality from 2015 to 2016. |
Cash-Flow-Statement-Based Accruals Ratio
Yahoo! Inc., cash flow statement computation of aggregate accruals
US$ in thousands
| Dec 31, 2016 | Dec 31, 2015 | Dec 31, 2014 | Dec 31, 2013 | Dec 31, 2012 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Net income (loss) attributable to Yahoo! Inc. | (214,321) | (4,359,082) | 7,521,731) | 1,366,281) | 3,945,479) | |
| Less: Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities | 1,248,863) | (2,383,422) | 896,700) | 1,195,247) | (281,554) | |
| Less: Net cash (used in) provided by investing activities | (1,574,265) | 1,752,112) | 3,761,969) | (23,221) | 3,362,044) | |
| Cash-flow-statement-based aggregate accruals | 111,081) | (3,727,772) | 2,863,062) | 194,255) | 864,989) | |
| Financial Ratio | ||||||
| Cash-flow-statement-based accruals ratio1 | 0.44% | -13.20% | 13.35% | 1.82% | — | |
| Benchmarks | ||||||
| Cash-Flow-Statement-Based Accruals Ratio, Competitors2 | ||||||
| Accenture PLC | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Adobe Inc. | — | — | — | — | — | |
| International Business Machines Corp. | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Intuit Inc. | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Microsoft Corp. | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Oracle Corp. | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Palo Alto Networks Inc. | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Salesforce Inc. | — | — | — | — | — | |
| ServiceNow Inc. | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Synopsys Inc. | — | — | — | — | — | |
Based on: 10-K (reporting date: 2016-12-31), 10-K (reporting date: 2015-12-31), 10-K (reporting date: 2014-12-31), 10-K (reporting date: 2013-12-31), 10-K (reporting date: 2012-12-31).
1 2016 Calculation
Cash-flow-statement-based accruals ratio = 100 × Cash-flow-statement-based aggregate accruals ÷ Avg. net operating assets
= 100 × 111,081 ÷ [(25,586,627 + 24,488,882) ÷ 2] = 0.44%
2 Click competitor name to see calculations.
| Financial ratio | Description | The company |
|---|---|---|
| Cash-flow-statement-based accruals ratio | Ratio is found by dividing cash-flow-statement-based aggregate accruals by average net operating assets. | Using the cash-flow-statement-based accruals ratio, Yahoo! Inc. improved earnings quality from 2015 to 2016. |