研发费用的表内单独列报有意义吗

Does it Matter to Independently Disclose R&D Expense within Income Statement?

2018年财务报表格式修订将研发费用的列报方式由附注披露改为利润表内单独列报。我们从市场对研发费用信息含量反应的视角对这一修订的意义进行了研究,发现当研发费用只在报表附注中披露时,未预期研发费用的市场反应显著为负,且通过买入研发费用最高的投资组合并卖出研发费用最低的投资组合,在未来一年可获得正超额回报;但研发费用在利润表内单独列报后,未预期研发费用的市场反应显著为正且前述超额回报不再存在。机制分析表明研发费用单独列报促进了投资者更多关注研发费用,并抑制了公司的研发费用操纵行为,提高了研发费用的信息含量,缓解了市场对研发费用的错误定价。本文为会计制度改革服务于国家创新战略提供了来自财务报表列报方面的经验证据。

The Ministry of Finance revised financial report format in 2018,where the presentation of R&D expense shifts from footnote disclosure to independent recognition in the body of financial reporting.This paper explores whether the revision matters from the perspective of market reaction to R&D expense information content.We find that the market responds negatively to unexpected R&D expense and positive subsequent returns can be earned by buying the portfolio with the highest R&D expense and selling the portfolio with the lowest R&D expense in pre-revision period,whereas in post-revision,the market reacts positively to unexpected R&D expense and the positive subsequent returns disappear.The reversal of market reaction to R&D expense is related to investors’limited attention and firms’R&D expense measurement manipulation,where the recognition promotes more attention on R&D expense from investors and restricts firms’manipulation on R&D expense classification.Further,the recognition of R&D expense alleviates market misprice of R&D expense.Our findings confirm that the R&D expense should be independently presented in the body of financial reporting,which promotes investors’understanding of R&D information.