Accruals and Cash Flows Anomalies: Evidence from the New Zealand Stock Market

This paper investigates the presence of accruals and cash flows anomalies in the New Zealand stock market for the period of 1987 to 2003. There is insignificant evidence of accruals anomaly. We find, however, that the poor performance of the highest accruals firms contributes most to the positive hedge return. As earnings are positively associated with accruals, it seems that investors are misled by the high accruals in high earnings firms. Further test results based on discretionary accruals support this hypothesis. We also find strong evidence of cash flows anomaly during the sample period.