4.3. Measure of accruals quality
Dechow and Dichev (2002) offer a model for analysing accruals quality. Their model measures the quality of working capital accruals and earnings over time. The authors argue that accruals shift the recognition of cash flows over time in order to better measure earnings. As accruals require estimations they are regularly inaccurate, and therefore they must be corrected in the future. This estimation error represents noise which reduces the quality of the accrual. Dechow and Dichev (2002) recognise that there is an inverse relationship between the magnitude of the estimation error and the quality of accruals. Their model focuses on working capital accruals and mapping these with future cash flows. In contrast to Jones (1991), Dechow and Dichev's (2002) model of accruals quality does not discriminate between NDAs and DAs. The researchers contend that accruals quality is not only affected by intentional manipulations (present in DAs) but also in unintentional errors (NDAs) due to firm characteristics and the reporting environment. Ultimately, Dechow and Dichev (2002) recognise that the effect of unintentional and intentional errors does not differ in impact on accruals quality. The measurement of working capital accruals is employed as these are easily workable, closing off accounts within one year as opposed to non-current accruals. Accrual estimation errors are measured by the residuals from the mapping of previous, current and future operating cash flows onto changes in working capital.
McNichols (2002) proposes a model for measuring accruals quality which is a modified version of the Dechow and Dichev model (2002). The present study uses a cross-sectional and time-series modified Dechow and Dichev model as suggested by Dechow and Dichev (2002), Chen et al. (2010), Francis et al. (2005) and McNichols (2002). Below is the McNichols (2002) model for accruals quality:
equation(3)