liabilities, lower net income, and lower net worth following the devalu ation. However, ultimately the value of the yen or dollar denominated debt depends on exchange rates at actual payment dates. Thus, current changes in exchange rates result in earnings and net worth values that may not match subsequent cash flows. Furthermore, lhe more volatile the exchange rates the less likely current accounting will correspond to future cash outlays.
While stable prior to the devaluation of the baht on July 2, 1997,
exchange rates became volatile after the devaluation. After reaching a low of 55 baht to the dollar in mid January 1998, the baht strengthened to
40 baht to the dollar by the end of the first quarter 1998. As baht exchange rates rebounded, Thai firms showed lower liabilities, higher net income and higher net worth. Although fully 78% of the fim1s in our sample reported net losses in the fourth quarter of 1997, only 23% of the finns in our sample reported net losses in the first quarter of l 998. Therefore, follow ing the devaluation market participants may have viewed negative earnings as less value relevant because of uncertainty of the effect on future cash flows. Similarly, positive earnings may have been viewed as less value relevant after the devaluation because of the reversal of exchange losses.
The study proceeds as follows. The second section provides the theoretical
basis for our tests of value relevance. The third section presents the sample and some descriptive data. Section 4 discusses the results and a final section offers concluding remarks.
2. The Value Relevance of Accounting Book Values and Earnings
2.1 Accounting Standards and Securities Markets in Thailand
Relative to accounting standards in the US, Thai accounting standards have developed only recently. As of June 1999. for example, the US had issued 137 FASB standards while the Thai Accounting Standards Com mittee (TASC) had issued 30 accounting standards to the end of 1997. In addition, relative to the US, the Thai securities markets and the regulation of stock issuers has developed even more recently. While trading has occurred on the New York Stock Exchange since 1792, trading began on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) in 1975. Security regulation in the US dates from the passage of the Securities and Exchange Acts of 1933 and 1934. The Thailand Securities Exchange Commission (TSEC). on the other hand, was established in 1992. In the US considerable empirical evidence supports the belief that accounting infonnation is associated with firm value (Beaver 1981).2 The relative recency of accounting standards
0Rll