Findings in Aslibaugh and Pincus [2001] also suggest that IAS arc of higher quality by showing that firms applying IAS exhibit smaller analyst forecast errors. In particular, the study finds that the greater the difference between domestic standards and IAS, the greater are the forecast errors and that forecast errors tend to be smaller after firms adopt IAS. However, forccastablc earnings are not necessarily of higher quality because, for example, smoothed earnings arc typically more forccastablc,
Sec Watts and Zimmerman [ 1986] for a discussion of die costs and benefits of managerial discretion in financial reporting