Table 3 examines the characteristics and returns of stocks classified by ac- cruals. At the end of April each year, we rank stocks by accruals relative to average total assets and assign them to one of 10 equal-sized portfolios. Annual buy-and-hold returns and abnormal returns for these equally weighted decile portfolios are calculated for each of the three years following portfolio formation.7
Panel A of table 3 describes the average levels of accruals, cash flows, earnings, and accrual components for the decile portfolios (all measured as of the portfolio formation date). In the portfolio of the highest-ranked stocks, accruals average 18.9% of total assets, whereas in the portfolio of lowest- ranked stocks, accruals are 16.2% of total assets. Accruals are positively correlated with earnings but negatively correlated with cash flow. Earnings relative to total assets are 17.6% for the top decile portfolio but only 7.