B Consequently, neither investors nor analysts know how earnings relate to cash flows and
value. Through this mirage of the referent, the sign attempts to mislead and parades itself
as the reality principle of meaning (Baudrillard, 2001, p. 95). Earnings create a simulated reality of their own, and Macintosh provocatively concludes that official reported earnings
are important because they provide transactions with an element of ‘‘reality’’ in the realm
of self-referential models.