Sloan (1996) is an excellent example of research that exploits our knowledge of one key feature : accrual accounting Important aspects of the Sloan (1996) study are (1) an examination of the "consistency" between the weight placed on accruals and cash flow components in forecasting earnings and the implicit weight investors placed on the cash flow and accrual components of earnings in a valuation equation, and (2) the examination of portfolio strategies based on the magnitude of the accruals. Sloan (1996) concludes that capital markets overestimate the persistence of accruals and underestimate the persistence of cash flows from operations, because accruals are more subject to uncertainty of estimation and more subject to management and manipulation. Xie (2001) supports this conclusion by showing the mispricing documented by Sloan (1996) is largely due to abnormal accruals.