건설업과 타 산업간 이익품질의 비교 (Comparison of earnings quality between construction and other industries)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국회계학회
· 수록지 정보 : 회계저널 / 21권 / 1호 / 147 ~ 170페이지
· 저자명 : 백원선, 유재권

초록

본 연구는 건설업 소속 기업의 이익품질과 다른 산업에 속한 기업의 이익품질을 비교분석하였다. 선행연구에 따르면, 영업주기가 길거나 현금흐름의 변동성이 클수록 이익품질은 떨어지는 것으로 알려져 있다. 건설업은 업종의 성격상 다른 산업에 비해서 현금흐름의 변동성이 크다는 특성이 있다. 건설회사의 경영자는 현금흐름이 불규칙해서 이익품질이 저하되는 것을 보완하기 위하여 산업 성격에 적합한 회계처리방안을 선호할 것이며, 그 결과로 건설업의 수익인식기준으로 진행기준이 널리 사용된 것으로 추론할 수 있다. 이러한 취지에서 건설업이 타 산업에 비해서 현금흐름 관련 이익지속성은 낮지만, 발생액 관련 이익지속성은 더 높을 것이라는 연구가설을 검증하였다.
본 연구에서는 대표적인 회계기반 이익품질 측정치인 이익지속성을 현금흐름 관련 이익지속성과 발생액 관련 이익지속성으로 구분하여 건설업 소속 기업과 타 산업 소속 기업간의 이익품질을 비교하였다. 본 연구의 최종표본은 1985년부터 2008년까지 금융업에 속하지 않는 12월 상장법인 11,465개 기업-년으로 구성되었다. 실증분석결과 건설업은 다른 산업에 비해 현금흐름 관련 이익지속성은 낮지만, 발생액 관련 이익지속성은 더 높은 것으로 밝혀졌다.
이러한 분석결과는 건설업에 속한 기업이 불규칙적인 현금흐름 때문에 이익품질에서 불리한 측면이 있지만, 진행기준을 적용한 수익인식 등 발생액을 활용한 회계처리를 통해서 이와 같은 문제점을 극복하고 다른 산업에 비해 뒤떨어지지 않는 이익지속성을 유지하고 있는 것으로 해석할 수 있다. 이익지속성 외에 이익예측가능성, 발생액품질, 이익유연화 측면에서 건설업의 이익품질을 살펴본 분석에서도 건설업 소속 기업의 이익품질은 다른 산업에 속한 기업의 이익품질에 비해서 뒤지지 않는 것으로 나타났다.

영어초록

This study examines whether earnings quality is different between the construction industry and other industries. The construction industry has relatively long construction period and operating cycle compared with other industries. Contract amount per project is considerably large and periodic performance depends severely on cyclical business fluctuation in the construction industry. Thus, cash flow is more volatile for the construction industry than for other industries.
Prior research reports that earnings quality is lower for longer operating cycle than for shorter operating cycle and that it is lower for more volatile cash flows than for less volatile cash flows. If construction companies are required to use completed contract method in recognizing revenue despite such industry characteristics, earnings quality of the construction industry might fall behind other industries. Accordingly, managers of the construction companies would prefer accounting alternatives which can complement disadvantages incurred from low earnings quality. As revenue recognition principle, percentage-of-completed method has been used widely in this perspective.
This study compares earnings persistence of construction industry with that of other industries. Earnings persistence is one of the most popular accounting-based earnings quality measures. We decompose earnings persistence into persistence attributable to cash flows and accruals to manifest essential characteristics of earnings quality in the construction industry. It is hypothesized that earnings persistence attributable to cash flows of the construction industry is lower than that of other industries while earnings persistence attributable to accruals of the construction industry is higher than that of other industries.
Empirical analysis is performed for the sample consisting of 11,465 non-financial firm-years with December fiscal year that are traded over Korea Exchange for 1985- 2008. Empirical results support our expectation. Cash flow persistence is significantly lower for the construction industry than for other industries. On the other hand, the construction industry shows significantly higher accruals persistence than other industries. This indicates that the percentage-of-completed method, widely used as revenue recognition principle in the construction industry, enhance earnings quality through mitigating volatile cash flow by accruals. Additional analysis shows that earnings quality of the construction industry measured by earnings predictability, accrual quality, and income smoothness is not low compared with other industries.
The mandatory adoption of K-IFRS in 2011 by all public companies in Korea triggers controversial debates over revenue recognition principle in the construction industry. The main issue is whether construction companies can apply percentage-of- completed method for the contracts of pre-sale construction under K-IFRS. The result in this study provides evidence that earnings quality of the construction industry characterized by the percentage-of-completed method is sufficiently competitive compared with other industries and that the percentage-of-completed method could be a natural consequence of seeking out alternative accounting methods to show less volatile earnings in the construction industry. From the standpoint of accounting policy, empirical evidence of accounting information quality as well as logical interpretation of accounting theory or standards is indispensable to minimize the possible errors in arriving at final conclusion. This study suggests policy implications for industry-specific accounting standards, especially in the construction industry.

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