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The literature on investment analysts' forecasts of firms' earnings and their forecast errors is enormous. This paper summarizes the evidence on the distribution of analysts' forecasts and forecast errors using data for all U.S. firms from 1990 to 2004. The evidence indicates substantial asymmetry of earnings, earning forecasts, and forecast errors. There is strong support for average and median earning forecasts being higher than actual earnings a year before the earnings announcement. Such differences between earnings and forecasts also exist across time periods and industries. A month before the earnings announcement, the mean and median differences are small. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the performance of profits and balance sheets developments of commercial banking industry in the U.S. in 2008. It states that the continued decline on the performance of the U.S. commercial banks is caused by the economic downturn in 2008. It notes that the financial crisis influenced the balance sheet developments in 2008 which heightened after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in mid-September 2008.

The federal tax code creates challenges for comparing the profit rates of different banks on a consistent basis. The earnings of banks that elect to operate under subchapter S of the federal tax code are not subject to federal corporate income tax, but shareholders of these "S-banks" are taxed on their pro rata share of the entire earnings of the bank. The number of banks electing subchapter S tax treatment has increased rapidly, especially among small banks. The authors use estimates of the federal corporate income tax that S-banks would pay if they were subject to the tax to show that the difference in the tax treatment of S-banks and other banks has a large impact on measures of U.S. banking system profitability. Further, the article shows that adjustment of S-bank earnings by estimates of federal income taxes to make them comparable with the earnings of other banks can markedly affect conclusions of studies that use net income as a measure of performance. Finally, the article shows that S-banks (even after their earnings are reduced by estimated federal taxes) tend to out-earn their peers; S-banks also tend to have higher earnings rates than their peers in the year before they elect S-bank status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the magnitude and causes of the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis' 2004 revisions to corporate profits in the National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA) for the 1998-2000 period. Goal of NIPA; Data on the revision of annual corporate profits; Significance of the growth of employee stock options.