The Information Value of the Annual Earnings Report

This working paper is the first draft of our co-authored publication, "An Empirical Evaluation of Accounting Income Numbers," Journal of Accounting Research 6, 1968, pp.159-78. While undated, it subsequently was presented at the November 1967 Seminar on the Analysis of Security Prices organized by the Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP) at the University of Chicago. It was included in the November 1967 Proceedings of the Seminar on the Analysis of Security Prices. In 1986, the published version received American Accounting Association’s inaugural award for Seminal Contributions to the Accounting Literature. Interest in the historical development of the paper was rekindled by the American Accounting Association appointing the authors as its 2012 co-Presidential Scholars and organizing a Plenary Session entitled “Ball & Brown [1968]: A Seed That Made a Difference” at its 2012 Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.