Are Book-Tax Differences Useful in Indicating the Persistence of Earnings, Accrualsand Cash Flows in Japan?

本研究调查了日本的账面税收差异是否与较低的持续性收益、应计项目或现金流有关。此前在美国进行的研究表明，账面税收差异较大，表明收益的持久性较差。然而，由于日本公司税法要求外部利益相关者的财务报表构成确定应税收入的基础，因此与美国相比，日本的账面收入和应税收入更为接近。一些研究和我们的报告显示，日本的账面税收差异为负且稳定。在这种环境下，没有证据表明巨大的账面税收差异与较不持久的收益有关。此外，我们在分析中不仅纳入了暂时的账面税收差异，还纳入了永久的账面税收差异。利用日本公开的应税收入数据，我们发现了与较大的负账面税收差异（即应税收入超过账面收入）相一致的证据，这些差异与较低的持续性收益、应计收益和现金流有关。附加分析的结果也与这些结果一致。主要结果并没有表明，与账面税收差异较小的公司年度相比，具有较大正账面税收差异的公司年度，收益，应计项目和现金流的持久性较差。然而，一些额外的分析结果表明，账面税收的巨大正差异也表明盈利不那么持久。此外，我们使用估计的应税收入重复分析，因为2006年以后的应税收入数据没有公开。结果在质量上是相同的。这项研究有助于文献调查有关图书税差异的信息。

This study investigates whether large book-tax differences in Japan are associated with less persistent earnings, accruals, or cash flows. Prior research in the U.S. reports that large book-tax differences are indicative of earnings that are less persistent. However, since the Japanese corporate tax code requires that financial statements for outside stakeholders form the basis for determining taxable income, Japan is an environment in which book income and taxable income correspond more closely compared to that of the U.S. Some studies and we report that book-tax differences in Japan are negative and stable. In this environment, there is no evidence that large book-tax differences are associated with less persistent earnings. In addition, we incorporate not only temporary book-tax differences, but also permanent book-tax differences into our analysis. Using taxable income data which were publicly available in Japan, we find evidence consistent with large negative book-tax differences (i.e., taxable income exceeds book income) being associated with less persistent earnings, accruals, and cash flows. The results of additional analysis are also consistent with these results. The main results do not indicate that for firm-years with large positive book-tax differences, earnings, accruals, and cash flows are less persistent as compared to firm-years with small book-tax differences. However, some results of additional analysis indicate that large positive book-tax differences are also indicative of earnings that are less persistent. Furthermore, we repeat the analysis using estimated taxable income, because taxable income data were not publicly available after 2006. The results are qualitatively the same. This study contributes to the literature that investigates information regarding book-tax differences.