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

本研究探讨了日本较大的账面税收差异是否与持续性较低的收益、应计项目或现金流相关。美国此前的研究报告称，巨大的账面税收差异表明收益的持续性较低。但是，由于日本的企业税法规定，应纳税所得额的确定以对外的财务报表为基础，因此与美国相比，日本的账面收入与应纳税所得额的对应关系更为密切。在这种环境下，没有证据表明大的账面税收差异与较不持久的盈利有关。此外，我们不仅将暂时性的账面税收差异，而且将永久性的账面税收差异纳入我们的分析。使用日本公开的应纳税所得额数据，我们发现了与巨大的负账面税收差异相一致的证据（即，应税收入超过账面收入）与较不持久的收益、应计项目和现金流相关。附加分析的结果也与这些结果一致。主要结果并没有表明，公司年有较大的正账面税收差异，盈利，应计项目和现金流量是不太持久的公司年相比，小账面税收差异。然而，一些额外的分析结果表明，巨大的正账面税收差异也表明盈利不太持久。此外，我们使用估计的应纳税所得额重复分析，因为2006年后的应纳税所得额数据无法公开。结果在性质上是相同的。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.