Revenue recognition in achieving consensus on analysts’ forecasts for revenue, operating income and net earnings: the role of implementing IFRS 15. Evidence from Poland

摘要

In the study, we confirm that reporting entities increase discretionary revenue when their pre-managed operating income and net earnings are slightly lower than the consensus forecast by analysts for the fourth quarter. The novelty of this article is that introducing IFRS 15 significantly mitigates the increase of discretionary revenue when pre-managed operating income is slightly lower than the fourth quarter consensus on operating income. We do not find the implementation of IFRS 15 to have an impact on discretionary revenue if reporting entities are unable to meet the fourth quarter revenue and net earnings consensus by a small amount.