Has financial statement information become less relevant? Longitudinal evidence from Denmark

SummaryIs financial statement information, such as earnings, assets and the book value of equity, still useful to investors in the “new economy age”, or should serious efforts be made by e.g. managers and researchers to improve the current financial reporting model or develop alternative reporting forms? This study investigates whether financial statement information in Denmark has become less value-relevant to investors over time. The study provides evidence from an accounting system which is based on both EU accounting directives and an “economic-substance-over-legal-form” philosophy throughout the investigated period. Overall, our results do not indicate that the value-relevance of accounting information has decreased over the investigated period (1983–2001), which is otherwise implied by some critics of “traditional” financial reporting. Rather, the results indicate that the value-relevance of accounting information is unchanged over the period.