Riahi-Belkaoui examines the crucial issues involved in the determination and uses of earnings as a measure of financial performance. He points out that the nature and measurement of earnings are subject to various interpretations, that determination of earnings follows determination of net value added, and that earnings is subject to management manipulation (earnings can be smoothed, for example.) A succinct, penetrating, illuminating treatment of earnings in general as well as its particulars, the book will be especially useful to upper management and accounting professionals, and to their colleagues in the academic community.
Riahi-Belkaoui argues that the interest in earnings and its related issues of measurement, determination, management, and usefulness stems from three factors: 1) the crucial importance of earnings as the shareholders' share of the corporation's wealth; 2) the reliance of investors and users on earnings and the transformation of earnings for resource allocation decision making; and 3), the direct association between the efficiency of the capital markets and timely provision of earnings data. Each chapter identifies the nature of the issues surrounding the concept of earnings and presents empirical evidence that can be used to make enlightened corporate decisions or to aid in the development of public policy.