本研究探討公司所處的生命週期是否會影響應計項目的持續度與應計項目異常現象，實證結果發現：（1）成長、衰退期公司之應計項目持續度較現金流量持續度低；成熟期公司之應計項目持續度較現金流量持續度高。（2）投資人無法正確反應在不同生命週期下，應計項目與現金流量對下一期盈餘的影響。（3）由於股市無法正確評估企業生命週期對盈餘持續性之影響，因此在不同生命週期下，基於應計項目異常現象所發展的投資組合策略，將可獲得超額報酬；且基於生命週期與應計項目異常現象所獲得的投資組合報酬，會大於只基於應計項目異常現象所獲得的報酬。 This paper explores the persistence of accruals and accrual anomaly over a firm’s life cycle. Our empirical results show that: (1) the persistence of the accrual component of earnings is lower than that of cash flows for growing and declining firms and is greater for mature firms (2) stock market fails to properly reflect the impact of accruals and cash flows on the future earnings over different stages of life cycles. (3) The trading strategies based on different firm life cycles and accrual anomaly generate abnormal positive one-year-ahead returns. Finally, we find that the returns acquired based on both life cycle and accrual anomaly will exceed that based on accrual anomaly only.
