Standing on the shoulders of giants: Financial reporting comparability and knowledge accumulation

Kevin Tseng and Zhong, Rong (Irene)

Journal of Accounting and Economics, 2024, vol. 78, issue 1

Abstract: This study examines whether and how financial statement comparability facilitates the dissemination of innovative knowledge between firms and stimulates the creation of new knowledge. Using cross-patent citations to track interfirm knowledge transfers, we find that comparability increases firms' incentives to learn from peers and create new patents that cite their peers' existing patents. The investigation into the mechanism reveals that comparability improves firms’ ability to estimate the monetary value of peer knowledge and predict their own financial benefits from knowledge acquisition. The impact of comparability is more pronounced when peer knowledge is more publicly accessible or of higher monetary value. Consequently, the acquired knowledge fosters follow-on innovation, enabling firms to produce more patents with greater economic significance. Evidence from two quasi-natural experiments suggests that our findings are plausibly causal. Overall, our study highlights the important role of accounting comparability in facilitating knowledge dissemination.

Keywords: Innovation; Patent valuation; Externality; Knowledge spillover; Knowledge dissemination (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D83 M40 M41 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jaecon:v:78:y:2024:i:1:s0165410124000156

DOI: 10.1016/j.jacceco.2024.101685

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