Introduction

Abstract

Financial analysts play an important role for the capital market. By gathering, processing and distributing information to the market they function as information intermediaries and thereby help reducing the information asymmetry. Analysts provide information in their research reports and thereby help private and institutional investors forming expectations of a firm’s future business performance. Thus, information supplied by analysts, e.g. in form of earnings per share forecasts, can have substantial impact on investment decisions. Furthermore, analysts’ earnings forecasts are of interest to accounting researchers who use these forecasts as proxies for earnings expectations of the capital market. However, as there is a wide range of information supplied by different analysts it is essential to investors as well as to accounting researchers to identify analysts who provide the most precise forecasts.