Earnings are one of the most important evaluation tools investors can use in assessing a company’s health and future potential for share price appreciation.
Knowing that, it is no wonder history is littered with examples of companies using aggressive if not dubious accounting tools to beat Wall Street estimates and gain investor favor. For better or worse, history has a tendency to repeat itself in financial markets, meaning an emphasis on earnings quality is important to investors’ returns. That is the concept behind the Forensic Accounting ETF (NYSEArca: FLAG).
FLAG tracks the Del Vecchio Earnings Quality Index, which assigns 500 large-cap stocks a grade of A through F based on Del Vecchio’s “earnings quality” methodology. The index looks for aggressive revenue recognition, inventory issues, reserve concerns, large changes in operation expenses, large changes in operation income and tax issues. The index would then exclude F ranked stocks, instead of shorting them. [First ‘Forensic Accounting’ ETF Planned]
John Del Vecchio, CFA, an Index principal and forensic accountant, and his team proceed to weigh FLAG’s holdings by earnings quality. Companies ranked the highest in earnings quality make up 40% of the index, whereas rank B, C, D earnings quality firms receive a 20% weighting. The result is an ETF that excludes companies that use aggressive accounting techniques while holding firms with high-quality earnings. [Forensic Accounting ETF Launches]
“Companies with the highest quality of earnings receive an A and make up 40 percent of the index. Those with B, C and D each make up 20 percent of the index, while those with F grades are excluded. The index tracks 400 companies, and it is recalculated every month,” reports Will Deener for the Dallas Morning News.