The Effects of Accruals and Cash Flow Anomalies on Net Profit and Abnormal Stock Returns in Accepted Companies in Tehran Securities Exchange

Reliability and efficacy of accruals and cash flows which are among the most important factors affecting dividend deviation have always been in question and subject to anomalies. The presence of these anomalies in accruals and cash flows and its effect on future returns and the consequences that they can have in country’s investments are the main motives to choose this issue for the current study. The statistical population includes all the accepted companies in Tehran Securities Exchange in the time domain of 2005 to 2012 that were studied after the systematic elimination of 153 companies from the original sample and 45 companies from the dividend continuity sample. The research is descriptive and correlational and the research assumptions are tested using statistical techniques. The results indicate that the first assumption based on rational pricing related to cash flows and total accruals in the companies in Tehran Securities Exchange is rejected in the study period; this indicates anomalies and regarding the significance of the coefficient related to the total accruals among the group of companies under study, the companies with low accruals have a higher abnormal return compared to companies with high accruals.