Semester of Graduation
Spring 2026
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D in Business Administration (Accounting)
Department
School of Accountancy - Coles College of Business
Committee Chair/First Advisor
Dr. Hyungshin Park
Second Advisor
Dr. Marcus Caylor
Third Advisor
Dr. Qi Dong
Abstract
This study investigates the impact of three major macroeconomic crises on the relative accuracy, timeliness, and precision of management earnings guidance and analyst forecasts. The study explores how information advantages change between equity analysts and corporate managers under differing crisis conditions. Furthermore, it examines whether aspects of macroeconomic uncertainty during these crises are associated with their differing effects on managers’ and analysts’ relative forecast properties and whether firm-level uncertainty measures also influence those properties. The results of the study show that while relative forecast timeliness changes consistently across all crises, relative forecast accuracy and relative forecast precision are more dependent on the nature of the specific crisis under consideration. Additionally, macroeconomic uncertainty is more strongly associated with financially systemic crises than with crises that are of a more exogenous nature. Finally, firm-specific uncertainty interacts with macroeconomic uncertainty to produce an enhancing effect for relative timeliness, but not for relative accuracy or precision. This study contributes to the literature by identifying how the interplay of macroeconomic and firm-specific shocks during crisis periods affects these advantages and drives changes in the relative properties of guidance and analyst forecasts. Furthermore, it fills critical gaps by being the first to compare relative forecast properties across distinct crises within the context of both macroeconomic and firm-specific uncertainty. Results of the study are expected to help investors and other stakeholders in the capital markets better understand how to interpret differences in guidance and analyst forecasts during crisis periods, to make better investment decisions