Is Accounting Information Still Relevant in the Internet Age? Research on the Determination of the Effect of Google Trends Data on Earnings Response Coefficient: Case of Vietnam

Abstract

When determining the role of accounting information, earnings response coefficient (ERC) is usually used for discovering the relationship between new earning information and unexpected share returns in relation to the event of releasing financial statements. In the context that most of the firm-related information is now available for investors via Internet platform, this study addresses the question how the public attention of the company through the Internet affects the response of the market to the accounting information releasing, or in other words, how market reaction to the firm’s unexpected earnings is affected by Internet information trends. Using a sample of VN30 baskets of Vietnamese listed firms (excluding the financial institutions) in the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HOSE) from 2015 to 2018 and the Google trends data from the same period, the study examines investigate the possible relationship between Google trend and the earnings response coefficient. The results from regression indicate that the ERCs of Vietnamese firms is positive and the interest of the firms on the Internet has no significant impact on ERC. The main findings expecting to contribute to providing direct support that the relevance of accounting information are still valuable in the Internet age. This paper is expected to make a contribution to research of accounting information relevance in terms of extending to sample in developing countries like Vietnam.