Financial Reporting Quality: Aggregate Accruals
Earnings can be decomposed into cash and accrual components. The accrual component (aggregate accruals) has been found to have less persistence than the cash component, and therefore (1) earnings with higher accrual component are less persistent than earnings with smaller accrual component, all else equal; and (2) the cash component of earnings should receive a higher weighting evaluating company performance.
Balance-Sheet-Based Accruals Ratio
Automatic Data Processing Inc., balance sheet computation of aggregate accruals
US$ in thousands
| Jun 30, 2021 | Jun 30, 2020 | Jun 30, 2019 | Jun 30, 2018 | Jun 30, 2017 | Jun 30, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating Assets | |||||||
| Total assets | 48,772,500) | 39,165,500) | 41,887,700) | 37,088,700) | 37,180,000) | 43,670,000) | |
| Less: Cash and cash equivalents | 2,575,200) | 1,908,500) | 1,949,200) | 2,170,000) | 2,780,400) | 3,191,100) | |
| Less: Funds held for clients | 34,905,800) | 26,708,100) | 29,434,200) | 27,137,800) | 27,291,500) | 33,841,200) | |
| Operating assets | 11,291,500) | 10,548,900) | 10,504,300) | 7,780,900) | 7,108,100) | 6,637,700) | |
| Operating Liabilities | |||||||
| Total liabilities | 43,102,400) | 33,413,300) | 36,487,800) | 33,629,100) | 33,203,000) | 39,188,400) | |
| Less: Obligations under reverse repurchase agreements | 23,500) | 13,600) | 262,000) | —) | —) | —) | |
| Less: Short-term debt | —) | 1,001,800) | —) | —) | —) | —) | |
| Less: Long-term debt | 2,985,000) | 1,002,800) | 2,002,200) | 2,002,400) | 2,002,400) | 2,007,700) | |
| Operating liabilities | 40,093,900) | 31,395,100) | 34,223,600) | 31,626,700) | 31,200,600) | 37,180,700) | |
| Net operating assets1 | (28,802,400) | (20,846,200) | (23,719,300) | (23,845,800) | (24,092,500) | (30,543,000) | |
| Balance-sheet-based aggregate accruals2 | (7,956,200) | 2,873,100) | 126,500) | 246,700) | 6,450,500) | —) | |
| Financial Ratio | |||||||
| Balance-sheet-based accruals ratio3 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Benchmarks | |||||||
| Balance-Sheet-Based Accruals Ratio, Competitors4 | |||||||
| Accenture PLC | 27.93% | 3.73% | — | — | — | — | |
| Adobe Inc. | 14.14% | 8.20% | 2.25% | — | — | — | |
| Autodesk Inc. | 151.86% | -160.20% | — | — | — | — | |
| Cadence Design Systems Inc. | 4.43% | 9.21% | — | — | — | — | |
| CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| International Business Machines Corp. | -7.39% | -9.64% | — | — | — | — | |
| Intuit Inc. | 139.73% | -1.39% | — | — | — | — | |
| Microsoft Corp. | 40.52% | 14.41% | — | — | — | — | |
| Oracle Corp. | 5.62% | 1.35% | — | — | — | — | |
| Palantir Technologies Inc. | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Palo Alto Networks Inc. | 85.21% | 69.06% | — | — | — | — | |
| Salesforce Inc. | 10.87% | 65.87% | — | — | — | — | |
| ServiceNow Inc. | 34.89% | 19.95% | — | — | — | — | |
| Synopsys Inc. | 0.36% | 8.40% | — | — | — | — | |
| Balance-Sheet-Based Accruals Ratio, Sector | |||||||
| Software & Services | 17.21% | 7.60% | 200.00% | — | — | — | |
| Balance-Sheet-Based Accruals Ratio, Industry | |||||||
| Information Technology | 21.30% | 2.81% | 200.00% | — | — | — | |
Based on: 10-K (reporting date: 2021-06-30), 10-K (reporting date: 2020-06-30), 10-K (reporting date: 2019-06-30), 10-K (reporting date: 2018-06-30), 10-K (reporting date: 2017-06-30), 10-K (reporting date: 2016-06-30).
1 2021 Calculation
Net operating assets = Operating assets – Operating liabilities
= 11,291,500 – 40,093,900 = -28,802,400
2 2021 Calculation
Balance-sheet-based aggregate accruals = Net operating assets2021 – Net operating assets2020
= -28,802,400 – -20,846,200 = -7,956,200
3 2021 Calculation
Balance-sheet-based accruals ratio = 100 × Balance-sheet-based aggregate accruals ÷ Avg. net operating assets
= 100 × -7,956,200 ÷ [(-28,802,400 + -20,846,200) ÷ 2] = —
4 Click competitor name to see calculations.
Cash-Flow-Statement-Based Accruals Ratio
Automatic Data Processing Inc., cash flow statement computation of aggregate accruals
US$ in thousands
| Jun 30, 2021 | Jun 30, 2020 | Jun 30, 2019 | Jun 30, 2018 | Jun 30, 2017 | Jun 30, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Net earnings | 2,598,500) | 2,466,500) | 2,292,800) | 1,620,800) | 1,733,400) | 1,492,500) | |
| Less: Net cash flows provided by operating activities | 3,093,300) | 3,026,200) | 2,688,300) | 2,515,200) | 2,125,900) | 1,859,900) | |
| Less: Net cash flows (used in) provided by investing activities | (3,515,000) | 3,156,300) | (2,197,700) | (2,504,600) | 5,730,400) | (9,087,200) | |
| Cash-flow-statement-based aggregate accruals | 3,020,200) | (3,716,000) | 1,802,200) | 1,610,200) | (6,122,900) | 8,719,800) | |
| Financial Ratio | |||||||
| Cash-flow-statement-based accruals ratio1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Benchmarks | |||||||
| Cash-Flow-Statement-Based Accruals Ratio, Competitors2 | |||||||
| Accenture PLC | 11.80% | -13.65% | — | — | — | — | |
| Adobe Inc. | 9.21% | -0.48% | -9.78% | — | — | — | |
| Autodesk Inc. | 41.27% | -223.04% | — | — | — | — | |
| Cadence Design Systems Inc. | -5.75% | -1.21% | — | — | — | — | |
| CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| International Business Machines Corp. | -1.64% | -13.41% | — | — | — | — | |
| Intuit Inc. | 58.72% | -34.22% | — | — | — | — | |
| Microsoft Corp. | 17.68% | -8.19% | — | — | — | — | |
| Oracle Corp. | 25.81% | -31.35% | — | — | — | — | |
| Palantir Technologies Inc. | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Palo Alto Networks Inc. | -68.30% | -488.47% | — | — | — | — | |
| Salesforce Inc. | 10.57% | -5.62% | — | — | — | — | |
| ServiceNow Inc. | -21.14% | -12.82% | — | — | — | — | |
| Synopsys Inc. | -4.88% | 0.92% | — | — | — | — | |
| Cash-Flow-Statement-Based Accruals Ratio, Sector | |||||||
| Software & Services | 11.52% | -15.41% | -2.43% | — | — | — | |
| Cash-Flow-Statement-Based Accruals Ratio, Industry | |||||||
| Information Technology | 10.53% | -8.51% | -22.16% | — | — | — | |
Based on: 10-K (reporting date: 2021-06-30), 10-K (reporting date: 2020-06-30), 10-K (reporting date: 2019-06-30), 10-K (reporting date: 2018-06-30), 10-K (reporting date: 2017-06-30), 10-K (reporting date: 2016-06-30).
1 2021 Calculation
Cash-flow-statement-based accruals ratio = 100 × Cash-flow-statement-based aggregate accruals ÷ Avg. net operating assets
= 100 × 3,020,200 ÷ [(-28,802,400 + -20,846,200) ÷ 2] = —
2 Click competitor name to see calculations.