Companies` Practice of Income Smoothing Behavior and its Impact on Earnings per Share: An Empirical Study on Public Companies listed in Damascus Securities Exchange

This study aims to detect the existence and the extend of using the income smoothing practice by the public joint stock companies listed in Damascus Securities Exchange (DSE). The Study also aims to find out and examine the relationship between income smoothing practice and earnings per share (EPS). To achieve the above objectives, the study examined the hypotheses and the said relationships through the data of 18 public companies listed in Damascus Securities Exchange (DSE). And this test conducted through the period from 2010 to 2014.

Testing the Usefulness of Accounting Information of Preliminary and Final Financial Reports in Damascus Stock Exchange

The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between accounting information and stock prices of listed companies on Damascus Stock Exchange in order to assess the usefulness of accounting information for investor’s decisions. Price Regression Model has been used to measure the explanatory power of book value and earnings in relation to variations in stock prices during the period from 2009 to 2012. The findings show that (1) preliminary financial reports provide useful accounting information for investors (2) earnings per share has a stronger impact on stock prices than book value (3) in comparison with final financial reports, balance sheet accounting information were more useful; whereas, income statement information were less useful.