Does comprehensive income provide value relevant information?

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the value relevance of earnings, comprehensive income and other comprehensive income components for listed firms on Palestine Exchange. The data was collected from the audited financial statements of the 48 listed companies covering the periods from 2013 to 2018. The study employed balanced panel data regression analysis and utilized 288 firm-year observations as of January 2020. The findings revealed that the book value of equity, net income and comprehensive income are positively and significantly related to stock prices. The study also found that the gains or losses from financial instruments through other comprehensive income has negative and insignificant association with security prices. However, revaluation surplus and foreign currency translation adjustments have positive and insignificant link with stock prices. This study is the first in examining the value relevance of comprehensive income information in Palestine and provides useful information to existing and potential investors to consider comprehensive income information in conjunction with net income in their investment decisions.