A Comparison Of The Financial Characteristics Of Companies Surveyed By Accounting Trends And Techniques (ATT) And Non-ATT Companies

Several researchers restrict their sample selection to firms included in the Accounting Trends and Techniques (ATT), an annual survey published by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). This paper examines the implications of this restriction. ATT firms are much larger, have higher leverage, larger betas and lower current ratios as compared to non-ATT firms. FIFO is the dominant inventory accounting choice for non-ATT firms; ATT firms tend to prefer LIFO. Both ATT and non-ATT firms favor straight-line depreciation over accelerated methods. ATT firms are under-represented in several industries.