Intangibles as source of effective returns in the Iberian stock exchange markets

Abstract

Literature has assigned to intangible assets the ability to generate future inflows, depending from the rights or privileges that the ownership impacts on the business. In the knowledge based economy, value of business has strengthened the identification of the gap between companies’ accounting and market values. Many companies attempt to manage the value of their intangibles, reporting them to stakeholders. Thus, if intangibles are associated to expected returns, a positive impact on turnover, and on other key performance indicators, is expected. This paper aims the identification of that impact and, furthermore, to evidence the typology of intangibles recognized and disclosed on the annual accounts. Data relates to 127 listed companies in the Iberian Stock Exchange Markets. Multiple regression was run towards the identification of the relationship between turnover and independent variables (e.g. intangibles capitalized in the statement of financial position; intangibles information compliance and disclosure index; human capital). Based on the theoretical model and predicted assumptions, empirical evidence has provided a statistically significant and reasonable basis towards the identification of variables embedded on intrinsic immateriality which can predict the businesses’ turnover.