The impact of the deferred tax adjustment on the EVA measure for JSE-listed food producers and retailers in South Africa

Abstract

Economic Value Added (EVA) is a value based accounting measure used by companies to measure the amount of value created for shareholders. Accounting values derived from company annual financial statements (AFS), are used to calculate EVA. EVA requires the conversion of accounting values to economic values. This conversion process is known as the EVA adjustment. If accounting values are not converted to economic values, the value of the EVA can be distorted. Previous studies have shown that companies are experiencing difficulties in implementing EVA adjustments. To reduce these difficulties, companies have decided to limit their EVA adjustments to ten or even fewer. The problem is that if the appropriate adjustments are not made, an inaccurate EVA measure will be calculated. The aim of the research was to measure the impact of deferred taxes on the EVA measure. The study was conducted within a quantitative research paradigm. Secondary data analysis was carried out on JSE-listed Food producers and Retailers over a seven-year period, from 2004 to 2010. The unadjusted EVA was compared to the adjusted EVA measure to determine the before and after effects of deferred taxes on EVA. The findings of the study revealed that deferred taxes either understated or overstated the value of the EVA during 2004 to 2010. In addition, the results from the regression analysis revealed an overall significance for all deferred tax predictors. The regression results showed that deferred taxes significantly impacted the value of EVA. The study recommends that companies implement the deferred tax adjustment on the EVA measure.