A Wall Street Journal article noted that Apple reported higher income than its competitors by using a more aggressive policy for recognizing revenue on future upgrades to its products. Some contend that Apple's quality of earnings is low. What does the term "quality of earnings" mean?
The term "quality of earnings" refers to the credibility of the earnings number reported. Companies that use aggressive accounting policies report higher income numbers in the short-run. In such cases, we say that the quality of earnings is low. Similarly, if higher expenses are recorded in the current period, in order to report higher income in the future, then the quality of earnings is also considered low.
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