Accruals · Accruals · Sloan (1996)

Accruals

Long minus short decile portfolio, value-weighted, market-adjusted. Quarterly, 1952Q3 to 2024Q4.

Expected return · posterior mean, % per year, averaged over the window
Next quarter
2026Q4
4.43%
95% interval −0.07% to 7.87%
Next year
2026Q4–2027Q3
4.46%
95% interval −<0.01% to 7.87%
Next five years
2026Q4–2031Q3
4.60%
95% interval 0.29% to 7.90%

Forecast made 16 Sep 2026, conditioning on this portfolio's OAP returns, which end 2024Q4. The 7 quarters between then and 2026Q4 are unobserved and are integrated out under the model.

Cumulative market-adjusted return

+3,932% since 1952Q3 · log scale

Past performance, annualized

Window Mean Vol. Sharpe t
1952Q3–2024Q4 5.89% 12.42% 0.47 4.04
2020Q1–2024Q4 −1.26% 15.54% −0.08 −0.18
2024Q1–2024Q4 −11.69% 3.45% −3.39 −3.39

Forecast Sharpe ratio, annualized

Window Mean 95% interval P(neg)
2026Q4 0.36 −0.01 – 0.64 0.03
2026Q4–2027Q3 0.36 −<0.01 – 0.64 0.03
2026Q4–2031Q3 0.36 0.02 – 0.65 0.02
Category
Accruals
Form
Continuous
Data
Accounting
Sorted on
Low minus high
Names per leg
286 long / 291.5 short median · 37 at the 10th pctile
Original sample
1962–1991