Accruals

How much of the reported profit has not arrived as cash, measured against the size of the company.

Formula	(Net income − operating cash flow) ÷ total assets
Companies reporting it	800 of 803
Median	-3.3%
Middle half	-6.2% – -1.0%
Range	-49.7% – 39.6%

When it lies. A single year says little: a company building inventory ahead of a launch accrues, and so does one whose customers pay late. What Sloan found is that the companies with the largest accruals go on to earn less than their reported profit suggests — not that any one of them is misreporting.

By sector

Sector	n	Median	25th	75th
Investment company	4	9.7%	9.5%	9.7%
Banks & insurers	141	-0.3%	-1.9%	-0.1%
Financial services	48	-1.5%	-5.4%	-0.1%
Industrials	130	-2.9%	-4.7%	-1.3%
Real estate	54	-3.0%	-5.0%	-2.3%
Utilities	59	-3.5%	-4.2%	-2.7%
Materials	59	-3.8%	-8.2%	-2.0%
Health care	50	-3.8%	-6.3%	-2.3%
Consumer discretionary	66	-4.2%	-6.7%	-2.8%
Consumer staples	47	-4.4%	-8.3%	-2.7%
Technology	67	-5.3%	-7.6%	-2.6%
Communications	31	-6.6%	-8.1%	-4.4%
not classified	2	-7.0%	-7.0%	-5.9%
Energy	42	-9.7%	-13.0%	-6.5%

Highest accruals

#	Ticker	Company	Sector	Accruals
1	OPFI	OppFi	Banks & insurers	-49.7%
2	ISPR	Ispire Technology	Consumer staples	-31.2%
3	SEED	Origin Agritech	Consumer staples	-30.3%
4	EGY	Vaalco Energy	Energy	-27.8%
5	NOG	Northern Oil & Gas	Energy	-27.1%
6	BRN	Barnwell Industries	Energy	-25.6%
7	CSTE	Caesarstone	Materials	-25.0%
8	ASPI	ASP Isotopes	Materials	-24.5%
9	EVC	Entravision Communications	Communications	-23.2%
10	FMC	FMC	Materials	-23.0%
11	HAS	Hasbro	Consumer discretionary	-21.9%
12	NX	Quanex Building Products	Materials	-21.1%
13	YOU	Clear Secure	Technology	-20.2%
14	VRSN	Verisign	Technology	-20.0%
15	CMTL	Comtech Telecommunications	Technology	-19.8%
16	JL	J-Long Group	Consumer discretionary	-19.8%
17	CTGG	Qwest	Communications	-19.5%
18	CAG	Conagra Brands	Consumer staples	-19.2%
19	MGY	Magnolia Oil & Gas	Energy	-19.1%
20	ZYBT	Zhengye Biotechnology Holding	Health care	-19.1%

Lowest

#	Ticker	Company	Sector	Accruals
800	WDC	Western Digital	Technology	39.6%
799	CNS	Cohen & Steers	Financial services	31.2%
798	LITS	Lite Strategy	Health care	26.8%
797	RILY	BRC Group Holdings	Financial services	21.5%
796	BUUU	BUUU Group	Consumer discretionary	18.0%
795	HTGC	Hercules Capital	Investment company	16.7%
794	CG	Carlyle Group	Financial services	14.0%
793	BYD	Boyd Gaming	Consumer discretionary	13.2%
792	IOTR	iOThree	Communications	12.7%
791	CKX	CKX Lands	Energy	11.4%

The other metrics

All metrics, and which ones to ignore