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A lthough quality, safety, and sustainability are important concerns in logistics, managers are sometimes reluctant to invest in these areas because it is not always clear how such investments will benefit firm performance. Empirical literature provides little guidance in the context of logistics as previous studies report mixed findings across a diverse set of industries, which may not be directly applicable to logistics. To address this gap, we conducted an event study to estimate the stock market reaction to quality, safety, and sustainability award announcements in logistics. Based on 244 award announcements during the period 2004-13, we found that stock market participants react positively to announcements of these awards. The market reaction appears to be stronger for sustainability awards than for quality and safety awards. Our results also suggest that the market reacts more favorably to quality and sustainability award announcements for firms with better past financial performance and for smaller firms.

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The value relevance of financial statements is of great significance to investors and standard setters. The present research examines whether accounting comparability among industry peers enhances the value relevance of earnings and book value. This is an important question because both the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the Securities Exchange Commission seek greater comparability in financial reporting. However, there is limited empirical evidence on how comparability affects the value relevance of accounting information in the United States. Our results show that accounting comparability increases the value relevance of earnings, but not book value. That is, when firms exhibit greater accounting comparability vis-à-vis industry peers, investors attach higher value to reported earnings. In terms of economic significance, the value relevance of earnings is 25.2% higher when accounting comparability is higher by one standard deviation. However, the incremental benefits of accounting comparability are attenuated when financial reporting opacity is high or when there exists an internal control material weakness over financial reporting. In contrast, comparability benefits are enhanced when an industry specialist auditor is employed. Our results are robust to using different model specifications.

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