The information content of security prices on the Irish Stock Exchange

It is widely accepted in financial markets research that some valuation relevant information is reflected in security prices prior to its publication in accounting reports. From this perspective, security prices are said to have an information content with regard to subsequent financial statements. The present paper examines the information content of security prices on the Irish Stock Exchange at the overall level and for sub-groupings based on firm size/industrial classification. In contrast to UK- and USA-based findings, the information content of Irish security prices at the aggregate level is not significant. However, in common with the findings in other capital markets, the information content of security prices was found to be more significant for the larger rather than for the smaller firms in the sample. Finally, the information content of security prices was found to vary according to industrial classification.