This paper investigates the forecasting value, forecasting mechanism and forecasting efficiency of aggregate earnings on quarterly macroeconomic growth from the perspective of earning persistence. Aggregate earnings can provide incremental information for the prediction of future quarterly GDP growth rates, and it is found that the forecasting mechanism is reflected in the fact that the aggregate accruals in the aggregate earnings reflect the shortterm cyclical movement of quarterly GDP growth rates. After considering the heterogeneity of firms accruals, it is found that firms with an accrual growth rate in the middle third (ACC_Midt) were more efficient in forecasting the subsequent quarter’s GDP growth rate, which is a leading indicator of shortterm quarterly GDP growth rate forecasting. Further analysis reveals that ACC_Midt also helps to predict quarterly CPI and PPI growth rates in the short run. The above findings broaden the research on the macroeconomic forecasting mechanism within China’s institutional environment, offer further substantiation for the macroeconomic forecasting value of accounting information and expand the application scenarios of accounting data factor.