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Article
Publication date: 13 February 2024

Ajid ur Rehman, Asad Yaqub, Tanveer Ahsan and Zia-ur-Rehman Rao

This study aims to investigate earnings management practice of classification shifting of revenues in Chinese-listed firms.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate earnings management practice of classification shifting of revenues in Chinese-listed firms.

Design/methodology/approach

The study employs a dataset of 2,920 A-listed firms from Chinese stock exchanges of Shanghai and Shenzhen for the period of 2003–2019. We apply both univariate and panel regression analysis by using fixed effect estimation with robust standard errors.

Findings

Our findings reveal that firms misclassify revenues by taking advantage of the flexibility provided by applicable financial reporting standards. The empirical evidence obtained through regression analysis suggest that managers reclassify non-operating revenues as operating revenue to alter the economic reality while seeking the advantage of financial reports users’ vulnerability for valuing the upper half of income statement items more as compared to lower part. The results further indicate that international financial reporting standards adoption inhibits the earnings management practices using classification shifting of revenues. It is also concluded that firms, which are suffering losses or having low growth, are more persistently involved in misclassification of revenues.

Originality/value

The study is unique from the point of view that it investigates earnings management from the prospective of revenue’s classification in an emerging market characterized by various market imperfections such as lower investor protection and higher information asymmetry.

Details

Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-1168

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 February 2024

Alexandre Esteves and Pedro Piccoli

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of firm-specific investor sentiment on Brazilian companies’ accrual-based earnings management between 2010 and 2018. The…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of firm-specific investor sentiment on Brazilian companies’ accrual-based earnings management between 2010 and 2018. The paper aims to bring deeper insight into the relationship between the investor expectations and managers’ decision-making in an emerging market.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use the quantitative approach and apply a multiple linear regression model to test the relationship among the abnormal accruals, the firm-specific investor sentiment index and the control variables. The final sample includes data from 175 companies, between 2010 and 2018.

Findings

These results reveal a negative association between firm-specific investor sentiment and accrual-based earnings management, which could mean that the risk propensity of managers to manipulate earnings increases when they face known losses in the capital market.

Research limitations/implications

The research findings provide a valuable understanding of how emerging capital market expectations can influence managerial decisions, such as accrual-based earnings management. The geographical area of study was limited to only Brazil.

Originality/value

Previous studies on developed markets show that market-wide investor sentiment positively influences accrual-based earnings management. However, the present study shows that the firm-specific investor sentiment index has a significant and negative relationship with Brazilian companies’ earnings manipulation, whereas market sentiment indicates contradictory relationship in previous studies in the country.

Propósito

El propósito de este estudio es investigar la influencia del sentimiento de los inversionistas a nivel de empresa en la manipulación contable de las empresas brasileñas entre 2010 y 2018. El documento pretende aportar una visión más profunda sobre la relación entre las expectativas de los inversores y la toma de decisiones de los gestores en un mercado emergente.

Diseño/metodologia/enfoque

usamos el enfoque cuantitativo y aplicamos un modelo de regresión lineal múltiple para probar la relación entre las acumulaciones anormales, el índice de sentimiento de los inversores a nivel de empresa y las variables de control. La muestra final incluye datos de 175 empresas, entre 2010 y 2018.

Hallazgos

Los resultados revelan una asociación negativa entre el sentimiento de los inversores a nivel de empresa y la manipulación contable basada em acumulaciones, lo que podría significar que la propensión al riesgo de los administradores a manipular las ganancias aumenta cuando enfrentan pérdidas conocidas en el mercado de capitales.

Limitaciones/implicaciones de la investigación

los resultados de la investigación proporcionan una valiosa comprensión de cómo las expectativas de los mercados de capitales emergentes pueden influir en las decisiones de gestión, como la manipulación contable basada en acumulaciones. El área geográfica de estudio se limitó únicamente a Brasil y, en consecuencia, los hallazgos y conclusiones del estudio tuvieron sus límites.

Originalidad/valor

estudios anteriores sobre mercados desarrollados muestran que el sentimiento de los inversores a nivel de mercado influye positivamente en la manipulación contable. Sin embargo, el presente estudio muestra que el índice de sentimiento de los inversores a nivel de empresa tiene una relación significativa y negativa con la manipulación de las ganancias de las empresas brasileñas, mientras que el sentimiento del mercado indica una relación contradictoria en estudios anteriores en el país.

Details

Academia Revista Latinoamericana de Administración, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1012-8255

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 February 2024

Shihui Fan and Yan Zhou

This study aims to investigate the impact of earnings predictability and truthfulness on nonprofessional investors’ investment willingness.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the impact of earnings predictability and truthfulness on nonprofessional investors’ investment willingness.

Design/methodology/approach

Earnings predictability is captured by quarterly earnings autocorrelation, and earnings truthfulness is indicated by real earnings management (REM). The average of investment attractiveness and willingness measures investment willingness. The authors use experiments to isolate the impact of quarterly earnings autocorrelation and REM on investors’ investment behaviors.

Findings

From the 2 × 2 design, the authors observe that investors weight more on earnings predictability than earnings truthfulness.

Research limitations/implications

The generalization of the findings may be constrained for the following reasons. First, the authors use only one proxy, REM, to measure earnings truthfulness. In addition, the authors provide the participants, Amazon Mechanical Turk, with earnings predictability. Results may no longer hold if each participant has different understanding and analysis of earnings predictability.

Practical implications

In periods of unprecedented and severe financial uncertainty (i.e. the COVID-19 pandemic), investors rely more on earnings predictability than on earnings truthfulness. The study assists managers to strategically emphasize the predictability of earnings to attract investors, especially when firms face financial challenges or uncertainty.

Social implications

This study contributes to understanding investor behavior and the critical role of earnings predictability and truthfulness in shaping investment decisions.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the literature of earnings properties in financial reporting, particularly by shedding light on the nuanced interplay between earnings predictability and earnings truthfulness. The research also demonstrates that elevated earnings autocorrelation indirectly stimulates investment willingness by enhancing the investors’ perception of earnings persistence of targeted firms.

Details

Journal of Financial Reporting and Accounting, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1985-2517

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 27 February 2024

Aklima Akter, Wan Fadzilah Wan Yusoff and Mohamad Ali Abdul-Hamid

This study aims to see the moderating effect of board diversity on the relationship between ownership structure and real earnings management.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to see the moderating effect of board diversity on the relationship between ownership structure and real earnings management.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses unbalanced panel data of 75 listed energy firms (346 firm-year observations) from three South Asian emerging economies (Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan) from 2015 to 2019. The two-step system GMM estimation is used for data analysis. This study also uses fixed effect regression to obtain robust findings.

Findings

The findings show that firms with a greater ownership concentration and managerial ownership significantly reduce real earnings management. In contrast, the data refute the idea that institutional and foreign ownership affect real earnings management. We also find that board diversity interacts significantly with ownership concentration and managerial ownership, meaning that board diversity moderates the negative link of the primary relationship that reduces real earnings management. On the other hand, board diversity has no interaction with institutional and foreign ownership, implying no moderating effect exists on the primary relationship.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is unique research investigating how different ownership structures affect real earnings management in the emerging nations’ energy sector, which the earlier studies overlook. More specifically, this research focuses on how board diversity moderates the relationships between ownership structure and real earnings management, which could be helpful for future investors.

Details

Asian Journal of Accounting Research, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2459-9700

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 February 2024

Yuri Gomes Paiva Azevedo, Mariana Câmara Gomes e Silva and Silvio Hiroshi Nakao

The purpose of this study is to examine the moderating effect of an exogenous corporate governance shock that curbs Chief Executive Officers’ (CEOs) power on the relationship…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the moderating effect of an exogenous corporate governance shock that curbs Chief Executive Officers’ (CEOs) power on the relationship between CEO narcissism and earnings management practices.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors performed a quasi-experiment using a differences-in-differences approach to examine Brazil’s duality split regulatory change on 101 Brazilian public firms during the period 2010–2022.

Findings

The main findings indicate that the introduction of duality split curtails the positive influence of CEO narcissism on earnings management, suggesting that this corporate governance regulation may act as a complementary corporate governance mechanism in mitigating the negative consequences of powerful narcissistic CEOs. Further robustness checks indicate that the results remain consistent after using entropy balancing and alternative measures of CEO narcissism.

Practical implications

In emerging markets, where governance systems are frequently perceived as less than optimal, policymakers and regulatory authorities can draw insights from this enforcement to shape governance systems, reducing CEO power and, consequently, improving the quality of financial reporting.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine whether a duality split mitigates the influence of CEO narcissism on earnings management. Thus, this study contributes to the corporate governance literature that calls for research on the effectiveness of external corporate governance mechanisms in emerging markets as well as the CEO narcissism literature that calls for research on moderating factors that could curtail negative consequences of narcissistic CEO behavior.

Details

Corporate Governance: The International Journal of Business in Society, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1472-0701

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 January 2024

Terry Harris

In this study, the author examines the effect of managers’ perception of product market competition on accruals and real earnings management.

Abstract

Purpose

In this study, the author examines the effect of managers’ perception of product market competition on accruals and real earnings management.

Design/methodology/approach

The author develops a new text-based measure of the emphasis managers place on product market competition by conducting a textual analysis of firms’ 10-K filings. Using this measure, the author conducts a battery of econometric analyses and robustness checks to investigate the impact of this measure of product market competition on measures of accruals and real earnings management.

Findings

This study finds robust evidence that when management perceives more competitive threats, they are more likely to engage in accruals-based earnings manipulation but are less likely to engage in real earnings management activity. The author argues that these findings are due to managers’ career concerns enticing them to manage earnings via accrual when competition is high, but that greater product market competition discourages real earning management activity as it can diminish firms’ competitiveness.

Practical implications

The findings of this paper have important policy and practical implications since it signals that managers’ perceptions of product market competition is able to affect accounting choices, information environments and economic outcomes in firms.

Originality/value

This study develops a new text-based measure of managers’ perception of product market competition with the aid of GPT-4. The author then using this measure provides firm-level evidence on how this relates to earnings management.

Details

Journal of Accounting Literature, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0737-4607

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 January 2024

Adhitya Agri Putra and Doddy Setiawan

This research paper aims to examine the effect of chief executive officer (CEO) characteristics on earnings management.

Abstract

Purpose

This research paper aims to examine the effect of chief executive officer (CEO) characteristics on earnings management.

Design/methodology/approach

Research samples are manufacturing firms listed in the Indonesian Stock Exchange 2015–2021. CEO characteristics include narcissism, gender, age, tenure, experience, nationality and founding family status. Data analysis uses random-effect regression.

Findings

The result shows that higher narcissism CEOs have aggressive characteristics so they will be more likely to engage in accrual and real earnings management. Female CEOs, foreign CEOs and founding-family CEOs have higher monitoring and business ethics characteristics so they will be less likely to engage in accrual and real earnings management. CEOs with higher education levels have higher thinking complexity so they will be more likely to engage in accrual earnings management with higher regulator and auditor monitoring barriers than real earnings management. CEOs with financial and accounting experience are familiar with accounting standards and auditor monitoring barriers so they will be more likely to engage in accrual earnings management than real earnings management. On the other hand, there are no effects of CEO age and tenure on earnings management.

Originality/value

This research contributes to providing evidence of the effect of CEO characteristics on earnings management in a specific industry such as manufacturing firms and emerging markets such as Indonesia with the majority group firms being family firms.

Details

Corporate Governance: The International Journal of Business in Society, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1472-0701

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 January 2024

Xunzhuo Xi, Can Chen, Rong Huang and Feng Tang

This study aims to examine whether Chinese firms increase their concerns about analysts’ earnings forecasts following the split-share structure reform (SSR) in 2005, which removed…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to examine whether Chinese firms increase their concerns about analysts’ earnings forecasts following the split-share structure reform (SSR) in 2005, which removed trading restrictions on approximately 70% of the shares of listed firms.

Design/methodology/approach

Using data from 2002 to 2019, the authors empirically test the association between meeting or beating analysts’ earnings expectations and the implementation of SSR.

Findings

The authors find that firms are more inclined to meet analysts’ earnings expectations after the introduction of SSR. Further analysis shows that firms guide analysts to walk their forecasts down by manipulating third-quarter earnings, suggesting enhanced value relevance between analysts’ forecasts and third-quarter earnings management in the postreform period.

Practical implications

The findings reveal an undesirable side effect of SSR and suggest that policymakers and regulators should consider and carefully manage the complex relationships between firms and analysts.

Originality/value

In contrast to prior studies that predominantly focus on the positive effects of the reform, this study reveals the side effects of SSR and provides new evidence on the mechanisms of meeting or beating analysts’ earnings expectations.

Details

International Journal of Accounting & Information Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1834-7649

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 January 2024

Kléber Formiga Miranda and Márcio André Veras Machado

This study examines the investment horizon influence, mediated by market optimism, on earnings management based on accruals and real activities. Based on short-termism, the…

Abstract

Purpose

This study examines the investment horizon influence, mediated by market optimism, on earnings management based on accruals and real activities. Based on short-termism, the authors argue that earnings management increases in optimistic periods to boost corporate profits.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors analyzed non-financial Brazilian publicly traded firms from 2010 to 2020 by estimating industry-fixed effects of groups of short- and long-horizon firms to compare their behavior on earnings management practices during bullish moments. For robustness, the authors used alternate measures and trade-off analyses between earning management practices.

Findings

The findings indicate that, during bullish moments, companies prioritize managing their earnings through real activities management (RAM) rather than accruals earnings management (AEM), depending on their time horizon. The results demonstrate the trade-off between earnings management practices.

Research limitations/implications

This study presents limitations when using proxies for earnings management and investor sentiment.

Practical implications

Investors and regulators should closely monitor companies' operations, especially during bullish market conditions to prevent fraud.

Originality/value

The study addresses investor sentiment mediation in the earnings management discussion, introducing the short-termism approach.

Details

Journal of Applied Accounting Research, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0967-5426

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 December 2023

Karren Lee-Hwei Khaw, Hamdan Amer Ali Al-Jaifi and Rozaimah Zainudin

This study aims to revisit the relationship between Shariah-compliant firms and earnings management. Specifically, the authors examine whether Shariah-certified firms have lower…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to revisit the relationship between Shariah-compliant firms and earnings management. Specifically, the authors examine whether Shariah-certified firms have lower earnings management than non-Shariah-certified firms and how often a firm must hold its certification to observe considerably reduced earnings management. This study also explores how senior management ethnic dualism affects the association of Shariah certification and earnings management.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors analyze the hypothesized association between Shariah certification and earnings management using a panel regression model and several robustness tests, including the Heckman selection model. The sample consists of 547 nonfinancial firms listed on the Bursa Malaysia stock exchange, with 5,478 firm-year observations over the 2001–2016 sample period.

Findings

Shariah certification is found to mitigate earnings management, particularly for firms that consistently retain their Shariah status. The longer firms retain their Shariah certification continually, the lower the earnings management. Additionally, the results indicate that the negative impact of Shariah certification on earnings management is driven by ethnic duality when a specific ethnic group dominates the top management.

Research limitations/implications

Firms’ commitment to religious-based screening and continuation of certification plays a significant role in improving earnings quality. Firms are committed to abiding by the Shariah code of conduct instead of using the Shariah status for reputation purposes to attract investors.

Practical implications

For investors, the continuous compliance status is a crucial indicator of a firm’s commitment to comply with Shariah principles and to mitigate earnings management. Regarding policy implications, Shariah-compliance guidelines can constrain earnings manipulation, especially among firms lacking ethnic diversity.

Originality/value

The study shows that Shariah certification must be maintained consecutively to reduce earnings management. Shariah certification’s governance function is crucial in ethnically homogeneous firms, primarily when one ethnic group dominates the senior management.

Details

Journal of Islamic Accounting and Business Research, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1759-0817

Keywords

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