scholarly journals Real earnings manipulation surrounding mergers and acquisitions: the targets’ perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tariq Zaglol Elrazaz ◽  
Moataz Elmassri ◽  
Yousry Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Firm Heterogeneity ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Fixed Effect Model ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Real Earnings Management ◽  
Agency Conflicts ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Thomson Reuters

Purpose This paper aims to investigate whether UK public targets manage their earnings using real activities manipulation in the period prior to the announcement of a mergers and acquisition (M&A). It also examines whether the payment method in M&As affects the degree to which takeover targets manipulate earnings. Design/methodology/approach Using a sample of 131 UK listed targets acquired over the period 1995–2013, this paper examines real earnings management (REM) by employing OLS regression models. The data related to deals have been mainly collected from Thomson One Banker and Thomson Reuters Eikon databases. REM is examined by investigating abnormal cash flow from operations, abnormal discretionary expenses and abnormal production costs. This analysis was supplemented by conducting additional robustness checks. Findings The results show that UK takeover targets manage earnings upwards through cutting discretionary expenses in the year prior to the acquisition, while they do not do so by manipulating sales or production costs. Moreover, targets of cash-only or mixed-payment deals do not have the same strong motivation to manage their earnings as stock-financed deal target counterparts do. Our results continue to hold after using alternative accrual earnings management (EM) measures, controlling for unobservable firm heterogeneity using the fixed-effect model and controlling for endogeneity using the two-stage Heckman (1979) model. Practical implications The main findings of this study could be beneficial for various parties involved M&As, such as standard setters and regulators. A need arises to improve disclosure rules and enhance overall financial reporting quality in the capital markets with the aim of reducing information asymmetry and agency conflicts. Originality/value As far as the literature on EM around M&As is concerned, only EM by acquirers has been examined, and not much attention has been paid to targets’ EM.

Discussion of Foreign Ownership and Real Earnings Management: Evidence from Japan

2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-219
Author(s):  
Yongtae Kim
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Foreign Ownership ◽  
Cash Flows ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Real Earnings Management ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Foreign Investors ◽  
Japanese Firms

ABSTRACT Guo, Huang, Zhang, and Zhou (2015) examine whether foreign investors encourage or limit real earnings management in Japanese firms. They find that firms with higher foreign ownership engage less in real earnings management than other firms as evidenced by higher abnormal cash flows from operations, lower abnormal production costs, and higher abnormal discretionary expenses. While the results suggest that foreign ownership and real earnings management in Japanese firms are negatively correlated, it remains unclear whether foreign investors improve the corporate governance of firms and thus limit real earnings management or that they are attracted to firms that have better governance and more transparent earnings. One fruitful avenue for future research is to examine whether the negative relation between foreign ownership and financial reporting quality reflects monitoring by foreign investors or selection.

Audit committee and financial reporting quality: the moderating effect of audit quality

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sana Mardessi
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Moderating Effect ◽  
Real Earnings Management ◽  
Financial Reporting Quality ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose The purpose of this study is to address the impact of audit quality on financial reporting quality proxied by real earnings management. To further clarify the mentioned links, this study empirically assesses the moderating effect of audit quality. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on a sample consisting of 90 non-financial companies that are listed in the Amsterdam stock exchange in AEX all share index over the 2010–2017 period. This study applies a quantitative approach and secondary data as the main source of information for analysis. This paper performs an ordinary least squares regression to examine the moderating effect of audit quality on the relationship between financial reporting quality. Findings Empirical findings demonstrate that corporate governance mechanism, mainly independence members, financial expert and audit committee size has a statistically significant relationship with real earnings management. However, the effect of audit committee meetings on real earnings management is not significant. There is also evidence that audit quality moderates the audit committee – real earnings management links. Originality/value This study extends the existing literature by examining the moderating effect of audit quality on the relationship between financial reporting quality proxied by real earnings management in the Dutch context.

The impact of principles-based vs rules-based accounting standards on reporting quality and earnings management

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Sundvik
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Accounting Standards ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Absolute Magnitude ◽  
Cash Flows ◽  
Real Earnings Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Analytical Work ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore whether principles-based vs rules-based accounting standards have an effect on measures of financial reporting quality and earnings management strategies. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a firm-year-specific variable that captures the extent to which firms’ accounting and operating behavior is affected by the characteristics of a specific standard in the USA. Measures of absolute accruals, financial misconducts, signed abnormal accruals and abnormal cash flows are used to assess the effects. Findings The results show that absolute magnitude of accruals and probability of financial misconduct is lower, and accrual earnings management is higher when firms’ standards are more based on principles. The study also suggests that potentially costlier real earnings management is a consequence of rules-based standards. Research limitations/implications This study relies heavily on measures from the prior accounting literature, hence, care has been exercised in generalizing the findings. Practical implications This study has direct implications for a number of stakeholders, including standard setters, policymakers, securities regulators, researchers, investors, financial statement preparers and auditors. For example, the future development of accounting standards can be supported by the empirical conclusions in this study together with previous standard-setting ambitions, commentaries, experiments and analytical work. Originality/value This study extends prior single-country studies on reporting quality and cross-country studies on transition effects of firms switching from local to International Accounting Standards by observing the impact of accounting standard characteristics on additional measures of reporting quality and accrual as well as real earnings management when holding institutional factors constant. The study also offers archival evidence complementing prior commentaries, experiments and analytical work.

scholarly journals Political and financial background in board interlocking and earnings management in Brazil

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristian Baú Dal Magro ◽  
Roberto Carlos Klann
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Earnings Management ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Accounting Information ◽  
Real Earnings Management ◽  
The Political ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Quality Of Accounting Information

Purpose Although board interlocking underlying forces are largely hidden, the purpose of this paper is to provide managers, auditors, analysts, regulators and other stakeholders with sociological board interlocking information considering the different backgrounds of their members. Design/methodology/approach The research sample gathered 1,606 observations from 2010 to 2017. For data analysis, the direct and indirect board interlocking linkages, considering the different backgrounds of board members, established the centrality indicators. Subsequently, the authors used these indicators according to each measured background in the regression models. Findings The results indicate that the political background of board interlocking members is positively related to real earnings management practices, while the financial background has a mitigating effect on such practices. Research limitations/implications The findings suggest that individual skills and interests conveyed across the corporate social network have shaped corporate governance, with distinct impacts on the quality of accounting information. Practical implications The authors conclude that both backgrounds could have implications on agency conflicts, increasing (policy) or reducing (financial) information asymmetry between the company and its various stakeholders, which indicates that the authors must consider sociological and not just economic aspects within corporate governance. Social implications The sociological background of individuals is necessary for the congruence of monitoring mechanisms, and consequently, the quality of accounting information. Originality/value This study examines the influence of the political and financial background of board interlocking members on real earnings management practices in Brazilian publicly traded companies in the International Financial Reporting Standards post-adoption period.

scholarly journals CEO Characteristics and Real Earnings Management in Jordan

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 255
Author(s):  
Mohammad Abedalrahman Alhmood ◽  
Hasnah Shaari ◽  
Redhwan Al-dhamari
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Real Earnings Management ◽  
Board Structure ◽  
Political Connection ◽  
Ceo Characteristics

The Chief Executive Officer (CEOs) tends to be the most influential member of a corporation as they exert control over corporate decisions such as financial disclosure, board structure, and company performance in ensuring enhanced corporate performance and earnings. The issue of earnings management (EM) that has captured the attention of researchers may be among the most critical factors that are linked to financial statement manipulation. Therefore, the current study explored the effects of the personal characteristics of CEOs on real earnings management (REM) practices in Jordan. Data of 58 companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange for six years from 2013 to 2018 were utilised to achieve this study’s objectives. The results of this study revealed that CEOs’ experience had a significantly positive association with REM. Meanwhile, CEOs’ tenure had no impact on REM among Jordanian firms. Also, the results exposed the presence of a significantly negative association between CEO duality and REM. Finally, CEOs’ political connection was found to have a significantly positive association with REM. This study offers empirical evidence on the effect of CEO characteristics on REM and how such characteristics can lead to exploitation, which brings an impact on the financial reporting quality.

The bidirectional relationship between ESG performance and earnings management – empirical evidence from Germany

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 322-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Velte
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Social Performance ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Thomson Reuters ◽  
Tier System ◽  
Bidirectional Relationship ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This study aims to focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance as a whole and individually in its three pillars and their influence on earnings management. Design/methodology/approach Companies listed on the German Prime Standard (DAX30, TecDAX and MDAX) for the business years 2011-2017 (548 firm-year observations) are included in the empirical quantitative study. A correlation and regression analysis is conducted to analyze the impact of ESG performance as determined by the Asset4 database of Thomson Reuters on accruals-based earnings management (AEM) and real earnings management (REM). Findings ESG performance has a negative influence on AEM but not on REM. Moreover, by dividing the three different factors of ESG performance, governance performance has the strongest negative impact on AEM in comparison to environmental and social performance. This study also suggests a bidirectional relationship between ESG performance and earnings management. Originality/value The analysis makes a key contribution to research as the link between ESG performance and their three components and earnings management are analyzed for the German two-tier system for the first time. Corporate practice, regulators and researchers should recognize that ESG performance and financial reporting should be discussed together.

scholarly journals Venture Capital and Financial Reporting in Newly Public Firms

2018 ◽  
pp. 411-429
Author(s):  
Lars Helge Hass ◽  
Monika Tarsalewska
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Real Earnings Management ◽  
Venture Capitalists ◽  
Public Firms ◽  
Reporting Practices

Financial intermediaries such as venture capitalists (VCs) not only provide financing, they also play an active role in firm governance and in financial practices before a firm goes public. Venture capitalists are actively engaged in monitoring and advising their portfolio firms. Thus, one also expects them to exert significant influence over the development of financial reporting practices. This chapter reviews recent literature and empirical evidence on VCs and financial reporting quality in newly public firms. It surveys the role of VCs in such activities as earnings management. In particular, it discusses how their monitoring activities and reputation can impact how their portfolio firms establish financial reporting practices. Subsequently, it also reviews the consequences of misreporting, and whether they affect VC behavior ex ante. Finally, the chapter uses recent data to provide empirical evidence on the effect of VCs on accrual and real earnings management.

Audit quality and real earnings management: evidence from the UK manufacturing sector

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-181
Author(s):  
R.P. Sitanggang ◽  
Yusuf Karbhari ◽  
Bolaji Tunde Matemilola ◽  
M. Ariff
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
Significant Relationship ◽  
Firm Value ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Real Earnings Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Uk

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether audit quality is associated with real earnings management in the UK. Design/methodology/approach The authors apply the panel fixed effects method that controls for heterogeneity across firms to investigate whether audit quality is related to real earnings management for a large sample of UK manufacturing companies for the period 2010–2013. The authors utilized three proxies to measure real earnings management and two proxies to measure audit quality. Findings The results provide evidence that audit fees are negatively related to abnormal operating cash flows. Conversely, audit fees are positively related to abnormal discretionary expenses. Besides, audit quality proxies show insignificant relationship with abnormal production costs and real earnings management index. Overall, the study finds partial evidence of significant relationship between audit quality and real earnings management. Research limitations/implications These results are important subject to the adequacy of the indicators of real earnings management and audit quality. Like previous research works that mostly focus on upward earnings management, the authors do not address the question of whether and how firms take real actions to manage earnings downwards in certain contexts. Practical implications The findings inform monitoring bodies that the imposition of higher levels of audit quality may result in unintended consequences. Therefore, monitoring bodies, such as audit committees, should consider the implication of imposing higher quality auditing, which may drive firms to potentially value-decreasing real earnings management practices. Managers should curtail real earnings management practices, especially abnormal operating cash flow, because attempt to use higher-quality auditors to mitigate such practice may destroy firm value. Also, managers’ employment may be threatened due to the potential deterioration of firm value caused by using higher-quality auditors to mitigate managers’ real earnings management practices. Moreover, shareholders are informed of the potential detrimental effects of imposing higher levels of audit quality which may lower the value of their investments. Originality/value The paper extends previous research on earnings management in several ways. First, while earlier studies usually use accruals methods to measure earnings management, the authors use the real earnings management approach as managers can switch from accruals to real earnings management when facing more scrutiny from auditors and/or more constrained regulations or standards that may limit their capability to use discretionary accruals. Second, this study reports new findings, as the authors find partial evidence of a significant relationship between audit quality and real earnings management. Third, it is one of the few studies to use a real earnings management index to measure earnings management and its link to audit quality.

CEO discretion, political connection and real earnings management in Nigeria

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (8) ◽  
pp. 909-929
Author(s):  
Armaya'u Alhaji Sani ◽  
Rohaida Abdul Latif ◽  
Redhwan Ahmed Al-Dhamari
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Real Earnings Management ◽  
Political Connection ◽  
Financial Reports ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Dummy Variable ◽  
Panel Data Regression ◽  
Data Regression ◽  
Financial Scandals

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of CEO discretion on the real earnings management and to explore whether the discretion of the CEO to ensure accurate and reliable financial reports is influenced by the political connection of board members. Design/methodology/approach Using the generalized method of movement to control the potential endogeneity on the sample of listed companies in Nigeria, the study conducted several checks using Driscoll–Kraay panel data regression with standard error to robust the main findings. Findings The paper provides evidence that CEO Discretion reduces the tendency of real earnings management and improve the reporting quality. However, the CEO’s discretion to provide reliable financial reports and to reduce the likely earnings manipulation is overturn by the presence of politically connected directors. Originality/value Existing studies on CEO attributes and earnings management in Nigeria fail to explain why CEOs were involved in corporate financial scandals. This paper suggests that the presence of politically connected directors is what override and upturn the CEO discretion to dwell into real earnings manipulations. Prior studies measured political connection using a dummy variable (Chaney et al., 2011; Osazuwa et al., 2016; Tee, 2018), this paper measured political connection using the proportion of politically connected directors. This is on the idea that the presence of more politically connected directors may give them the power to override the CEOs decision.

scholarly journals Internal Governance and Real Earnings Management

2015 ◽  
Vol 91 (4) ◽  
pp. 1051-1085 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiang Cheng ◽  
Jimmy Lee ◽  
Terry Shevlin
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Team Work ◽  
Real Earnings Management ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Internal Governance ◽  
Checks And Balances ◽  
Earnings Benchmarks ◽  
Alternative Measures

ABSTRACT We examine whether internal governance affects the extent of real earnings management in U.S. corporations. Internal governance refers to the process through which key subordinate executives provide checks and balances in the organization and affect corporate decisions. Using the number of years to retirement to capture key subordinate executives' horizon incentives and using their compensation relative to CEO compensation to capture their influence within the firm, we find that the extent of real earnings management decreases with key subordinate executives' horizon and influence. The results are robust to alternative measures of internal governance and to various approaches used to address potential endogeneity, including a difference-in-differences approach. In cross-sectional analyses, we find that the effect of internal governance is stronger for firms with more complex operations where key subordinate executives' contribution is higher, is enhanced when CEOs are less powerful, is weaker when the capital markets benefit of meeting or beating earnings benchmarks is higher, and is stronger in the post-SOX period. This paper contributes to the literature by examining how internal governance affects the extent of real earnings management and by shedding light on how the members of the management team work together in shaping financial reporting quality. JEL Classifications: G32; M40.

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