On the Relationship between Environmental Reporting and Income Smoothing: The Case of France

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Mahjoub Lassaad
2013 ◽  
Vol 88 (5) ◽  
pp. 1629-1656 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yiwei Dou ◽  
Ole-Kristian Hope ◽  
Wayne B. Thomas

ABSTRACT: Contracting parties, such as the firm and its supplier, have cost-reducing incentives to make investments that support the unique transactions between them. However, to the extent that one party may renege on its contractual obligations, the other party incurring the cost of the relationship-specific investment bears additional risk and is less willing to invest such that sub-optimal investment occurs. In countries where enforceability of explicit contracts is particularly weak, parties have incentives to signal their willingness to fulfill implicit claims and maintain long-term relationships. We predict that firms engage in income smoothing to send such a signal to their suppliers. Consistent with these expectations, we find that firms that both reside in countries with weak contract enforceability and operate in industries with a greater need for relationship-specific investments tend to smooth reported income more. We further decompose income smoothing into “informational” and “garbled” components and find that results are driven by the informational component of income smoothing. Our results support the important role that accruals play in providing information in the presence of incomplete contracts. JEL Classifications: F14, K12, L14, M41, M43


2020 ◽  
pp. 328-341

This article aims to define what is the essence of the so called "creative accounting", its purposes, types of creative accounting techniques and methods and how it relates to and impacts the United Nations’ sustainable development goals (SDGs). Various definitions and characteristics are given to this phenomenon – different authors use variety of terms such as earnings management, income smoothing, creative accounting practices, aggressive accounting, cook the books, accounts manipulation, or window dressing. Irrespectively how it is called, it relates to one and the same thing – presentation of companies’ financial position, cash accounts, equity and earnings in a way that pursues specific personal objective. In most cases, this deliberate presentation is not fraudulent and does not violates the law or the relevant accounting standards, but breaks down the confidence in accounting profession and contradicts to the ethical principles of professional accountants. Specific attention is given to the relationship between accounting and sustainability and particularly, how creative accounting practices impact the achievement of United Nations’ sustainable development goals. Literature analysis and deliberations are presented on how creative accounting prevents the fair allocation of resources in economy and the damage it causes to society. This study does not pretend to explore in detail either the creative accounting, or the SDGs, but its essential objective is to create a basic overview on both phenomena and find intersection points between them. A lot of studies explore the relationship between accounting as a general term and UN’ Sustainable Development Goals, but very few are focused specifically on the link between creative accounting and it’s influence on the achievement of those goals.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 2549 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michaela Bednárová ◽  
Roman Klimko ◽  
Eva Rievajová

This paper identifies factors influencing environmental disclosure and environmental performance of the top 100 Fortune Global companies. The analysis identifies whether they follow the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards to gain and maintain legitimacy with relevant stakeholders. Other factors such as sector and region are taken into account, with empirical testing of a model for the relationship between the extent of environmental disclosure (measured by the developed index based on GRI indicators), sector membership, region, and actual environmental performance. Evidence exists that the main factors related to actual environmental performance were the region and level of environmental disclosure.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 113
Author(s):  
Elaheh Moazedi ◽  
Ehsan Khansalar

The subject of the present research is the study of the relationship between earnings management (accrual-based and real) and auditor’s opinion. Alongside putting the control variables into consideration, this this paper studies the relationship between earnings management (accrual-based and real) and auditors’ opinion. The purpose of this research is to examine the effect of income smoothing and manipulation on the opinion of independent auditors. This research includes two independent variables i.e. earnings management (based on discretionary accruals) and real earnings management, one dependent variable i.e. auditor’s opinion, along with control variables. In the first main hypothesis the relation between real earnings management and auditor’s opinion is examined; and the second hypothesis involves the association between discretionary accrual-based earnings management and auditor’s opinion. In this research some 117 firms in the time period 2008-2013 are empirically investigated and studied using logistic regression method. In conclusion, the second and third hypotheses are rejected; however examination of the first and fourth hypotheses confirms their significant association with auditor’s opinion.


2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 28-42
Author(s):  
Hamidreza Vakilifard ◽  
Masoumeh Sadat Rasouli

This article examines the relationship between intellectual capital, income smoothing and stock returns. We are capturing income smoothing through total accruals. Income smoothing firms have significantly higher abnormal returns around earnings announcement. In the knowledge economy, intellectual capital has become one of the primary sources of competitive advantage for a firm. Given the remarkable shift in the underlying production factors of a business within the new knowledge economy, it is important for firms to be aware of the elements of intellectual capital that would lead to value creation. So we associated relationship between intellectual capital and income smoothing and stock returns. The sample includes 108 firm-year observations from 2006 to 2011.We have used five variables


Author(s):  
Raudah Siman ◽  
Rina Fadhilah Ismail ◽  
Zanariah Aziz@ Omar ◽  
Zuraidahq Mohd Zam

The purpose of this study is to examine the extent of environmental reporting by listed firms in the plantation industry in Malaysia. The relationship between board characteristics and the extent of environmental reporting by listed firms in Malaysia plantation industry is examined for the first three years after the issuance of the new revised Malaysian Code of Corporate Governance in 2012 (MCCG 2012). Three board characteristics have been used to explain the level of environmental reporting by Malaysia’s plantation industry firms. The correlation analysis is employed to investigate the relationship between the board characteristics and environmental reporting. This study employs a content analysis method by reviewing 110 annual reports consisting of 37 firms listed in Bursa Malaysia for three years (2013-2015). The result reports that most of the board characteristics are not significantly related to environmental reporting by the firms. Out of six measurements, only the environmental related expenses have a positive relationship with environmental reporting. The results from this study may provide knowledge and empirical understanding concerning the environmental reporting practices by the plantation industry. The policy makers and regulatory bodies such as Bursa Malaysia and Securities Commission may consider formulating guidelines for reporting environmental information to encourage voluntary compliance.


Author(s):  
Raudah Siman ◽  
Rina Fadhilah Ismail ◽  
Zanariah Aziz@ Omar ◽  
Zuraidah Mohd Zam

The purpose of this study is to examine the extent of environmental reporting by listed firms in the plantation industry in Malaysia. The relationship between board characteristics and the extent of environmental reporting by listed firms in Malaysia plantation industry is examined for the first three years after the issuance of the new revised Malaysian Code of Corporate Governance in 2012 (MCCG 2012). Three board characteristics have been used to explain the level of environmental reporting by Malaysia’s plantation industry firms. The correlation analysis is employed to investigate the relationship between the board characteristics and environmental reporting. This study employs a content analysis method by reviewing 110 annual reports consisting of 37 firms listed in Bursa Malaysia for three years (2013-2015). The result reports that most of the board characteristics are not significantly related to environmental reporting by the firms. Out of six measurements, only the environmental related expenses have a positive relationship with environmental reporting. The results from this study may provide knowledge and empirical understanding concerning the environmental reporting practices by the plantation industry. The policy makers and regulatory bodies such as Bursa Malaysia and Securities Commission may consider formulating guidelines for reporting environmental information to encourage voluntary compliance.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 326-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Alipour ◽  
Mehrdad Ghanbari ◽  
Babak Jamshidinavid ◽  
Aliasghar Taherabadi

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between corporate environmental disclosure quality (EDQ) and earnings quality (EQ). Design/methodology/approach The paper uses earnings persistence and accruals quality as a measures of EQ. The paper also uses panel data regression to examine the association between EDQ and EQ for a sample of 107 Iran non-financial firms. Two different theoretical frameworks are used to clarify whether and to what extent an association may exist as an explicit relationship between EDQ and EQ. Findings After controlling for several firm-specific characteristics, the results show that between 2011 and 2016, there has been a significant positive relationship between EDQ and EQ. Practical implications This study sheds light on the relevance of regulating corporate reporting within a setting where companies are already voluntarily reporting on environmental information. Findings have implications for policymakers who have mandated or considering mandating environmental reporting. To the policymakers, in particular, this study highlights the need for incorporating, within the listing rules, minimum requirements in relation to the nature and content of environmental reports. Social implications The findings have implications for stakeholders in terms of effective information quality. The findings are important as more environmentally responsible firms may provide higher quality, more reliable and more transparent information to meet the ethical expectations of stakeholders. Originality/value This is the first study in Iran that considered the impact of EDQ on EQ. This study contributes to the literature on the relationship between EDQ and EQ by showing that the EDQ in Iran is associated with the EQ.


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