IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jbfnac/v36y2009i9-10p1087-1116.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Usefulness of Measures of Consistency of Discretionary Components of Accruals in the Detection of Earnings Management

Author

Listed:
  • Salma S. Ibrahim

Abstract

Prior research has shown the prevalence of measurement error in models used to estimate aggregate discretionary accruals. In these models, the incremental information content of the various components of accruals is ignored. Limited prior research and data gathered from firms under Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) litigation indicate that managers use either one or more than one component of accruals simultaneously, in a consistent way to manipulate bottom‐line earnings in a given direction. I propose two measures that capture the consistency between the discretionary components of accruals and test their significance in earnings management (EM) detection in firms that have artificially added accrual manipulation and firms that were targeted by the SEC for accrual manipulation. There is evidence that this information is incrementally useful in detecting EM. This finding paves the way for improvements in the discretionary accruals measure by including consistency information from the components of aggregate accruals.

Suggested Citation

  • Salma S. Ibrahim, 2009. "The Usefulness of Measures of Consistency of Discretionary Components of Accruals in the Detection of Earnings Management," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(9‐10), pages 1087-1116, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jbfnac:v:36:y:2009:i:9-10:p:1087-1116
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-5957.2009.02171.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5957.2009.02171.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1468-5957.2009.02171.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Petroni, Kathy Ruby, 1992. "Optimistic reporting in the property- casualty insurance industry," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 485-508, December.
    2. Carol A. Marquardt & Christine I. Wiedman, 2004. "How Are Earnings Managed? An Examination of Specific Accruals," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(2), pages 461-491, June.
    3. Stuart J. McLeay, 2005. "Discussion of The Effect of Earnings Management on the Asymmetric Timeliness of Earnings," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3‐4), pages 727-736, April.
    4. Paul Hribar & Daniel W. Collins, 2002. "Errors in Estimating Accruals: Implications for Empirical Research," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(1), pages 105-134, March.
    5. Juan Manuel García Lara & Beatriz García Osma & Araceli Mora, 2005. "The Effect of Earnings Management on the Asymmetric Timeliness of Earnings," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3‐4), pages 691-726, April.
    6. Abhijit Barua & Joseph Legoria & Jacquelyn Sue Moffitt, 2006. "Accruals Management to Achieve Earnings Benchmarks: A Comparison of Pre‐managed Profit and Loss Firms," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5‐6), pages 653-670, June.
    7. Gaver, Jennifer J. & Gaver, Kenneth M. & Austin, Jeffrey R., 1995. "Additional evidence on bonus plans and income management," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 3-28, February.
    8. Thomas, Jacob & Zhang, Xiao-jun, 2000. "Identifying unexpected accruals: a comparison of current approaches," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 19(4-5), pages 347-376.
    9. Subramanyam, K. R., 1996. "The pricing of discretionary accruals," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1-3), pages 249-281, October.
    10. Beneish, Messod D., 1997. "Detecting GAAP violation: implications for assessing earnings management among firms with extreme financial performance," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 271-309.
    11. Debra Jeter & Lakshmanan Shivakumar, 1999. "Cross-sectional estimation of abnormal accruals using quarterly and annual data: effectiveness in detecting event-specific earnings management," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(4), pages 299-319.
    12. Abhijit Barua & Joseph Legoria & Jacquelyn Sue Moffitt, 2006. "Accruals Management to Achieve Earnings Benchmarks: A Comparison of Pre-managed Profit and Loss Firms," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5-6), pages 653-670.
    13. Steven Young, 1999. "Systematic Measurement Error in the Estimation of Discretionary Accruals: An Evaluation of Alternative Modelling Procedures," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(7&8), pages 833-862.
    14. Holthausen, Robert W. & Larcker, David F. & Sloan, Richard G., 1995. "Annual bonus schemes and the manipulation of earnings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 29-74, February.
    15. Juan Manuel García Lara & Beatriz García Osma & Araceli Mora, 2005. "The Effect of Earnings Management on the Asymmetric Timeliness of Earnings," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3‐4), pages 691-726, April.
    16. Yoon, Soon Suk & Miller, Gary A., 2002. "Reply to discussion of "Earnings Management of Seasoned Equity Offering Firms in Korea"," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 89-93.
    17. Jones, Jj, 1991. "Earnings Management During Import Relief Investigations," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 193-228.
    18. Yoon, Soon Suk & Miller, Gary, 2002. "Earnings management of seasoned equity offering firms in Korea," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 57-78.
    19. Steven Young, 1999. "Systematic Measurement Error in the Estimation of Discretionary Accruals: An Evaluation of Alternative Modelling Procedures," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(7‐8), pages 833-862, September.
    20. DeFond, Mark L. & Park, Chul W., 1997. "Smoothing income in anticipation of future earnings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 115-139, July.
    21. Kang, Sh & Sivaramakrishnan, K, 1995. "Issues In Testing Earnings Management And An Instrumental Variable Approach," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 353-367.
    22. Kothari, S.P. & Leone, Andrew J. & Wasley, Charles E., 2005. "Performance matched discretionary accrual measures," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 163-197, February.
    23. Healy, Paul M., 1985. "The effect of bonus schemes on accounting decisions," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(1-3), pages 85-107, April.
    24. Burgstahler, David & Dichev, Ilia, 1997. "Earnings management to avoid earnings decreases and losses," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 99-126, December.
    25. Jose J. Alcarria Jaime & Belen Gill de Albornoz Noguer, 2004. "Specification and power of cross-sectional abnormal working capital accruals models in the Spanish context," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(1), pages 73-104.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Garen Markarian & Juan Santalo´, 2014. "Product Market Competition, Information and Earnings Management," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(5-6), pages 572-599, June.
    2. Ibrahim, Salma & Xu, Li & Kalchev, Georgi & Deal, Candice Linette, 2013. "Legal Consequences of Earnings Components Management," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 11, pages 229-259.
    3. Pelucio-Grecco, Marta Cristina & Geron, Cecília Moraes Santostaso & Grecco, Gerson Begas & Lima, João Paulo Cavalcante, 2014. "The effect of IFRS on earnings management in Brazilian non-financial public companies," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 42-66.
    4. Marta Cristina Pelucio Grecco, 2013. "The Effect of Brazilian convergence to IFRS on earnings managment by listed Brazilian nonfinancial companies," Brazilian Business Review, Fucape Business School, vol. 10(4), pages 110-132, October.
    5. Yasmin Jamadar & Tze San Ong & Asna Atqa Abdullah & Fakarudin Kamarudin, 2022. "Earnings and discretionary accruals," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(2), pages 431-439, March.
    6. Salma Ibrahim & Li Xu & Genese Rogers, 2011. "Real and accrual‐based earnings management and its legal consequences," Accounting Research Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 24(1), pages 50-78, July.
    7. Lucie Courteau & Jennifer L. Kao & Yao Tian, 2013. "Does Accrual Management Impair the Performance of Earnings-Based Valuation Models?," BEMPS - Bozen Economics & Management Paper Series BEMPS12, Faculty of Economics and Management at the Free University of Bozen.
    8. Heinz, Philip & Patel, Chris & Hellmann, Andreas, 2013. "Some theoretical and methodological suggestions for studies examining accountants' professional judgments and earnings management," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 299-311.
    9. Franck Missonier‐Piera & Cédric Spadetti, 2023. "The consequences of earnings management for the acquisition premium in friendly takeovers," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1-2), pages 308-334, January.
    10. Christian Calmès & Denis Cormier & Francois Éric Racicot & Raymond Théoret, 2012. "Firms' Accruals and Tobin’s q," RePAd Working Paper Series UQO-DSA-wp032012, Département des sciences administratives, UQO.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Salma S. Ibrahim, 2009. "The Usefulness of Measures of Consistency of Discretionary Components of Accruals in the Detection of Earnings Management," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(9-10), pages 1087-1116.
    2. Jorge Farinha & Luis Filipe Viana, 2006. "Board structure and modified audit opinions: the case of the Portuguese Stock Exchange," CEF.UP Working Papers 0609, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    3. Arnedo, Laura & Lizarraga, Fermin & Sanchez, Santiago, 2007. "Does public/private status affect the level of earnings management in code-law contexts outside the United States? A study based on the Spanish case," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 305-328.
    4. Dechow, Patricia & Ge, Weili & Schrand, Catherine, 2010. "Understanding earnings quality: A review of the proxies, their determinants and their consequences," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 344-401, December.
    5. Ke Zhong & Robert B. Welker & Donald W. Gribbin, 2010. "Method‐Shifting in Aggressive Earnings Reporting: The Case of the US Software Industry's Response to New US Regulation," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(7‐8), pages 792-814, July.
    6. Susana Callao & José I. Jarne & David Wróblewski, 2019. "A New Perspective on Earnings Management in Emerging European Countries: Investigation on Environmental Factors that Explain Differences in Earnings Management," Journal of Accounting, Business and Finance Research, Scientific Publishing Institute, vol. 7(2), pages 59-81.
    7. Hervé Stolowy & Gaetan Breton, 2000. "A Framework for the Classification of Accounts Manipulations," Working Papers hal-00597249, HAL.
    8. Athanasakou, Vasiliki & Strong, Norman & Walker, Martin, 2010. "The association between classificatory and inter-temporal smoothing: Evidence from the UK's FRS 3," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 224-257, June.
    9. Antonia Botsari & Geoff Meeks, 2008. "Do Acquirers Manage Earnings Prior to a Share for Share Bid?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(5‐6), pages 633-670, June.
    10. Vander Bauwhede, Heidi & Willekens, Marleen & Gaeremynck, Ann, 2003. "Audit firm size, public ownership, and firms' discretionary accruals management," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 1-22.
    11. Christian Calmès & Denis Cormier & Francois Éric Racicot & Raymond Théoret, 2012. "Firms' Accruals and Tobin’s q," RePAd Working Paper Series UQO-DSA-wp032012, Département des sciences administratives, UQO.
    12. Ke Zhong & Robert B. Welker & Donald W. Gribbin, 2010. "Method-Shifting in Aggressive Earnings Reporting: The Case of the US Software Industry's Response to New US Regulation," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(7-8), pages 792-814.
    13. Silva, Aldy Fernandes da & Weffort, Elionor Farah Jreige & Flores, Eduardo da Silva & Silva, Glauco Peres da, 2014. "Gerenciamento de resultados e crises econômicas no mercado de capitais brasileiro," RAE - Revista de Administração de Empresas, FGV-EAESP Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo (Brazil), vol. 54(3), May.
    14. Fields, Thomas D. & Lys, Thomas Z. & Vincent, Linda, 2001. "Empirical research on accounting choice," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 255-307, September.
    15. Susana Callao & José I. Jarne & David Wróblewski, 2017. "Why Do Companies From Emerging Countries Manage Earnings?," Eurasian Journal of Business and Management, Eurasian Publications, vol. 5(2), pages 60-84.
    16. Nguyet T. M. Nguyen & Abdullah Iqbal & Radha K. Shiwakoti, 2022. "The context of earnings management and its ability to predict future stock returns," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 59(1), pages 123-169, July.
    17. José A. C. Moreira & Peter F. Pope, 2007. "Piecewise Linear Accrual Models: do they really control for the asymmetric recognition of gains and losses?," CEF.UP Working Papers 0703, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    18. Callao, Susana & Jarne, José I. & Wroblewski, David, 2020. "Do the burst of financial crisis and European Union membership impact Earnings Management. Evidence from emerging Eastern European countries," Journal of East European Management Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 25(4), pages 608-647.
    19. Katsuo, Yuko, 2008. "Earnings quality, accruals and subjective goodwill accounting," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 6912, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    20. Erik Peek & Roger Meuwissen & Frank Moers & Ann Vanstraelen, 2012. "Comparing Abnormal Accruals Estimates across Samples: An International Test," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(3), pages 533-572, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jbfnac:v:36:y:2009:i:9-10:p:1087-1116. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0306-686X .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.