IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/joares/v48y2010i2p445-475.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Elections and Discretionary Accruals: Evidence from 2004

Author

Listed:
  • KARTHIK RAMANNA
  • SUGATA ROYCHOWDHURY

Abstract

We examine the accrual choices of outsourcing firms with links to U.S. congressional candidates during the 2004 elections, when corporate outsourcing was a major campaign issue. We find that politically connected firms with more extensive outsourcing activities have more income‐decreasing discretionary accruals. Further, relative to adjacent periods, the evidence is concentrated in the two calendar quarters immediately preceding the 2004 election, consistent with heightened incentives for firms to manage earnings during the election season. The incentives can be attributed to donor firms' concerns about the potentially negative consequences of scrutiny over outsourcing for themselves and for their affiliated candidates.

Suggested Citation

  • Karthik Ramanna & Sugata Roychowdhury, 2010. "Elections and Discretionary Accruals: Evidence from 2004," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(2), pages 445-475, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:joares:v:48:y:2010:i:2:p:445-475
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-679X.2010.00373.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-679X.2010.00373.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1475-679X.2010.00373.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. Timothy Taylor, 2005. "In Defense Of Outsourcing," Cato Journal, Cato Journal, Cato Institute, vol. 25(2), pages 367-377, Spring/Su.
    2. Kroszner, Randall S & Stratmann, Thomas, 2005. "Corporate Campaign Contributions, Repeat Giving, and the Rewards to Legislator Reputation," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 48(1), pages 41-71, April.
    3. Thomas Stratmann, 2005. "Some talk: Money in politics. A (partial) review of the literature," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 124(1), pages 135-156, July.
    4. Jagdish Bhagwati & Arvind Panagariya, 2004. "The Muddles over Outsourcing," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 18(4), pages 93-114, Fall.
    5. 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.
    6. Jones, Jj, 1991. "Earnings Management During Import Relief Investigations," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 193-228.
    7. Paul A. Samuelson, 2004. "Where Ricardo and Mill Rebut and Confirm Arguments of Mainstream Economists Supporting Globalization," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 18(3), pages 135-146, Summer.
    8. 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.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Ramesh Chandra Das & Chandra Sekhar Mishra & Prabina Rajib, 2018. "Firm-specific Parameters and Earnings Management: A Study in the Indian Context," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 19(5), pages 1240-1260, October.
    2. Nagar, Neerav & Sen, Kaustav, 2016. "Earnings Management Strategies during Financial Distress," IIMA Working Papers WP2016-02-03, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department.
    3. Dhole, Sandip & Lobo, Gerald J. & Mishra, Sagarika & Pal, Ananda M., 2015. "Effects of the SEC's XBRL mandate on financial reporting comparability," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 29-44.
    4. Vasiliki E. Athanasakou, 2010. "Discussion of The Impact of Dual Class Structure on Earnings Management Activities," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(3‐4), pages 486-494, April.
    5. Iatridis, George, 2010. "International Financial Reporting Standards and the quality of financial statement information," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 193-204, June.
    6. Kuo, Jing-Ming & Ning, Lutao & Song, Xiaoqi, 2014. "The Real and Accrual-based Earnings Management Behaviors: Evidence from the Split Share Structure Reform in China," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 101-136.
    7. Roychowdhury, Sugata, 2006. "Earnings management through real activities manipulation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 335-370, December.
    8. Md Helal Uddin*, 2024. "CEO Compensation and Earnings Management-The Moderating Role of COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Bangladesh," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 8(1), pages 1605-1622, January.
    9. Ng, Jeffrey & Wu, Hong & Zhai, Weihuan & Zhao, Jing, 2021. "The effect of shareholder activism on earnings management: Evidence from shareholder proposals11We appreciate the helpful comments and suggestions from Stephen Taylor, Gary Biddle, Santosh Ramalingego," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    10. Martin Walker, 2013. "How far can we trust earnings numbers? What research tells us about earnings management," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(4), pages 445-481, August.
    11. Sebahattin Demirkan & Harlan Platt, 2009. "Financial status, corporate governance quality, and the likelihood of managers using discretionary accruals," Accounting Research Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 22(2), pages 93-117, September.
    12. Boone, Jeff P. & Khurana, Inder K. & Raman, K.K., 2009. "Litigation reform, accounting discretion, and the cost of equity," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 80-94.
    13. Ramesh Chandra Das & Sarthak Kumar Jena, 2016. "Earnings Management and Equity Issue Firms: A Study in Indian Context," Jindal Journal of Business Research, , vol. 5(1), pages 64-85, June.
    14. Frost, Carol Ann & Guragai, Binod & Rapley, Eric T., 2017. "Differences in responses to accounting-based and market-based benchmarks – Evidence from Nasdaq," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 46-62.
    15. Sidney J. Gray & Tony Kang & Zhiwei Lin & Qingliang Tang, 2015. "Earnings Management in Europe Post IFRS: Do Cultural Influences Persist?," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 55(6), pages 827-856, December.
    16. Fargher, Neil & Wee, Marvin, 2019. "The impact of Ball and Brown (1968) on generations of research," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 55-72.
    17. Jong-Seo Choi & Young-Min Kwak & Chongwoo Choe, 2014. "Earnings Management Surrounding CEO Turnover: Evidence from Korea," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 50(1), pages 25-55, March.
    18. Paul Coram & James R. Frederickson & Matthew Pinnuck, 2024. "Earnings management: Who do managers consider and what is the relative importance of ethics?," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 49(2), pages 214-248, May.
    19. Iatridis, George & Kadorinis, George, 2009. "Earnings management and firm financial motives: A financial investigation of UK listed firms," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 164-173, September.
    20. Aljughaiman, Abdullah A. & Nguyen, Tam Huy & Trinh, Vu Quang & Du, Anqi, 2023. "The Covid-19 outbreak, corporate financial distress and earnings management," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).

    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:joares:v:48:y:2010:i:2:p:445-475. 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=0021-8456 .

    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.