IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/quaeco/v59y2016icp131-140.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does analyst coverage constrain real earnings management?

Author

Listed:
  • Sun, Jerry
  • Liu, Guoping

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of analyst coverage on real earnings management, which is measured by using three proxies including abnormal cash flows from operations, abnormal discretionary expenses, and abnormal production costs. We document evidence that real earnings management is significantly higher when firms are followed by more analysts, suggesting that analyst coverage does not constrain real earnings management as effectively as it constrains accrual earnings management. Our findings also imply that firms with high analyst coverage have greater incentives to engage in real activities manipulation.

Suggested Citation

  • Sun, Jerry & Liu, Guoping, 2016. "Does analyst coverage constrain real earnings management?," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 131-140.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:quaeco:v:59:y:2016:i:c:p:131-140
    DOI: 10.1016/j.qref.2015.03.009
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S106297691500040X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.qref.2015.03.009?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Amitabh Dugar & Siva Nathan, 1995. "The Effect of Investment Banking Relationships on Financial Analysts' Earnings Forecasts and Investment Recommendations," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(1), pages 131-160, September.
    2. Shivakumar, Lakshmanan, 2000. "Do firms mislead investors by overstating earnings before seasoned equity offerings?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 339-371, June.
    3. Xin Chang & Sudipto Dasgupta & Gilles Hilary, 2006. "Analyst Coverage and Financing Decisions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(6), pages 3009-3048, December.
    4. Graham, John R. & Harvey, Campbell R. & Rajgopal, Shiva, 2005. "The economic implications of corporate financial reporting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1-3), pages 3-73, December.
    5. Fudenberg, Drew & Tirole, Jean, 1995. "A Theory of Income and Dividend Smoothing Based on Incumbency Rents," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(1), pages 75-93, February.
    6. Taylor, Gary K. & Xu, Randall Zhaohui, 2010. "Consequences of real earnings management on subsequent operating performance," Research in Accounting Regulation, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 128-132.
    7. Hermalin, Benjamin E & Weisbach, Michael S, 1998. "Endogenously Chosen Boards of Directors and Their Monitoring of the CEO," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(1), pages 96-118, March.
    8. Alexander Dyck & Adair Morse & Luigi Zingales, 2010. "Who Blows the Whistle on Corporate Fraud?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(6), pages 2213-2253, December.
    9. Titman, Sheridan & Trueman, Brett, 1986. "Information quality and the valuation of new issues," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 159-172, June.
    10. Joel S. Demski, 1998. "Performance Measure Manipulation," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(3), pages 261-285, September.
    11. He, Jie (Jack) & Tian, Xuan, 2013. "The dark side of analyst coverage: The case of innovation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(3), pages 856-878.
    12. Cohen, Daniel A. & Zarowin, Paul, 2010. "Accrual-based and real earnings management activities around seasoned equity offerings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 2-19, May.
    13. Dhaliwal, Ds & Frankel, M & Trezevant, R, 1994. "The Taxable And Book Income Motivations For A Lifo Layer Liquidation," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 278-289.
    14. Klein, April, 2002. "Audit committee, board of director characteristics, and earnings management," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 375-400, August.
    15. Dechow, Patricia M. & Sloan, Richard G., 1991. "Executive incentives and the horizon problem : An empirical investigation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 51-89, March.
    16. Xie, Biao & Davidson, Wallace III & DaDalt, Peter J., 2003. "Earnings management and corporate governance: the role of the board and the audit committee," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 295-316, June.
    17. Sun, Jerry & Liu, Guoping, 2011. "Industry specialist auditors, outsider directors, and financial analysts," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 367-382, July.
    18. Roychowdhury, Sugata, 2006. "Earnings management through real activities manipulation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 335-370, December.
    19. John A. Doukas & Chansog (Francis) Kim & Christos Pantzalis, 2008. "Do Analysts Influence Corporate Financing and Investment?," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 37(2), pages 303-339, June.
    20. Bange, Mary M. & De Bondt, Werner F. M., 1998. "R&D budgets and corporate earnings targets," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 153-184, June.
    21. Michaely, Roni & Womack, Kent L, 1999. "Conflict of Interest and the Credibility of Underwriter Analyst Recommendations," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 12(4), pages 653-686.
    22. 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.
    23. Yu, Fang (Frank), 2008. "Analyst coverage and earnings management," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 245-271, May.
    24. 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.
    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. Eugster, Nicolas, 2019. "Family firms and financial analyst activity," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    2. Chen, Haiwei & Jory, Surendranath & Ngo, Thanh, 2020. "Earnings management under different ownership and corporate governance structure: A natural experiment with master limited partnerships," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 139-156.
    3. Eiler, Lisa A. & Filzen, Joshua J. & Jackson, Mark & Tama-Sweet, Isho, 2021. "Real earnings management and the properties of analysts' forecasts," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    4. Mihai CARP & Iuliana Eugenia GEORGESCU, 2019. "The Influence of Audit Opinion on the Degree of Real Earnings Management. The Case of Romanian Listed Companies," The Audit Financiar journal, Chamber of Financial Auditors of Romania, vol. 17(156), pages 666-666.
    5. Ahsan Habib & Mostafa Monzur Hasan & Ahmed Al‐Hadi, 2020. "Financial Statement Comparability and Idiosyncratic Return Volatility," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 20(2), pages 383-413, June.
    6. Hongwen Han & Jiali Jenna Tang & Qingquan Tang, 2021. "Goodwill Impairment, Securities Analysts, and Information Transparency," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(4), pages 767-799, August.
    7. Zhang, Jiawei & Li, Yuan & Xu, Hanwen & Ding, Yi, 2023. "Can ESG ratings mitigate managerial myopia? Evidence from Chinese listed companies," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    8. Ali Meftah Gerged & Khaldoon Albitar & Lara Al‐Haddad, 2023. "Corporate environmental disclosure and earnings management—The moderating role of corporate governance structures," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(3), pages 2789-2810, July.
    9. Eric Séverin & David Veganzones, 2021. "Can earnings management information improve bankruptcy prediction models?," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 306(1), pages 247-272, November.
    10. Fang-Nan Liao & Xiao-Li Ji & Zhi-Ping Wang, 2019. "Firms’ Sustainability: Does Economic Policy Uncertainty Affect Internal Control?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-26, February.
    11. Zhang, Ping & Wang, Yiru, 2023. "The bright side of analyst coverage on corporate innovation: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).

    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. Armstrong, Christopher S. & Guay, Wayne R. & Weber, Joseph P., 2010. "The role of information and financial reporting in corporate governance and debt contracting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 179-234, December.
    2. Yu, Fang (Frank), 2008. "Analyst coverage and earnings management," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 245-271, May.
    3. 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.
    4. Dauth, Tobias & Pronobis, Paul & Schmid, Stefan, 2017. "Exploring the link between internationalization of top management and accounting quality: The CFO’s international experience matters," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 71-88.
    5. Bradley, Daniel & Gokkaya, Sinan & Liu, Xi & Xie, Fei, 2017. "Are all analysts created equal? Industry expertise and monitoring effectiveness of financial analysts," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 179-206.
    6. Ali, Ashiq & Zhang, Weining, 2015. "CEO tenure and earnings management," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 60-79.
    7. 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.
    8. Wenxia Ge & Jeong-Bon Kim, 2014. "Boards, takeover protection, and real earnings management," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 43(4), pages 651-682, November.
    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. El Diri, Malek & Lambrinoudakis, Costas & Alhadab, Mohammad, 2020. "Corporate governance and earnings management in concentrated markets," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 291-306.
    11. Yung-Chuan Lee & Cheng-Chang Lu, 2015. "Is Earnings Information Superior to Net Income as a Measure of Future Earnings? A Study on Accruals and Real Earnings Management," International Journal of Financial Research, International Journal of Financial Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 6(1), pages 119-136, January.
    12. murhadi, werner R., 2009. "Good Corporate Governance And Earnings Management Practices: An Indonesian Cases," MPRA Paper 24756, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Nov 2009.
    13. Eiler, Lisa A. & Filzen, Joshua J. & Jackson, Mark & Tama-Sweet, Isho, 2021. "Real earnings management and the properties of analysts' forecasts," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    14. Yangyang Chen & C. S. Agnes Cheng & Shuo Li & Jingran Zhao, 2021. "The monitoring role of the media: Evidence from earnings management," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(3-4), pages 533-563, March.
    15. Marco Navone & Thomas To, 2020. "Corporate watchdogs," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 49(4), pages 925-947, December.
    16. Attig, Najah & Chen, Ruiyuan & El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane & Kwok, Chuck & Pittman, Jeffrey, 2020. "Are insiders equal? Evidence from earnings management in closely held East Asian firms," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    17. Emmanuel Iatridis, George, 2018. "Accounting discretion and executive cash compensation: An empirical investigation of corporate governance, credit ratings and firm value," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 29-49.
    18. Hongwen Han & Jiali Jenna Tang & Qingquan Tang, 2021. "Goodwill Impairment, Securities Analysts, and Information Transparency," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(4), pages 767-799, August.
    19. Imran S. Currim & Jooseop Lim & Yu Zhang, 2018. "Effect of analysts’ earnings pressure on marketing spending and stock market performance," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 46(3), pages 431-452, May.
    20. Hervé Stolowy & Gaetan Breton, 2000. "A Framework for the Classification of Accounts Manipulations," Working Papers hal-00597249, HAL.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Analyst coverage; Real activities; Governance role; Earnings management;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G3 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance
    • M4 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting

    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:eee:quaeco:v:59:y:2016:i:c:p:131-140. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620167 .

    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.