IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/jfr/afr111/v9y2020i2p60.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Accounting Standards, Reporting Incentives, and Earnings Management

Author

Listed:
  • Xiaoxiao Song
  • Jennifer L. Bannister

Abstract

In this study, we examine which factor, firms’ accounting standards or firms’ reporting incentives, has a greater impact on firms’ earnings management behavior. To answer this question, we utilize unique hand-collected data that consists of foreign firms cross-listed in the U.S. using U.S. GAAP. This interesting setting allows us to control for differing accounting standards and external monitoring from the SEC between foreign firms and their U.S. domestic counterparts. Therefore, if there is any observed difference in the level of firms’ earnings management, that difference can be mainly attributed to firms’ reporting incentives rather than firms’ accounting standards. Our findings suggest that cross-listed foreign firms using U.S. GAAP exhibit more accruals-based and real activities earnings management relative to domestic firms. The results suggest that accounting standards, regulations, and enforcement is not enough to eliminate opportunistic reporting behavior. Firm incentives will still impact the magnitude of earnings management. This finding is particularly important given the hot debate regarding whether the U.S should adopt IFRS or not. No matter what accounting standards firms choose, U.S GAAP or IFRS, firms’ earnings quality can still vary with differing reporting incentives.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiaoxiao Song & Jennifer L. Bannister, 2020. "Accounting Standards, Reporting Incentives, and Earnings Management," Accounting and Finance Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 9(2), pages 1-60, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:jfr:afr111:v:9:y:2020:i:2:p:60
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.sciedupress.com/journal/index.php/afr/article/download/17623/10901
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.sciedupress.com/journal/index.php/afr/article/view/17623
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Leuz, Christian & Nanda, Dhananjay & Wysocki, Peter D., 2003. "Earnings management and investor protection: an international comparison," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 505-527, September.
    2. 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.
    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. Loureiro, Gilberto & Silva, Sónia, 2022. "Earnings management and stock price crashes post U.S. cross-delistings," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    2. N. Eriotis & T. Kounadeas & K. Liapis & E. Poutos, 2019. "The Impact of IFRS Adoption by Greek Listed Companies on the Earnings Quality: An Empirical Investigation," International Journal of Finance, Insurance and Risk Management, International Journal of Finance, Insurance and Risk Management, vol. 9(3-4), pages 90-100.
    3. Beckmann, Klaus S. & Escobari, Diego A. & Ngo, Thanh, 2019. "The real earnings management of cross-listing firms," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 128-145.
    4. Campa, Domenico & Camacho-Miñano, María-del-Mar, 2015. "The impact of SME’s pre-bankruptcy financial distress on earnings management tools," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 222-234.
    5. Tobias Witter & Thorsten Sellhorn & Jens Müller & Vicky Kiosse, 2022. "Balance sheet smoothing," Berlin School of Economics Discussion Papers 0006, Berlin School of Economics.
    6. Zhang, Yuyang & Uchida, Konari & Dong, Liping, 2020. "External financing and earnings management: Evidence from international data," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    7. Muhammad Kaleem Khan & Yixuan Qin & Chengsi Zhang, 2022. "Financial structure and earnings manipulation activities in China," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(8), pages 2593-2621, August.
    8. 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.
    9. Isaac Selasi Awuye & François Aubert, 2022. "The impact of leverage on earnings management and the trade-off between discretionary accruals and real earnings management," Post-Print hal-03824383, HAL.
    10. David Folsom & Paul Hribar & Richard D. Mergenthaler & Kyle Peterson, 2017. "Principles-Based Standards and Earnings Attributes," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(8), pages 2592-2615, August.
    11. Gilberto Loureiro & Sónia Silva, 2015. "Earnings Management and Stock Price Crashes PostCrossdelisting," NIPE Working Papers 16/2015, NIPE - Universidade do Minho.
    12. Hamid Beladi & Chen Cheng & May Hu & Yuan Yuan, 2020. "Unemployment governance, labour cost and earnings management: Evidence from China," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(10), pages 2526-2548, October.
    13. Frerich Buchholz & Kerstin Lopatta & Karen Maas, 2020. "The Deliberate Engagement of Narcissistic CEOs in Earnings Management," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(4), pages 663-686, December.
    14. Qin, Yiyi & Cai, Jun & Rhee, S. Ghon, 2021. "Do Japanese firms systematically inflate expected rate of returns from defined benefit pension plans?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    15. Loureiro, Gilberto & Silva, Sónia, 2021. "The impact of securities regulation on the information environment around stock-financed acquisitions," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    16. Oz, Ibrahim Onur & Yelkenci, Tezer, 2018. "Examination of real and accrual earnings management: A cross-country analysis of legal origin under IFRS," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 24-37.
    17. Dang, Man & Puwanenthiren, Premkanth & Truong, Cameron & Henry, Darren & Vo, Xuan Vinh, 2022. "Audit quality and seasoned equity offerings methods," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    18. Fang, Yiwei & Hasan, Iftekhar & Li, Lingxiang, 2014. "Banking reform, risk-taking, and earnings quality – Evidence from transition countries," BOFIT Discussion Papers 19/2014, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    19. Michael J. Ahearne & Jeffrey P. Boichuk & Craig J. Chapman & Thomas J. Steenburgh, 2016. "Real Earnings Management in Sales," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(5), pages 1233-1266, December.
    20. Karampinis, Nikolaos & Vlismas, Orestes & Ballas, Apostolos, 2024. "Business strategy, earnings properties, and earnings quality," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    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:jfr:afr111:v:9:y:2020:i:2:p:60. 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: Sciedu Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cepflch.html .

    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.