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Cash Flow Reporting And Creative Accounting

Author

Listed:
  • Negrea Laura Georgeta

    (-, Facultatea de Stiinte Economice si Gestiunea Afacerilor, Cluj-Napoca)

  • Matis Dumitru

    (Universitatea Babes-Bolyai, Facultatea de Stiinte Economice si Gestiunea Afacerilor, Cluj-Napoca)

  • Mustata V. Razvan

    (Universitatea Babes-Bolyai, Facultatea de Stiinte Economice si Gestiunea Afacerilor, Cluj-Napoca)

Abstract

Within the wide field of creative accounting, the main preoccupation of researchers surrounded earnings management. The current study comes to acknowledge that creative cash flow may distort the assessment of financial performance and should therefore, become a subject of the same interest for analysts and investors, as earnings management is. In order to reach the objective proposed, there are two hypotheses formulated, to be validated within the research: H1: Creative accounting distorts cash flow reporting within the boundaries of current regulations. H2: Real activity manipulation alters significantly the operating cash flow. The steps followed were analyzing the accounting standard related to cash flow statement, IAS 7, in order to uncover issues not taken into account, or options of allocation provided for accountants, which could lead to opportunistic choices and lack of comparability. The relevant literature was reviewed, so as to identify the opinions of accounting and finance specialists related to this subject, the results of their scientific process. The final step was a synthesis of relevant results and observations, which lead to the acceptance of the hypothesis of the research. Moreover, several techniques were identified, both related to creative accounting and to real activity manipulation, influencing mainly the figure reflecting operating cash flow, and thus the image on the potential of business continuity. Main conclusions were that the techniques applied were within the limits set by the standard: opportunistic allocation of dividends and interest collected or paid misallocation of certain activities like sale of receivables, but mainly recording non-recurring events into the operating cash flow, without separate notes of information or adjustments. Real activity manipulation should also be considered as it is even more difficult to detect, unless analysis is also performed on notes to financial reports and the figures within the profit and loss account. The contribution of the current study is providing a synthetic arrgumentation to why cash flow should be analysed in the context of creative accounting, reviewing methods and techniques that distort significantly the results of operating activity, providing basis for further study related to the impact of such practices on forecasts of cash flow and predictability of bankruptcy.

Suggested Citation

  • Negrea Laura Georgeta & Matis Dumitru & Mustata V. Razvan, 2011. "Cash Flow Reporting And Creative Accounting," Annals of Faculty of Economics, University of Oradea, Faculty of Economics, vol. 1(2), pages 597-602, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:ora:journl:v:1:y:2011:i:2:p:597-602
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    File URL: http://anale.steconomiceuoradea.ro/volume/2011/n2/084.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Divesh S. Sharma & Errol R. Iselin, 2003. "The Relative Relevance of Cash Flow and Accrual Information for Solvency Assessments: A Multi-Method Approach," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30, pages 1115-1140.
    2. Ali Al-Attar & Simon Hussain, 2004. "Corporate Data and Future Cash Flows," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(7-8), pages 861-903.
    3. Fernandez, Pablo, 2006. "Cash flow is cash and is a fact. Net income is just an opinion," IESE Research Papers D/629, IESE Business School.
    4. Hugo Nurnberg, 2006. "The distorting effects of acquisitions and dispositions on net operating cash flow," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(3), pages 209-226, September.
    5. Ali Al‐Attar & Simon Hussain, 2004. "Corporate Data and Future Cash Flows," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(7‐8), pages 861-903, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. Comporek Michał, 2019. "The Use of Operational Cash Flow in the Estimation of Accrual-Based Earnings Management," Financial Sciences. Nauki o Finansach, Sciendo, vol. 24(2), pages 46-60, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    operating cash flow; creative accounting; non-recurring activity; IAS 7; financial performance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting

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