IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/acctbr/v35y2005i1p69-86.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Earnings management of distressed firms during debt renegotiation

Author

Listed:
  • Norman Saleh
  • Kamran Ahmed

Abstract

Empirical evidence on earnings management by financially distressed firms is very limited. This study examines discretionary accruals in distressed firms that have undertaken debt contract renegotiation subsequent to debt covenant violation with a view to determining whether managers adopt income-decreasing accruals during debt renegotiation. Using four established models for detecting discretionary accruals during the recent financial crisis in Malaysia, we find evidence that distressed firms manipulate earnings downward. The results show that the magnitude of discretionary accruals is statistically significantly negative during the year surrounding renegotiations with lenders, and that these accruals are significantly more negative than those of a control sample of firms which have not undertaken debt renegotiation during the same period but experienced similar financial performance. The results are robust after controlling for changes in top management, audit qualifications, audit firm size, as well as traditional measures such as firm size, performance, liquidity and leverage.

Suggested Citation

  • Norman Saleh & Kamran Ahmed, 2005. "Earnings management of distressed firms during debt renegotiation," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(1), pages 69-86.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:acctbr:v:35:y:2005:i:1:p:69-86
    DOI: 10.1080/00014788.2005.9729663
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00014788.2005.9729663
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00014788.2005.9729663?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. Bergman, Yaacov Z. & Callen, Jeffrey L., 1991. "Opportunistic underinvestment in debt renegotiation and capital structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 137-171, March.
    2. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1992. "Liquidation Values and Debt Capacity: A Market Equilibrium Approach," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(4), pages 1343-1366, September.
    3. Warner, Jerold B. & Watts, Ross L. & Wruck, Karen H., 1988. "Stock prices and top management changes," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1-2), pages 461-492, January.
    4. Jere R. Francis & Jagan Krishnan, 1999. "Accounting Accruals and Auditor Reporting Conservatism," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(1), pages 135-165, March.
    5. Paul Asquith & Robert Gertner & David Scharfstein, 1994. "Anatomy of Financial Distress: An Examination of Junk-Bond Issuers," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(3), pages 625-658.
    6. Pourciau, Susan, 1993. "Earnings management and nonroutine executive changes," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1-3), pages 317-336, April.
    7. Jones, Jj, 1991. "Earnings Management During Import Relief Investigations," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 193-228.
    8. Weisbach, Michael S., 1988. "Outside directors and CEO turnover," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1-2), pages 431-460, January.
    9. Gilson, Stuart C., 1989. "Management turnover and financial distress," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 241-262, December.
    10. T. E. Cooke, 1998. "Regression Analysis in Accounting Disclosure Studies," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(3), pages 209-224, February.
    11. Rees, L & Gill, S & Gore, R, 1996. "An investigation of asset write-downs and concurrent abnormal accruals," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34, pages 157-169.
    12. Farshid Navissi, 1999. "Earnings Management under Price Regulation," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(2), pages 281-304, June.
    13. Haugen, Robert A & Senbet, Lemma W, 1978. "The Insignificance of Bankruptcy Costs to the Theory of Optimal Capital Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 33(2), pages 383-393, May.
    14. Claessens, Stijn & Djankov, Simeon & Lang, Larry H. P., 2000. "The separation of ownership and control in East Asian Corporations," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1-2), pages 81-112.
    15. Johnson, Simon & Mitton, Todd, 2003. "Cronyism and capital controls: evidence from Malaysia," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 351-382, February.
    16. 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.
    17. 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.
    18. Vuong, Quang H, 1989. "Likelihood Ratio Tests for Model Selection and Non-nested Hypotheses," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 57(2), pages 307-333, March.
    19. Sweeney, Amy Patricia, 1994. "Debt-covenant violations and managers' accounting responses," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 281-308, May.
    20. D. Eric Hirst, 1994. "Auditor Sensitivity to Earnings Management," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(1), pages 405-422, June.
    21. Carolyn Carroll & John M. Griffith & Patricia M. Rudolph, 1999. "Hostile-vs.-white-knight bidders," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(3), pages 163-171.
    22. 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.
    23. Rebecca L. Rosner, 2003. "Earnings Manipulation in Failing Firms," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(2), pages 361-408, June.
    24. Moore, Ml, 1973. "Management Changes And Discretionary Accounting Decisions," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(1), pages 100-107.
    25. Giammarino, Ronald M, 1989. "The Resolution of Financial Distress," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 2(1), pages 25-47.
    26. DeAngelo, Harry & DeAngelo, Linda & Skinner, Douglas J., 1994. "Accounting choice in troubled companies," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1-2), pages 113-143, January.
    27. Mian, Shehzad, 2001. "On the choice and replacement of chief financial officers," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 143-175, April.
    28. Kasznik, R, 1999. "On the association between voluntary disclosure and earnings management," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(1), pages 57-81.
    29. Malcolm Smith & Jo‐anne Kestel & Peter Robinson, 2001. "Economic Recession, Corporate Distress and Income Increasing Accounting Policy Choice," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(4), pages 334-352, December.
    30. Murphy, Kevin J. & Zimmerman, Jerold L., 1993. "Financial performance surrounding CEO turnover," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1-3), pages 273-315, April.
    31. 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.
    32. Bartov, Eli & Gul, Ferdinand A. & Tsui, J.S.L.Judy S. L., 2000. "Discretionary-accruals models and audit qualifications," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 421-452, December.
    33. DeFond, Mark L. & Jiambalvo, James, 1994. "Debt covenant violation and manipulation of accruals," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1-2), pages 145-176, January.
    34. Noe, Thomas H & Wang, Jun, 2000. "Strategic Debt Restructuring," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 13(4), pages 985-1015.
    35. Francis, J & Hanna, JD & Vincent, L, 1996. "Causes and effects of discretionary asset write-offs," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34, pages 117-134.
    36. 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)

    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. Ahmed, Kamran & Godfrey, Jayne M. & Saleh, Norman M., 2008. "Market perceptions of discretionary accruals by debt renegotiating firms during economic downturn," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 114-138.
    2. 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.
    3. Hervé Stolowy & Gaetan Breton, 2000. "A Framework for the Classification of Accounts Manipulations," Working Papers hal-00597249, HAL.
    4. Juan García Lara & Beatriz Osma & Evi Neophytou, 2009. "Earnings quality in ex‐post failed firms," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(2), pages 119-138.
    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. Khushbu Agrawal & Chanchal Chatterjee, 2015. "Earnings Management and Financial Distress: Evidence from India," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 16(5_suppl), pages 140-154, October.
    7. 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.
    8. 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.
    9. Saskia Kohlhase & Jochen Pierk, 2021. "Tax rule changes and the timing of asset write‐offs in loss firms," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(5-6), pages 815-840, May.
    10. Hazarika, Sonali & Karpoff, Jonathan M. & Nahata, Rajarishi, 2012. "Internal corporate governance, CEO turnover, and earnings management," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(1), pages 44-69.
    11. Filip, Andrei & Raffournier, Bernard, 2014. "Financial Crisis And Earnings Management: The European Evidence," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 455-478.
    12. 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.
    13. Carol A. Marquardt & Christine I. Wiedman, 2004. "The Effect of Earnings Management on the Value Relevance of Accounting Information," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3‐4), pages 297-332, April.
    14. Ioannis Dokas & Christos Leontidis & Nicolaos Eriotis & Konstantinos Hazakis, 2021. "Earnings Management. An overview of the relative literature," Bulletin of Applied Economics, Risk Market Journals, vol. 8(2), pages 25-55.
    15. Yves Mard & Sylvain Marsat, 2009. "Earnings management surrounding CEO changes in France [La gestion du résultat comptable autour d'un changement de dirigeant en France]," Post-Print hal-02156582, HAL.
    16. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pb:p:2485-2563 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Yves Mard & Sylvain Marsat, 2008. "Les stratégies comptables entourant un changement de dirigeant en France," Post-Print halshs-00525427, HAL.
    18. Ferrer García, Cristina & Laínez Gadea, José Antonio, 2013. "Detectando diferencias en la medición de la calidad del resultado: evidencia empírica para empresas españolas || Detecting Differences on the Earnings Quality Measurement: Empirical Evidence on Spanis," Revista de Métodos Cuantitativos para la Economía y la Empresa = Journal of Quantitative Methods for Economics and Business Administration, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Quantitative Methods for Economics and Business Administration, vol. 16(1), pages 5-28, December.
    19. Yu, Fang (Frank), 2008. "Analyst coverage and earnings management," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 245-271, May.
    20. Tsipouridou, Maria & Spathis, Charalambos, 2012. "Earnings management and the role of auditors in an unusual IFRS context: The case of Greece," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 62-78.
    21. Mohamed Khalil & Aydin Ozkan, 2016. "Board Independence, Audit Quality and Earnings Management: Evidence from Egypt," Journal of Emerging Market Finance, Institute for Financial Management and Research, vol. 15(1), pages 84-118, April.

    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:taf:acctbr:v:35:y:2005:i:1:p:69-86. 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RABR20 .

    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.