IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-00691020.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Effet de la gestion comptable et réelle des résultats sur le coût de la dette : analyse avant et après SOX

Author

Listed:
  • Sondes Draief

    (ISGI sfax - Université de Sfax - University of Sfax)

  • Adel Chouaya

    (DRM Crefige - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres)

Abstract

The aim of this research is to examine the effect of both accounting earnings management and real earnings management on the cost of debt. We also study the effect of Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX) on the cost of debt. Based on a sample of 253 American firms for the period 1998-2006, our results show that creditors penalize firms that manage their earnings through a higher cost of debt. Moreover, our results suggest that SOX was appreciated by creditors that resulted in lower cost of debt. The analysis during the pre and post SOX reveals that the effect of the discretionary accruals on the cost of debt is more pronounced after the adoption of SOX. Finally, we found that, post SOX, managers use less accrual-based earnings management and more real earnings management activities. These opportunistic practices are detected by creditors that require higher cost of debt.

Suggested Citation

  • Sondes Draief & Adel Chouaya, 2012. "Effet de la gestion comptable et réelle des résultats sur le coût de la dette : analyse avant et après SOX," Post-Print hal-00691020, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00691020
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-00691020
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hal.science/hal-00691020/document
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Francis, Jennifer & LaFond, Ryan & Olsson, Per & Schipper, Katherine, 2005. "The market pricing of accruals quality," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 295-327, June.
    2. Pittman, Jeffrey A. & Fortin, Steve, 2004. "Auditor choice and the cost of debt capital for newly public firms," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 113-136, February.
    3. 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.
    4. Bartov, Eli & Givoly, Dan & Hayn, Carla, 2002. "The rewards to meeting or beating earnings expectations," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 173-204, June.
    5. Berger, Philip G & Ofek, Eli & Yermack, David L, 1997. "Managerial Entrenchment and Capital Structure Decisions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(4), pages 1411-1438, September.
    6. Sweeney, Amy Patricia, 1994. "Debt-covenant violations and managers' accounting responses," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 281-308, May.
    7. Chaney, Paul K. & Faccio, Mara & Parsley, David, 2011. "The quality of accounting information in politically connected firms," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 58-76.
    8. Barth, ME & Elliott, JA & Finn, MW, 1999. "Market rewards associated with patterns of increasing earnings," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 387-413.
    9. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    10. Edward I. Altman, 1968. "Financial Ratios, Discriminant Analysis And The Prediction Of Corporate Bankruptcy," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 23(4), pages 589-609, September.
    11. Lang, Larry & Ofek, Eli & Stulz, Rene M., 1996. "Leverage, investment, and firm growth," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 3-29, January.
    12. Akhigbe, Aigbe & Martin, Anna D., 2006. "Valuation impact of Sarbanes-Oxley: Evidence from disclosure and governance within the financial services industry," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 989-1006, March.
    13. Jones, Jj, 1991. "Earnings Management During Import Relief Investigations," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 193-228.
    14. Edward I. Altman, 1968. "The Prediction Of Corporate Bankruptcy: A Discriminant Analysis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 23(1), pages 193-194, March.
    15. Kim, E Han, 1978. "A Mean-Variance Theory of Optimal Capital Structure and Corporate Debt Capacity," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 33(1), pages 45-63, March.
    16. Dennis Chambers & Jeff Payne, 2011. "Audit quality and accrual persistence: evidence from the pre- and post-Sarbanes-Oxley periods," Managerial Auditing Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 26(5), pages 437-456, May.
    17. 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.
    18. 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.
    19. Burgstahler, David & Dichev, Ilia, 1997. "Earnings management to avoid earnings decreases and losses," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 99-126, December.
    20. 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.
    21. Myers, Stewart C., 1977. "Determinants of corporate borrowing," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 147-175, November.
    22. Holthausen, Robert W. & Watts, Ross L., 2001. "The relevance of the value-relevance literature for financial accounting standard setting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 3-75, September.
    23. Eli Amir & Yanling Guan & Gilad Livne, 2010. "Auditor Independence and the Cost of Capital Before and After Sarbanes-Oxley: The Case of Newly Issued Public Debt," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(4), pages 633-664.
    24. DeAngelo, Harry & Masulis, Ronald W., 1980. "Optimal capital structure under corporate and personal taxation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 3-29, March.
    25. Degeorge, Francois & Patel, Jayendu & Zeckhauser, Richard, 1999. "Earnings Management to Exceed Thresholds," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 72(1), pages 1-33, January.
    26. Castanias, Richard, 1983. "Bankruptcy Risk and Optimal Capital Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 38(5), pages 1617-1635, December.
    27. Roychowdhury, Sugata, 2006. "Earnings management through real activities manipulation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 335-370, December.
    28. Daniel A. Bens & Venky Nagar & M. H. Franco Wong, 2002. "Real Investment Implications of Employee Stock Option Exercises," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(2), pages 359-393, May.
    29. Ilia D. Dichev & Douglas J. Skinner, 2002. "Large–Sample Evidence on the Debt Covenant Hypothesis," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(4), pages 1091-1123, September.
    30. Subramanyam, K. R., 1996. "The pricing of discretionary accruals," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1-3), pages 249-281, October.
    31. Debra Jeter & Lakshmanan Shivakumar, 1999. "Cross-sectional estimation of abnormal accruals using quarterly and annual data: effectiveness in detecting event-specific earnings management," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(4), pages 299-319.
    32. Jensen, Gerald R. & Solberg, Donald P. & Zorn, Thomas S., 1992. "Simultaneous Determination of Insider Ownership, Debt, and Dividend Policies," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 27(2), pages 247-263, June.
    33. Hayne E. Leland., 1998. "Agency Costs, Risk Management, and Capital Structure," Research Program in Finance Working Papers RPF-278, University of California at Berkeley.
    34. Long Chen & David A. Lesmond & Jason Wei, 2007. "Corporate Yield Spreads and Bond Liquidity," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(1), pages 119-149, February.
    35. Alli, Kasim L & Khan, A Qayyum & Ramirez, Gabriel G, 1993. "Determinants of Corporate Dividend Policy: A Factorial Analysis," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 28(4), pages 523-547, November.
    36. Beatty, Anne & Ramesh, K. & Weber, Joseph, 2002. "The importance of accounting changes in debt contracts: the cost of flexibility in covenant calculations," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 205-227, June.
    37. José A. C. Moreira & Peter F. Pope, 2007. "Earnings Management to Avoid Losses: a cost of debt explanation," CEF.UP Working Papers 0704, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    38. Michael J. Barclay & Clifford W. Smith & Ross L. Watts, 1995. "The Determinants Of Corporate Leverage And Dividend Policies," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 7(4), pages 4-19, January.
    39. C. Elizabeth Plummer & Senyo Y. Tse, 1999. "The Effect of Limited Liability on the Informativeness of Earnings: Evidence from the Stock and Bond Markets," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(3), pages 541-574, September.
    40. Bens, Daniel A. & Nagar, Venky & Skinner, Douglas J. & Wong, M. H. Franco, 2003. "Employee stock options, EPS dilution, and stock repurchases," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1-3), pages 51-90, December.
    41. 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.
    42. Skinner, Douglas J., 1993. "The investment opportunity set and accounting procedure choice : Preliminary evidence," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 407-445, October.
    43. Chang, Jui Chin & Sun, Heuy Lian, 2009. "Crossed-listed foreign firms' earnings informativeness, earnings management and disclosures of corporate governance information under SOX," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 1-32, March.
    44. Harris, Milton & Raviv, Artur, 1988. "Corporate control contests and capital structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1-2), pages 55-86, January.
    45. Collins, Daniel W. & Hribar, Paul, 2000. "Earnings-based and accrual-based market anomalies: one effect or two?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 101-123, 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. Sondes Draief Chouaya, 2008. "Gestion des résultats, atteinte des seuils et coût d'endettement," Post-Print halshs-00522515, HAL.
    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. Dichev, Ilia D. & Graham, John R. & Harvey, Campbell R. & Rajgopal, Shiva, 2013. "Earnings quality: Evidence from the field," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 1-33.
    4. 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.
    5. Souad Chaieb, 2021. "The Impact of Cash Holding on Debt Cost," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 11(6), pages 75-93.
    6. Nitai Chandra Debnath & Suman Paul Chowdhury & Safaeduzzaman Khan, 2022. "The impact of audit quality on real earnings management: evidence from Bangladesh," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(2), pages 218-231, June.
    7. Alissa, Walid & Bonsall, Samuel B. & Koharki, Kevin & Penn, Michael W., 2013. "Firms' use of accounting discretion to influence their credit ratings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 129-147.
    8. 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.
    9. 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.
    10. Daniel, Naveen D. & Denis, David J. & Naveen, Lalitha, 2008. "Do firms manage earnings to meet dividend thresholds," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 2-26, March.
    11. DeFond, Mark L., 2010. "Earnings quality research: Advances, challenges and future research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 402-409, December.
    12. Philippe Jardin & David Veganzones & Eric Séverin, 2019. "Forecasting Corporate Bankruptcy Using Accrual-Based Models," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 54(1), pages 7-43, June.
    13. Jeff P. Boone & Inder K. Khurana & K.K. Raman, 2009. "Impact of Job Complexity and Performance on CFO Compensation," Working Papers 0098, College of Business, University of Texas at San Antonio.
    14. Espahbodi, Reza & Liu, Nan & Weigand, Robert A., 2022. "Opportunistic earnings management or performance-related effects? Evidence from dividend-paying firms," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    15. 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.
    16. 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.
    17. Anagnostopoulou, Seraina C. & Tsekrekos, Andrianos E., 2015. "Earnings management in firms seeking to be acquired," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 351-375.
    18. Huang, Wei & Goodell, John W. & Zhang, Hong, 2019. "Pre-merger management in developing markets: The role of earnings glamor," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    19. Griffin, Paul A. & Hong, Hyun A. & Liu, Yun & Ryou, Ji Woo, 2021. "The dark side of CEO social capital: Evidence from real earnings management and future operating performance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    20. Mughal, Azhar & Tao, Qizhi & Sun, Yicheng & Xiang, Xueman, 2021. "Earnings management at target firms and the acquirers’ performance," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 384-404.

    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:hal:journl:hal-00691020. 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: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    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.