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The financial difficulties following the Covid-19 pandemic have been many. Typically in situations of financial distress, firms are incentivized to utilize earnings management techniques to alter the picture of their financial situation, due to market-based pressure. However, studies have shown that in times of crisis, institutional and macroeconomic factors may be more influential as increased scrutiny and an acceptance of abnormal results may make it less attractive to engage in such practices. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the use of earnings management with a sample of 942 firms, amounting to 5 652 firm-year observations between the years of 2015-2020. The results show a statistically significant increased amount of income-decreasing accrual-based earnings management, indicating the use of “big bath” accounting. This suggests that managers were incentivized to utilize earnings management techniques in an attempt to present boosted earnings to the market in future periods, by exploiting the pandemic and reporting worse than necessary numbers. However, the study does not find any significant changes in the use of real earnings management, which could be due to managerial limitations in making operational decisions during severe financial distress.

Världen drabbades av ett smittsamt virus i slutet på 2019 som växte till en global pandemi med namnet coronapandemin. Pandemin har orsakat stora förluster för företagen genom restriktioner, försämrade leveranskedjor och nedstängningar. Forskare konstaterat ett samband mellan krissituationer och resultatmanipulering.  Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om coronapandemin har påverkat resultatmanipuleringen i svenska noterade bolag. Tre modeller som mäter resultatmanipulering tillämpas på ett urval om 356 svenska noterade bolag och 2136 årsobservationer mellan 2016–2021. Resultatmanipulering före coronapandemin (2017–2019) jämförs med resultatmanipulering under coronapandemin (2020–2021) för att se om det föreligger signifikant skillnad mellan perioderna. Efter utförda tester visar det sig att företag tillämpar mer resultatmanipulering genom periodiseringar och inte genom aktiva val. Specifikt handlar det om resultatmaniskande periodiseringar som möjliggör för företagen att redovisa lägre resultat under pandemiperioden. Detta görs för att företagen ska kunna redovisa oförväntad återhämtning efter pandemiperioden med starkare resultat och kallas för big bath strategin. / The world was affected by a contagious virus at the end of 2019 that grew into a global pandemic with the name corona pandemic. The pandemic caused big loses for firms through restrictions, worsened supply chain and shutdowns. Researchers have established a relation between times of crisis and earnings management. The purpose of this study is to investigate if the corona pandemic affected earnings management in Swedish listed companies. Three models that measure earnings management are employed on a sample of 356 Swedish listed firms with 2136-year observations. Earnings management before the pandemic (2017-2019) is compared with Earnings management during the pandemic (2020-2021) to see whether there is a significant difference between the periods.  After the tests are done it is found that firms engage in more earnings management through accruals and not real earnings management. Specifically, income decreasing accruals that enable firms to report lower earnings during the pandemic. This is done so that firms can report unexpected recovery after the pandemic period through stronger earnings and is called big bath strategy.

Titel: Hur ser sambandet mellan Corporate Social Responsibility och Earnings Management ut bland börsnoterade företag i EU?  Nivå: Examensarbete på grundnivå (kandidatexamen) i ämnet företagsekonomi. Författare: Felix Lindeborg och Rikard Eriksson Handledare: Jan SvanbergDatum: 2024 - Januari Syfte: Undersöka sambandet mellan Corporate Social Responsibility och Earnings Management bland börsnoterade bolag inom Europeiska unionen. Baserat på syftet har den här studien som ambition att identifiera i vilken grad företag arbetar med CSR-relaterade frågor och hur detta påverkar deras benägenhet att manipulera resultatet. Metod: Det här är en kvantitativ studie som genomförts på börsnoterade bolag inom den Europeiska unionen mellan åren 2018–2022. Den finansiella sekundärdata som inhämtats till studien är hämtad från databasen Refinitive Eikon. Sekundärdata har sedermera analyserats i Excel och statistikprogrammet SPSS för att genom regressionsmodeller och tabeller redovisa resultaten från studien. Resultat och slutsats: Resultatet från studien visar på ett positivt men inte signifikant samband mellan CSR och Earnings management bland börsnoterade företag i EU. Tidigare studier i EU har identifierat ett negativt samband. Slutsatsen är att företag balanserar kortsiktiga resultat med långsiktiga hållbarhetsmål för att möta aktieägarnas krav samtidigt som de bibehåller legitimitet mot intressenter.  Examensarbetets bidrag: Examensarbetet har genom att identifiera och förklara det positiva men insignifikanta sambandet mellan CSR och EM, fördjupat insikterna om sambandet mellan CSR och EM. Denna ökade förståelse av sambandet mellan CSR och EM kan användas av intressenter såsom företagsledare, investerare och myndigheter som underlag för strategiska beslut. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Vi uppmanar till fortsatt forskning på området genom forskning på om, och i så fall hur, sambandet mellan CSR och EM skiljer sig mellan olika sektorer i EU. Vidare bör en mer omfattande studie med fler kontrollvariabler, observationer och sektorer genomföras i syfte att fördjupa kunskapen kring hur dynamiken mellan CSR och EM tar sig uttryck bland företag i EU.  Nyckelord: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Earnings Management (EM), Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), Accrual Earnings Management (AEM), Real Earnings Management (REM) och den modifierade Jones modellen.

Over the last two decades, share repurchases have emerged as the dominant payout channel, offering a more flexible means of returning excess cash to investors. However, little is known about the costs associated with payout-related financial flexibility. Using a unique identification strategy, we document a significant cost. We find that actual repurchase investments underperform hypothetical investments that mechanically smooth repurchase dollars through time by approximately two percentage points per year on average. This cost of financial flexibility is correlated with earnings management, managerial entrenchment, and less institutional monitoring. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The high level of political risk might enhance the information asymmetry between managers and stakeholders, therefore leading to increased opportunity for earnings management activities, which depress the usefulness of financial information. On the other hand, times of high political uncertainty possibly increase the demand for information among stakeholders, consequently leading to enhanced scrutiny and fewer earnings management activities. By examine 625 firms listed in the United States between 20022016, I make use of a firm-level measurement of political risk to identify the possible impact on earnings quality. I identify that political risk exposure measured on a firm-level is negatively associated with earnings management. Therefore I can conclude that firm-level political risk increases earnings quality. I further show how firm-level political risk better predicts earnings management activities than an aggregated measurement of political risk. Finally, I provide evidence that suggests that accrual-based earnings management is affected by the past level of political risk exposure. Real earnings management activities show no such indications.

A contabilidade brasileira passou por mudanças normativas que deixaram suas demonstrações de acordo com o padrão internacional. Pesquisas realizadas com empresas de capital aberto em vários países do mundo indicam que essa nova norma tende a melhorar a qualidade da informação e deixá-la mais comparável e transparente. Diante disso, o estudo tem como objetivo analisar o impacto da adoção do International Financial Reporting Standard sobre os níveis de gerenciamento de resultados das companhias brasileiras de capital aberto (com exceção das instituições financeiras). A hipótese desenvolvida é de que a nova norma reduz o gerenciamento de resultados nas empresas brasileiras. Os dados foram extraídos das demonstrações contábeis trimestrais dos bancos de dados do Economática e da Comissão de Valores Mobiliários referentes ao período de 2006 a 2011. Para alcançar o objetivo da pesquisa, foi examinada por meio de um modelo proposto a relação entre as variáveis accruals discrionários e a aderência do International Financial Reporting Standard. Na equação, além dessas, foram inseridas as variáveis de controle como o nível de endividamento, o fluxo de caixa operacional, o retorno sobre o ativo e o tamanho da empresa. Para o cálculo dos accruals discricionários foi empregado o Modelo de Jones Modificado. Com base no modelo proposto, foram utilizadas várias técnicas estatísticas e aplicou-se o teste de Kolmogorov-Smirnov para analisar se a amostra possui dados distribuídos normalmente. Em seguida, foi analisada a correlação de Spearman entre as variáveis do modelo proposto e analisada as médias dos accruals, por meio do teste U de Mann-Whitney. Por fim, foi elaborada a análise de regressão com dados dispostos em painel com correção de Newey- West. A correlação e o teste de médias corroboraram a hipótese desenvolvida, porém aregressão não confirmou a hipótese, com significância estatística, de que o novo padrão contábil reduziu o nível de gerenciamento de resultados nas divulgações das demonstrações elaboradas com a adoção das normas IFRS pelas empresas brasileiras de capital aberto. / The Brazilian accounting has undergone regulatory changes that have left their statements according to international standard. Research conducted with publicly traded companies in various countries around the world indicate that this new standard tends to improve the quality of information and make it more comparable and transparent. Thus, the study aims to analyze the impact of adopting International Financial Reporting Standard on the levels of earnings management of Brazilian companies traded (excluding financial institutions). The hypothesis is that the new standard reduces the earnings management in Brazilian companies. Data were extracted from the quarterly financial statements of databases Economática and Comissão de Valores Mobiliários for the period 2006 to 2011. To achieve the objectives of the study was examined by means of a model the relationship between the variables discretionary accruals and International Financial Reporting Standard. In the equation, beyond these, the control variables were entered as the level of debt, the operating cash flow, return on assets and firm size. For the calculation of discretionary accruals, we employed the Modified Jones Model. Based on the proposed model, several statistical techniques were used and applied the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test to examine whether the sample has normally distributed data. Next, we analyzed the Spearman correlation between the variables of the model and analyzed the average, by means of the U of Mann-Whitney. Finally, we elaborate regression analysis with data arranged in a panel with Newey-West correction. The correlation and mean test corroborated the hypothesis developed, but the regression did not confirm the hypothesis with statistical significance that the new accounting standard reduced the level of earnings management disclosures in the financial statements prepared with the adoption of IFRS for publicly traded Brazilian companies.

Syfte: Syftet med studien är att öka förståelsen för revisorns arbete med att upptäcka och stävjaeventuell resultatmanipulation. Metod: Vår studie antar en hermeneutisk forskningstradition som är ett tolkande perspektiv.Eftersom studien söker öka förståelsen för ett fenomen har vi använt oss av en kvalitativforskningsansats. Det empiriska materialet har samlats in genom tio semistrukturerade intervjuersom utförts på verksamma revisorer. Dessa intervjuer har sedan tematiskt analyserats ochpresenteras under kapitlet resultat och analys. Resultat & slutsats: Studien identifierar att revisorerna generellt anser att resultatmanipulationupptäcks och stävjas genom en väl utförd revision. För att skapa goda förutsättningar att finnaresultatmanipulation anser revisorerna att en genomtänkt planeringsfas är viktig, i vilken eventuellaincitament och rutiner utvärderas. Trots att revisorerna bedömer att deras revisionsprocess ärtillräcklig för att upptäcka resultatmanipulation är det väldigt ovanligt att det upptäcks. Branschenär dock under ständig effektivisering och digitala verktyg har kommit att spela en betydande roll irevisorernas granskning. Examensarbetets bidrag: Revisorerna anser att deras revisionsprocess omfattar kontroll aveventuell resultatmanipulation, men att det inte är deras huvudsakliga uppgift. Vår uppfattning är attdet finns en risk att revisorerna inte har ett tillräckligt stort intresse av att stävjaresultatmanipulation, alternativt att de inte besitter tillräckligt stor förståelse för vad som ingår ibegreppet. Detta skulle kunna bero på att revisorerna har en arbetsgång som baseras på väsentlighet,snarare än detaljgranskning. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Vår studie har grundat sig på revisorers kunskaper och för att ökaförståelsen om resultatmanipulation anser vi att det skulle vara av intresse att intervjuaredovisningskonsulter samt företagare som ansvarar för redovisningsval.

Evidence that firms adjust accruals to just meet or beat analyst forecasts is pervasive. However, the implications for earnings quality are not clear. Managers can use this practice either to mislead investors, resulting in lower quality earnings, or to signal future earnings growth and thereby improve the decision usefulness of earnings. Assuming that boards are concerned about providing higher quality financial information and that they can discern the proper earnings signal, they should discourage managers from adjusting earnings to beat the analyst forecast target if such adjustment diminishes earnings quality. Consistent with this prediction, I find a significantly negative relation between the probability that a firm beats the target by adjusting accruals and the presence of at least one independent audit committee financial expert for firms with poor future performance. I also find that the negative impact of an independent financial expert on the odds of beating the target by adjusting accruals is significantly stronger for firms with poor future performance than for firms with strong future performance. These findings are consistent with financial expertise on the audit committees improving corporate governance by protecting shareholders from accruals management that reduces the decision usefulness of earnings.

abstract: 当前，上市公司的盈余管理问题已是我国资本市场中普遍存在的突出问题。一般来说，一些企业为了满足资本市场对于上市、增发等条件的要求,以及为有效推动企业的并购、重组等行为的顺利实现,甚至为了谋求公司管理层的个别利益,往往运用盈余管理等举措实施公司财报及关键指标的粉饰修正，让不知情的股民蒙受一定的损失。普遍分析显示，我国股市中民营企业比其他企业遭遇的问题和压力更多、更大、更突出,因此民营企业从客观上来说拥有更强的盈余管理动机。而从当前我国资本市场的实际情况来看，我国相关专家学者对盈余管理的系统性深入研究，一般都瞄准了上市企业群体或持续亏损企业，对盈余管理的研究不系统、不全面、不深入，这将对我国进一步提升盈余管理监管水平构成一定不利影响。当前，由于我国民企在自身管理及发展动力方面的特殊性,我国民企的管理、盈余管理特点和国外上市公司还存在着很大的不同,进一步深入研究我国民企上市公司自身管理方面的突出特点，以及其对企业盈余管理等方面的深层次影响,有助于监管层对症下药，更有针对性地研究出台全新的监管措施,进一步提升管理水平。这还可以为公司发展的决策层及相关会计信息使用人员提供一定的决策参考, 因此其拥有十分重要的意义。 本文首先认真总结分析了有关上市企业治理结构和盈余管理等方面的历史文献资料，依托当前资本市场上普遍运用的委托代理、内部人控制和契约等理论，系统研究了我国民企上市公司在自身治理结构方面的突出特征以及其对盈余管理方面所构成影响的深层次原理。在此基础上，本文通过2015-2017年我国上市企业数据，基于截面Jones模型对民营企业和非民营企业盈余管理程度进行测算和比较分析，发现民营企业盈余管理程度更高；从四个层面系统研究民企公司自身的治理结构突出特点,设立回归模型论证了民营企业独特的公司治理结构特征对盈余管理程度确实会产生影响；最后,本文进一步利用修正的费尔萨姆一奥尔森估价模型对民营上市公司盈余管理有公司价值的关系进行了验证，发现两者具有显著相关性。 / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Business Administration 2019