In the modern enterprises, the capital structures are made up by the specific or the non-specific populace sources. In the separation of management rights and ownership, their common interests may not be the same, so the agency problems are arising. In recent years, the public has serious doubts about unreasonable compensation of directors with higher ranks. The study samples are companies listed in Taiwan Stock Exchange from 2005 to 2007, but excluding banks and insurance companies. This study investigates the relationship between corporate governance and earnings management. The corporate governance variables include director stock ownership, the pledged share ratio of directors, chairman of the board as general manager, percent of independent directors on the board, the average compensation of directors, foreign investors¡¦ ownership, and institutional ownership in the firm. The empirical results show that chairman of the board as general manager who has significant influence on earnings management in the whole industry, electronic industry, and non-electronic industry; the average compensation of directors with higher ranks have significant influence on earnings management in the whole industry and non-electronic industry. In different industries, some empirical results support the hypotheses while other hypotheses do not hold. Thus, this research study has believed that the interconnection between the corporate governance variables and earning management will be affected by characteristics of certain industries. In addition, this research study has also found that there are no direct relationships between corporate governance and earnings management. Hence, the corporate governance in Taiwan is still considered not long enough and can not become an independent factor to affect earnings management inhibition of behavior. Therefore, certain parts of hypotheses will not establish.

Thesis ( Ph.D. ) -- University of Texas at Arlington, 2008.

Med inspiration från tidigare forskning vill vi utreda om det är som IASB anger, att resultatet är ett bättre mått på att estimera ett framtida aktiepris än dagens kassaflöde. En anledning till att resultatet anses vara ett bättre mått är att det även innehåller periodiseringar vilka är tänkta att minska timing- och matchningsproblem. Det andra alternativet är att kassaflödet är ett mått med högre värderelevans eftersom periodiseringarna ger möjlighet till earnings management och därför kan ge en skev bild av företagets prestation. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur mycket värderelevans periodiseringarna innehåller. Studien testar ett flertal olika mått av kassaflöden mot aktiepriset nästkommande år och kommer fram till att kassaflödet från den löpande verksamheten har den högsta värderelevansen följt av årets resultat, kassaflöde vid årets slut och det fria kassaflödet när vi undersöker den svenska marknaden mellan 2001-2010.

During the past five years, fourteen financial holding companies have been founded by stock for stock mergers corresponding to the policies and deregulations in Taiwan. Among these M&As transactions, the exchange ratio for each combination, which is determined by the reported earnings in both acquiring and acquired firms, affects the success of the merger most. Therefore, our research focuses on whether financial institutions manage their reported earnings in order to get more favorable price for maximizing their shareholders’ wealth. From empirical results in Taiwan’s banking industry, we find (1) that the degree of earnings management is much higher in the period prior to M&As announcements given financial institutions in Taiwan are used to manipulating earnings at usual times, (2) that those financial institutions with higher degree of earnings management indeed get more favorable exchange ratios within M&As transactions relative to those with lower degree of earnings management for both acquiring and acquired companies. We also make an investigation for investors’ reactions toward behaviors of earnings management. By focusing on the sample of Taiwan’s financial holding companies, empirical results show that market investors will not punish those financial institutions obtaining better exchange ratios by manipulating reported earnings in the market since they can’t see through managers’ tricks on reported earnings.

This thesis examines the relationship between tax-loss selling (TLS), where investors with taxable gains sell stocks that have declined in value just before the fiscal year-end to generate offsetting tax losses, and managers?? incentives to influence stock prices, either through increased disclosure or by engaging in upwards earnings management. Firms whose stock prices represent greater potential tax losses in investors?? portfolios at year-end are predicted to increase their disclosure level in June to prevent further share price falls due to TLS, and have higher levels of accruals. Using the number of discretionary, market-sensitive news releases in the Signal G announcement database to measure disclosure frequency, this thesis finds that, for a sample of 14,713 firm-year observations drawn from all ASX firms for the years 1994 to 2007, stocks with larger negative returns have higher disclosure in June, after controlling for size, performance, risk and external financing dependence. This is particularly true of small mining and exploration companies that are more reliant on voluntary disclosure as a vehicle for lowering information asymmetry. This increased disclosure does not appear to contribute to the higher July returns earned by stocks that experienced significant TLS in June. Disclosure frequency is negatively associated with the magnitude of operating and total accruals, suggesting that earnings management is less likely for firms with higher disclosure. There is also evidence that smaller firms with poor stock price performance have higher levels of operating accruals and thus may be more likely to engage in earnings management.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, Dec., 2009. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2009. / Title from title screen (site viewed September 08, 2009). PDF text: 109 p. : col. ill. ; 886 K. UMI publication number: AAT 3352412. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.

Prior research shows returns are positive when firms meet or beat analysts’ consensus forecasts but negative when firms miss. Past studies also show managers frequently cut R&D expenses in order to meet the consensus forecast. Despite these findings, there is limited evidence about how the market responds when firms beat the forecast by cutting R&D. This study shows the stock market penalizes firms that use R&D cuts to manage earnings and exacts a discount to the market reward if beating the forecast requires cutting R&D. The discount is only partial and firms are still better off doing so in the short run. Furthermore, this study shows the R&D cuts used to manage earnings are concentrated in specific industries and are likely temporary, as firms tend to increase R&D spending in the subsequent period. Investors appear to recognize these short-term cuts and treat them similar to accruals. / 10000-01-01

No description available.

A key incentive for accounting research is to provide evidence on the usefulness of earnings in making economic decisions. Of particular interest over the last two decades is the issue of the quality of financial reporting, specifically the quality of earnings, given the number of global financial scandals reported during that period. The quality of earnings is driven by the choices, estimates and judgments that the accounting standards make available to managers in order to portray the firm’s economic position and performance in a timely and credible manner. However, this leeway in financial reporting also creates opportunities for earnings management. The objective of this thesis is firstly to establish whether earnings manipulation has had the ability to predict cross-sectional returns in South Africa during the 2007-2014 period. In other words, the purpose of this thesis is to find evidence whether the market reacts to earnings management practices, as measured by accruals, and rewards high earnings quality companies with higher equity returns (a process known as the accrual anomaly). The timeframe selected for the research encompasses the global financial crisis, a period in which accounting manipulation incentives are likely to be strong. Secondly, this study attempts to establish the presence of the accrual anomaly amongst growth and value firms. The motivations for earnings management of the former are expected to be strong. Securities are allocated to portfolios according to accruals and the subsequent equity returns are analysed cross-sectionally to establish the existence of the accrual anomaly and hence assessing the usefulness of earnings manipulation in predicting equity returns. To provide evidence for the presence of the accrual anomaly amongst growth and value shares, securities are independently allocated to portfolios according to their book-to-market ratio and accruals and a cross-sectional analysis is performed on their subsequent equity returns. In order to increase the robustness of the tests, two measures of accruals are used: a balance sheet approach and a cash flow measure. Evidence is provided for the presence of the accrual anomaly among South African listed companies for the balance sheet measure of accruals but not the cash flow approach. Whilst the accrual anomaly is significantly present in a growth-neutral-value construct, statistical significance is not established when growth and value shares are considered individually.