Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:32:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rodrigo Romanato Leite.pdf: 735005 bytes, checksum: d78d736bf048f998493edfb524967d64 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-08-13 / Fundo Mackenzie de Pesquisa / The earnings management practices started to be researched more intensely, concerning international terms, after the corporate scandals occurred in the beginning of 2000 years In Brazil, this research topic has mainly focused the quantitative approaches (discretionary accruals evaluation and operational models discussion). The research that resulted the present work has highlighted, according to the statistical tests, that the companies audited by the Big Four have less degree of accruals discretionary regarding to the other companies audited by companies Non Big Four, then, showing that the largest audit companies have a larger capacity to mitigate earnings management. In the presented context, this work aimed to investigate which are the main factors that specify the higher power of the big audit companies (Big Four) in mitigating the earnings management practices. Also, it has being identified the tools used by the independent audit companies for the work performance process, which, among other aspects, could make easier the earnings management practices identification process. The research herein presented was performed using the qualitative method (exploratory by nature), and using as procedure the data collecting, heartfelt interview with eight audit professionals. The data collected were analyzed through content analysis, using the software NVIVO. In this research it was identified the main job differential factors of these companies: company insertion environment and abroad relationship, audit company structure, audit company exposure, audit tools, compliance with the independence rules, work methodology and audit procedures, auditors training and qualification. Also, it was noticed that the audit companies are able or not to use customized tools to perform the jobs, sampling extraction processes and results projection, being its utilization related to the audit company size. / As práticas de gerenciamento de resultado passaram a ser estudadas com mais intensidade, no âmbito internacional, após os escândalos corporativos ocorridos no início da década de 2000. No Brasil, as pesquisas sobre esse tema têm focado, principalmente, as abordagens quantitativas (avaliação de accruals discricionários e discussão dos modelos operacionais). A pesquisa que originou o presente estudo evidenciou, segundo os testes estatísticos que empresas auditadas pelas Big Four possuem menor grau de accruals discricionários em relação às demais empresas auditadas por empresas Non Big Four, indicando, assim, que as empresas de auditoria de maior porte possuem uma maior capacidade para mitigar práticas de earnings management. No contexto apresentado, este trabalho objetivou investigar quais são os principais fatores que determinam o maior poder das grandes empresas de auditoria (Big Four) na mitigação das práticas de gerenciamento de resultado. Complementarmente, identificaram-se as ferramentas utilizadas pelas empresas de auditoria independentes para o processo de execução dos trabalhos, as quais, entre outros aspectos, pudessem facilitar o processo de identificação de práticas de gerenciamento de resultado. A pesquisa realizada foi de natureza exploratória, com o uso do método qualitativo, utilizando como procedimento para a coleta de dados, entrevistas em profundidade com oito profissionais de auditoria. Os dados coletados foram tratados por meio da análise de conteúdo com a utilização do software NVIVO. Como principais resultados identificaram-se os principais fatores de diferenciação do trabalho das empresas objeto deste estudo: ambiente de inserção da empresa e relacionamento com o exterior; estrutura da empresa de auditoria; exposição da empresa de auditoria; ferramentas de auditoria; atendimento às normas de independência; metodologia de trabalho e procedimentos de auditoria; treinamento e qualificação dos auditores. Ainda, verificou-se que as empresas de auditoria podem ou não utilizar ferramentas customizadas para a execução dos trabalhos, e processos de extração de amostras e projeção de resultados, sendo que a utilização das mesmas pode estar relacionada ao tamanho da empresa de auditoria.

Denna studie behandlar förekomsten av resultatstyrning i svenska kommuner. Tidigare forskning visar på att styrning främst tar form av periodiseringar samt att de främsta förklarande faktorerna för förekomsten är ekonomi, politik och tjänstemän. Existerande teori menar på att övergången från kassabaserad redovisning till bokföringsmässiga grunder underlättade resultatstyrning och att det förekommer både i kommuner och företag i Sverige.Undersökningen syftar till att förklara förekomsten av resultatstyrning i kommuner med hjälp av posten “bidrag till statlig infrastruktur”. I analysen ifrågasätts användandet av resultatstyrning, vilka incitament som finns samt hur dess incitament påverkar beslutprocessen.Studien är en dokumentstudie och har genomförts som en kvantitativ analys. Det empiriska materialet har främst samlats in från kommuners årsredovisningar. Flera statistiska analyser genomförs och leder fram till studiens resultat. Resultaten visar på att resultatstyrning förekommer i kommuner och att det främst är kortsiktiga incitament som styr besluten. Tiden som kommuner väljer att periodisera bidragen på beror främst på hur stora beloppen på bidragen som lämnas är samt om kommunen har mottagit stora engångsbelopp i form av till exempel AFA-försäkringar, AFA-premier eller konjunkturstöd från staten de åren eller inte. / This thesis is an analysis of the occurrence of earnings management in Swedish municipalities. Previous theory claims that the change from cash accounting to accrual accounting has made it easier to involve in earnings management actions and that these actions are broadly used in both municipalities and corporate companies. Similar studies proves economy, politics and civil servants to be explanatory for why earnings management takes place in municipalities.We seek to explain this occurrence by using the accounting record contribution to national infrastructure. The aim is to answer what the main incentives are for manipulating the results in municipalities and how these incentives affect the decision making progress.This is mainly a documentary study that focuses on the public financial reports of municipalities. A statistical analysis is performed and conclusions are drawn. We find evidence that earnings management exist in municipalities and that the biggest explaining factor of how the contribution is accounted for depend on the size of the contribution to infrastructure and if the municipality has received any big amounts from the government in form of AFA-insurances, AFA-premier or cyclical support that year or not. This indicates a short-term thinking with high focus on net income. This study is hereafter written in Swedish.

本研究以台灣468筆私募增資案，探討應計基礎和實質盈餘管理的決定因素，及盈餘管理對宣告效果的影響。我們發現當投資人類別分為內部人及外部人時，於私募增資前一年，兩者的盈餘管理程度有顯著地不同。並發現相較於應計基礎盈餘管理，實質盈餘管理與宣告效果呈顯著負相關。研究結果顯示與內部人的私募案相比，外部人的私募案，其盈餘管理程度較低，宣告時市場給予較高的異常報酬，且盈餘管理會顯著地負向影響宣告時的報酬。 / We employ 468 private placements in Taiwan to examine the determinants of accrual-based earnings management and real earnings management (REM), as well as the impact of earnings management on announcement returns. The results indicate that the type of investors affects earnings management prior to private placements. Compared with discretionary current accruals (DCA), REM is significantly and negatively related with announcement returns. Outsider placements are associated with lower earnings overstatement and higher announcement returns. Outsider placements also exhibit a significantly negative relation between earnings management and announcement returns.

Earnings Management är ett begrepp som syftar till diskretionär redovisning som innebär manipulering av ett företags resultat. Resultatmanipulering kan ske både uppåt och nedåt. När manipulering sker uppåt syftar det till att höja det redovisade resultatet medan manipulering nedåt syftar till att sänka resultatet vilket benämns Big Bath Accounting. Det finns flera forskare som har studerat detta område över tid och som har kommit fram till motstridiga resultat. Vissa forskare menar att Earnings Management och Big Bath Accounting förekommer i stor utsträckning då företag erbjuder bonusprogram som baseras på företagets resultat samt om VD-byte har skett. Andra forskare är av en annan uppfattning. De finner inga statistiska bevis för att Earnings Management och Big Bath Accounting förekommer vid bonusprogram och VD-byten. Vissa av dessa forskare menar även att Earnings Management har avtagit avsevärt eller till och med försvunnit under de senaste åren. Tidigare forskning visar även motstridiga bevis kring användningen av Earnings Management under finanskriser samt bonusprogram. Studiens syfte var således att undersöka faktorer som ligger till grund för Earnings Management och Big Bath Accounting samt incitament som kan påverka ledningen till resultatmanipulering. Resultat från tidigare forskning ligger till grund för studiens teoretiska referensram som mynnade ut i tre hypoteser. Dessa hypoteser testades via multipel regressionsanalys samt en tidsserieanalys. Studiens urval omfattade företag på den svenska marknaden på OMX Stockholmsbörsen Large Cap under åren 2007-2015. Det ursprungliga urvalet omfattades av 747 observationer men då ett visst bortfall ägde rum kvarstod 547 observationer för hypotesprövning ett och två samt 567 observationer för hypotesprövning 3. Resultatet visade på ett statistiskt samband mellan resultatmanipulering och bonusprogram, dock fann vi inget säkerställt samband mellan resultatsänkande periodiseringar och VD-byten. Däremot fann vi stöd för vår tredje alternativhypotes att finanskrisen påverkade Earnings Management under åren 2008-2009. Vår slutsats blev således att de faktorer som ligger till grund för Earnings Management och Big Bath Accounting samt incitament som kan påverka ledningen till resultatmanipulering är bonusprogram och finanskrisen. / Earnings Management is a term aimed at discretionary accounting which involves manipulation of a company's results. Earnings Management can be done either upwards or downwards. When manipulation occurs downwards with the aim of lowering the result, it´s called Big Bath Accounting. There are several researchers who have studied this area over time and have come up with conflicting results. Some researchers believe that Earnings Management and Big Bath Accounting occur to a large extent when companies offer bonus programs based on company performance and whether CEO turnovers has occurred. Other researchers have a different opinion. They do not find any statistical evidence that Earnings Management and Big Bath Accounting occurs when the CEO has changed and companies have bonus programs. Some of these researchers also believe that Earnings Management has diminished significantly or even disappeared in recent years. Previous research also shows conflicting evidence about the use of Earnings Management during financial crises and bonus programs. The purpose of the study was thus to investigate factors that underlie Earnings Management and Big Bath Accounting as well as incentives that may affect the management of a company to apply the theory. Results from previous research form the basis of the theoretical framework of the study, which emerged in three hypotheses. These hypotheses were tested by multiple regression analysis as well as a time series analysis. The study's selection was limited to companies in the Swedish market on the OMX Stockholm Stock Exchange's Large Cap in 20072015. The original sample was comprised of 747 observations, but when a certain loss occurred, 547 observations remained while testing hypothesis one and two and 567 observations remained while testing hypothesis three. The result showed a statistical correlation between performance manipulation and bonus programs, but we found no statistical correlation between profit-decreasing accruals and CEO turnover. On the other hand, we found support for our third alternative hypothesis that the financial crisis affected Earnings Management during 2008-2009. Our conclusion thus became that the factors underlying Earnings Management and Big Bath Accounting as well as incentives that could affect the management of a company to apply the theory are bonus programs and the financial crisis.

Bakgrund och problem: Det är viktigt att företag tillämpar korrekt intäktsredovisning genom efterföljande avgrundläggande regler och principer enligtgod redovisningssed. Vårdsektorn är utpekad gällande indikationer på bristfällig intäktsredovisning och beskattning där bland annat Skatteverket har granskat företag inom vårdbranschen. Syfte: Studiens syfte är att undersöka om det finns indikationer på felaktig intäktsredovisning inom vårdsektorn. Avgränsningar: Studien avgränsas till att studera samtliga 42 börsbolag inom vårdsektorn på Nasdaq OMX STO, även kallad Stockholmsbörsen, under åren 2008 till 2015. Teori och tidigare forskning: Denna studie har utgångspunkt i Bengtssons forskning. Vidare behandlas intäktsredovisningsom kopplas till periodiserad redovisning. Därefter beaktas forskning och utveckling samt dess utgifter. Ytterligare teorier som behandlas är kassaflödesanalys som kopplas till kassagenerering. Avsnittet beaktar även vinstmanipulering med fokus på Big Bath. Metod: Studien är kvantitativ där beräkningar genomförs utifrån ett flertal årsredovisningar under en åttaårsperiod, longitudinell design. Utformningen i studien är deduktiv där utgångspunkten ärteorier och tidigare forskning. Studiens bortfall innefattar elva företag. Empiri och analys: Empiripresenteras gemensamt med analys där det även ges kort presentation av studiens respektive företag. Analysensfrämsta fokus är på 2015 års kvot. Slutsats: Av studiens 31 undersökta företag inom vårdsektorn på Stockholmsbörsen uppfyller 18 företag Bengtssons teori gällande att kvoten bör förbättras och närma sig kvotvärdet 1 under en längre tidsperiod.De resterande 13 företagen uppfyller däremot inte Bengtssons teori, vilket indikerar på felaktig och subjektiv intäktsredovisning och därmed är fortsatt granskningaktuellav dessa företag. Förslag till vidare forskning: Förslag till vidare forskning är att studera företag under dess hela livstid för att undersöka hur kvoten förhåller sig till 1 samt bakomliggande orsaker, alternativt studera en annan sektor där det finns indikationer på felaktig intäktsredovisning. / Background and problems: It is important that companies apply correct revenue recognition by following the basic rules and principles by Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. The healthcare sector is alleged by regarding indications of inadequate revenue recognition and taxationamong which the Swedish Tax Agency has examined companies in the healthcare industry. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate whether there are indications of incorrect revenue recognition in the healthcare sector. Demarcation: The study is limited to studying all 42 listed companies in the healthcare sector of Nasdaq OMX STO between 2008 and 2015. Theory and previous research: This study is based on Bengtsson's research. Furthermore, revenue recognition is associated with accrued accounting. Subsequentlyresearch and development are taken into consideration as well as their expenses. Further theories that is treated are cash flow analysis that is linked to cash generation. This section also considering earnings management focusing on Big Bath. Method: It is aquantitativestudyand calculations are carried out on the basis of several annual reports for an eight-year period, longitudinal design. The study is designed in a deductive way where the outset is theories and previous research. The disappearance of the study includes eleven companies. Empirical and analysis: Empirical is presented in common with analysis, where there also is a short presentation of each company. The analysis main focus is on the 2015 yearsquota. Conclusion: Of the study's 31 surveyed companies in the healthcare sector on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, 18 companies follows Bengtsson's theory that the quota should be improved and approachthe quota value1 over a longer period. The remaining13 companies does not follow Bengtsson's theory, which indicatesincorrect and subjective revenue recognition and accordingly needs a further inspection. Proposals for further research: Proposals for further research are to study companies throughout their lifetime to investigate how the quota relates to 1 as well as underlying causes, alternatively study another sector where there are indications of incorrect revenue recognition.

In this thesis, I exploit accounting issues in the Chinese context with a particular focus on the role of government. The thesis consists of three empirical essays, examining how the state coordinates among the state-owned enterprises in executive compensation (essay 1), how the government regulates the dividend payouts of listed firms (essay 2) and how the delisting regulation influences the accounting choices of listed firms (essay 3).The first essay examines relative performance evaluation (RPE) in China. Previous studies of RPE for executive compensations in Western developed markets have produced mixed findings. This is partly because the dispersion of share ownership in Western capital markets does not closely correspond with the single-principal/multi-agent theoretical setting assumed by Holmstrom (1982). In this study, I exploit the existence of a large number of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in China to examine RPE in a setting closer to the theoretical assumption. I find that SOEs are more likely to use RPE for executive compensation than non-SOEs. This is consistent with better cross-firm coordination in executive contracting among SOEs under a common “state” principal than among non-SOEs with dispersed principals similar to Western firms. Furthermore, I find a more pronounced RPE effect among SOEs that are larger or have poorer past performance. This implies that the state principal has greater incentives to monitor strategically important firms or those in distress. The second essay examines the market reaction to and earnings management choices around changes in the regulations requiring a higher minimum dividend payout in China to shed new light on the determinants of dividend payout policy. I find that the market reaction is more positive for firms that paid less than the new required minimum payout than for those that paid more than the new required minimum, consistent with agency cost explanations of dividend payout. In addition, I find that low dividend payers exhibit a greater tendency to manage their earnings downwards to comply with the earnings-based threshold, and investors can “see through” such earnings management behaviors. My findings support the view of DeAngelo, DeAngelo and Skinner (2009) that agency costs of free cash flow retention are an important part of the dividend payout story. The third essay explores the earnings-based delisting rule in China that provides particularly strong motivation to manage earnings above the loss/profit threshold. I identify two groups of firms that successfully avoid being ST-ed, i.e. firms with a one-year loss before returning to profit, and firms with consecutive small profits. I provide a comprehensive examination of earnings management in terms of accruals management, real earnings management and non-operating income, to investigate whether Chinese firms manage earnings either to avoid reporting a loss or to avoid reporting two consecutive losses. Though there are mixed results sensitive to the research design for earnings management pattern in the two groups of firms, this study provides insights into earnings management induced by a government regulation.

The thesis deals with the manipulation of earnings reporting aka earnings management. The initial focus of the thesis is on the earnings management motivations and two ways how to achieve that. Firstly, earnings can be influenced by the management decisions to carry out some transactions without any economic sense. Secondly, there are creative accounting processes to manipulate earnings in required way, what we mainly pay attention to in the thesis. The theoretical part referring to particular earnings management techniques and the quality of earnings is followed by the practical part analyzing earnings management of the most famous companies regarding accounting scandals in history using specific measures. There are model examples to demonstrate these specific quality earnings measures based on the relation between income, accruals and operating cash flow stated before analyze itself.

Les scandales comptables et financiers des années 2000 et l'actualité récente ont montré toute l'importance d'une information fiable délivrée aux actionnaires et les effets très dommageables que peut provoquer le manque de transparence. Dans ce contexte, l’objectif de cette thèse est d’étudier le lien entre la divulgation financière volontaire et la gestion du résultat et de contribuer à l’étude des déterminants de ces deux dimensions de la politique comptable. En ce sens, l’impact de la structure de propriété a été examiné et notamment son effet modérateur dans la relation entre ces dernières. Introduite comme mesure indirecte de la divulgation financière volontaire pour étudier les déterminants de la gestion du résultat, la couverture des analystes financiers est également analysée en tant que variable médiatrice de la relation entre la divulgation financière volontaire et la gestion du résultat. En examinant la littérature relative aux déterminants de la politique comptable, et à la lumière de la théorie positive de la comptabilité et de la théorie de l’information, cette thèse propose un cadre d’analyse différent des travaux de recherche menés dans le contexte français. Il est appuyé par une modélisation en Équations Structurelles (Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)) et plus précisément par la méthode d’estimation des modèles structurels basée sur la variance (Partial Least Squares (PLS)), très peu utilisée en recherche comptable. / The financial scandals of the last decade and recent headlines have clearly shown the full importance of reliable reporting to shareholders and the very damaging effects that a lack of transparency can have. The objective of this thesis is to study the link between voluntary financial disclosure and earnings management, and contribute to the study of the determinants of these two dimensions of accounting policy. The impact of ownership structure is examined, including its moderating effect on the relationship between voluntary disclosures and earnings management. Analyst coverage is introduced as an indirect measure of voluntary financial disclosures to investigate the determinants of earnings management, and also examined as a mediating variable in the voluntary disclosures-earnings management relationship. By reviewing the literature on the determinants of accounting policy in the light of positive accounting theory and information theory, this thesis proposes a different analytical framework for research in the French context. This framework is underpinned by Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and more precisely the variance-based method for estimation of structural models (Partial Least Squares (PLS), which is very rarely used in accounting research.

Since 2005, publicly traded European companies are required to prepare their consolidated financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). This is the result of the so-called “IAS-Regulation” of the European Parliament and of the European Council (Regulation (EC) No. 1606/2002) which formulates two objectives directly related to financial reporting: (higher) comparability and transparency of financial statements. With regard to transparency, researchers often rely on proxies to measure the quality of financial statements. In this dissertation, I follow this approach and examine the quality of IFRS financial statements relying on different proxies, such as value relevance, the degree of earnings management, and disclosure quality. The four papers in this dissertation cover research questions related to the determinants and consequences of managerial discretion in the three most important components of financial statements: the balance sheet, the income statement, and the notes. In summary, this dissertation answers important questions concerning the quality of accounting under IFRS which have remained unanswered – and in some cases even unasked – until now. Therefore, this dissertation has a material impact on the understanding of accounting quality under IFRS.:1 Accounting Quality under IFRS – Essays on Value Relevance, Earnings Management and Disclosure Quality: An Overview … 1 1.1 Introduction … 2 1.2 Overview of the Manuscripts … 4 1.3 Principal Research Contributions … 13 References … 16 2 Discretion in the Accounting for Defined Benefit Obligations - An Empirical Analysis of German IFRS Statements … 19 2.1 Introduction … 21 2.2 Literature Review … 25 2.3 Research Approach … 29 2.4 Results … 38 2.5 Conclusion … 45 References … 54 3 The Association between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Earnings Quality - Evidence from European Blue Chips … 59 3.1 Introduction … 61 3.2 Literature Review and Hypothesis Development … 63 3.3 Research Design … 70 3.4 Results … 79 3.5 Conclusion … 88 References … 101 4 Reexamining OCI Pricing - Empirical Analysis of Reporting Location Changes due to IAS 1 (rev. 2007) … 105 4.1 Introduction and Background … 107 4.2 Literature Review … 111 4.3 Research Approach and Hypotheses Development ...114 4.4 Results … 121 4.5 Conclusion … 130 References … 150 5 Short-term and Long-term Effects of IFRS Adoption on Disclosure Quality and Earnings Management … 155 5.1 Introduction … 157 5.2 Institutional Background: The Development of the German Accounting Environment … 161 5.3 Related Literature and Hypotheses Development … 164 5.4 Research Design … 175 5.5 Results … 186 5.6 Conclusion … 195 References … 209

Den här studien avser främst att bestämma huruvida nordiska förvärvare som finansierar uppköp via apportemissioner brukar sig av resultatmanipulation i kvartalen kring förvärvet. Syftet sträcker sig dessutom till att avgöra om den effekten är större för serieförvärvare än för enstaka förvärvare. För att studera resultatmanipulationen används en uppskattning av diskretionära periodiseringar som härleds från den modifierade Jonesmodellen samt ett antal kontrollvariabler. Datainsamlingen har utförts via databasen Refinitiv Eikon. Resultatet bekräftar med statistisk signifikans hypotesen att förvärvare som använder emitterade aktier som transaktionsmedel manipulerar resultatet genom diskretionära periodiseringar innan förvärvet för att sedan återvända till en naturlig nivå. Slutsatsen bör dock tolkas försiktigt då regressionsanalysen kännetecknas av volatila förklaringsgrader. En deskriptivt lägre nivå av diskretionära periodiseringar kan även utläsas från serieförvärvare relativt enstaka förvärvare men utan statistisk signifikans. / The purpose of this study is primarily to determine whether Nordic acquirers that finance their acquisitions through stocks manage their earnings by using discretionary accruals around the time of the event to increase the stock price. Furthermore, the paper investigates if this effect would be larger for serial acquirers. The database Refinitiv Eikon has been used to collect data and the modified Jones model has been applied to estimate levels of discretionary accruals. The results confirm with statistical significance that acquirers that issue stock for payment manage earnings prior to the acquisition relative to cash-paying acquirers and then gradually decrease to a non-discretionary level. Although this conclusion should be interpreted conservatively due to volatile explanatory power. As for serial acquirers, a lower level of discretionary accruals can be observed but with no statistical significance.