In this thesis, I examine earnings management issues in the UK context. The thesis consists of three essays. The first chapter investigates whether managers base their trade-off decisions among real earnings management, accruals-based earnings management, and classification shifting, on the costs, constraints and timing of each strategy in the UK. The empirical evidence suggests that some, but not all, costs and constraints play a role in managers’ trade-off decisions. Further, contrasting between firms that are most likely to have manipulated earnings and firms that are not likely to have manipulated earnings, I find no difference in the relation of constraints towards all earnings management forms. This indicates that cost and constraints do not capture entirely what they are designed to, in the first place. Finally, I document evidence that is consistent with managers using real and accruals-based earnings management as substitutes but fail to find evidence that classification shifting acts as a substitute. The second essay studies the effect of income smoothing via accruals-based and real earnings management on the relationship between current stock returns, current earnings and future earnings. I measure income smoothing as the contemporaneous correlation between changes in earnings management proxies and pre-managed income. Using a sample of non-financial publicly listed firms in the UK, I show that both accruals-based and real income smoothing measures are associated with significantly positive share price anticipation of earnings. These results are robust to different stock returns specifications, income smoothing measure calculations, abnormal accruals models and accumulation periods of stock returns. In the third and final essay, I investigate the impact of the level of accruals-based and real earnings management on measures of the amount of performance commentary in annual reports for a large sample of UK public firms. I use automated textual analysis to construct disclosure scores based on the amount of performance and causal commentary. The results suggest that firms with higher levels of earnings management have lower levels of disclosure of performance and causal commentary. The presence of bad news for the firm (missed analyst forecast, underperformance or earnings decline) affects the relationship between disclosure and accruals-based earnings management but not the relationship between disclosure and real earnings management.

Cette thèse a pour objet d'examiner cinq aspects de la relation entre le commerce Sud-Sud et la « nouvelle » géographie du commerce international en portant une attention toute particulière aux liens qui existent entre les BRICs (Brésil, Russie, Inde, Chine) et l'Afrique sub-Saharienne (ASS) puis entre la Chine et l'ASS. La première partie s'attache à démontrer certaines caractéristiques relatives à la mutation des relations commerciales Sud-Sud. Dans le premier chapitre, l'hétérogénéité au sein même des BRICs est confirmée à partir d'un certain nombre de facteurs explicatifs des flux commerciaux bilatéraux avec l'ASS. Dans le second chapitre, les flux commerciaux Sud-Sud semble jouer un rôle déterminant dans la diversification géographique du commerce intra-Africain en termes de nouveaux partenaires commerciaux. Dans le troisième chapitre, l'idée d'une réorientation du commerce des ex-colonies depuis l'indépendance vers la Chine au détriment des anciennes puissances coloniales a été validée empiriquement. Quant à la deuxième partie, elle s'intéresse aux liens entre la politique économique extérieure et le commerce Sud-Sud. Les résultats du quatrième chapitre soulignent l'impact significatif de la « politique de la Chine unique » sur les flux commerciaux chinois et taiwanais par le biais de la diplomatie économique. Les estimations du cinquième chapitre confirment l'hétérogénéité des effets moyens et dans le temps des accords régionaux africains sur les échanges commerciaux selon la nature des partenaires, la forme des accords commerciaux ainsi que leur chevauchement. / This thesis emphasises five aspects of relations between South-South trade and « new » geography of international trade. We particularly pay attention to the links between BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, China) and sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) but also between China and SSA. The first part attempts to demonstrate some characteristics concerning the mutation of South-South trade relations. In the Chapter 1, the heterogeneity of BRICs is confirmed from some factors of bilateral trade flows with SSA. In the Chapter 2, the South-South trade flows play a significant role in the geographic diversification of intra-African trade in terms of new trading partners. In the Chapter 3, the assumption of a trade reorientation of ex-colonies since independence with China at the expense of former colonial powers has been empirically validated. The second part studies the linkages between the foreign economic policy and South-South trade. The findings of the Chapter 4 highlight the significant impact of the « One China policy » on Chinese and Taiwanese trade flows through the economic diplomacy. The estimates of the Chapter 5 confirm the heterogeneous average effects but also over time of the African trade agreements on trade according to the nature of trading partners, the kinds of trade agreements and their overlapping.