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Asset Disposal as a Method of Real Earnings Management: Evidence from the UK

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  • Domenico Campa
  • Tongyu Cao
  • Ray Donnelly

Abstract

We examine asset sales as a method of real earnings management around the benchmarks of loss avoidance and last year's earnings. Evidence is reported of asset sales to boost or reduce earnings near the benchmark of last year's earnings. For the zero earnings benchmark our results are moderated by the opening balance of accruals: only firms with high levels of accruals use asset sales to boost earnings to avoid a loss and only firms with low levels of accruals use asset sales as part of a big bath. We suggest that firms with high accrual balances find it difficult to use additional income‐increasing accruals but find it more convenient to write off accruals rather than sell assets to artificially reduce earnings. International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are associated with reduced use of asset sales for gains and especially with reduced asset sales for losses. We ascribe this to IFRS introducing additional judgement and estimation in relation to the valuation of both long‐lived and current assets on a recurring basis.

Suggested Citation

  • Domenico Campa & Tongyu Cao & Ray Donnelly, 2019. "Asset Disposal as a Method of Real Earnings Management: Evidence from the UK," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 55(2), pages 306-332, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:abacus:v:55:y:2019:i:2:p:306-332
    DOI: 10.1111/abac.12155
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    Cited by:

    1. Alam, Nurul & Gao, Junbin & Jones, Stewart, 2021. "Corporate failure prediction: An evaluation of deep learning vs discrete hazard models," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    2. Ahsan Habib & Dinithi Ranasinghe & Julia Yonghua Wu & Pallab Kumar Biswas & Fawad Ahmad, 2022. "Real earnings management: A review of the international literature," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(4), pages 4279-4344, December.
    3. Xiaolong Gu & Zhe An & Chen Chen & Donghui Li, 2023. "Do foreign institutional investors monitor opportunistic managerial behaviour? Evidence from real earnings management," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(1), pages 317-351, March.
    4. Dominic Cyr & Suzanne Landry & Anne Fortin, 2023. "Financial Disclosure Management by Charitable Organisations: A Conceptual and Operational Framework," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 33(1), pages 46-65, March.
    5. Guilherme Belloque & Martina K Linnenluecke & Mauricio Marrone & Abhay K Singh & Rui Xue, 2021. "55 years of Abacus: Evolution of Research Streams and Future Research Directions," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 57(3), pages 593-618, September.

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