IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/asieco/v22y2011i5p369-382.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

"Keep silent and make money": Institutional patterns of earnings management in China

Author

Listed:
  • Li, Shaomin
  • Selover, David D.
  • Stein, Michael

Abstract

Assessing the overall quality of Chinese financial data is important to both academic researchers and regulators. Using data from the industrial census of China, we examine the institutional pattern of the manipulation of reported profit statistics by manufacturing firms. This manipulation of profits is called "earnings management." We find that earnings management is more pervasive in China than in mature market economies such as the U.S., and that Chinese firms appear to follow a "keep silent, make money" strategy by managing their reported earnings to zero. Specifically, we find that increased earnings management is associated with state-owned firms, firms reporting to higher levels of government, and firms in more marketized regions.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Shaomin & Selover, David D. & Stein, Michael, 2011. ""Keep silent and make money": Institutional patterns of earnings management in China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 369-382, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:asieco:v:22:y:2011:i:5:p:369-382
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1049007811000583
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Li, Shaomin & Xia, Jun, 2008. "The Roles and Performance of State Firms and Non-State Firms in China's Economic Transition," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 39-54, January.
    2. Degeorge, Francois & Patel, Jayendu & Zeckhauser, Richard, 1999. "Earnings Management to Exceed Thresholds," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 72(1), pages 1-33, January.
    3. Paul Hribar & Daniel W. Collins, 2002. "Errors in Estimating Accruals: Implications for Empirical Research," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(1), pages 105-134, March.
    4. Kato, Takao & Long, Cheryl, 2006. "Executive Compensation, Firm Performance, and Corporate Governance in China: Evidence from Firms Listed in the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 54(4), pages 945-983, July.
    5. Rawski, Thomas G. & Xiao, Wei, 2001. "Roundtable on Chinese Economic Statistics Introduction," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 298-302.
    6. Garrod, Neil & Pirkovic, Sonja Ratej & Valentincic, Aljosa, 2006. "Testing for discontinuity or type of distribution," Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (MATCOM), Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 9-15.
    7. Alwyn Young, 2000. "The Razor's Edge: Distortions and Incremental Reform in the People's Republic of China," NBER Working Papers 7828, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. O'Connor, Neale G. & Deng, Johnny & Luo, Yadong, 2006. "Political constraints, organization design and performance measurement in China's state-owned enterprises," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 157-177, February.
    9. Cull, Robert & Xu, Lixin Colin & Zhu, Tian, 2009. "Formal finance and trade credit during China's transition," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 173-192, April.
    10. Yu, Qiao & Du, Bin & Sun, Qian, 2006. "Earnings management at rights issues thresholds--Evidence from China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(12), pages 3453-3468, December.
    11. Hongbin Cai & Qiao Liu, 2009. "Competition and Corporate Tax Avoidance: Evidence from Chinese Industrial Firms," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(537), pages 764-795, April.
    12. Editorial Team of Asia Insurance Review, 2005. "Asia-Pacific Country Analysis," Asia-Pacific Journal of Risk and Insurance, De Gruyter, vol. 1(1), pages 1-9, June.
    13. Bai, Chong-en & Li, David D. & Wang, Yijiang, 1997. "Enterprise Productivity and Efficiency: When Is Up Really Down?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 265-280, June.
    14. Wei, Zuobao & Varela, Oscar, 2003. "State equity ownership and firm market performance: evidence from China's newly privatized firms," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 65-82, May.
    15. Rawski, Thomas G., 2001. "What is happening to China's GDP statistics?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 347-354.
    16. Kothari, S.P. & Leone, Andrew J. & Wasley, Charles E., 2005. "Performance matched discretionary accrual measures," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 163-197, February.
    17. Healy, Paul M., 1985. "The effect of bonus schemes on accounting decisions," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(1-3), pages 85-107, April.
    18. Alwyn Young, 2000. "The Razor's Edge: Distortions and Incremental Reform in the People's Republic of China," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(4), pages 1091-1135.
    19. Li, Shaomin & Li, Shuhe & Zhang, Weiying, 2000. "The Road to Capitalism: Competition and Institutional Change in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 269-292, June.
    20. Burgstahler, David & Dichev, Ilia, 1997. "Earnings management to avoid earnings decreases and losses," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 99-126, December.
    21. Wang, Changyun, 2005. "Ownership and operating performance of Chinese IPOs," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(7), pages 1835-1856, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ruqia Shaikh & Guo Fei & Muhammad Shaique & Muhammad Rizwan Nazir, 2019. "Control-Enhancing Mechanisms and Earnings Management: Empirical Evidence from Pakistan," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-23, August.
    2. Wil Martens & Prem W. S. Yapa & Maryam Safari, 2020. "The Impact of Financial Statement Comparability on Earnings Management: Evidence from Frontier Markets," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-25, November.
    3. Heinz, Philip & Patel, Chris & Hellmann, Andreas, 2013. "Some theoretical and methodological suggestions for studies examining accountants' professional judgments and earnings management," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 299-311.
    4. Adnan Shoaib & Muhammad A. Siddiqui, 2022. "Earning information content changes based on accrual measures and quality measures: Evidences from member countries of Asia Pacific trade agreement," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(1), pages 1526-1546, January.
    5. Han, Minghui & Ding, Ashley & Zhang, Hao, 2022. "Foreign ownership and earnings management," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 114-133.
    6. Bao, Shuji Rosey & Lewellyn, Krista B., 2017. "Ownership structure and earnings management in emerging markets—An institutionalized agency perspective," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 828-838.
    7. Hanh Thi My Le & Qian Long Kweh & Irene Wei Kiong Ting & Mohammad Nourani, 2022. "CEO power and earnings management: Dual roles of foreign shareholders in Vietnamese listed companies," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(1), pages 1240-1256, January.
    8. Tutun Mukherjee & Som Sankar Sen, 2022. "Impact of CEO attributes on corporate reputation, financial performance, and corporate sustainable growth: evidence from India," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 8(1), pages 1-50, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jorge Farinha & Luis Filipe Viana, 2006. "Board structure and modified audit opinions: the case of the Portuguese Stock Exchange," CEF.UP Working Papers 0609, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    2. Daniel, Naveen D. & Denis, David J. & Naveen, Lalitha, 2008. "Do firms manage earnings to meet dividend thresholds," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 2-26, March.
    3. DeFond, Mark L., 2010. "Earnings quality research: Advances, challenges and future research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 402-409, December.
    4. Dechow, Patricia & Ge, Weili & Schrand, Catherine, 2010. "Understanding earnings quality: A review of the proxies, their determinants and their consequences," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 344-401, December.
    5. Karel Hrazdil & Thomas Scott, 2013. "The role of industry classification in estimating discretionary accruals," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 15-39, January.
    6. Hiu Lam Choy, 2012. "Assessing earnings management flexibility," Review of Accounting and Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 11(4), pages 340-376, October.
    7. Huasheng Gao & Huai Zhang & Jin Zhang, 2018. "Employee turnover likelihood and earnings management: evidence from the inevitable disclosure doctrine," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 1424-1470, December.
    8. Sarowar Hossain & Jeff Coulton & Jenny Jing Wang, 2023. "Client Importance and Audit Quality at the Individual Audit Partner, Office, and Firm Levels," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 59(2), pages 650-696, June.
    9. Yu, Fang (Frank), 2008. "Analyst coverage and earnings management," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 245-271, May.
    10. Tsipouridou, Maria & Spathis, Charalambos, 2012. "Earnings management and the role of auditors in an unusual IFRS context: The case of Greece," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 62-78.
    11. Roychowdhury, Sugata, 2006. "Earnings management through real activities manipulation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 335-370, December.
    12. Bergstresser, Daniel & Philippon, Thomas, 2006. "CEO incentives and earnings management," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(3), pages 511-529, June.
    13. Khushbu Agrawal & Chanchal Chatterjee, 2015. "Earnings Management and Financial Distress: Evidence from India," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 16(5_suppl), pages 140-154, October.
    14. Olivier Vidal, 2011. "De l'importance des seuils en comptabilité," Post-Print hal-00594834, HAL.
    15. Guthrie, Katherine & Sokolowsky, Jan, 2010. "Large shareholders and the pressure to manage earnings," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 302-319, June.
    16. Qiang Kang & Qiao Liu & Rong Qi, 2010. "Predicting Stock Market Returns with Aggregate Discretionary Accruals," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(4), pages 815-858, September.
    17. Susana Callao & José I. Jarne & David Wróblewski, 2017. "Why Do Companies From Emerging Countries Manage Earnings?," Eurasian Journal of Business and Management, Eurasian Publications, vol. 5(2), pages 60-84.
    18. Ke Zhong & Robert B. Welker & Donald W. Gribbin, 2010. "Method‐Shifting in Aggressive Earnings Reporting: The Case of the US Software Industry's Response to New US Regulation," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(7‐8), pages 792-814, July.
    19. Dung Viet Tran & M. Kabir Hassan & Reza Houston, 2020. "Discretionary loan loss provision behavior in the US banking industry," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 605-645, August.
    20. Sidney J. Gray & Tony Kang & Zhiwei Lin & Qingliang Tang, 2015. "Earnings Management in Europe Post IFRS: Do Cultural Influences Persist?," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 55(6), pages 827-856, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:asieco:v:22:y:2011:i:5:p:369-382. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/asieco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.