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Discontinuities and Earnings Management: Evidence from Restatements Related to Securities Litigation

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  • Dain C. Donelson
  • John M. Mcinnis
  • Richard D. Mergenthaler

Abstract

A heated debate exists as to whether discontinuities in earnings distributions are indicative of earnings management. While many studies attribute discontinuities in earnings distributions to earnings management, other studies argue that earnings discontinuities are artifacts of sample selection and research design. Overall, there is limited direct evidence of a connection between earnings discontinuities and earnings management. In this study, we provide direct evidence linking earnings management to earnings discontinuities for a sample of firms that settle securities class action lawsuits and restate earnings from the alleged GAAP violation period. We compare the distribution of restated (“unmanaged†) earnings to originally reported (“managed†) earnings. We find that discontinuities are not present in the distribution of analyst forecast errors and earnings changes using unmanaged earnings but are present using managed earnings. The discontinuity in the earnings level distribution is attenuated, but not eliminated, on an unmanaged basis. These shifts among our sample of firms are caused by earnings management and cannot be explained by sample selection or research design issues. Our findings are important because many studies use earnings discontinuities as a proxy for intentional earnings manipulations and we provide the first direct evidence of a link between these two phenomena.

Suggested Citation

  • Dain C. Donelson & John M. Mcinnis & Richard D. Mergenthaler, 2013. "Discontinuities and Earnings Management: Evidence from Restatements Related to Securities Litigation," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(1), pages 242-268, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:coacre:v:30:y:2013:i:1:p:242-268
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1911-3846.2012.01150.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Dan Dacian Cuzdriorean, 2013. "Most Recent Findings In Earnings Management Area: Interesting Insights From Traditionally Top 5 Leading Accounting Journals," Annales Universitatis Apulensis Series Oeconomica, Faculty of Sciences, "1 Decembrie 1918" University, Alba Iulia, vol. 2(15), pages 1-5.
    2. Joseph B. Omonuk & Jean Baptiste Koffi Dodor, 2016. "Do US electric utilities use industry-specific generally accepted accounting principles to manage earnings?," International Journal of Economics and Accounting, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 7(2), pages 101-115.
    3. Felipe Restrepo & Jérôme P. Taillard, 2022. "Private firms’ incentives and opportunities to manage earnings: Evidence from the use of inflation adjustments," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(1-2), pages 69-110, January.
    4. Badryah Alhusaini & Kimball L. Chapman & Hal D. White, 2023. "Private disclosure and myopia: evidence from the JOBS act," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 1570-1617, September.
    5. Habib, Ahsan & Jiang, Haiyan & Bhuiyan, Md. Borhan Uddin & Islam, Ainul, 2014. "Litigation risk, financial reporting and auditing: A survey of the literature," Research in Accounting Regulation, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 145-163.
    6. Naser Makarem & Frank Hong Liu & Lei Chen, 2023. "Evidence that financing decisions contribute to the zero-earnings discontinuity," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 60(1), pages 231-257, January.
    7. Harris, David G. & Shi, Linna & Xie, Hong, 2018. "Does benchmark-beating detect earnings management? Evidence from accounting irregularities," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 25-45.
    8. Boahen, Eric & Mamatzakis, Emmanuel, 2016. "Do Religion, Corporate Governance and BIG 4 Audit Interactions Affect Misclassification?," MPRA Paper 76804, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Omid Mehri Namakavarani & Abbas Ali Daryaei & Davood Askarany & Saeed Askary, 2021. "Audit Committee Characteristics and Quality of Financial Information: The Role of the Internal Information Environment and Political Connections," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-18, June.
    10. Trimble, Madeline, 2018. "A reinvestigation into accounting quality following global IFRS adoption: Evidence via earnings distributions," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 18-39.
    11. Burgstahler, David & Chuk, Elizabeth, 2015. "Do scaling and selection explain earnings discontinuities?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 168-186.
    12. Bird, Andrew & Karolyi, Stephen A. & Ruchti, Thomas G., 2019. "Understanding the “numbers game”," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2).

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