IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/mth/jsss88/v4y2017i1p123-139.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Detection of Anomalies in Accounting Data Using Benford¡¯s Law: Evidence from India

Author

Listed:
  • Ramesh Chandra Das
  • Chandra Sekhar Mishra
  • Prabina Rajib

Abstract

This study uses the financial accounting data to examine if they depart from Benford¡¯s Law. Using large sample of Indian public listed companies, the study conducts an analysis of the ¡°first digit analysis¡±, ¡°second digit analysis¡±, and ¡°first two digit analysis ¡°of test variables such as total assets, receivables, fixed assets, property, plant and equipment, inventory, current assets, current liabilities, sales, selling and distribution expenses, cost of goods sold, cash, EBIT, direct tax, indirect tax. The initial results find that most of the variables have significant deviation from Benford¡¯s Law distribution. Further analyses indicate that business group firms indulge more data anomalies than standalone firms and small size firms have more data anomalies than large size firms in Indian context.

Suggested Citation

  • Ramesh Chandra Das & Chandra Sekhar Mishra & Prabina Rajib, 2017. "Detection of Anomalies in Accounting Data Using Benford¡¯s Law: Evidence from India," Journal of Social Science Studies, Macrothink Institute, vol. 4(1), pages 123-139, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:mth:jsss88:v:4:y:2017:i:1:p:123-139
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.macrothink.org/journal/index.php/jsss/article/view/9873
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.macrothink.org/journal/index.php/jsss/article/view/9873
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tarun Khanna & Jan W. Rivkin, 2001. "Estimating the performance effects of business groups in emerging markets," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 45-74, January.
    2. Beuselinck, Christof & Deloof, Marc, 2014. "Earnings Management in Business Groups: Tax Incentives or Expropriation Concealment?," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 27-52.
    3. David Giles, 2007. "Benford's law and naturally occurring prices in certain ebaY auctions," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(3), pages 157-161.
    4. Jones, Jj, 1991. "Earnings Management During Import Relief Investigations," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 193-228.
    5. Jeong†Bon Kim & Cheong H. Yi, 2006. "Ownership Structure, Business Group Affiliation, Listing Status, and Earnings Management: Evidence from Korea," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(2), pages 427-464, June.
    6. Andreas Diekmann, 2007. "Not the First Digit! Using Benford's Law to Detect Fraudulent Scientif ic Data," Journal of Applied Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(3), pages 321-329.
    7. 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.
    8. 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.
    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. Umme Kulsoom Zaidi & Javaid Akhter & Asif Akhtar, 2018. "Window Dressing of Financial Statements in the Era of Digital Finance: A Study of Small Cap Indian Companies," Metamorphosis: A Journal of Management Research, , vol. 17(2), pages 67-75, 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. Ramesh Chandra Das & Chandra Sekhar Mishra & Prabina Rajib, 2018. "Firm-specific Parameters and Earnings Management: A Study in the Indian Context," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 19(5), pages 1240-1260, October.
    2. Theoharry Grammatikos & Nikolaos I. Papanikolaou, 2021. "Applying Benford’s Law to Detect Accounting Data Manipulation in the Banking Industry," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 59(1), pages 115-142, April.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. Ramesh Chandra Das & Chandra Sekhar Mishra & Prabina Rajib, 2017. "Real Versus Accrual-based Earnings Management," Paradigm, , vol. 21(2), pages 156-174, December.
    6. Francesco Capalbo & Marco Sorrentino & Margherita Smarra, 2018. "Earnings Management and State Ownership: A Literature Review," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 13(6), pages 117-117, April.
    7. 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.
    8. Chanchal Chatterjee, 2020. "Board Quality and Earnings Management: Evidence from India," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 21(5), pages 1302-1324, October.
    9. 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.
    10. Jesus Sáenz González & Emma García-Meca, 2014. "Does Corporate Governance Influence Earnings Management in Latin American Markets?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 121(3), pages 419-440, May.
    11. Butler, Marty & Leone, Andrew J. & Willenborg, Michael, 2004. "An empirical analysis of auditor reporting and its association with abnormal accruals," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 139-165, June.
    12. Hu, Juncheng, 2021. "Do facilitation payments affect earnings management? Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    13. Chang, Yu-Shan & Chiang, Chia-Yu & Liu, Li-Lin (Sunny) & Xie, Xinmei (Lucy), 2019. "Audit partner independence and business affiliation: evidence from Taiwan," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 1-1.
    14. N. Eriotis & T. Kounadeas & K. Liapis & E. Poutos, 2019. "The Impact of IFRS Adoption by Greek Listed Companies on the Earnings Quality: An Empirical Investigation," International Journal of Finance, Insurance and Risk Management, International Journal of Finance, Insurance and Risk Management, vol. 9(3-4), pages 90-100.
    15. 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.
    16. Sabrina P. Ozawa Gioielli & Antonio Gledson de Carvalho & Joelson Oliveira Sampaio, 2013. "Venture capital and earnings management in IPOs," Brazilian Business Review, Fucape Business School, vol. 10(4), pages 30-64, October.
    17. Constant Djama & Guillaume Dumas & Isabelle Martinez, 2011. "L'innovation : une incitation à la gestion des résultats ?," Post-Print hal-00650418, HAL.
    18. Nagar, Neerav & Sen, Kaustav, 2016. "Earnings Management Strategies during Financial Distress," IIMA Working Papers WP2016-02-03, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department.
    19. Joseph Gerakos, 2012. "Discussion of Detecting Earnings Management: A New Approach," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(2), pages 335-347, May.
    20. Roy Kouwenberg & Pipat Thontirawong, 2016. "Group affiliation and earnings management of Asian IPO issuers," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 897-917, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:mth:jsss88:v:4:y:2017:i:1:p:123-139. 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: Technical Support Office (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.macrothink.org/journal/index.php/jsss .

    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.