IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/advacc/v39y2017icp91-104.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Managerial ability and real earnings management

Author

Listed:
  • Huang, Xuerong (Sharon)
  • Sun, Li

Abstract

Prior studies investigate the determinants and consequences of real earnings management (REM) as a function of firm-specific characteristics. In this study, we examine how managerial ability relates to the use of REM and future firm performance. We find that higher-ability managers engage in less REM. Furthermore, we find that managers with superior ability reduce the negative impact of REM on future firm performance. This is consistent with prior studies, which link higher-ability managers to better management of firm resources and more positive outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Huang, Xuerong (Sharon) & Sun, Li, 2017. "Managerial ability and real earnings management," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 91-104.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:advacc:v:39:y:2017:i:c:p:91-104
    DOI: 10.1016/j.adiac.2017.08.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0882611015301255
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.adiac.2017.08.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    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. SANJEEV BHOJRAJ & PAUL HRIBAR & MARC PICCONI & JOHN McINNIS, 2009. "Making Sense of Cents: An Examination of Firms That Marginally Miss or Beat Analyst Forecasts," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(5), pages 2361-2388, October.
    2. Dechow, Patricia M. & Sloan, Richard G., 1991. "Executive incentives and the horizon problem : An empirical investigation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 51-89, March.
    3. Hribar, Paul & Jenkins, Nicole Thorne & Johnson, W. Bruce, 2006. "Stock repurchases as an earnings management device," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(1-2), pages 3-27, April.
    4. Peter Demerjian & Baruch Lev & Sarah McVay, 2012. "Quantifying Managerial Ability: A New Measure and Validity Tests," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(7), pages 1229-1248, July.
    5. Samuel B. Bonsall IV & Eric R. Holzman & Brian P. Miller, 2017. "Managerial Ability and Credit Risk Assessment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(5), pages 1425-1449, May.
    6. Graham, John R. & Harvey, Campbell R. & Rajgopal, Shiva, 2005. "The economic implications of corporate financial reporting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1-3), pages 3-73, December.
    7. John L. Abernathy & Brooke Beyer & Eric T. Rapley, 2014. "Earnings Management Constraints and Classification Shifting," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(5-6), pages 600-626, June.
    8. Roychowdhury, Sugata, 2006. "Earnings management through real activities manipulation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 335-370, December.
    9. Vasiliki Athanasakou & Norman Strong & Martin Walker, 2009. "Earnings management or forecast guidance to meet analyst expectations?," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(1), pages 3-35.
    10. Jonathan B. Berk & Richard Stanton, 2007. "Managerial Ability, Compensation, and the Closed‐End Fund Discount," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(2), pages 529-556, April.
    11. Hayes, Rachel M. & Schaefer, Scott, 1999. "How much are differences in managerial ability worth?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 125-148, April.
    12. Yasemin Y. Kor, 2003. "Experience-Based Top Management Team Competence and Sustained Growth," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 14(6), pages 707-719, December.
    13. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    14. Bok Baik & David B. Farber & Sam (Sunghan) Lee, 2011. "CEO Ability and Management Earnings Forecasts," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(5), pages 1645-1668, December.
    15. Marianne Bertrand & Antoinette Schoar, 2003. "Managing with Style: The Effect of Managers on Firm Policies," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(4), pages 1169-1208.
    16. Russell W. Coff, 1999. "When Competitive Advantage Doesn't Lead to Performance: The Resource-Based View and Stakeholder Bargaining Power," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 10(2), pages 119-133, April.
    17. Katherine A. Gunny, 2010. "The Relation Between Earnings Management Using Real Activities Manipulation and Future Performance: Evidence from Meeting Earnings Benchmarks," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(3), pages 855-888, September.
    18. Jonathan B. Berk & Richard C. Green, 2004. "Mutual Fund Flows and Performance in Rational Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(6), pages 1269-1295, December.
    19. Jones, Jj, 1991. "Earnings Management During Import Relief Investigations," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 193-228.
    20. 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.
    21. Cohen, Daniel A. & Zarowin, Paul, 2010. "Accrual-based and real earnings management activities around seasoned equity offerings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 2-19, May.
    22. Weili GE & Dawn Matsumoto & Jenny Li Zhang, 2011. "Do CFOs Have Style? An Empirical Investigation of the Effect of Individual CFOs on Accounting Practices," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(4), pages 1141-1179, December.
    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. Ana Belen Tulcanaza-Prieto & Younghwan Lee & Jeong-Ho Koo, 2020. "Effect of Leverage on Real Earnings Management: Evidence from Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-20, March.
    2. Efstathios Magerakis & Ahsan Habib, 2022. "Environmental uncertainty and corporate cash holdings: The moderating role of CEO ability," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 22(3), pages 402-432, September.
    3. Tong Sheng & Bingquan Fang & Xiaoqian Lu & Xingheng Shi & Chaohai Shen & Xiaolan Zhou, 2022. "The Relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility, Global Investment, and Equity Incentives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-27, December.
    4. Daeheon Choi & Chune Young Chung & Young-Eun Kim & Ye Jun Kim & Paul Moon Sub Choi, 2020. "Sustainable Corporate Ownership Structures and Earnings Management in the Vietnamese Stock Market," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-32, July.
    5. Mihai CARP & Iuliana Eugenia GEORGESCU, 2019. "The Influence of Audit Opinion on the Degree of Real Earnings Management. The Case of Romanian Listed Companies," The Audit Financiar journal, Chamber of Financial Auditors of Romania, vol. 17(156), pages 666-666.
    6. Pallab Kumar Biswas & Dinithi Ranasinghe & Eric K. M. Tan, 2023. "Impact of product market competition on real activity manipulation: Moderating role of managerial ability," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(1), pages 247-275, March.
    7. Duan, Yunlong & Deng, Zhiqing & Liu, Hanxiao & Yang, Meng & Liu, Meiwu & Wang, Xiang, 2022. "Exploring the mediating effect of managerial ability on knowledge diversity and innovation performance in reverse cross-border M&As: Evidence from Chinese manufacturing corporations," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 247(C).
    8. Elmawazini, Khaled & Galariotis, Emilios & Hossain, Ashrafee T. & Rjiba, Hatem, 2024. "Federal judge ideology and real earnings management," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    9. Xiaojun Chu & Nianrong Sui, 2023. "Does Weather-Related Disaster Affect the Financing Costs of Enterprises? Evidence from Chinese Listed Companies in the Mining Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-14, January.
    10. Olusola LODIKERO & Kazeem A. SOYINKA & Oluwafemi M. SUNDAY, 2022. "Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) Attributes and Earnings Management of listed Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) in Nigeria," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 6(12), pages 234-239, December.
    11. Puspita Ghaniy Anggraini & Mahfud Sholihin, 2023. "What do we know about managerial ability? A systematic literature review," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 73(1), pages 1-30, February.
    12. Zahra H. Oskouei & Zahra Heidary Sureshjani, 2021. "Studying the relationship between managerial ability and real earnings management in economic and financial crisis conditions," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(3), pages 4574-4589, July.
    13. Santanu Mitra & Bikki Jaggi & Talal Al-Hayale, 2019. "Managerial overconfidence, ability, firm-governance and audit fees," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 52(3), pages 841-870, April.
    14. Bao Quan Lock & Ei Yet Chu & Saw Imm Song & Lian Yin Lee, 2019. "Exchange Rate Movements, Earnings Management and Stock Returns in Malaysia," Capital Markets Review, Malaysian Finance Association, vol. 27(1), pages 53-68.
    15. Manish Kumar & Madhu Vij & Rishabh Goswami, 2021. "Effect of Real Earnings Management on Firm Performance: Evidence from India," Vision, , vol. 27(3), pages 386-396, June.
    16. Zixin Zhang & Teck Lee Yap & Jiyoung Park, 2021. "Does voluntary CSR disclosure and CSR performance influence earnings management? Empirical evidence from China," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 18(2), pages 161-178, June.
    17. Lin, Fengyi & Lin, Sheng-Wei & Fang, Wen-Chang, 2020. "How CEO narcissism affects earnings management behaviors," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    18. Xu, Xiaohui & Wang, Fang & Chen, Xiaohua & Yang, Gaoju, 2021. "Does managerial ability matter for cross-border M&As: Evidence from Chinese listed firms," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    19. Jebran, Khalil & Chen, Shihua, 2022. "Corporate policies and outcomes during the COVID-19 crisis: Does managerial ability matter?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).

    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. Zahra H. Oskouei & Zahra Heidary Sureshjani, 2021. "Studying the relationship between managerial ability and real earnings management in economic and financial crisis conditions," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(3), pages 4574-4589, July.
    2. Pallab Kumar Biswas & Dinithi Ranasinghe & Eric K. M. Tan, 2023. "Impact of product market competition on real activity manipulation: Moderating role of managerial ability," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(1), pages 247-275, March.
    3. Campa, Domenico & Camacho-Miñano, María-del-Mar, 2015. "The impact of SME’s pre-bankruptcy financial distress on earnings management tools," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 222-234.
    4. Al Mabsali, Yousuf Khamis & Hayward, Robert & Eliwa, Yasser, 2021. "Managerial tools used to meet or beat analyst forecasts: Evidence from the UK," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    5. Min Liu, 2020. "Real and accrual-based earnings management in the pre- and post- engagement partner signature requirement periods in the United Kingdom," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 54(3), pages 1133-1161, April.
    6. Chen, Tai-Yuan & Zhang, Guochang & Zhou, Yi, 2018. "Enforceability of non-compete covenants, discretionary investments, and financial reporting practices: Evidence from a natural experiment," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 41-60.
    7. El Diri, Malek & Lambrinoudakis, Costas & Alhadab, Mohammad, 2020. "Corporate governance and earnings management in concentrated markets," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 291-306.
    8. Dina El Mahdy, 2020. "The unintended consequences of voluntary adoption of clawback provisions on managerial ability," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(4), pages 3493-3526, December.
    9. Griffin, Paul A. & Hong, Hyun A. & Liu, Yun & Ryou, Ji Woo, 2021. "The dark side of CEO social capital: Evidence from real earnings management and future operating performance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    10. Julia Sawicki & Keshab Shrestha, 2014. "Misvaluation and Insider Trading Incentives for Accrual-based and Real Earnings Management," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(7-8), pages 926-949, September.
    11. Godsell, David & Huang, Kelly & Lao, Brent, 2023. "Managers’ rank & file employee coordination costs and real activities manipulation," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    12. 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.
    13. Florackis, Chris & Sainani, Sushil, 2021. "Can CFOs resist undue pressure from CEOs to manage earnings?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    14. Li, Chihua & Tseng, Yijie & Chen, Tsung-Kang, 2016. "Top management team expertise and corporate real earnings management activities," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 117-132.
    15. Seraina C. Anagnostopoulou & Andrianos E. Tsekrekos, 2017. "The effect of financial leverage on real and accrual-based earnings management," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(2), pages 191-236, February.
    16. Alaa Mansour Zalata & Collins Ntim & Ahmed Aboud & Ernest Gyapong, 2019. "Female CEOs and Core Earnings Quality: New Evidence on the Ethics Versus Risk-Aversion Puzzle," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 160(2), pages 515-534, December.
    17. Özgür, Arslan-Ayaydin & Thewissen, James & Torsin, Wouter, 2021. "Earnings Management Methods and CEO Political Affiliation," LIDAM Discussion Papers LFIN 2021017, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain Finance (LFIN).
    18. Manish Bansal, 2024. "Do shifting practices vary across the firm life cycle?," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 49(2), pages 142-169, May.
    19. Phillip J. Quinn, 2018. "Shifting corporate culture: executive stock ownership plan adoptions and incentives to meet or just beat analysts’ expectations," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 654-685, June.
    20. Chen, Yangyang & Rhee, S. Ghon & Veeraraghavan, Madhu & Zolotoy, Leon, 2015. "Stock liquidity and managerial short-termism," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 44-59.

    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:advacc:v:39:y:2017:i:c:p:91-104. 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: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/advances-in-accounting/ .

    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.