IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jiaata/v44y2021ics1061951821000252.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Pre-IPO earnings management: Evidence from India

Author

Listed:
  • Nikbakht, Ehsan
  • Sarkar, Sayan
  • Smith, Garrett C.
  • Spieler, Andrew C.

Abstract

The Indian market is characterized by a relatively large number of unsophisticated retail investors, which provides a sharp contrast to many developed markets. Indian capital markets also provide a novel environment to test pre-Initial Public Offerings (IPO) earnings management and the capital market staging hypothesis. Our dataset encompasses a long time-period (1998–2016) including pre-IPO data and an important IPO regulatory change. Specifically, Indian markets instituted optional IPO grading (2006), required IPO grading (2007), and then reverted back to optional IPO grading (2014). We find evidence that Indian IPO firms which utilize reputable investment banks are less likely to manipulate pre-IPO earnings. Harder to value firms, such as those with large amounts of research and development, are more likely to engage in pre-IPO earnings management. We also find support for the capital market staging hypothesis in India. Additionally, there is lower pre-IPO earnings management during the optional IPO grading period. Our research also has important policy implications underscoring the need for increased transparency, particularly in emerging markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Nikbakht, Ehsan & Sarkar, Sayan & Smith, Garrett C. & Spieler, Andrew C., 2021. "Pre-IPO earnings management: Evidence from India," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jiaata:v:44:y:2021:i:c:s1061951821000252
    DOI: 10.1016/j.intaccaudtax.2021.100400
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1061951821000252
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.intaccaudtax.2021.100400?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. Klapper, Leora F. & Love, Inessa, 2004. "Corporate governance, investor protection, and performance in emerging markets," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 10(5), pages 703-728, November.
    2. Lo, Huai-Chun & Wu, Ruei-Shian & Kweh, Qian Long, 2017. "Do institutional investors reinforce or reduce agency problems? Earnings management and the post-IPO performance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 62-76.
    3. Aharony, Joseph & Wang, Jiwei & Yuan, Hongqi, 2010. "Tunneling as an incentive for earnings management during the IPO process in China," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-26, January.
    4. Premti, Arjan & Smith, Garrett, 2020. "Earnings management in the pre-IPO process: Biases and predictors," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    5. Bikki Jaggi & Chen-lung Chin & Hsiou-wei William Lin & Picheng Lee, 2006. "Earnings forecast disclosure regulation and earnings management: evidence from Taiwan IPO firms," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 275-299, May.
    6. Carter, Richard B & Manaster, Steven, 1990. "Initial Public Offerings and Underwriter Reputation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(4), pages 1045-1067, September.
    7. Diro Ejara, Demissew & Ghosh, Chinmoy, 2004. "Underpricing and aftermarket performance of American depositary receipts (ADR) IPOs," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(12), pages 3151-3186, December.
    8. Gao, Shenghao & Meng, Qingbin & Chan, Kam C. & Wu, Weixing, 2017. "Earnings management before IPOs: Are institutional investors misled?," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 90-108.
    9. Dimitrios Gounopoulos & Hang Pham, 2017. "Credit Ratings and Earnings Management around IPOs," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(1-2), pages 154-195, January.
    10. DuCharme, Larry L. & Malatesta, Paul H. & Sefcik, Stephan E., 2004. "Earnings management, stock issues, and shareholder lawsuits," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 27-49, January.
    11. Lee, Gemma & Masulis, Ronald W., 2011. "Do more reputable financial institutions reduce earnings management by IPO issuers?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 982-1000, September.
    12. Ball, Ray & Shivakumar, Lakshmanan, 2008. "Earnings quality at initial public offerings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(2-3), pages 324-349, August.
    13. Wei Chen & Paul Hribar & Samuel Melessa, 2018. "Incorrect Inferences When Using Residuals as Dependent Variables," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(3), pages 751-796, June.
    14. Roosenboom, Peter & van der Goot, Tjalling & Mertens, Gerard, 2003. "Earnings management and initial public offerings: Evidence from the Netherlands," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 243-266.
    15. Seshadev Sahoo & Prabina Rajib, 2010. "Post-issue promoter groups holding, signalling and IPO underprice: evidence from Indian IPOs," International Journal of Financial Services Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 4(2), pages 95-113.
    16. Rachappa Shette & Sudershan Kuntluru & Sunder Ram Korivi, 2016. "Opportunistic earnings management during initial public offerings: evidence from India," Review of Accounting and Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 15(3), pages 352-371, August.
    17. Curry, B & George, K D, 1983. "Industrial Concentration: A Survey," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3), pages 203-255, March.
    18. 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.
    19. Christopher Armstrong & George Foster & Daniel Taylor, 2016. "Abnormal Accruals in Newly Public Companies: Opportunistic Misreporting or Economic Activity?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(5), pages 1316-1338, May.
    20. William Dimovski & Simmala Philavanh & Robert Brooks, 2011. "Underwriter reputation and underpricing: evidence from the Australian IPO market," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 37(4), pages 409-426, November.
    21. Chahine, Salim & Arthurs, Jonathan D. & Filatotchev, Igor & Hoskisson, Robert E., 2012. "The effects of venture capital syndicate diversity on earnings management and performance of IPOs in the US and UK: An institutional perspective," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 179-192.
    22. Loughran, Tim & Ritter, Jay R, 1995. "The New Issues Puzzle," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(1), pages 23-51, March.
    23. Deb, Saikat Sovan & Marisetty, Vijaya B., 2010. "Information content of IPO grading," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(9), pages 2294-2305, September.
    24. Field, Laura Casares & Lowry, Michelle, 2009. "Institutional versus Individual Investment in IPOs: The Importance of Firm Fundamentals," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(3), pages 489-516, June.
    25. Joshy Jacob & Sobhesh Kumar Agarwalla, 2015. "Mandatory IPO Grading: Does it Help Pricing Efficiency?," Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers, , vol. 40(2), pages 132-144, June.
    26. Tian, Xuan & Udell, Gregory F. & Yu, Xiaoyun, 2016. "Disciplining delegated monitors: When venture capitalists fail to prevent fraud by their IPO firms," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 526-544.
    27. Saurabh Ghosh, 2005. "The post-offering performance of IPOs in the Indian banking industry," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(2), pages 89-94.
    28. Bhattacharya, Utpal & Daouk, Hazem & Welker, Michael, 2003. "The World Price of Earnings Opacity," Working Papers 127185, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    29. Clarke, Jonathan & Khurshed, Arif & Pande, Alok & Singh, Ajai K., 2016. "Sentiment traders & IPO initial returns: The Indian evidence," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 24-37.
    30. Yogesh Maheshwari & Khushbu Agrawal, 2015. "Impact of IPO grading on earnings management," Journal of Financial Reporting and Accounting, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 13(2), pages 142-158, October.
    31. Ritter, Jay R, 1991. "The Long-run Performance of Initial Public Offerings," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(1), pages 3-27, March.
    32. Chao Chen & Haina Shi & Haoping Xu, 2013. "Underwriter Reputation, Issuer Ownership, and Pre-IPO Earnings Management: Evidence from China," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 42(3), pages 647-677, September.
    33. Hertzel, Michael G. & Huson, Mark R. & Parrino, Robert, 2012. "Public market staging: The timing of capital infusions in newly public firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(1), pages 72-90.
    34. Arjan Premti, 2013. "Earnings Management Prior to Initial Public Offerings and Its Effect on Firm Performance: International Evidence," International Journal of Financial Research, International Journal of Financial Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 4(3), pages 10-24, July.
    35. Chemmanur, Thomas J & Fulghieri, Paolo, 1994. "Investment Bank Reputation, Information Production, and Financial Intermediation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 49(1), pages 57-79, March.
    36. Premti, Arjan & Garcia-Feijoo, Luis & Madura, Jeff, 2017. "Information content of analyst recommendations in the banking industry," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 35-47.
    37. David Nawrocki & William Carter, 2010. "Industry competitiveness using Herfindahl and entropy concentration indices with firm market capitalization data," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(22), pages 2855-2863.
    38. Shao‐Chi Chang & Tsai‐Yen Chung & Wen‐Chun Lin, 2010. "Underwriter reputation, earnings management and the long‐run performance of initial public offerings," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 50(1), pages 53-78, March.
    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. Tomasz Sosnowski, 2022. "Persistence of pre-IPO earnings of new companies from CEE stock markets," Equilibrium. Quarterly Journal of Economics and Economic Policy, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 17(2), pages 415-434, June.

    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. Premti, Arjan & Smith, Garrett, 2020. "Earnings management in the pre-IPO process: Biases and predictors," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    2. Denis Cormier & Daniel Coulombe & Luania Gomez Gutierrez & Bruce J. Mcconomy, 2018. "Firms in Transition: A Review of the Venture Capital, IPO, and M&A Literature," Accounting Perspectives, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(1), pages 9-88, March.
    3. 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.
    4. Lo, Huai-Chun & Wu, Ruei-Shian & Kweh, Qian Long, 2017. "Do institutional investors reinforce or reduce agency problems? Earnings management and the post-IPO performance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 62-76.
    5. Tomasz Sosnowski, 2021. "The credibility of earnings announced by new stock companies: accrual and real earnings management," Equilibrium. Quarterly Journal of Economics and Economic Policy, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 16(3), pages 661-677, September.
    6. Alhadab, Mohammad & Clacher, Iain, 2018. "The impact of audit quality on real and accrual earnings management around IPOs," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 442-461.
    7. Dang, Man & Puwanenthiren, Premkanth & Truong, Cameron & Henry, Darren & Vo, Xuan Vinh, 2022. "Audit quality and seasoned equity offerings methods," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    8. Ewa Sletten & Yonca Ertimur & Jayanthi Sunder & Joseph Weber, 2018. "When and why do IPO firms manage earnings?," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 872-906, September.
    9. Shao‐Chi Chang & Tsai‐Yen Chung & Wen‐Chun Lin, 2010. "Underwriter reputation, earnings management and the long‐run performance of initial public offerings," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 50(1), pages 53-78, March.
    10. Jelic, Ranko & Zhou, Dan & Ahmad, Wasim, 2021. "Do stressed PE firms misbehave?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    11. Buchner, Axel & Mohamed, Abdulkadir & Saadouni, Brahim, 2017. "The association between earnings forecast in IPOs prospectuses and earnings management: An empirical analysis," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 92-105.
    12. Deepa Mangala & Mamta Dhanda, 2019. "Earnings Management and Performance of IPO Firms: Evidence from India," Indian Journal of Corporate Governance, , vol. 12(1), pages 39-58, June.
    13. Goktan, M. Sinan & Muslu, Volkan, 2018. "Benefits of public reporting: Evidence from IPOs backed by listed private equity firms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 669-688.
    14. Jean Jinghan Chen & Peng Cheng & Xinrong Xiao, 2011. "Related party transactions as a source of earnings management," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(3), pages 165-181.
    15. Xiaotao (Kelvin) Liu & Biyu Wu, 2021. "Do IPO Firms Misclassify Expenses? Implications for IPO Price Formation and Post-IPO Stock Performance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(7), pages 4505-4531, July.
    16. Anagnostopoulou, Seraina C. & Gounopoulos, Dimitrios & Malikov, Kamran & Pham, Hang, 2021. "Earnings management by classification shifting and IPO survival," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    17. Su, Chen, 2015. "Does institutional reform improve the impact of investment bank reputation on the long-term stock performance of initial public offerings?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 445-470.
    18. Chi Duong Thi, 2023. "Audit Quality, Institutional Environments, and Earnings Management: An Empirical Analysis of New Listings," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(2), pages 21582440231, June.
    19. Chen, Jun & Ke, Bin & Wu, Donghui & Yang, Zhifeng, 2018. "The consequences of shifting the IPO offer pricing power from securities regulators to market participants in weak institutional environments: Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 349-370.
    20. Yang, Zhenyi & Cao, Xiaping & Lin, Wenlian & Liu, Jianhua, 2023. "The gatekeeping role of regulators and intermediaries: Evidence from regulatory reforms in China's IPO market," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Earnings initial public offerings; Earnings management; Indian capital markets; Capital staging;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • G35 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Payout Policy

    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:eee:jiaata:v:44:y:2021:i:c:s1061951821000252. 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/journal-of-international-accounting-auditing-and-taxation .

    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.