IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/arjpps/v22y2009i2p93-117.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Financial status, corporate governance quality, and the likelihood of managers using discretionary accruals

Author

Listed:
  • Sebahattin Demirkan
  • Harlan Platt

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate, using data on US manufacturing firms, how and when corporate governance affects managers' decisions to use discretionary accruals and thereby artificially influence company financial reports. Design/methodology/approach - Three‐stage least squares is employed to study the relationship between financial status, corporate governance and financial reporting discretion. The sample spans the years 2001‐2003 during a severe downturn in the US stock market. Financial status is measured with the AltmanZ‐score. Findings - A significant difference is found between firms not classified as healthy or failed (i.e. the mid‐range group) and the two extreme categories when examining governance quotient using a well‐known index. A positive relationship is found between discretionary accruals and the governance index. Strong governance appears to reduce the incidence of mid‐range firms engaging in accruals management. The least healthy and the most distressed companies have the weakest relationship with discretionary accruals. By contrast, mid‐range firms are more likely to resort to discretionary accruals. Practical implications - Non‐executive members of boards of directors are warned to be particularly vigilant about discretionary accruals with firms transitioning between healthy and high‐failure risk. Originality/value - The relationship between firms' financial health and discretionary accruals reveals an agency problem in credit markets with financially stressed firms. More attention is required on firms whose financial condition is uncertain. Also, it is documented that significant findings of importance to the earnings quality and corporate governance literature by documenting the role of corporate governance on discretionary accruals and financial status.

Suggested Citation

  • Sebahattin Demirkan & Harlan Platt, 2009. "Financial status, corporate governance quality, and the likelihood of managers using discretionary accruals," Accounting Research Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 22(2), pages 93-117, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:arjpps:v:22:y:2009:i:2:p:93-117
    DOI: 10.1108/10309610910987475
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/10309610910987475/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/10309610910987475/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/10309610910987475?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. Platt, Harlan D. & Platt, Marjorie B., 1991. "A note on the use of industry-relative ratios in bankruptcy prediction," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 15(6), pages 1183-1194, December.
    2. Keith L. Jones & Gopal V. Krishnan & Kevin D. Melendrez, 2008. "Do Models of Discretionary Accruals Detect Actual Cases of Fraudulent and Restated Earnings? An Empirical Analysis," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(2), pages 499-531, June.
    3. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1997. "A Survey of Corporate Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 737-783, June.
    4. Guay, WR & Kothari, SP & Watts, RL, 1996. "A market-based evaluation of discretionary accrual models," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34, pages 83-105.
    5. Del Guercio, Diane, 1996. "The distorting effect of the prudent-man laws on institutional equity investments," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 31-62, January.
    6. Ben Bernanke & Mark Gertler, 1990. "Financial Fragility and Economic Performance," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 105(1), pages 87-114.
    7. Mitchell A. Petersen, 2009. "Estimating Standard Errors in Finance Panel Data Sets: Comparing Approaches," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 435-480, January.
    8. Fields, Thomas D. & Lys, Thomas Z. & Vincent, Linda, 2001. "Empirical research on accounting choice," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 255-307, September.
    9. Merton, Robert C, 1974. "On the Pricing of Corporate Debt: The Risk Structure of Interest Rates," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 29(2), pages 449-470, May.
    10. Beaver, William & Lambert, Richard & Morse, Dale, 1980. "The information content of security prices," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 3-28, March.
    11. Jones, Jj, 1991. "Earnings Management During Import Relief Investigations," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 193-228.
    12. Ohlson, Ja, 1980. "Financial Ratios And The Probabilistic Prediction Of Bankruptcy," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 109-131.
    13. Chi, Li-Chiu & Tang, Tseng-Chung, 2007. "Impact of reorganization announcements on distressed-stock returns," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 749-767, September.
    14. Bowen, Robert M. & DuCharme, Larry & Shores, D., 1995. "Stakeholders' implicit claims and accounting method choice," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 255-295, December.
    15. Kasznik, R, 1999. "On the association between voluntary disclosure and earnings management," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(1), pages 57-81.
    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. 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.
    18. Dan S. Dhaliwal & Cristi A. Gleason & Lillian F. Mills, 2004. "Last†Chance Earnings Management: Using the Tax Expense to Meet Analysts' Forecasts," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(2), pages 431-459, June.
    19. Thomas Clarke, 2005. "Accounting for Enron: shareholder value and stakeholder interests," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(5), pages 598-612, September.
    20. David Ashton, 2005. "Discussion of Cost of Capital, Strategic Disclosures and Accounting Choice," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3‐4), pages 635-641, April.
    21. DeFond, Mark L. & Jiambalvo, James, 1994. "Debt covenant violation and manipulation of accruals," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1-2), pages 145-176, January.
    22. Grice, John Stephen & Ingram, Robert W., 2001. "Tests of the generalizability of Altman's bankruptcy prediction model," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 53-61, October.
    23. Subramanyam, K. R., 1996. "The pricing of discretionary accruals," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1-3), pages 249-281, October.
    24. Paul Mather & Alan Ramsay, 2006. "The Effects of Board Characteristics on Earnings Management around Australian CEO Changes," Accounting Research Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 19(2), pages 78-93, September.
    25. Holthausen, Robert W. & Larcker, David F. & Sloan, Richard G., 1995. "Annual bonus schemes and the manipulation of earnings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 29-74, February.
    26. Shumway, Tyler, 2001. "Forecasting Bankruptcy More Accurately: A Simple Hazard Model," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 74(1), pages 101-124, January.
    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. XiaoJiao Li & Ei Thuzar Than & Rizwan Ahmed & Maria Ishaque & Toan Luu Duc Huynh, 2023. "Gender diversity of boards and executives on real earnings management in the bull or bear period: Empirical evidence from China," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(3), pages 2753-2771, July.
    2. Ahsan Habib & Mabel D' Costa & Hedy Jiaying Huang & Md. Borhan Uddin Bhuiyan & Li Sun, 2020. "Determinants and consequences of financial distress: review of the empirical literature," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(S1), pages 1023-1075, April.

    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. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. Fields, Thomas D. & Lys, Thomas Z. & Vincent, Linda, 2001. "Empirical research on accounting choice," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 255-307, September.
    4. Zhijun Lin & Ming Liu & Carlos Noronha, 2016. "The Impact of Corporate Governance on Informative Earnings Management in the Chinese Market," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 52(3), pages 568-609, September.
    5. Fargher, Neil & Wee, Marvin, 2019. "The impact of Ball and Brown (1968) on generations of research," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 55-72.
    6. Ping-Sheng Koh, 2005. "Institutional Ownership and Income Smoothing: Australian Evidence," Accounting Research Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 18(2), pages 93-110, September.
    7. Susana Callao & José I. Jarne & David Wróblewski, 2019. "A New Perspective on Earnings Management in Emerging European Countries: Investigation on Environmental Factors that Explain Differences in Earnings Management," Journal of Accounting, Business and Finance Research, Scientific Publishing Institute, vol. 7(2), pages 59-81.
    8. Rainsbury, Elizabeth A. & Bradbury, Michael & Cahan, Steven F., 2009. "The impact of audit committee quality on financial reporting quality and audit fees," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 20-33.
    9. Vander Bauwhede, Heidi & Willekens, Marleen & Gaeremynck, Ann, 2003. "Audit firm size, public ownership, and firms' discretionary accruals management," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 1-22.
    10. 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).
    11. Chia-Ling Chao & Shwu-Min Horng, 2013. "Asset write-offs discretion and accruals management in Taiwan: the role of corporate governance," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 41-74, January.
    12. Alves, Sandra, 2012. "Executive stock options and earnings management in the portuguese listed companies," Revista de Contabilidad - Spanish Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 211-235.
    13. Karampinis, Nikolaos I. & Hevas, Dimosthenis L., 2013. "Effects of IFRS Adoption on Tax-induced Incentives for Financial Earnings Management: Evidence from Greece," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 218-247.
    14. Maureen F. McNichols & Stephen R. Stubben, 2018. "Research Design Issues in Studies Using Discretionary Accruals," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 54(2), pages 227-246, June.
    15. Roychowdhury, Sugata, 2006. "Earnings management through real activities manipulation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 335-370, December.
    16. 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.
    17. Joanna Lizińska & Leszek Czapiewski, 2018. "Towards Economic Corporate Sustainability in Reporting: What Does Earnings Management around Equity Offerings Mean for Long-Term Performance?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-23, November.
    18. 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.
    19. Ferrer García, Cristina & Laínez Gadea, José Antonio, 2013. "Detectando diferencias en la medición de la calidad del resultado: evidencia empírica para empresas españolas || Detecting Differences on the Earnings Quality Measurement: Empirical Evidence on Spanis," Revista de Métodos Cuantitativos para la Economía y la Empresa = Journal of Quantitative Methods for Economics and Business Administration, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Quantitative Methods for Economics and Business Administration, vol. 16(1), pages 5-28, December.
    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.

    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:eme:arjpps:v:22:y:2009:i:2:p:93-117. 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: Emerald Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.