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Corporate Governance, Accounting Conservatism, and Manipulation

Author

Listed:
  • Judson Caskey

    (UCLA Anderson School of Management, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90024)

  • Volker Laux

    (McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712)

Abstract

We develop a model to analyze how board governance affects firms’ financial reporting choices and managers’ incentives to manipulate accounting reports. In our setting, ceteris paribus, conservative accounting is desirable because it allows the board of directors to better oversee the firm’s investment decisions. This feature of conservatism, however, causes the manager to manipulate the accounting system to mislead the board and distort its decisions. Effective reporting oversight curtails managers’ ability to manipulate, which increases the benefits of conservative accounting and simultaneously reduces its costs. Our model predicts that stronger reporting oversight leads to greater accounting conservatism, manipulation, and investment efficiency. This paper was accepted by Mary Barth, accounting .

Suggested Citation

  • Judson Caskey & Volker Laux, 2017. "Corporate Governance, Accounting Conservatism, and Manipulation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(2), pages 424-437, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:63:y:2017:i:2:p:424-437
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2015.2341
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Lu, Yun & Ntim, Collins G. & Zhang, Qingjing & Li, Pingli, 2022. "Board of directors’ attributes and corporate outcomes: A systematic literature review and future research agenda," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    3. Ha, Joohyung & Feng, Mingming, 2018. "Conditional conservatism and labor investment efficiency," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 143-163.
    4. Felix Zhiyu Feng & Wenyu Wang & Yufeng Wu & Gaoqing Zhang, 2023. "Ignorance Is Bliss: The Screening Effect of (Noisy) Information," Papers 2302.11128, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2023.
    5. Laux, Volker & Ray, Korok, 2020. "Effects of accounting conservatism on investment efficiency and innovation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1).
    6. Madan Lal Bhasin, 2016. "Satyam’s Manipulative Accounting Methodology Unveiled: An Experience of an Asian Economy," International Journal of Business and Social Research, MIR Center for Socio-Economic Research, vol. 6(12), pages 35-54, December.
    7. Sebastian Kronenberger & Volker Laux, 2022. "Conservative Accounting, Audit Quality, and Litigation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(3), pages 2349-2362, March.
    8. Abbas Ali Daryaei & Yasin Fattahi & Davood Askarany & Saeed Askary & Mahdad Mollazamani, 2022. "Accounting Comparability, Conservatism, Executive Compensation-Performance, and Information Quality," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-28, October.
    9. Feng Chen & Qingyuan Li & Li Xu, 2021. "Universal demand laws and the monitoring demand for accounting conservatism," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(7-8), pages 1246-1289, July.
    10. Francis, Bill B. & Hasan, Iftekhar & Hovakimian, Gayane & Sharma, Zenu, 2023. "Gender pay gap in American CFOs: Theory and evidence," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    11. Henry L. Friedman & Mirko S. Heinle, 2016. "Lobbying and Uniform Disclosure Regulation," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(3), pages 863-893, June.
    12. Madan Lal Bhasin, 2016. "Accounting Manipulation Practices in Financial Statements: An Experience of an Asian Economy," International Journal of Economics and Financial Research, Academic Research Publishing Group, vol. 2(11), pages 199-214, 11-2016.
    13. Tri Tri Nguyen & Chau Minh Duong & Nguyet Thi Minh Nguyen & Hung Quang Bui, 2020. "Accounting conservatism and banking expertise on board of directors," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 501-539, August.
    14. Sonia Yasin & Muhammad Irfan & Muhammad Shaukat Malik & Fasiha Nargis, 2022. "The Relationship between Executive Remuneration and Organizations Efficiency," Journal of Policy Research (JPR), Research Foundation for Humanity (RFH), vol. 8(3), pages 59-70, December.
    15. Yanmin Gao & Alfred Wagenhofer, 2021. "Board monitoring efficiency and the value of conservative accounting," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 25(2), pages 321-345, June.
    16. Cui, Xin & Ma, Tingting & Xie, Xiaochen & Goodell, John W., 2023. "Uncertainty of uncertainty and accounting conservatism," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).

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