IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/futbus/v8y2022i1d10.1186_s43093-022-00173-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Board of directors and earnings manipulation: evidence from regulatory change

Author

Listed:
  • Sattar Khan

    (Institute of Management Sciences)

  • Yasir Kamal

    (Institute of Management Sciences)

  • Muhammad Abbas

    (Sarhad University of Science and Information Technology)

  • Shahid Hussain

    (National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST))

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of the board of directors’ related clauses such as independence, female director, CEO Duality and the expertise of director included in the Code of Corporate Governance 2017 (CCG-2017) on earnings management with the pre- and post-CCG-2017 analysis. This study has used the sample of 323 non-financial listed firms of the Pakistan Stock Exchange from 2015 to 2019. Data were manually collected from companies’ annual reports, and two proxies of earnings management have used: one is discretionary accruals and the other is real activity manipulation. The results of the study show that as compared to the pre-period of CCG-2017 in the post-period of CCG-2017 board independence, expertise and female inclusion has increased significantly. Moreover, board independence and financially expert directors are negatively related to discretionary accruals, while there is a positive relationship of female directors with discretionary accruals, which is also same for real activity manipulation. The findings also show that there is no relationship of board independence/outside directors and expert directors with real activity manipulation. This study recommended the CCG-2017 reforms introduced by the regulator. Moreover, we recommend that the regulator needs to augment the authentic independence of independent/outside directors in listed firms (concentrated ownership context) of Pakistan. This study adds its part in the corporate governance literature by focusing board attributes with regulatory reforms on earnings manipulation, which is lacking in the related literature in general and in Pakistan an emerging economy in particular.

Suggested Citation

  • Sattar Khan & Yasir Kamal & Muhammad Abbas & Shahid Hussain, 2022. "Board of directors and earnings manipulation: evidence from regulatory change," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 1-22, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:futbus:v:8:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1186_s43093-022-00173-1
    DOI: 10.1186/s43093-022-00173-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1186/s43093-022-00173-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1186/s43093-022-00173-1?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. Harris, Oneil & Karl, J. Bradley & Lawrence, Ericka, 2019. "CEO compensation and earnings management: Does gender really matters?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 1-14.
    2. Jones, Jj, 1991. "Earnings Management During Import Relief Investigations," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 193-228.
    3. Aloke Ghosh & Antonio Marra & Doocheol Moon, 2010. "Corporate Boards, Audit Committees, and Earnings Management: Pre‐ and Post‐SOX Evidence," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(9‐10), pages 1145-1176, November.
    4. Muhammad Usman & Jacinta Nwachukwu & Ernest Ezeani, 2022. "The impact of board characteristics on the extent of earnings management: conditional evidence from quantile regressions," International Journal of Accounting & Information Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 30(5), pages 600-616, September.
    5. Roychowdhury, Sugata, 2006. "Earnings management through real activities manipulation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 335-370, December.
    6. Kalyani Mulchandani & Ketan Mulchandani & Sahil Singh Jasrotia, 2021. "Does gender diversity on firm’s board affect dividend payouts? Evidence from India," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 1-11, December.
    7. repec:lje:journl:v:20:y:2015:i:1:p:135-155 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Wing Him Yeung & Camillo Lento, 2020. "Earnings opacity and corporate governance for Chinese listed firms: the role of the board and external auditors," Asian Review of Accounting, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 28(4), pages 487-515, June.
    9. Jerry Sun & Guoping Liu & George Lan, 2011. "Does Female Directorship on Independent Audit Committees Constrain Earnings Management?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 99(3), pages 369-382, March.
    10. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    11. 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.
    12. Yung-Chuan Lee, 2013. "Can Independent Directors Improve the Quality of Earnings? Evidence from Taiwan," Advances in Management and Applied Economics, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 3(3), pages 1-4.
    13. Charbel Salloum & Elie Bouri & Christophe Schmitt, 2013. "Board of directors and financial performance in the Middle East," International Journal of Business Performance Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 14(3), pages 274-292.
    14. 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.
    15. Sattar Khan & Yasir Kamal & Azhar Khan & Arif Hussain & Muhammad Rafiq & Maryam Bibi & Syed Fahad Ali Shah & Zahir Shah & Muhammad Khan, 2020. "The Impact of Ownership Types on the Value of Discretionary Accruals: What is the Role of Audit Committee? Evidence from Pakistan," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 10(4), pages 141-150.
    16. Klein, April, 2002. "Audit committee, board of director characteristics, and earnings management," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 375-400, August.
    17. Xie, Biao & Davidson, Wallace III & DaDalt, Peter J., 2003. "Earnings management and corporate governance: the role of the board and the audit committee," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 295-316, June.
    18. Su, Chi-Wei & Rizvi, Syed Kumail Abbas & Naqvi, Bushra & Mirza, Nawazish & Umar, Muhammad, 2022. "COVID19: A blessing in disguise for European stock markets?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    19. Justin Mindzak & Tao Zeng, 2018. "The impact of pyramid ownership on earnings management," Asian Review of Accounting, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 26(2), pages 208-224, May.
    20. Tolossa Fufa Guluma, 2021. "The impact of corporate governance measures on firm performance: the influences of managerial overconfidence," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 1-18, December.
    21. Aggarwal, Raj & Jindal, Varun & Seth, Rama, 2019. "Board diversity and firm performance: The role of business group affiliation," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 1-1.
    22. K.V. Peasnell & P.F. Pope & S. Young, 2005. "Board Monitoring and Earnings Management: Do Outside Directors Influence Abnormal Accruals?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(7‐8), pages 1311-1346, September.
    23. Charbel Salloum & Nehme Azoury, 2012. "Corporate Governance and Firms in Financial Distress: Evidence from a Middle Eastern Country," Post-Print hal-01380791, HAL.
    24. Zheng Qiao & Ken Y. Chen & Shengmin Hung, 2018. "Professionals inside the board room: accounting expertise of directors and dividend policy," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(56), pages 6100-6111, December.
    25. Gul, Ferdinand A. & Srinidhi, Bin & Ng, Anthony C., 2011. "Does board gender diversity improve the informativeness of stock prices?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 314-338, April.
    26. Terry A. Baker & Thomas J. Lopez & Austin L. Reitenga & George W. Ruch, 2019. "The influence of CEO and CFO power on accruals and real earnings management," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 52(1), pages 325-345, January.
    27. K.V. Peasnell & P.F. Pope & S. Young, 2005. "Board Monitoring and Earnings Management: Do Outside Directors Influence Abnormal Accruals?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(7-8), pages 1311-1346.
    28. Sattar Khan & Yasir Kamal & Shahid Hussain & Muhammad Abbas, 2022. "Corporate governance looking back to look forward in Pakistan: a review, synthesis and future research agenda," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 1-32, December.
    29. Frerich Buchholz & Kerstin Lopatta & Karen Maas, 2020. "The Deliberate Engagement of Narcissistic CEOs in Earnings Management," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(4), pages 663-686, December.
    30. Yeut Hong Tham & Nigar Sultana & Harjinder Singh & Ross Taplin, 2019. "Busy boards and earnings management – an Australian perspective," Asian Review of Accounting, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 27(3), pages 464-486, June.
    31. Aysha S. Latif & Fahad Abdullah, 2015. "The Effectiveness of Corporate Governance in Constraining Earnings Management in Pakistan," Lahore Journal of Economics, Department of Economics, The Lahore School of Economics, vol. 20(1), pages 135-155, Jan-June.
    32. Ran Tao & Chi-Wei Su & Tanzeela Yaqoob & Mir Hammal, 2022. "Do financial and non-financial stocks hedge against lockdown in Covid-19? An event study analysis," Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(1), pages 2405-2426, December.
    33. Charbel Salloum & Nehme Azoury, 2012. "Corporate governance and firms in financial distress: evidence from a Middle Eastern country," International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 7(1), pages 1-17.
    34. Fama, Eugene F & Jensen, Michael C, 1983. "Separation of Ownership and Control," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(2), pages 301-325, June.
    35. Sattar Khan & Yasir Kamal, 2022. "Family business groups and earnings manipulation: An emerging economy perspective," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(1), pages 2017100-201, December.
    36. Jamel Chouaibi & Moez Harres & Najet Ben Brahim, 2018. "The Effect of Board Director’s Characteristics on Real Earnings Management: Tunisian-Listed Firms," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 9(3), pages 999-1013, September.
    37. Alaa Mansour Zalata & Collins G. Ntim & Mostafa Hussien Alsohagy & John Malagila, 2022. "Gender diversity and earnings management: the case of female directors with financial background," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 101-136, 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. Manasi Gokhale & Deepa Pillai, 2024. "Firm level and country level determinants of earnings management in emerging economies: a systematic framework-based review," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 1-16, 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. Ali Meftah Gerged & Khaldoon Albitar & Lara Al‐Haddad, 2023. "Corporate environmental disclosure and earnings management—The moderating role of corporate governance structures," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(3), pages 2789-2810, July.
    2. Zalata, Alaa Mansour & Tauringana, Venancio & Tingbani, Ishmael, 2018. "Audit committee financial expertise, gender, and earnings management: Does gender of the financial expert matter?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 170-183.
    3. Nguyen, Quynh & Kim, Maria H. & Ali, Searat, 2024. "Corporate governance and earnings management: Evidence from Vietnamese listed firms," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(PA), pages 775-801.
    4. Wan Razazila Wan Abdullah & Enny Nurdin Sutan Maruhun & Masetah Ahmad Tarmizi & Liyana Ab. Rahman, 2018. "Mitigating Earnings Management: Adoption of IFRS and Corporate Governance Practices in Malaysia," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 8(2), pages 760-772, February.
    5. Frode Kjærland & Ane Tolnes Haugdal & Anna Søndergaard & Anne Vågslid, 2020. "Corporate Governance and Earnings Management in a Nordic Perspective: Evidence from the Oslo Stock Exchange," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-18, October.
    6. Benjamin T. Albersmann & Daniela Hohenfels, 2017. "Audit Committees and Earnings Management – Evidence from the German Two-Tier Board System," Schmalenbach Business Review, Springer;Schmalenbach-Gesellschaft, vol. 18(2), pages 147-178, May.
    7. García Lara, Juan Manuel & García Osma, Beatriz & Mora, Araceli & Scapin, Mariano, 2017. "The monitoring role of female directors over accounting quality," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 651-668.
    8. Nicolas Vlaminck & Gerrit Sarens, 2015. "The relationship between audit committee characteristics and financial statement quality: evidence from Belgium," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 19(1), pages 145-166, February.
    9. Hussein A. Abdou & Nouran N. Ellelly & Ahmed A. Elamer & Khaled Hussainey & Hassan Yazdifar, 2021. "Corporate governance and earnings management nexus: Evidence from the UK and Egypt using neural networks," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 6281-6311, October.
    10. Nguyen Thi Hoa Hong & Nguyen Thai Anh & Nguyen Tran Viet Hoang & Do Nhat Minh, 2023. "Corporate governance, external financing, and earnings management: new evidence from an emerging market," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 1-22, December.
    11. Abdullah Alsaadi, 2021. "Can Inclusion in Religious Index Membership Mitigate Earnings Management?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(2), pages 333-354, March.
    12. 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.
    13. Zhi‐Yuan Feng & Hua‐Wei Huang, 2021. "Corporate governance and earnings management: A quantile regression approach," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 5056-5072, October.
    14. Pierre Bonetti & Antonio Parbonetti & Michel Magnan, 2013. "The Influence of Country- and Firm-Level Governance on Financial Reporting Quality: Revisiting the Evidence," CIRANO Working Papers 2013s-03, CIRANO.
    15. Ahsan Habib & Md. Borhan Uddin Bhuiyan, 2016. "Problem directors on the audit committee and financial reporting quality," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(2), pages 121-144, February.
    16. Eman F. Attia & Tariq H. Ismail & Messaoud Mehafdi, 2022. "Impact of board of directors attributes on real-based earnings management: further evidence from Egypt," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 1-22, December.
    17. Chanchal Chatterjee, 2020. "Board Quality and Earnings Management: Evidence from India," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 21(5), pages 1302-1324, October.
    18. Hanh Thi My Le & Qian Long Kweh & Irene Wei Kiong Ting & Mohammad Nourani, 2022. "CEO power and earnings management: Dual roles of foreign shareholders in Vietnamese listed companies," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(1), pages 1240-1256, January.
    19. Alexandre Garel & Jose Martin-Flores & Arthur Petit-Romec & Ayesha Scott, 2021. "Institutional investor distraction and earnings management," Post-Print hal-03096196, HAL.
    20. Mohamed Khalil & Aydin Ozkan, 2016. "Board Independence, Audit Quality and Earnings Management: Evidence from Egypt," Journal of Emerging Market Finance, Institute for Financial Management and Research, vol. 15(1), pages 84-118, April.

    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:spr:futbus:v:8:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1186_s43093-022-00173-1. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.