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The Effects of Taxes, Agency Costs and Information Asymmetry on Earnings Management: A Comparison of Public and Private Firms

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  • Anne Beatty

    (Pennsylvania State University)

  • David G. Harris

    (Syracuse University)

Abstract

The realization of securities gains and losses to manage earnings in publicly-traded bank holding companies has been documented in a large number of studies, but very little is known about why managers engage in this behavior. Two possible explanations for earnings management put forth by Warfield, Wild, and Wild (1995) are that managers engage in this behavior either to circumvent accounting-based contracts designed to mitigate agency problems, or to reduce information asymmetry. We compare public and private banks' realizations of securities gains and losses to determine how their earnings management differs. We find that public banks consistently engage in more earnings management than private banks, and that the portion of their current period securities gains and losses attributable to earnings management is more positively associated with next period's earnings before securities gains and losses. These findings are consistent with earnings management occurring due to greater information asymmetry in public firms, and suggest that earnings management may not necessarily lead to the erosion in the quality of earnings suggested by Levitt (1998).

Suggested Citation

  • Anne Beatty & David G. Harris, 1999. "The Effects of Taxes, Agency Costs and Information Asymmetry on Earnings Management: A Comparison of Public and Private Firms," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 4(3), pages 299-326, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:reaccs:v:4:y:1999:i:3:d:10.1023_a:1009642403312
    DOI: 10.1023/A:1009642403312
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Collins, Jh & Shackelford, Da & Wahlen, Jm, 1995. "Bank Differences In The Coordination Of Regulatory Capital, Earnings, And Taxes," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(2), pages 263-291.
    2. Collins, Julie H. & Geisler, Greg G. & Shackelford, Douglas A., 1997. "The effects of taxes, regulation, earnings, and organizational form on life insurers' investment portfolio realizations," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 337-361, December.
    3. Ahmed, Anwer S. & Takeda, Carolyn, 1995. "Stock market valuation of gains and losses on commercial banks' investment securities An empirical analysis," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 207-225, September.
    4. Warfield, Terry D. & Wild, John J. & Wild, Kenneth L., 1995. "Managerial ownership, accounting choices, and informativeness of earnings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 61-91, July.
    5. Scholes, Myron S & Wilson, G Peter & Wolfson, Mark A, 1990. "Tax Planning, Regulatory Capital Planning, and Financial Reporting Strategy for Commercial Banks," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 3(4), pages 625-650.
    6. Beaver, William H. & Engel, Ellen E., 1996. "Discretionary behavior with respect to allowances for loan losses and the behavior of security prices," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1-3), pages 177-206, October.
    7. Moyer, Susan E., 1990. "Capital adequacy ratio regulations and accounting choices in commercial banks," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 123-154, July.
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