Restricted Stock Incentive Unlocking Conditions and Earnings Management—A Case Study of Haier Smart Home

Equity incentives are widely used in talent incentives of listed companies. Restricted stocks have become the choice of many enterprises due to the strong constraint of “performance-based unlocking standards”, but single financial unlocking conditions tend to induce the management’s earnings management behavior. Taking Haier Smart Home, a leading enterprise in the smart home industry, as the research object, this paper uses a case analysis method, combined with principal-agent theory and incentive contract design theory, to explore the relevance and economic consequences of unlocking conditions and earnings management behavior. The study found that: Haier Smart Home equity incentive plan takes financial indicators such as net profit growth rate and return on equity as the core unlocking conditions, plus classified and hierarchical management and high threshold performance requirements, to promote the steady growth of the company’s profitability, cash flow and sales revenue at the financial level, and significantly improve the retention rate of core employees, stimulate innovation vitality and promote department collaboration at the non-financial level; However, to meet the unlocking conditions, the company has earnings management behavior, the impact of industry competition and the expected stable demand of the capital market; Earnings management can optimize the financial image and market trust in the short term, and may weaken the quality of accounting information and core innovation ability in the long term. This study provides a reference for listed companies to optimize incentive contract design and balance short-term incentive effects with long-term development goals.