This study examines the relation of corporate earnings management to firm size. We observe that firm size plays differing roles in earnings management: Small-sized firms engage in more earnings management to avoid reporting losses than largeor medium-sized firms. On the other hand, largeand medium-sized firms exhibit more aggressive earnings management to avoid reporting earnings decreases than...

This Study seeks to scrutinize whether surplus free cash flow is correlated with earnings management, if auditor size moderates this relationship. To do so, modified Jones discretionary accrual model (1995) and audit firm size are used as audit quality indicator to measure earnings management. The research hypotheses are built upon a sample of 103 companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange d...

The purpose of this study is to examine the possible impact of value systems on earnings management in France, Tunisia and Canada. Cultural values include power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, masculinity and long-term orientation. The cross-cultural study uses the method of structural equations trough LISREL approach. The examination covers the period between 2003 and 2009. Fin...

This study investigates the relationship between earnings management and equity liquidity, positing that as incentives arise for the manipulation of firm performance through earnings management (due partly to conflicts of interest between firm insiders and outsiders), greater earnings management may signal higher adverse selection costs. If earnings manipulation reveals aggressive accounting pr...

Previous literature studying analysts’ earnings forecasts examines their properties without considering firms’ response to analysts’ forecasts. This study improves upon previous research by considering firms’ earnings management with respect to analysts’ forecasts. I hypothesize that analysts understand firms’ earnings management practices, and incorporate firms’ expected behavior into their fo...

Earnings non-synchronicity captures the extent to which firm-specific factors determine a firm’s earnings, and has important implications to a firm’s information environment. Prior research shows that high earnings non-synchronicity impedes corporate outsiders’ information processing. Given managers generally possess superior information about their firms’ unique operating and reporting strateg...

We document that firms’ management of accounting earnings increased steadily from 1987 until the passage of the Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX), with a significant increase during the period prior to SOX, followed by a significant decline after passage of SOX. However, the increase in earnings management preceding SOX was primarily in poorly performing industries. We also show that the informativeness...