The Role of Board Characteristics as a Control Mechanism of Earnings Management : A Study of Select Indian Service Sector Companies

This paper examines the effect of three corporate governance attributes (board size, board independence and CEO/chairman duality) on the practice of earnings management through discretionary accruals, for a sample of 12 Indian service sector firms from software and telecom service providing industries. The results provide evidence of a significant positive relationship between presence of earnings management practices and board size, a negative relationship with absence of CEO duality, and no relationship with board independence. The implication is that the board size should be limited to a considerable extent and there should be separation of CEO and chairman position, i.e., absence of CEO duality, to restrict earnings management practices. The results are consistent with those of the prior studies