This paper investigates the use of earnings management by cooperatives to avoid reporting losses or earnings decreases. Based on a unique dataset comprising quarterly financial statements reported by 66 Brazilian agricultural cooperatives between 2000 and 2015, our results show that cooperatives...

We study the causal effects of short selling on real earnings management by exploiting an exogenous shock to short selling costs under the pilot program of Regulation SHO. We find the removal of short selling constraints leads to a reduction of real earnings management in pilot firms relative to...

This paper examines whether firms that act socially responsible and have favourable board characteristics engage in a more transparent financial reporting. In particular, the first question is whether firms with high corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagement exhibit less earnings...

The aim of this paper is to explain relationship between earning management, corporate governance and managerial optimism through the governance characteristics that are board of directors such as independence, duality and size and ownership structure such as managerial participation, block...

The adoption of the international financial reporting standard (IFRS) has become an important research topic and received considerable attention from many empirical researchers worldwide. However, to the best of the authors' knowledge, it's one of the very few efforts to examine the relationship...

This study explores an interesting phenomenon in which some acquirers buy and own targets for a relatively short period of time and then “flip” or resell these targets to other companies for profit. We show that acquisition flippers engage in earnings management to improve the appeal of...

We test whether earnings management (like a virus) spreads from firm to firm via board connections of shared directors (virus carriers). We use earnings restatements to identify firms that managed earnings and to identify the period when these firms manipulated earnings. We consider firms as...

In this paper we explore the role of accruals in determining “earnings quality” from both a stewardship and a valuation perspective. We show that the valuation and stewardship qualities of accrual accounting are maximized by either an “aggressive” or a “conservative” accrual...

The empirical corporate finance literature claims that better corporate governance constrains earnings management, while others argue that the unique legal and reporting structure of REITs may reduce the need for such internal corporate governance. Using a sample of publicly traded REITs for the...

Recent corporate governance failures have prompted regulators and legislators to introduce new rules and legislation aimed at improving corporate governance. In this paper, I highlight a potential unintended consequence of such actions by showing that increasing oversight may sometimes be the...