Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the rounding-up in reported income numbers of Indian companies by examining the evidence of unusual occurrence of zero and nine in reported income numbers such as profit after tax and earnings per share (EPS). It also examines such rounding-up patterns...

We study a principal-agent model in which the agent can provide ex post additional relevant information regarding his performance. In particular, he can provide a legitimate excuse, that is, evidence that a poor result is only due to factors outside his control. However, building a convincing...