The Covid-19 outbreak, corporate financial distress and earnings management

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Název: The Covid-19 outbreak, corporate financial distress and earnings management
Autoři: Aljughaiman AA, Nguyen HT, Trinh VQ, Du A
Zdroj: Int Rev Financ Anal
Informace o vydavateli: Elsevier BV, 2023.
Rok vydání: 2023
Témata: Article, 3. Good health
Popis: This study explores the association between the Covid-19 outbreak, corporate financial distress and earnings management practices in China. We investigate whether firms took advantage of the downturn in economic conditions during the pandemic to adjust their earnings using different earnings management techniques. Utilising a sample of 1832 listed firms and underlying theoretical frameworks (i.e., positive accounting and signalling theory), we find that firms were more inclined to manage earnings during the pandemic period. They favoured using the accrual-based rather than the real activity-based earnings management technique. We also find that firms engaged more in income-increasing practices in the shadow of the outbreak. In addition, our results further demonstrate that financially distressed firms were involved in earnings management, particularly accrual-based earnings management. However, compared to privately-owned firms, state-owned enterprises seem to be involved less in earnings management during the Covid-19 pandemic. Findings from this study raise some concerns for policymakers about the credibility of financial reporting information during Covid-19.
Druh dokumentu: Article
Other literature type
Jazyk: English
ISSN: 1057-5219
DOI: 10.1016/j.irfa.2023.102675
Přístupová URL adresa: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37144179
Rights: Elsevier TDM
Přístupové číslo: edsair.doi.dedup.....bb8d7dbc4461cf2bad775a3b73f90d8a
Databáze: OpenAIRE
Popis
Abstrakt:This study explores the association between the Covid-19 outbreak, corporate financial distress and earnings management practices in China. We investigate whether firms took advantage of the downturn in economic conditions during the pandemic to adjust their earnings using different earnings management techniques. Utilising a sample of 1832 listed firms and underlying theoretical frameworks (i.e., positive accounting and signalling theory), we find that firms were more inclined to manage earnings during the pandemic period. They favoured using the accrual-based rather than the real activity-based earnings management technique. We also find that firms engaged more in income-increasing practices in the shadow of the outbreak. In addition, our results further demonstrate that financially distressed firms were involved in earnings management, particularly accrual-based earnings management. However, compared to privately-owned firms, state-owned enterprises seem to be involved less in earnings management during the Covid-19 pandemic. Findings from this study raise some concerns for policymakers about the credibility of financial reporting information during Covid-19.
ISSN:10575219
DOI:10.1016/j.irfa.2023.102675