A Simple Approach to Better Distinguish Real Earnings Manipulation from Strategy Changes

59 Pages Posted: 13 Jun 2016 Last revised: 15 Mar 2022

See all articles by Theodore E. Christensen

Theodore E. Christensen

University of Georgia - J.M. Tull School of Accounting; University of Georgia

Adrienna A. Huffman

The Brattle Group

Melissa F. Lewis-Western

Brigham Young University - Marriott School of Business

Kristen Valentine

University of Georgia

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: April 16, 2020

Abstract

Researchers typically infer real earnings management when a firm’s operating and investing activities differ from industry norms. A significant problem with classifying deviations from industry averages as earnings management is that companies can change their operating and investing decisions for strategic business reasons rather than to mislead stakeholders. We systematically evaluate existing measures and develop a comprehensive real activities measure to better capture earnings manipulation using principal components analysis. Our measure reflects (1) deviations from industry averages across multiple activities and (2) other signals of manipulation. This approach is promising because, although there are many sources of abnormal activities, manipulation is more likely the cause when managers engage in multiple income-increasing abnormal activities that coincide with other signals that indicate an elevated risk of manipulation. This simple approach results in a metric that associates negatively with future operating performance and earnings persistence, yields high-power tests, and captures manipulation reasonably well across most life-cycle stages. Importantly, this approach performs better than the standard real earnings management metrics across all dimensions. Also, because this innovation does not require a long time-series nor rely on future period realizations for classification, it can be useful in more research settings than other recent innovations in the literature.

Keywords: real earnings management, earnings management, financial reporting quality, Principal Components Analysis

Suggested Citation

Christensen, Theodore E. and Huffman, Adrienna A. and Lewis-Western, Melissa Fay and Valentine, Kristen, A Simple Approach to Better Distinguish Real Earnings Manipulation from Strategy Changes (April 16, 2020). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2793838 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2793838

Theodore E. Christensen

University of Georgia - J.M. Tull School of Accounting ( email )

Athens, GA 30602
United States

University of Georgia ( email )

Athens, GA
United States

Adrienna A. Huffman (Contact Author)

The Brattle Group ( email )

San Francisco, CA 9133
United States

Melissa Fay Lewis-Western

Brigham Young University - Marriott School of Business ( email )

Provo, UT 84602
United States
801-703-8426 (Phone)

Kristen Valentine

University of Georgia ( email )

Athens, GA 30602
United States

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