Legal origin, economic freedom and earnings management practices: MENA evidence

Q4 Economics, Econometrics and Finance

International Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Performance Evaluation Pub Date : 2015-12-30 DOI:10.1504/IJAAPE.2016.073892

Kais Baatour, H. B. Othman

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引用次数: 7

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of the legal system and economic freedom on earnings management practices through both real earnings management and accruals manipulation. Based on Roychowdhury (2006), we examine real earnings management through abnormal cash flow from operations, abnormal discretionary expenses and abnormal production costs. We use the cross-sectional Jones model to approximate accrual-based earnings management. Based on a sample of 1,569 firm-year observations across 12 Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) countries over 2000-2008, we find evidence that managers in countries with code law legal origin are more likely to engage in real earnings management. However, no significant association is found between the origin of the legal system and accruals manipulation. We find also no association between economic freedom and real earnings management. Moreover, our results indicate that accrual-based earnings management is positively associated with the level of economic freedom.

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法律渊源、经济自由和盈余管理实践:中东和北非证据

本文从实际盈余管理和应计项目操纵两方面考察了法律制度和经济自由对盈余管理实践的影响。基于Roychowdhury(2006)，我们通过异常的经营现金流、异常的可自由支配费用和异常的生产成本来检验真实盈余管理。我们使用横截面琼斯模型来近似基于权责发生制的盈余管理。根据2000-2008年12个中东和北非(MENA)国家的1569个公司年度观察样本，我们发现有证据表明，具有法典法律起源的国家的管理人员更有可能从事实际盈余管理。然而，在法律制度的起源和应计项目操纵之间没有发现显著的关联。我们也发现经济自由和实际盈余管理之间没有关联。此外，我们的研究结果表明，基于权责发生制的盈余管理与经济自由水平呈正相关。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

International Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Performance Evaluation Economics, Econometrics and Finance-Finance

CiteScore

0.70

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： IJAAPE publishes original scholarly papers across the whole spectrum of: financial accounting, managerial accounting, accounting education, auditing, taxation, public sector accounting, capital market and accounting, accounting information systems, performance evaluation, corporate governance, ethics, and financial management. All methodologies, such as analytical, empirical, behavioural, surveys, and case studies are welcome. IJAAPE encourages contributions especially from emerging markets and economies in transition and studies whose results are applicable across nation states or capable of being adapted to the different accounting and business environments.