Business Commons^™

Earnings Management Around Mergers And Acquisitions, Eugenie Ann Ardoin Goodwin

Doctoral Dissertations

Earnings management has become a topic of interest when trying to explain anomalies in company stock performance following corporate events such as equity offerings and mergers. If managers are trying to manipulate earnings upward to increase stock value before a merger to achieve a better exchange ratio at acquisition announcement, they may use discretion in accruals to inflate earnings and/or reduce spending in research and development prior to the announcement. Literature results are mixed as to whether firms engage in opportunistic earnings management using discretionary accruals before acquisition announcement and if this manipulation has an impact on stock performance post-announcement. …