Business Commons^™

The Relationship Between Institutional Ownership And Firm Performance, Javeria Farooqi

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

In the past three decades, the presence of institutional investors has increased 33% in the equity market. The main goal of this dissertation is to study the relationship between institutional ownership and firm performance. I examine how the level institutional investors' involvement in composing their own portfolio, as oppose to replicating their portfolio, impacts their level of monitoring and disciplining their portfolio firms. Specifically, I investigate the relationship between institutional ownership and firms' operating efficiency, earnings management and cost of debt.

In Chapter II, I explore the relationship between institutional ownership and firms' operating efficiency. I use the data envelopment …

Earnings Management And Its Implications, Michael Akers, Don Giacomino, Jodi L. Gissel

Michael D. Akers

In the wake of continuing, highly publicized financial frauds and failures, the accounting profession has placed renewed emphasis on issues related to earnings management and earnings quality. Staff Accounting Bulletin 101, Revenue Recognition in Financial Statements, which was issued in December 1999 in response to the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission report, illustrates the importance of earnings to the SEC. The SEC and the public are demanding greater assurance about the quality of earnings. Notwithstanding the grave threat that abusive earnings-management practices pose to the reliability and accuracy of financial statements, the accounting profession may be reluctant …

Earnings Management Among Firms During The Pre-Sec Era: A Benford's Law Analysis, Jeffrey Archambault, Marie E. Archambault

Jeffrey Archambault

This paper examines the existence of financial statement manipulation in the U.S. during a time period when many of the current motivations did not exist. The study looks for types of manipulations that would be motivated by the pre-SEC operating environment. To examine this issue, a sample of U.S. firms from the 1915 Moody's Analyses of Investments is divided into industrial firms, railroads, and utilities. The railroad and utility companies faced rate regulatiori during this time period, providing incentives to manipulate the financial reports so as to maximize the rate received. Industrial firms were not regulated. These companies wanted to …

Earnings Management Among Firms During The Pre-Sec Era: A Benford's Law Analysis, Jeffrey Archambault, Marie E. Archambault

Marie E. Archambault

This paper examines the existence of financial statement manipulation in the U.S. during a time period when many of the current motivations did not exist. The study looks for types of manipulations that would be motivated by the pre-SEC operating environment. To examine this issue, a sample of U.S. firms from the 1915 Moody's Analyses of Investments is divided into industrial firms, railroads, and utilities. The railroad and utility companies faced rate regulatiori during this time period, providing incentives to manipulate the financial reports so as to maximize the rate received. Industrial firms were not regulated. These companies wanted to …

Earnings Management Constraints: An Examination Of The Tradeoff Between Accruals-Based Earnings Management And Classification Shifting, John Abernathy, Brooke Beyer, Eric Rapley

Faculty and Research Publications

Prior literature has investigated three forms of earnings management: real earnings management (REM), accruals earnings management (AEM) and classification shifting. Managers make trade-off decisions among these methods based on the costs, constraints and timing of each strategy. This study investigates whether managers use classification shifting when their ability to use other forms of earnings management is constrained. We find that when REM is constrained by poor financial condition, high levels of institutional ownership and low industry market share, managers are more likely to use classification shifting. Further, we find that when AEM is constrained by low accounting system flexibility and …

Voluntary Audit Committee Characteristics, Incentives, And Aggressive Earnings Management: Evidence From New Zealand, V. D. Sharma, Chunli Kuang

Faculty and Research Publications

This study provides initial evidence on the association between voluntary audit committee characteristics, incentives and aggressive earnings management in New Zealand. Our results suggest audit committees comprising independent (non-executive) directors reduce (increase) the likelihood of aggressive earnings management. Financial expertise is associated with a lower likelihood of aggressive earnings management but only when the expertise is held by independent directors. Greater stock ownership by non-executive and executive directors serving on the audit committee increases the risk of aggressive earnings management. However, stock ownership by independent directors reduces this risk. Our results show that independent directors serving on other boards are …

Environmental Initiatives And Earnings Management, B. Litt, D. S. Sharma, V. D. Sharma

Faculty and Research Publications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide initial evidence on the association between environmental initiatives and earnings management. Prior literature documents firms participating in environmental initiatives to report relatively stronger financial performance. Moreover, firms with superior performance have been shown to engage in greater levels of earnings management. A natural question that arises is to what extent do firms with environmental initiatives engage in earnings management to report better financial performance? Design/methodology/approach – The study draws on two theoretical frameworks, external monitoring and internal corporate culture, to predict an inverse association between environmental initiatives and earnings management. …

Do Managers Use Meeting Analyst Forecasts To Signal Private Information? Evidence From Patent Citations, Katherine Gunny, Tracey Chunqi Zhang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This study examines whether firms manage earnings to meet analyst forecasts to signal superior future performance. Prior research finds that firms use earnings management to just meet analyst forecasts and that these firms have a positive association with future performance (Bartov et al., 2002). There are two potential explanations for the positive association – signaling and attaining benefits that allow for better future performance (i.e., the real benefits explanation). Prior studies cannot provide evidence of signaling because they do not control for the real benefits explanation. Our research design enables us to control for the real benefits explanation because we …