Debates and studies on earnings management: a geographical perspective

Callao Gastón, Susana (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Jarne Jarne, José Ignacio (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Wroblewski, David

Resumen: Earnings management is a very complex and compound phenomenon in the light of many years of investigation. Since then numerous books and articles have been written and conferences held on the concept of earnings management. The subject of earnings management in accounting literature grew in popularity, especially during the last dec- ade of the 20th century. It has almost become a tradition, particularly in the popular and business press, to discuss the subject of accounting manipulation. No doubt, earnings management is presented day-to-day in many of the companies which hypothesized the majority of the studies. However, there is no consensus related to the concept of earnings management.
Numerous papers have investigated, theoretically and empirically, different hypotheses related to earnings management. Some researchers aimed simply to provide evidence on earnings management; others assume that earnings management has been found in connection with many aspects of the company, such as its role in companies’ problems, financial markets, information asymmetry and agency theory, among others. As a consequence, an ongoing debate on the concept of earnings management is still present in the accounting and finance literature. This article contributes to this debate.
Due to the wide variety and the complexity of the issue of earnings management, our objective is to clarify and explain the question of earnings management and support new insights into the key aspects of this issue by conducting a brief literature review from a geographical perspective. We describe in detail the concept of earnings management and ongoing debates on the issue, and we present the existing literature from different countries. Our investigation covers the period of 1985 to 2011 based on journals, conferences, congresses, and other publications, such as: PhD theses, Master’s theses, and some working papers.

Idioma: Inglés

DOI: 10.5604/16414381.1098803

Año: 2014

Publicado en: Zeszyty Teoretyczne Rachunkowosci = Theoretical Journal of Accounting 75, 131 (2014), 145-169
ISSN: 1641-4381

Tipo y forma: Article (Published version)

Área (Departamento): Área Economía Finan. y Contab. (Dpto. Contabilidad y Finanzas)