Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/257740 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Citation: 
[Journal:] International Journal of Financial Studies [ISSN:] 2227-7072 [Volume:] 8 [Issue:] 4 [Article No.:] 73 [Publisher:] MDPI [Place:] Basel [Year:] 2020 [Pages:] 1-25
Publisher: 
MDPI, Basel
Abstract: 
This paper examined whether financial statement comparability constrains opportunistic earningsmanagement in frontiermarket countries. Using a large sample of 19 frontiermarket countries, and an accounting comparabilitymethod thatmaps comparability across several accounting standards, the results show that enhanced financial comparability constrains accruals earnings management (AEM). Contrary to developed markets and novel to this study, a significant relationship between financial comparability and real earnings management (REM) was not found. For greater robustness, AEM and REM were also tested on both International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adopting and non-adopting countries. The results suggest IFRS adoption constrains AEM, yet exhibited no impact on constraining REM. Additionally, the use of BigN auditors failed to conclusively show an ability to moderate EM.When combined, the results suggest that frontier markets engage in less REM than expected. It is also noted that the legal roots (civil vs. common law) play a significant role in constraining earningsmanagement. Common law countries exhibited lower AEMwhen comparability increased; this significance was not found in countries that were rooted in civil law. Contributions from this study show that findings from developed markets cannot be generalised to frontier markets.
Subjects: 
accounting comparability
real earnings management
accruals earnings management
frontier markets
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Article

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