| Author: | Chan, Chi-wan Owen |
| Title: | Earnings management : income smoothing incentives in Hong Kong |
| Degree: | M.Sc. |
| Year: | 2000 |
| Subject: | Corporate profits -- China -- Hong Kong Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations |
| Department: | Multi-disciplinary Studies Department of Accountancy |
| Pages: | v, 132 leaves ; 30 cm |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | Many studies revealed that directors used earnings management to dampen the fluctuation of earning level of a firm. (DeFond and Park 1997). In some ways, directors applied earnings management for their own benefits because their bonus plans were usually tied with the earning of the firm (Gaver, Gaver and Austin 1995). This study is based on the paper by Moses (1987). I have used 988 firm - year observations of common stocks listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong for the 1991-1996 period to investigate the incentives under which directors use earnings management. I run cross-sectional multivariate regressions to study the relationships between discretionary accruals (DAC), a proxy of earnings management, and the independent variables namely "firm size" (SIZE), "market share" (MKSH) "bonus compensation" (BONC), "ownership control" (OWNC), "premanaged operating cashflows deviation" (POD) and "past earnings variability".(VAR). The full sample, each industry sector, the positive and negative POD groups, the high and low bonus groups are studied in order to find out any differences among industry sectors and groups. This study finds out that the explanatory variables POD/A, VAR/A, In SIZE, MKSH and BONC are important factors that influence the directors to use earnings management as a whole. OWNC has its explanatory power only in the properties, consolidated enterprises and industrials sector. The results indicates that the prime objectives of the directors in employing earnings management is to smooth earnings, avoid political cost and to increase directors' compensation. This paper concludes that earning numbers have their information content. It is widely believed that there is a strong relationship between earnings and market price of a firm. Directors signal the firm's inside information to investors through earning numbers. The study supports the income smoothing hypothesis that directors will smooth income in order to avoid any large fluctuation of earnings level which may affect the share price of a firm. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | restricted access |
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| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| b15248690.pdf | For All Users (off-campus access for PolyU Staff & Students only) | 5.32 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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