Legal Consequences of Earnings Components Management

10.6293/AQAFA.2013.11.09

Li Xu；Salma Ibrahim；George Kalchev；Candice Lynette Deal

Earnings Management ； Shareholder Litigation ； Specific Accruals

Advances in Quantitative Analysis of Finance and Accounting

11期（2013 / 12 / 01）

229 - 259

英文

This paper investigates how manipulating different earnings components affects the likelihood of accounting-related shareholder litigation. Firms can manipulate earnings upward by accelerating revenue recognition, delaying expenses recognition, and overstating gains associated with special items. Firms can manipulate earnings downward by delaying revenue recognition, delaying expenses recognition, and overstating losses associated with special items. Using the empirical archival approach, this paper explores the association between earnings components' manipulations and the likelihood of being sued in a sample of class action litigation with accounting irregularities. This paper finds that firms accelerating revenue recognition, delaying expenses recognition (specifically through inventory overstatement), or taking abnormal large losses through special items are more likely to be associated with accounting-related shareholder litigation. In addition, firms accelerating revenue recognition or overstating inventory are more likely to settle the cases and more likely to pay large settlement amounts.

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