Real earnings management in family firms: evidence from Chinese listed firms Online publication date: Fri, 18-May-2018
by Xi Tian; Tao Yang; T. Robert Yu
International Journal of Revenue Management (IJRM), Vol. 10, No. 2, 2018
Abstract: Using a large sample of Chinese family firms and nonfamily firms, we examine whether family ownership is associated with higher or lower levels of real earnings management (REM). On the basis of the agency and stewardship theories, we develop two competing hypotheses. Our findings are consistent with the prediction of the stewardship theory that family firms engage in lower levels of real activities manipulation relative to nonfamily firms. Specifically, family businesses are less likely to accelerate sales, over-produce, cut discretionary expenditures, or engage in more than one real activities manipulation. In our analyses, we control for a number of firm properties and fixed effects. Further analysis suggests that the negative association between family ownership and real activities manipulation is more prominent for young family firms than for mature family firms. Our results are robust to different measures of family firms, alternative measures of REM, and potential endogeneity.
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Revenue Management (IJRM):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:
Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.
If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com
Our Blog 
Follow us on Twitter 
Visit us on Facebook