Title: The impact of corporate governance on earnings management in emerging economies: the Greek evidence

Authors: Vassilis Smaraidos; Georgios L. Thanasas; Anastasia Filiou

Addresses: University of Patras, Department of Business Administration of Food and Agricultural Enterprises, G. Seferi 2, 30100 Agrinio, Greece ' Department of Accounting and Finance, TEI of Western Greece, Nea Ktiria, 30200, Messolonghi, Greece ' Department of Accounting and Finance, Athens University of Economics and Business, 76 Patission Str. 10434, Athens, Greece

Abstract: This study tries to investigate the impact of corporate governance mechanism effects on decisions that may manipulate earnings in Greek listed firms. To do so, the board of directors and the audit committee were taken into account, together with the total accruals of 46 Greek listed firms for the years 2011-2015. For the analysis, three research hypotheses have been made to investigate where the independent members do not use earnings management tactics and if financially healthy firms try these tactics. The main finding of the study is that firms with a strong and independent board of directors combined with an active audit committee, together with financial soundness and the presence of a large audit firm, are deterred from practices related earnings management.

Keywords: corporate governance; earnings management; discretionary accruals; accrual method.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCM.2018.094501

International Journal of Comparative Management, 2018 Vol.1 No.3, pp.317 - 330

Received: 01 Feb 2018
Accepted: 18 Jun 2018
Published online: 03 Sep 2018 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article