Erschienen in:NYU Working Paper ; No. DANIEL A. COHEN-04
Umfang:
1 Online-Ressource (52 p)
Sprache:
Nicht zu entscheiden
Entstehung:
Anmerkungen:
Nach Informationen von SSRN wurde die ursprüngliche Fassung des Dokuments January 2004 erstellt
Beschreibung:
We document that accrual-based earnings management increased steadily from 1987 untilthe passage of the Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX) in 2002, followed by a significant declineafter the passage of SOX. Conversely, the level of real earnings management activitiesdeclined prior to SOX and increased significantly after the passage of SOX, suggesting that firms switched from accrual-based to real earnings management methods after the passage of SOX. We also find evidence that the accrual-based earnings management activities were particularly high in the period immediately preceding SOX. Consistent with these results, we find that firms that just achieved important earnings benchmarks used less accruals and more real earnings management after SOX when compared to similar firms before SOX. Finally, our analysis provides evidence that the increases in accrual-based earnings management in the period preceding SOX were concurrent withincreases in the fraction of equity based compensation