Gestion du résultat pour éviter de publier une perte: les montants manipulés sont-ils marginaux ?

Olivier Vidal

ACCRA, 2010, vol. 16, issue 3, 11-39

Abstract: Threshold studies in accounting use non-parametric methods to measure irregularities around the zero earning threshold. More precisely, the discontinuity is measured by the difference between an observed population and a theoretical population locally estimated by interpolation of adjacent intervals. The sole hypothesis is that the distribution is supposed to be smooth in the absence of earnings management. The originality of this study lies in its identification of a mathematical function for the distributions of earnings in order to measure the theoretical population in a parametric way. Such an approach allows to better measure discontinuities around thresholds, to better compare thresholds in space and over time, and to evaluate the amounts manipulated. The principal empirical result of this study is to observe that, if the irregular small profit firms avoid losses, the amounts manipulated are not necessary small. The study questions the postulate of ?marginal manipulation? in earnings management to avoid thresholds.

Keywords: earnings management; accounting threshold; earnings distribution function; parametric earnings distribution discontinuity measure; small losses avoidance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
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