Cost Adjustment in the Korean Defense Industry: Empirical Research on the Relation between Earnings Management and Sustainability

Sangkyun Sohn, Joonho Park and Jinseek Lee
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Sangkyun Sohn: The Department of Accounting, Hanyang University, Seoul 04763, Korea
Joonho Park: The School of Business, Hanyang University, 222, Wangsimni-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul 04763, Korea
Jinseek Lee: Defense Acquisition Program Administration, Gwacheon-si 13809, Korea

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 5, 1-19

Abstract: This article is a demonstrative research on the motivation and method for earnings management in the Korean defense industry and its connection with the cost of equity capital. The data for this article comes from the Korean DICS (Defense Integrated Cost System). The difference between the cost data submitted by defense corporations and those verified by DAPA (Defense Acquisition Program Administration) serves as an indicator of earnings management; such a direct measurement of earnings management distinguishes this research from previous studies focusing on indirect indicators of earnings management, such as discretionary accruals. This article purposefully names such a specific form of earnings management as ‘cost adjustment’ that takes advantage of the difference between the submitted cost and the verified cost. The result of the research shows that cost adjustment activities in the defense industry are proportional to the capital cost required by shareholders. It is also notable that the cost adjustment activities in the defense industry are mostly done by making use of direct costs, in contrast to other industries utilizing indirect costs, which are hardly traceable. As a result of cost adjustment to meet short-term target profit, the long-term sustainability of the company would get impaired from the inflated costs in direct cost adjustments.

Keywords: cost adjustment; earnings management; defense industry; regulated industry; cost of equity capital; direct cost (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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