Do auditors mitigate earnings manageme nt during economic crisis?

Abstract

This paper addresses earnings management from an international perspective. This study particularly analyzes whether external auditing reduces earnings managements and, if so, whether this relationship is affected by the economic crisis. The study employs a cross-country approach. The sample has 3,830 observations from listed firms from the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Italy, France and Spain during the period 2005–2009. Panel data are used to verify the research hypotheses. The findings show that external auditing is an important mechanism to minimize earnings management. In this sense, the Big Four and auditor specialization helped to reduce earnings managements during the economic crisis. Moreover, long audit tenure does not contribute to mitigating discretionary accruals. The study includes implications for academia, practitioners, and policymakers. It provides the literature with complementary evidence on the external auditing and earnings management relationship and how this is influenced by the economic crisis. The article benefits practitioners and policymakers by highlighting the most important characteristics of audit firms related to the mitigation of earnings managements. In addition, this study considers the recent economic crisis as an important economic factor. Given that the crisis affected most countries around the world and caused structural changes within companies, information about the consequences of the crisis and how to deal with them is an important empirical question.

Keywords

• Abnormal accruals
• Earnings management
• Economic crisis
• Audit quality
• Corporate governance