European Journal of Business Science and Technology 2024, 10(2):242-257 | DOI: 10.11118/ejobsat.2024.007
Empirical Evidence About Earnings Management Behaviour Under the Covid-19 Period in Algerian Companies
- 1 University of 20 August 1955, Skikda, Algeria
- 2 University of Oum El Bouaghi, Algeria
This study explores the influence of the Covid-19 period on earnings management behaviour (EM) for 150 Algerian companies. The period of study (2018 to 2021) was divided into the pre-pandemic period (2018 and 2019) and the pandemic period (2020 and 2021). The study used two measures for earnings management: discretionary accruals (accounting EM) and abnormal cash flows (real EM). The results indicate that accounting EM decreased during Covid-19 compared to pre-Covid-19. But for real EM, it was the opposite; it has seen an increase during Covid-19. These results have many implications regarding the commitments of various contributors to preparing financial information and other related parties to ensure the accuracy of financial reporting during periods of crisis. More specifically, accounting standards setters should issue additional explanations regarding the accounting for some items, and auditors should extend the range of verification when certifying financial statements.
Keywords: earnings management, discretionary accounting accruals, abnormal cash flows, Covid-19 period
JEL classification: M40, M41
Received: October 17, 2023; Revised: February 2, 2024; Accepted: March 18, 2024; Published: December 31, 2024 Show citation
ACS | AIP | APA | ASA | Harvard | Chicago | IEEE | ISO690 | MLA | NLM | Turabian | Vancouver |
References
- Aljawaheri, B. A. W., Ojah, H. K., Machi, A. H. & Almagtome, A. H. 2021. COVID-19 Lockdown, Earnings Manipulation and Stock Market Sensitivity: An Empirical Study in Iraq. The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business, 8 (5), 707-715. DOI: 10.13106/jafeb.2021.vol8.no5.0707
Go to original source...
- Anagnostopoulou, S. C. & Tsekrekos, A. E. 2017. The Effect of Financial Leverage on Real and Accrual-Based Earnings Management. Accounting and Business Research, 47 (2), 191-236. DOI: 10.1080/00014788.2016.1204217
Go to original source...
- Ardiany, Y., Herfina, M. & Putri, S. Y. A. 2022. Differences in Earning Management and Tax Avoidance Before and During the Covid-19 Pandemic (Case Study on Companies Affected by Pandemic). In Proceedings of the Eighth Padang International Conference On Economics Education, Economics, Business and Management, Accounting and Entrepreneurship (PICEEBA-8 2021), pp. 7-15. ISBN 978-94-6239-594-7.
- Azizah, W., Fredy, H., Zoebaedi, F. & Wahyoeni, S. I. 2022. COVID-19: Accrual Earnings Management Practices in Pharmaceutical Companies in Indonesia. Jurnal Akuntansi, 12 (3), 223-238. DOI: 10.33369/jakuntansi.12.3.223-238
Go to original source...
- Bai, J., Choi, S. H. & Liao, Y. 2021. Feasible Generalized Least Squares For Panel Data With Cross-Sectional And Serial Correlations. Empirical Economics, 60 (1), 309-326. DOI: 10.1007/s00181-020-01977-2
Go to original source...
- Chintrakarn, P., Jiraporn, P. & Kim, Y. S. 2008. Did Firms Manage Earnings more Aggressively during the Financial Crisis? International Review of Finance, 18 (3), 477-494. DOI: 10.1111/irfi.12135
Go to original source...
- Dicken, C. & Unger, O. 2021. Goodwill Impairment and Earnings Management in the Year of the Pandemic. Master thesis, Lund University.
- Filip, A. & Raffournier, R. 2014. Financial Crisis and Earnings Management: The European Evidence. The International Journal of Accounting, 49 (4), 455-478. DOI: 10.1016/j.intacc.2014.10.004
Go to original source...
- Filipović, I., Bartulović, M. & Šušak, T. 2022. Earnings Management and Dividend Payments during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems, 20 (5), 590-605. DOI: 10.7906/indecs.20.5.6
Go to original source...
- Flores, E. S., Sampaio, J., Brugni, T. V. & Beiruth, A. X. 2021. Earnings Management during the Covid-19 Crisis: Evidence from the Brazilian and American Capital Markets. In Anais [online]. São Paulo: EAD/FEA/USP. Available at: https://login.semead.com.br/24semead/anais/arquivos/768.pdf.
- Hariadi, K. E. & Kristanto, A. B. 2022. The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic and Earnings Management: Does the History of Managerial Ability Have a Role? Jurnal AKSI (Akuntansi dan Sistem Informasi), 7 (2), 197-210. DOI: 10.32486/aksi.v7i2.422
Go to original source...
- Hassan, N. T. 2023. Accounting Choices during COVID 19 Pandemic: Does Corporate Strategy and Corporate Social Responsibility Matter? Information Sciences Letters, 12 (2), 889-899. DOI: 10.18576/isl/120228
Go to original source...
- Hidayat, T., Junawan & Muda, I. 2022. Analyzing Managers' Speech to Detect Bad Earnings Management and Opportunistic Earnings Management in Pandemic Covid19 Outbreak. Mathematical Statistician and Engineering Applications, 71 (3s2), 1825-1831.
- Hsu, Y.-L. & Yang, Y.-C. 2022. Corporate Governance and Financial Reporting Quality during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Finance Research Letters, 47 (B), 102778. DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2022.102778
Go to original source...
- Jordan, C. E., Clark, S. J. & Waldron, M. A. 2021. Testing for Earnings Management in the U.S. Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Applied Business and Economics, 23 (5), 4559. DOI: 10.33423/jabe.v23i5.4559
Go to original source...
- Kimouche, B. 2021. The Effect of Stock Market Listing on Real Earnings Management: Evidence from Algerian Companies. Naše gospodarstvo/Our Economy, 67 (4), 96-107. DOI: 10.2478/ngoe-2021-0024
Go to original source...
- Kimouche, B. 2022. Accrual-Based and Cash-Based Earnings Management in Algeria: Substitution or Complementary. Croatian Review of Economic, Business and Social Statistics, 8 (1), 1-17. DOI: 10.2478/crebss-2022-0001
Go to original source...
- Kothari, S. P., Leone, A. J. & Wasley, C. E. 2005. Performance Matched Discretionary Accrual Measures. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 39 (1), 163-197. DOI: 10.1016/j.jacceco.2004.11.002
Go to original source...
- KPMG. 2020. Algeria: Government and Institution Measures in Response to COVID-19 [online]. London: KPMG International. Available at: https://kpmg.com/xx/en/home/insights/2020/04/algeria-government-and-institution-measures-in-response-to-covid.html. [Accessed 2024, January 17].
- Lassoued, N. & Khanchel, I. 2021. Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Earnings Management: An Evidence from Financial Reporting in European Firms. Global Business Review. DOI: 10.1177/09721509211053491
Go to original source...
- Ljubisavljević, A. & Jakobsson, C. 2022. Earnings Management during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Sweden. Master thesis, Uppsala University.
- Nazmul, I. & Sayma, F. 2022. The Tendency of Earnings Manipulation among Textile Firms of Bangladesh during COVID-19 Pandemic. The Cost and Management, 50 (1), 4-13.
- ONS. 2012. Le Premier Recensement Economique: Résultats Définitifs de la Première Phase. Collections Statistiques No. 172.
- Ozili, P. K. 2021. Accounting and Financial Reporting during a Pandemic. MPRA Paper No. 105183. Munich Personal RePEc Archive.
Go to original source...
- Roychowdhury, S. 2006. Earnings Management through Real Activities Manipulation. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 42 (3), 335-370. DOI: 10.1016/j.jacceco.2006.01.002
Go to original source...
- Rusmianto, R. & Makhsun, A. 2021. Implementations of the Discretionary Accruals (Da) Method for Detecting Earning Management in Agricultural Sector Companies during the Covid-19 Pandemic. In Proceeding International Conference on Agriculture and Applied Science (ICoAAS) 2021, pp. 64-70.
- Ryu, H. & Chae, S.-J. 2022. The Impact of COVID-19 on Earnings Management in the Distribution and Service Industries. Journal of Distribution Science, 20 (4), 95-100. DOI: 10.15722/jds.20.04.202204.95
Go to original source...
- Taylor, D., Awuye, I. S. & Cudjoe, E. Y. 2023. Covid-19 Pandemic, a Catalyst for Aggressive Earnings Management by Banks? Journal of Accounting and Public Policy. Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, 42 (1), 107032. DOI: 10.1016/j.jaccpubpol.2022.107032
Go to original source...
- Usheva, M. & Vagner, L. 2020. Earnings Management as a Tool of Bankruptcy Prevention during Global Pandemic of COVID-19. SHS Web of Conferences, 92, 02063. DOI: 10.1051/shsconf/20219202063
Go to original source...
- Xiao, H. & Xi, J. 2021. The COVID-19 and Earnings Management: China's Evidence. Journal of Accounting and Taxation, 13 (2), 59-77. DOI: 10.5897/JAT2020.0436
Go to original source...
- Yan, H., Liu, Z., Wang, H., Zhang, X. & Zheng, X. 2022. How Does the COVID-19 Affect Earnings Management: Empirical Evidence from China. Research in International Business and Finance, 63, 101772. DOI: 10.1016/j.ribaf.2022.101772
Go to original source...
- Yassin, M. M., Shaban, O. S., Al-Sraheen, D. A.-D. & Al Daoud, K. A. 2022. Revenue Standard and Earnings Management during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Comparison between IFRS and GAAP. Journal of Governance & Regulation, 11 (2), 80-93. DOI: 10.22495/jgrv11i2art7
Go to original source...
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0), which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.