Accrual-Based and Real Earnings Management Activities Around Seasoned Equity Offerings

Abstract

We examine earnings management behavior around SEOs, focusing on both real activities and accrual-based manipulation. Although research has addressed the issues of earnings management around SEOs and earnings management via real activities manipulation, ours is the first paper to put these two issues together. We make three contributions to the literature. First, we document that firms use real, as well as accrual-based, earnings management tools around SEOs. Second, we show how the tendency for firms to tradeoff real versus accrual-based earnings management activities around SEOs varies cross-sectionally. We find that firms choices vary predictably as a function of the firms ability to use accrual management and the costs of doing so. Our model is a first step in examining how firms tradeoff between real versus accrual methods of earnings management. Third, we compare the economic costs of accrual versus real earnings management around SEOs, by examining the effect of each type of earnings management on the firms future performance. We provide the first evidence on this important issue by showing that the costs of real earnings management are likely greater than the costs of accrual earnings management, at least in the SEO context.