EARNINGS MANAGEMENT AND FIRM’S SUBSEQUENT PERIOD PERFORMANCE: A STUDY ON NON-FINANCIAL INDIAN LISTED FIRMS

Abstract

While studies internationally have found an association between earnings management and the firm’s future performance, there is limited literature concerning Indian firms. Prior research in the Indian context has revealed the existence of opportunistic accruals management. However, its impact on a firm’s future performance remains unexplored. Thus, this study examines the impact of accrual-based earnings management on future performance among listed non-financial Indian firms. This study estimates accruals management proxies for 2006-2017 using the widely accepted modified-Jones model of discretionary accruals. Firm performance is measured using ROA, ROE, and PE ratio. This study uses a one-step System Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) to address the problem of endogeneity in the dynamic panel model. The result from the estimator indicates that discretionary accruals have a negative impact on accounting-based performance measures (ROA and ROE) and a positive impact on the market-based performance measure (PE ratio). These results are consistent for the three estimators (OLS, FE, and GMM), establishing a robust relationship between accrual management and firm performance. The findings of this study are consistent with the signaling hypothesis and suggest the likelihood of accruals reversal.