Engagement partner attributes and earnings quality: evidence from Borsa İstanbul

Abstract

This paper investigates the effects of engagement partners' attributes on earnings quality using 725 firm*year observations between 2008 and 2013 from Borsa Istanbul manufacturing industry firms. We use two indicators of earnings quality to test the effects of gender, educational background, experience and certification from among engagement partners' attributes. Our findings emphasise that engagement partners' attributes do not have any impact on real activities-based earnings management but have an impact on accruals-based earnings management. Female engagement partners have a negative effect on the absolute value of discretionary accruals, especially in negative discretionary accruals. On the other hand, we find that engagement partners with longer experience have negative impact on the absolute and negative discretionary accruals.