Foreign Institutional Ownership and Earnings Management

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between foreign institutional ownership (FIO) and earnings management (EM) using 552 firms of non-financial sector companies that publish annual financial reports for 2015–2021. We use ordinary least squares (OLS) for equation estimation. The results show that, overall, FIO has a negative impact on earnings management. Tests were also conducted on the FIO group: banks, insurance, pension fund mutual funds, and securities companies. The test results indicate that each group of institutional investors has a negative effect except for securities companies, which positively impact earnings management. The positive influence of securities firms shows that securities firms are more focused on trading strategies than managerial controls. The findings of this study are expected to contribute to the corporate governance literature and the quality of financial reporting. Institutional ownership as a corporate governance mechanism is expected to control earnings management which can reduce the quality of financial reporting. Keywords: institutional ownership, earnings management, agency theory