Macroeconomic instability, institutions, and earnings management: An analysis in developed and emerging market countries

Abstract

We analyze the effect of macroeconomic instability on earnings management and the moderating role of country-level institutions, examining how these phenomena differ in developed and emerging market countries. Focusing our analysis on macroeconomic instability instead of specific periods of financial crisis, we provide a more comprehensive view of the macroeconomic environment’s role as a key determinant of accounting quality. The empirical study relies on a worldwide sample from 34 countries throughout the period 1998–2018. Using several variables related to the macroeconomic environment, we construct a comprehensive macroeconomic instability index for each country that allows for changes over the years. Our findings suggest that when facing greater macroeconomic instability, firms from developed (emerging market) countries decrease (increase) the level of accruals-based earnings management, and firms from both types of countries decrease the level of real earnings management. We also find that in both developed and emerging market countries, the association between macroeconomic instability and accruals-based earnings management is lower in countries with stronger institutions.