SHORT-TERM DEBT AND FIRMS' EARNINGS MANAGEMENT CHOICES: THE CASE OF VIETNAM

Abstract

The primary purpose of this research is to explore the link between short-term debt and firms' earnings management choices. It focuses on understanding how and when short-term debt will improve or reduce the earnings management activity of companies. Our proxy for real earnings management is based on the measure developed by (Roychowdhury, 2006). Using a sample of listed firms in the period of 2009-2018 in Vietnam, the study determines an important positive correlation between short-term debt and real activities manipulation. Our results further show that firms having lower levels of short-term debt tend to use real earnings management activities, but those that have higher levels of short-term debt are prone to use accrual-based earnings management method rather than altering real activities, inducing an inverted U-shaped relationship between short-term debt and real earnings management.