Earnings Management amid the COVID-19 Financial Crisis: The Experience of Poland

• Authors: Joanna Lizińska , Leszek Czapiewski

Title variants

PL

Zarządzanie zyskami w czasie kryzysu finansowego COVID-19: doświadczenia Polski

Abstracts

PL

Niniejsze badanie dotyczy oceny konsekwencji zawirowań na rynku wywołanych pandemią COVID-19 dla informacyjności sprawozdawczości finansowej. Jakość zysków została oszacowana za pomocą modeli przekrojowych, umożliwiających ocenę dyskrecjonalnych korekt memoriałowych, dyskrecjonalnych operacyjnych przepływów pieniężnych, dyskrecjonalnych kosztów uznaniowych i dyskrecjonalnych kosztów produkcji. Na podstawie danych dotyczących niefinansowych spółek publicznych w Polsce wykazano ewolucję zarządzania zyskiem typu memoriałowego oraz poprzez rzeczywiste transakcje w czasie kryzysu finansowego, co istotnie poszerza dotychczasowy stan wiedzy w tej dziedzinie. W szczególności w czasie kryzysu istotny był spadek korekt memoriałowych. Można to interpretować jako osłabienie skłonności do zawyżania zysków poprzez ingerencję w proces raportowania finansowego. Spółki wydawały się również bardziej skłonne do przyjęcia strategii big bath, aby zwiększyć swoje możliwości zawyżania dochodów w przyszłości. Ponadto badania potwierdziły, że na znaczeniu zyskało zarządzanie zyskami poprzez oddziaływanie na transakcje. Sugeruje to, że w czasie kryzysu COVID-19 firmy kształtowały swoje strategie, opierając się w większym stopniu na prawdopodobieństwie wykrycia niż na kosztach takich działań. Badanie stanowi głos w dyskusji nad jakością zysków jako kluczowego elementu raportowania i nad jej znaczeniem w finansach przedsiębiorstw, które to elementy dla interesariuszy firmy są nie do przecenienia.

EN

This study examines the consequences of the COVID-19 turbulence on the informativeness of financial reporting. Using data from non-financial public companies in Poland, our evidence documents the evolution of accrual and real earnings management during the pandemic period. We estimate earnings quality with cross-sectional models, observing abnormal accruals, abnormal cash flow from operations, abnormal discretionary expenditures and abnormal production costs. We contribute to the debate on earnings management during financial crises. Specifically, discretionary accruals declined significantly during the crisis. This suggests companies were less eager to inflate earnings via accruals. Polish firms also seemed to be more inclined to adopt the ‘big bath’ strategy to inflate future income. Additionally, the research provides support for predictions that real earnings management gained importance during the turbulence when the total effect of boosting income through real transactions was significant. It suggests that during the COVID-19 crisis companies based their strategies more on the probability of being detected, rather than on the cost of such activities. The study adds to the debate on the qualitative characteristics of earnings as key accounting information and its importance in corporate finance, issues that cannot be overestimated from the perspective of company stakeholders.

Keywords

PL

kryzys finansowy; finanse przedsiębiorstw; zarządzanie zyskami; zrównoważona rachunkowość

EN

financial crisis; corporate finance; earnings management; sustainable accounting

• Publisher: Szkoła Główna Handlowa w Warszawie. Kolegium Analiz Ekonomicznych
• Journal: Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics
• Year: 2023
• Volume: 313
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 93-112

Dates

published

2023

Contributors

author

Joanna Lizińska

• Department of Corporate Finance, Poznań University of Economics and Business, Poland

author

Leszek Czapiewski

• Department of Corporate Finance, Poznań University of Economics and Business, Poland

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Identifiers

DOI

10.33119/GN/159032

Biblioteka Nauki

2182062