Date of Award

Winter 2011

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Program/Concentration

Business Administration-Finance

Committee Director

Mohammad Najand

Committee Member

Kenneth Yung

Committee Member

Vinod Agarwal

Abstract

I investigate the impact of analyst following on real activity manipulation. Because analysts follow firms and serve as information intermediaries, analyst following should reduce earnings management through real activity manipulation. However, given the negative ramifications of missing analysts' earnings forecasts, the fact that analysts are watching and issuing forecasts might actually create capital market pressures as managers try to ensure that they do not miss earnings targets. Because managers can engage in earnings management through real activities manipulation and accrual manipulation, I control for accrual manipulation in examining the relationship between analyst following and real activity manipulation. I find that analyst following is associated with more real activities earnings management. I also find evidence that discretionary accrual manipulation and real activity manipulation are used as substitutes to manage earnings. These findings provide valuable information for model specification for future research that investigates earnings management.

Rights

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DOI

10.25777/gcgk-5y07

ISBN

9781267208958

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