ABSTRACT:Thispaperexamineswhetherfirmsmanipulatingtheirreportedfinancial
resuitsmakesuboptlmaiinvestmentdecisions.Weexaminefixedassetinvestmentsfor
alargesampieofpubliccompaniesduringthe1978-2002periodanddocumentthat
firmsthatmanipulatetheirearnings—firmsinvestigatedbytheSECforaccounting
irregularities,firmssuedbytheirshareholdersforimproperaccounting,andfirmsthat
restatedfinancialstatements—over-investsubstaniialiyduringthemisreportingperiod.
Furthermore,foilowingthemisreportingperiod,thesefirmsnoiongerover-invest,consistentwithcorrectedinformationleadingtomoreefficientinvestmentlevels.Wefind
similarpatternsforfirmswithhighdiscretionarylevenuesoraccruals.Ourfindings
suggestthatearningsmanagement,whichislargelyviewedastargetingpartiesexternaltothefirm,canalsoinfluenceinternaldecisions.
Keywords:earningsmanagement;investment.
I,INTRODUCTION
T
hispaperexamineswhetherearningsmanagementaffectsresourceallocationbystudying
whetherfirmsmanipulatingearningsmakesuboptimalinvestmentdecisions.Weaimto
provideevidenceonwhetheraccountingmisstatements,potenti:illymotivatedbycoinjiensationtargetsorcapitalmarketexpectations,causedistortionsi ntheinvestmentdecisionsmade本文来自优,文'论*文^网原文请找腾讯752018766
withinfirmsengaginginthemisstatement—adirectcosttoinvestors.Theconsequencesofearningsmanagementarerelevanttothedecisionsmadebyinvestors,managers,directors,andregulators,andtodatethereislittlereseaichthataddressestiierelationbetweenearningsmanagement
i nexternalreportinganditseffectoninternaldecisions.
Investmentdecisionsdependonexpectationsofthebenefitsoftheinvestment,whichi nturn
dependonexpectationsoffuturegrowthandproductdemand.Expectationsoffuturegrowthare basedoninformationthatincludesrevenuesandearnings.Inadditiontomerelyconcealingthe
actualperformanceduringtheperiod,misstatedfinancialresultscanmaskunderlyingtrendsin
revenueandearningsgrowth.Thus,overstatementsofrevenuesandearningsarelikelytodistort
expectationsofgrowthbytho.s eunawareofthemisstatement.
Onemightconjecturethati fmanagementchoosestopaintarosierviewforinvestorsin
thenumberstheyreportexternally,thentheywouldnotallowthistoinfluenceinternalinve.stmen t
decisions.However,i tispossiblethatinvestmentdecisionmakerswithinthefirmbelieve
themisreportedgrowthtrend—becausetheyareeitherover-optimisticorunawareofthe
misstatement—andinvestaccordingly.Alternatively,investmentdecisionmakersmightunderstandthetruestateofthefirmbutchoosetoover-investinahigh-riskapproachtoturnaround2743