The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on the Use of Earnings Management in the Context of Internal Financial and Macroeconomic Factors: The Case of Lithuania

Earnings management is a widespread phenomenon in practice, with researchers therefore focusing on trying to understand what motives and factors lead to companies engaging in earnings management. In addition to internal financial and macroeconomic factors, the influence of institutional factors incl...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Diana Bachtijeva, Daiva Tamulevičienė, Rasa Subačienė
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-12-01
Series:Economies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/12/12/329
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1846104914280841216
author Diana Bachtijeva
Daiva Tamulevičienė
Rasa Subačienė
author_facet Diana Bachtijeva
Daiva Tamulevičienė
Rasa Subačienė
author_sort Diana Bachtijeva
collection DOAJ
description Earnings management is a widespread phenomenon in practice, with researchers therefore focusing on trying to understand what motives and factors lead to companies engaging in earnings management. In addition to internal financial and macroeconomic factors, the influence of institutional factors including corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been widely studied in recent years. In Lithuania, there have been no studies on the manipulation of accounting information in socially responsible companies. Therefore, this study aims to identify the impact of CSR on the application of earnings management in the context of internal financial and macroeconomic factors. The results of this study are significant as they not only enable assessing the impact of social responsibility on the application of earnings management in Lithuanian companies, but also the influence of macroeconomic factors such as the gross domestic product (GDP), inflation, foreign direct investment (FDI), average wages, and unemployment, as well as internal financial factors such as leverage, returns on assets (RoA), and the profitability of EBIT. The results show that CSR reduces the use of earnings management, regardless of whether it is accrual-based or real earnings management. Additionally, this analysis demonstrates that, among the internal financial factors, leverage carries the most substantial influence. The higher a company’s leverage, the more inclined that company is to use earnings management. Exploring the impact of macroeconomic indicators, it was found that the GDP, inflation, and unemployment rate have a statistically significant impact on the use of earnings management, albeit only if the firm uses accrual-based earnings management and adopts a profit-enhancing strategy.
format Article
id doaj-art-3d63a56301b24d6d8782bb707b8dea8e
institution Kabale University
issn 2227-7099
language English
publishDate 2024-12-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Economies
spelling doaj-art-3d63a56301b24d6d8782bb707b8dea8e2024-12-27T14:22:16ZengMDPI AGEconomies2227-70992024-12-01121232910.3390/economies12120329The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on the Use of Earnings Management in the Context of Internal Financial and Macroeconomic Factors: The Case of LithuaniaDiana Bachtijeva0Daiva Tamulevičienė1Rasa Subačienė2Department of Accounting and Audit, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Vilnius University, LT-10222 Vilnius, LithuaniaDepartment of Accounting and Audit, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Vilnius University, LT-10222 Vilnius, LithuaniaDepartment of Accounting and Audit, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Vilnius University, LT-10222 Vilnius, LithuaniaEarnings management is a widespread phenomenon in practice, with researchers therefore focusing on trying to understand what motives and factors lead to companies engaging in earnings management. In addition to internal financial and macroeconomic factors, the influence of institutional factors including corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been widely studied in recent years. In Lithuania, there have been no studies on the manipulation of accounting information in socially responsible companies. Therefore, this study aims to identify the impact of CSR on the application of earnings management in the context of internal financial and macroeconomic factors. The results of this study are significant as they not only enable assessing the impact of social responsibility on the application of earnings management in Lithuanian companies, but also the influence of macroeconomic factors such as the gross domestic product (GDP), inflation, foreign direct investment (FDI), average wages, and unemployment, as well as internal financial factors such as leverage, returns on assets (RoA), and the profitability of EBIT. The results show that CSR reduces the use of earnings management, regardless of whether it is accrual-based or real earnings management. Additionally, this analysis demonstrates that, among the internal financial factors, leverage carries the most substantial influence. The higher a company’s leverage, the more inclined that company is to use earnings management. Exploring the impact of macroeconomic indicators, it was found that the GDP, inflation, and unemployment rate have a statistically significant impact on the use of earnings management, albeit only if the firm uses accrual-based earnings management and adopts a profit-enhancing strategy.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/12/12/329accrual-based earnings managementreal earnings managementcorporate social responsibilityLithuanian companies
spellingShingle Diana Bachtijeva
Daiva Tamulevičienė
Rasa Subačienė
The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on the Use of Earnings Management in the Context of Internal Financial and Macroeconomic Factors: The Case of Lithuania
Economies
accrual-based earnings management
real earnings management
corporate social responsibility
Lithuanian companies
title The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on the Use of Earnings Management in the Context of Internal Financial and Macroeconomic Factors: The Case of Lithuania
title_full The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on the Use of Earnings Management in the Context of Internal Financial and Macroeconomic Factors: The Case of Lithuania
title_fullStr The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on the Use of Earnings Management in the Context of Internal Financial and Macroeconomic Factors: The Case of Lithuania
title_full_unstemmed The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on the Use of Earnings Management in the Context of Internal Financial and Macroeconomic Factors: The Case of Lithuania
title_short The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on the Use of Earnings Management in the Context of Internal Financial and Macroeconomic Factors: The Case of Lithuania
title_sort impact of corporate social responsibility on the use of earnings management in the context of internal financial and macroeconomic factors the case of lithuania
topic accrual-based earnings management
real earnings management
corporate social responsibility
Lithuanian companies
url https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/12/12/329
work_keys_str_mv AT dianabachtijeva theimpactofcorporatesocialresponsibilityontheuseofearningsmanagementinthecontextofinternalfinancialandmacroeconomicfactorsthecaseoflithuania
AT daivatamuleviciene theimpactofcorporatesocialresponsibilityontheuseofearningsmanagementinthecontextofinternalfinancialandmacroeconomicfactorsthecaseoflithuania
AT rasasubaciene theimpactofcorporatesocialresponsibilityontheuseofearningsmanagementinthecontextofinternalfinancialandmacroeconomicfactorsthecaseoflithuania
AT dianabachtijeva impactofcorporatesocialresponsibilityontheuseofearningsmanagementinthecontextofinternalfinancialandmacroeconomicfactorsthecaseoflithuania
AT daivatamuleviciene impactofcorporatesocialresponsibilityontheuseofearningsmanagementinthecontextofinternalfinancialandmacroeconomicfactorsthecaseoflithuania
AT rasasubaciene impactofcorporatesocialresponsibilityontheuseofearningsmanagementinthecontextofinternalfinancialandmacroeconomicfactorsthecaseoflithuania