Financial Crisis and Real Earnings Management in Family Firms: A Comparison between China and the United States

Abstract

This paper compares real earnings management (REM) between Chinese family firms and U.S. family firms after the financial crisis of 2008. For the U.S. sample, there is greater REM in family firms than non-family firms, and in the post-financial crisis period than the pre-financial crisis period. For the Chinese sample, there is greater REM in family firms than non-family firms, but REM is lower in Chinese family firms relative to non-family firms in the post-financial crisis period than the pre-financial crisis period. These findings indicate that REM activities differ between U.S. and Chinese family firms in crisis and non-crisis periods.

Department(s)

Business and Information Technology

Comments

This paper was presented at the 2017 Cross Country Perspectives of Finance conferences held in Chengdu, China and Chiang Mai, Thailand. We appreciate comments from discussants and participants at the Cross Country Perspectives in Finance Conferences. We also thank Zhenyu Wu (editor) and anonymous reviewers. Xi Tian thanks the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 71403126 ], Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of Nanjing Agricultural University [grant number KJQN201564 ], and Project of Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD) for generous financial support.

Keywords and Phrases

2008 financial crisis; China; Family business; Real earnings management; United States

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

1042-4431

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2019 Elsevier, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Mar 2019

Link to Full Text

Share

 
COinS