Is Accounting Information Different between Non-Consolidated and Consolidated Financial Statements?

K-IFRS will be adopted in Korea by 2011. K-IFRS will enforce firms to report consolidated financial statements in the annual reports. It implies that accounting information may have different meaning because current Korean GAAP requires firms to report non-consolidated financial information. We examine whether this change may affect firms’ earnings management behavior and earnings quality using financial data from 2004 to 2008. Traditional earnings management analysis indicates that consolidated earnings are managed to avoid earnings decrease and losses the same as non-consolidated earnings. Interestingly, consolidated financial statements lead better accrual quality despite of the bigger magnitude of discretionary accruals. These findings will be helpful to prevent possible confusion when K-IFRS is adopted. They will be the guidance for related parties who make economic decisions in the Korean capital market as well as accounting professions who continue to accomplish accounting research on Korean firms.