회사채 발행이 이익조정과 보수주의에 미치는 영향

[Purpose]This study examines the effect of the bond issues on earnings management and conservatism. The management that plans to issue corporate bonds wants to receive a high credit rating and lower interest costs. Thus, the companies issuing corporate bond may use earnings management and reduce accounting conservatism to increase reporting profit. [Methodology]We collected data from 8,440 listed firms from 2004 to 2017. We used Dechow et al.(1995) and Kothari et al.(2005) for accrual－based earnings management. Cohen et al. (2008) and Cohen and Zarowin(2010) were used for real earnings management. For measuring conservatism, Givoly and Hayn(2000) and Penman and Zang(2002) were used. [Findings]The results of this study show that the managements that plan to issue corporate bonds tend to increase discretionary accruals and reduce accounting conservatism. In addition, these results are mainly found in companies with low interest coverage ratios. However, there was no significant result between the issuance of corporate bonds and real earnings management. [Implications]We find that the issuance of corporate bonds is a new incentive related to earnings management and accounting conservatism. So, the managements that plan to issue corporate bonds manage the profit from the year prior to the issuance of corporate bonds. Therefore, it is necessary for credit rating agencies to review the financial statements considering earnings management and accounting conservatism of the companies with planning to issue corporate bonds.