투자자 심리와 이익조정 간의 관련성에 관한 연구

This paper investigates the association between investor sentiment and earnings management in Korea using a sample of 2,167 firm-years during 2011~2017. We measure investor sentiment at the individual firm level suggested by Ryu et al.(2018), considering that investor sentiment varies with each firms. The proxies for earnings management are measured by the discretionary accruals and abnormal real activities proposed by Kothari et al.(2005) and Roychowdhury(2006), respectively. The analysis yields following key findings. First, managers inflate earnings by using discretionary accruals and abnormal real activities during the period in which investor sentiment is optimistic, but no earnings managements are observed to reflect investor sentiment during the period in which investor sentiment is pessimistic. Second, we find that the earnings management to meet optimistic investor sentiment varies quarterly, and the preferred methods of earnings management are also slightly different quarterly. Third, we also find that earnings management to meet optimistic investor sentiment is more aggressively in small firms(stocks) that are vulnerable to investor sentiment. These results suggest that catering theory presented in behavioral finance is empirically observed in the managerial earnings management.