企業生命週期與實質盈餘管理的關聯性

The Association of Firm Life Cycle and Real Earnings Management

本研究之目的在探討企業生命週期與實質盈餘管理的關聯性。本研究以我國上市上櫃非金融業公司2009年至2016年的資料測試處於不同生命週期之企業的盈餘管理程度差異。本研究參考Dickinson（2011）的研究設計，將樣本公司以其現金流量表資訊劃分為不同的企業生命週期，並基於資料取得的限制選取成長期、成熟期與衰退期為本研究的探討對象。實質盈餘管理則根據Roychowdhury（2006）的研究設計，以綜合異常營業活動現金流量、異常生產成本及異常裁決性費用的指標衡量，並參考Nagar and Radhakrishnan（2017）的研究設計，以避免損失作為判斷企業是否進行盈餘管理的依據。本研究的實證結果顯示，達到避免損失盈餘門檻的衰退期公司會從事實質盈餘管理，而成長期與成熟期公司則不會。本研究建議，資本市場在評估企業的盈餘管理行為時，應該將企業生命週期的因素納入考量。

This study explores the association between firm life cycle stages and real earnings management by using the publicly listed non-financial firms in Taiwan from 2009 to 2016 as the sample. The sample companies are split into growth, mature and decline stage based on Dickinson(2011)and data availability. Real earnings management is measured by a comprehensive indicator including abnormal operating cash flow, abnormal production costs and abnormal discretionary expenses based on Roychowdhury(2006). Following Nagar and Radhakrishnan(2017), this study identifies earnings management suspects by examining whether the sample companies tend to avoiding losses. The study finds that the firms in the decline stages that just meet the earnings benchmark of avoiding losses exhibit real-activity based earnings management, and firms in the growth and mature stages do not. This study recommends that the capital market should consider firm life cycle while identifying firms' earnings management.