COVID-19對於實質盈餘管理之影響：以臺灣資料為例

The Effect of COVID-19 on Real Earnings Management: Evidence from Taiwan

本研究探討COVID-19 是否影響企業從事實質盈餘管理之行為。本研究使用臺灣疫情發展較晚的情境，取世界爆發疫情(2020 年) 前後兩年為樣本期間，以外銷比例及有無境外重要子公司區分受不同世界疫情影響程度之臺灣企業，並以差異中之差異模型探討疫情是否影響企業實質盈餘管理行為。實證結果發現，相較於外銷比例低或無境外重要子公司之臺灣企業，外銷比例高或有境外重要子公司的臺灣企業在世界爆發疫情時即顯著增加實質盈餘管理之行為。此外，本研究測試並發現前述關係在獨立董事比例較高的企業較弱，此結果亦證明企業在疫情後實質盈餘管理之行為指標增加包含經理人操弄盈餘的因素而非僅是正常生產計畫之調整。

In this study, we investigate whether the COVID-19 pandemic has affected managers’ behavior of real earnings management (REM). We utilize the scenario of Taiwan, which was affected by COVID-19 later than in other countries and collect Taiwan listed company data for two years before and after the worldwide COVID-19 outbreak (2020) and categorize the companies based on the extent to which they are affected by the pandemic, as captured by the percentage of foreign sales or whether they have foreign material subsidiaries. With a difference-in-differences design, our results show that companies with more foreign sales or foreign material subsidiaries increase REM more than other companies. Furthermore, our results are more pronounced for companies with a lower percentage of independent directors on the board, indicating that the increase in REM during the pandemic comes from managers’ manipulation actions, not only from normal production adjustments.