The aim of this thesis is to examine the existence and prevalence of Earnings management in Swedish companies. Theoretical frameworks often suggest that there are strong incentives to practice Earnings management. The research area of Earnings management has, to date, mainly focused on detecting Earnings management. However, to our knowledge, no such studies have been conducted on Swedish companies. This thesis provides evidence of the existence and prevalence of Earnings management in Swedish companies.

I denna studie undersöker vi om det förekommer Earnings management i resultathöjande syfte bland svenska börsnoterade företag vid tiden av en nyemission. Studier om Earnings management vid nyemissioner har gjorts förut av exempelvis av (Shivakumar, 2000). Han kommer fram till att Earnings management förekommer tiden precis innan en nyemission. Vi hittar dock ingen studie utförd på svenska företag, vilket vi vill undersöka närmare. Syftet med resultatet av studien är att visa intressenter till företagen att de kan bli vilseledda när de ska investera sitt kapital när Earnings management förekommer..

The purpose of this study was to examine earnings quality and Earnings management in U.S. ex-post failed firms. A quantitative study was made, using the Modified Jones Model, to identify abnormal accruals up to six years before bankruptcy. 9 003 continuing firms and 187 bankrupt firms, active sometime between 1990 and 2010, were examined. The study concludes that U.S.

Tidigare studier har visat på att en finansiell kris leder till en minskad förekomst av Earnings management som anses vara ett stort problemen i modern redovisning. Denna uppsats undersöker Earnings managements förekomst bland svenska företag och hur den påverkas av en finansiell kris samt om det finns skillnader mellan olika branscher. Vi använder en modifierad variant av Jones modell för att mäta de diskretionära periodiseringarna, som likställs som Earnings management, och jämför sedan förekomsten av Earnings management före och under krisen samt mellan de fyra branscherna som studerats. Vi finner inte några skillnader i Earnings managements förekomst innan och under finanskrisen men vi kan se att branschen Sällanköp i större utsträckning än övriga studerade branscher bedriver Earnings management. Vår förklaring till detta är att övervakningen av företagens redovisning är generellt sett bra vilket minimerar möjligheten att bedriva Earnings management men att det kan finnas brister för branschen Sällanköp..

Syftet med examensarbetet är att tillföra ny kunskap inom den svenska Earnings management forskningen genom att undersöka kapitalstrukturens eventuella korrelation med Earnings management. Uppsatsen har en kvantitativ metodansats, paneldata regressionsanalys används för att genomföra studien. Arbetet grundar sig i tidigare forskning på Earnings management området. Vidare prövas Debt-to-Equity teorin mot den svenska marknaden. Den empiriska undersökningen utgår från 231 företag listade på den svenska börsen under tidsperioden 2003-2007 och en negativ korrelation konstateras mellan Earnings management och kapitalstruktur.

Prior studies have shown that Earnings management can be used either to inform or to mislead investors about the future performance of a company. However, few studies have examined the impact of Earnings management on forecasting return on equity (ROE). The aim of this thesis is to investigate whether the ability to forecast next year's ROE is improved when taking Earnings management, measured as discretionary accruals, into account. This is examined by comparing a forecast model that takes the magnitude of discretionary accruals into consideration with a model that does not. The study is based on companies that were listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange during 2002-2012.

Denna studie fokuserar på effekten av IFRS/IAS på Earnings management. Huvudsyftet är att identifiera Earnings management före och efter införandet av IFRS/IAS för att klargöra om de internationella redovisningsstandarderna har påverkat förekomsten av resultatmanipulering inom svenska börsbolag. Perioden som studeras är åren 2002-2008. För att identifiera Earnings management används den modifierade Jones-modellen som går ut på att detektera förekomsten av godtyckliga periodiseringar som ett mått på resultatmanipulering. Vi kontrollerar även för om variablerna storlek och bransch kan förklara förekomsten av företeelsen före och efter införandet av IFRS/IAS.

The executives of a firm possess considerable influence over a company's financial reports. The numbers can be adjusted in a favorable direction by engaging in Earnings management, which harms the reliability of the financial reporting. Previous research suggests that Earnings management can differ between genders. In recent years the debate about a woman's role in the business world has received generous attention in media. Moreover, the presence of women in leading positions has become a relevant issue for firms.

The purpose of this essay is to investigate if the companies listed on Nasdaq/OMX Stockholm Large Cap use the Earnings management phenomenon Big Bath Accounting to a greater extent when a change of management (CEO) is made.Management tends to use Earnings management when there is a bonus plan linked to the result of the company. To gain maximum bonus the management will try to manipulate the result in a way that in a long term maximize their utility. Through the Earnings management technique Big Bath the management is given the possibility to take one large cost as a one-time expend, even though the cost is supposed to run over several financial years. This, of course, within the legal framework. A big bath may occur when there is an impairment of goodwill, tangible and/or intangible assets or larger provisions for future expense, or both of them at the same time..

This paper replicates a test performed by Burgstahler and Dichev (1997), which identifies a kink in the frequency distribution of earnings for companies listed on American stock exchanges. Their claim, that the kink is evidence of Earnings management, has however been dismissed as a methodical consequence. To address this concern, this paper not only replicates the test in general, but also performs tests on a split sample, where founding family-owned companies are separated from the others, since earlier research has shown that founding family ownership is correlated with less Earnings management. The results are in line with the findings of Burgstahler and Dichev, with a significant kink in the frequency distribution in the general test. The findings also show that the significance of the kink increases in the non-family-owned sample, while it disappears in the family-owned sample.

The main intention with this thesis is to investigate the relationship between dividends and investments. We hypothesize that firms may be forced to cut back on investments if dividends are not curtailed in times of poor annual earnings. According to contemporary theories, we argue that firms may be reluctant to cut back on dividends even when annual earnings decline and the level of investments will consequently be determined by the financial mobility of companies. The survey is carried out by means of a quantitative analysis, which includes all firms quoted on the exchange of Stockholm from 1980 through 2000. On the contrary of previous research, we conclude that even firms with high dividends can be forced to curtail investments if payouts to shareholders are maintained or increased when companies are faced with a decline in annual earnings..

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between Earnings management (EM) and certain characteristics of management forecasts, among a sample of Swedish listed companies. The forecast characteristics studied are: 1) Forecast venue: How explicitly is the forecast presented? 2) Forecast precision: How detailed is the estimated number? 3) Forecast measure: Which measure(s) are forecasted? We use a sample of 68 annual management forecasts, obtained from year-end reports between the years 2007-2011. EM during the forecasted year (2008-2012) is estimated using the cross-sectional modified-Jones model. The forecast characteristics are then related to the degree of EM during the forecasted period.

The purpose of our study is to find out if insiders in Sweden generate abnormal earnings through insider trades. We want to pinpoint the cause for abnormal earnings by dividing transactions after company market value, size of the trade and type of insider. A quantitative approach using the market model have been used. We have conducted an event study over two short term event windows. We conclude that insiders in Sweden generate positive abnormal earnings for sales and negative for purchases in our ?long? event window.

This paper seeks to investigate whether there is a positive relationship between bonus as a part of total executive compensation and lower accounting quality among Swedish companies. In this study, accounting quality is defined as the degree by which a company's earnings are subject to Earnings management. To detect Earnings management accrual-based modified Jones model is applied to companies listed on the Large-, Mid- and Small-Cap lists on the Stockholm stock exchange during 2011. We find a statistically significant positive relationship between bonus as a part of total executive compensation and lower accounting quality. Thus, in line with prior research, our results suggest that managers, interested in maximizing their bonus, will select income increasing accruals to manage earnings upwards.

This thesis aims to investigate if there are any differences in the value relevance of yearly earnings announcements before (2000-2004) and after (2005-2009) IFRS were implemented for listed companies in the European Union. To assess the value relevance of earnings, an earnings response coefficient (ERC) is estimated using a linear OLS-regression model. The regression model uses accounting earnings per share as the explaining variable, with the corresponding return starting from (but not including) the previous year's earnings announcement date, ending at (and including) the current earnings announcement date, as the dependent variable. This study finds that there is no statistically significant difference between the estimated ERCs for the two periods. Although no statistically significant difference is found, data shows that the R2-values, which measure the explanatory power of the regressions, are higher for the period before IFRS.