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Journal of Accounting and Economics Vol. 41 No. 1-2 2006

Earnings management around employee stock option reissues

Jeffrey L. Coles1,2; Michael G. Hertzel1; Swaminathan L. Kalpathy3,4

1 Arizona State University · 2 University of Utah · 3 Texas Christian University · 4 Washington State University

open access

Abstract

We investigate market behavior in a setting where managerial incentives to manipulate earnings and market price should be apparent ex ante to market participants. We find evidence of abnormally low discretionary accruals in the period following announcements of cancellations of executive stock options up to the time the options are reissued. Nevertheless, analysts and investors are not misled. Discretionary accruals have little power in explaining stock price performance during this period. Moreover, discretionary accruals do not explain subsequent analyst forecast errors. Thus, our findings suggest that, in this transparent setting, analysts and investors do not respond to earnings management.

DOI
10.1016/j.jacceco.2005.08.002
Volume
41
Issue
1-2
Pages
173-200
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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