美國年報申報截止之提前對公司盈餘管理之影響

The Effect of Accelerated 10-K Deadline Policy on Corporate Earnings Management

蔡承宏(Cherng-Horng Tsai)

指導教授 ： 高偉娟

共同指導教授 ： 林世銘

國立臺灣大學/管理學院/會計學研究所/碩士(2018年)

https://doi.org/10.6342/NTU201800844

摘要

本研究旨在探討美國年報申報截止日之提前(以下簡稱「加速年報申報政策」)對於公司盈餘管理之影響。美國證券交易委員會於2002年宣布縮短公司年報的申報期限，政策分作兩階段實施：第一階段先行將「加速申報公司」與「大型加速申報公司」之申報期限自90天縮短為75天，第二階段則針對「大型加速申報公司」進一步縮短至60天，目的為提高財務報表的及時性，使投資人得以更有效率地作出投資決策；然而對於政策的推行，產業界與審計實務界皆深表疑慮，惟恐資源不足難以因應，進而損及財務報表的可靠性。
本研究以2006年12月15日實施之第二階段加速年報申報政策作為研究標的，樣本取自政策實施日前後各三年，即2003年至2009年，並透過「差異中之差異估計法」進行迴歸測試；實證結果顯示，受到政策影響而縮短申報期限之「大型加速申報公司」相較於其他公司而言，其應計基礎盈餘管理程度有更為顯著之提升，此結論支持期後查核時間受到壓縮進而損害審計品質之說法；再者，本研究發現公司執行長之過度自信可能為促成上述結果之潛在原因之一；最後，實證結果亦發現，加速年報申報政策導致公司實質盈餘管理程度加劇，與應計基礎盈餘管理之結論一致，說明財務報表及時性與可靠性之權衡實為制定政策時應納入之考量。

關鍵字

盈餘管理 ； 年報申報截止提前 ； 財務報表及時性 ； 財務報表可靠性 ； 審計時間壓力

並列摘要

This study investigates the effect of accelerated 10-K deadline policy on corporate earnings management. In 2002, SEC announced the acceleration of filing deadlines for company's 10-K report. The acceleration occurred in two phases: the first acceleration (from 90 to 75 days) affected both accelerated filers and large accelerated filers, and the second acceleration (from 75 to 60 days) affected only large accelerated filers. The policy aimed at improving the timeliness of the financial statements and enabling investors to make investment decisions more efficiently. However, for the implementation of the policy, both the companies and the audit practitioners are deeply skeptical, lest the lack of resources be difficult to respond to and the reliability of the financial statements is sacrificed.
Using a sample between 2003 and 2009 based on the accelerated 10-K deadline policy at the second stage, we employ a difference-in-differences research design to examine differences across time periods and across filer types. The empirical results show that large accelerated filers which have been affected by the policy experience a significant increase in the degree of accrued-based earnings management, supporting the notion that audit quality is compromised by year-end time pressure on audit work. Furthermore, we find that CEO overconfidence may be one of the underlying causes of the above results. Finally, the empirical results also show that large accelerated filers experience a similar increase in real earnings management, which is in line with the conclusion of accrual-based earnings management. Overall, our findings provide insights into the trade-off between timeliness and reliability of financial statements, which should be taken into consideration when regulators develop the policy.

並列關鍵字

earnings management ； accelerated 10-K filing ； financial statement timeliness ； financial statement reliability ； audit time pressure

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