Past performance and earning management: The moderating effect of employee relative earning

• Main Authors: Kountur, Ronny, Djohanputro, Bramantyo, Sari, Martdian Ratna
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Growing Science 2021-01-01
• Series: Accounting
• Online Access: http://www.growingscience.com/ac/Vol7/ac_2020_180.pdf

Investors are facing doubt on the quality of earning reported. They require some indicators to detect the quality of earning reported. The use of past performance as indicators of current and future earning management is challengeable since there are contradicting results in the sign of the relationship between past performance and earning management. Another variable may moderate their relationship. Therefore, it is the purpose of this study to know if employee’s relative earning is the moderating variable in the relationship between past performance and earning management. One hundred thirty-five companies listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange were selected with the use of stratified random sampling. The data is analyzed using sub-group analysis followed by the Chow F test and the linear regression analysis. Earning management is the dependent variable, whereas past performance is the independent variable, and employee relative earning is the moderating variable. The null hypotheses were rejected. A significant negative association exists between past performance and earning management, while the employee relative earning was found to be the moderating variable. The effect of past performance to earning management increases as employee relative earning getting lower.