Testing for Earnings Management in the U.S. Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Some forms of earnings management largely disappeared after SOX’s implementation, including cosmetic earnings management and the upward manipulation of income to ensure that reported EPS is rounded up a penny rather than down a cent. Yet, research shows that the incidence of accrual-based earnings management increases during an economic downturn. This raises a question of whether these two types of earnings management might have reappeared in the U.S. during the unique, pandemic-driven recession of 2020. The current study tests this issue and finds no compelling evidence that either of these two easilyachieved forms of earnings management occurred overall in 2020.