2015 Volume 23 Issue 1 Pages 21-41
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between earnings management and the business field through the inter-industry comparison of earnings management. The level of earnings management in each industry is quantified by methods proposed by Leuz et al. (2003), which are international comparison research on earnings management. Employing data obtained from 25,208 non-financial firm-year observations from 2004 to 2011, results show that there is a significant difference in the level of earnings management among industries as categorized by the Securities Identification Code Committee (33 sectors), and that (1) governmental regulation, (2) firm size, (3) financing methods, and (4) accounting flexibility determine these differences. These results are robust when Nikkei 36 industry classifications are used.
