Managing Earnings with Intercorporate Investments
研究企业如何利用会计准则的灵活性，通过选择成本法或权益法来管理来自20%-50%持股投资的报告盈余，发现高杠杆企业倾向于最大化报告盈余以降低债务重谈成本或规避监管关注。
Abstract: We explore to what extent firms deliberately manage their financial reports by exploiting the flexibility of generally accepted accounting principles. Using a sample of Oslo Stock Exchange‐listed firms with 20–50% equity holdings in other firms, we find that firms with high financial leverage tend to maximize reported earnings from these investments through their choice between the cost method and the equity method, possibly in an attempt to reduce debt renegotiation costs or to avoid regulatory attention. In contrast, managers do not systematically bias reported earnings to extract private benefits or to signal revised expectations about future cash flows. Firms use different earnings management tools in a consistent way, as the earnings effect of the cost/equity choice is not offset by discretionary accruals.