Political elections uncertainty and earnings management: Does firm size really matter?
研究了2011-2018年15个欧洲国家中政治选举不确定性对公司盈余管理的影响，发现选举不确定性增加时盈余管理增多，但中小企业行为相反。
This study provides evidence on whether political elections uncertainty is associated with firms’ earnings management in election years in 15 European countries, using a sample of 16,868 firm–year observations from 3,096 unique firms in the period 2011–2018. We find that earnings management increases in uncertain political environments. This occurs mostly in years of extreme elections uncertainty as in the case of elections won by a margin of less than 5%, including close calls with a change of the ruling party to a different political spectrum. Firms increase earnings management activity to decrease earnings except in the case of SMEs who behave conversely by increasing earnings, arguably on the basis of increased scrutiny risk.