Real earnings management and the cost of new corporate bonds

Wenxia Ge, Jeong-Bon Kim

Research output: Journal Publications and ReviewsRGC 21 - Publication in refereed journalpeer-review

114 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We examine the association between real earnings management and the cost of new bond issues of U.S. corporations. We consider three types of real earnings management: sales manipulation, overproduction, and the abnormal reduction of discretionary expenditures. We find that overproduction impairs credit ratings and that sales manipulation and overproduction are associated with higher bond yield spreads. Overall, our results imply that credit rating agencies and bondholders perceive real earnings management as a credit risk-increasing factor and thus require high risk premiums. © 2013 Elsevier Inc.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)641-647
JournalJournal of Business Research
Volume67
Issue number4
Online published16 Feb 2013
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2014

Research Keywords

  • Bond yield spread
  • Credit rating
  • New bond issue
  • Real earnings management

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Real earnings management and the cost of new corporate bonds'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this