Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Commerce - Department of Accounting

The main objective of the current research is to examine the impact of diversification, market power, and financial statement comparability on earnings management.The research covers a period of 23 quarters from the fourth quarter of 2014 to the second quarter of 2020, and comprises 125 firms listed in the Egyptian Stock Exchange.The pooled ordinary least squares (OLS) and fixed effect model (FEM) regressions are conducted to test the validity of the research hypotheses.The modified Jones model (1995) is used to measure earnings management, the number of business segments included in each firm is used to measure diversification, the adjusted Lerner index (A-LI) is used as a measure of market power, and the De Franco model (2011) is used as a measure of financial statement comparability. The results reveal that: First, there is a significant negative relationship between diversification and earnings management.This result implies that corporate diversificationseems to mitigate earnings management. As, the diversification may be linked with lower risk becauseof its multiple lines of business with imperfectly correlated returns, thereby reducing earnings variability. Second, there is a significant negative association between market power and earnings management, which implies that firms enjoying strong market power have no need to manipulate reported earnings due to lower level of cash flow fluctuations. Third, there is a significant negative association between financial statement comparability and earnings management. Since, when the accounting comparability improves, the accounting information of the company becomes more transparent for market participants, hence, incentives and possibilities for managers{u2019} accrual earnings management (AEM) activities have been diminished

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