Download or read book Accrual-Based and Real Earnings Management Activities Around Seasoned Equity Offerings written by Daniel A. Cohen and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 49 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We examine earnings management behavior around SEOs, focusing on both real activities and accrual-based manipulation. Although research has addressed the issues of earnings management around SEOs and earnings management via real activities manipulation, ours is the first paper to put these two issues together. We make three contributions to the literature. First, we document that firms use real, as well as accrual-based, earnings management tools around SEOs. Second, we show how the tendency for firms to tradeoff real versus accrual-based earnings management activities around SEO s varies cross-sectionally. We find that firms choices vary predictably as a function of the firm s ability to use accrual management and the costs of doing so. Our model is a first step in examining how firms tradeoff between real versus accrual methods of earnings management. Third, we compare the economic costs of accrual versus real earnings management around SEO s, by examining the effect of each type of earnings management on the firm s future performance. We provide the first evidence on this important issue by showing that the costs of real earnings management are likely greater than the costs of accrual earnings management, at least in the SEO context.