재무제표 항목의 통합표시수준이 회계이익의 품질에 미치는 영향

초록

It is usually considered that the managerial accounting choice regarding the recognition of accruals has nothing to do with the way the various accounts in the accounting book are aggregated and presented. However, the prior studies focusing on the behavioral aspect of human information processing suggest that the information environment created by financial statement presentation alternatives can affect the managerial incentive for earnings management. Although the effect of aggregation on earnings management has been theoretically analyzed by the economic model which explains the biased financial reporting behavior, little research has been conducted to test it empirically. This paper tries to fill the gap between the theory and the practice by investigating empirically the relation between earnings quality and line item aggregation. The results of this paper are as follows. First, the quality of earnings decreases as the level of aggregation increases. Second, the negative effect of aggregation on earnings quality is higher in the situation where the motivation for earnings management exists than in the situation where the motivation for earnings management does not exist. The results of this paper provide the empirical evidence for the theory that the increased level of aggregation generates the incentive for earnings management.

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