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Capital Structure and Earnings Management Practices: Empirical Analysis in Sub-Sahara Africa

Received: 15 August 2023    Accepted: 13 September 2023    Published: 27 September 2023
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Abstract

This study assesses the impact of capital structure (CS) on Earnings Management Practices (EMP) in selected firms in sub-Sahara Africa. EMP was proxied by real EMP using Rowchodhury's (2006) model and accrual EMP measured by Khothari et al. (2005) model. The study applied the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimator to data collected from the financial statements of two hundred and seventy-six (276) firms purposively selected from Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, and Zimbabwe from 2010 to 2020, given 3,069 observations firm-years. The results show that firms in Kenya, Nigeria, and Tanzania partake in real EMP through the structure of their capital. However, firms in Ghana, South Africa, and Zimbabwe do not partake in real EMP through the structure of their capital. Furthermore, the findings reveal that firms in Ghana and South Africa use their capital structure to embark on accrual EMP, while firms in Nigeria, Kenya, and Zimbabwe do not. The study concludes that firms in selected countries in sub-Saharan Africa substitute real and accrual forms of EMP. Therefore, the study recommends that capital providers in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, and Zimbabwe should maintain sufficient attention to both real and accrual EMP for sustainable leveraging and the management of opportunistic selections of accounting choices, but increase the use of real EMP.

Published in Journal of Finance and Accounting (Volume 11, Issue 5)
DOI 10.11648/j.jfa.20231105.12
Page(s) 155-163
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Capital Structure, Accrual, Real, Earnings Management Practices, Sub-Saharan Africa

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Saheed Akande Shittu, Hakeem Olayinka Onifade. (2023). Capital Structure and Earnings Management Practices: Empirical Analysis in Sub-Sahara Africa. Journal of Finance and Accounting, 11(5), 155-163. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfa.20231105.12

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    ACS Style

    Saheed Akande Shittu; Hakeem Olayinka Onifade. Capital Structure and Earnings Management Practices: Empirical Analysis in Sub-Sahara Africa. J. Finance Account. 2023, 11(5), 155-163. doi: 10.11648/j.jfa.20231105.12

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    AMA Style

    Saheed Akande Shittu, Hakeem Olayinka Onifade. Capital Structure and Earnings Management Practices: Empirical Analysis in Sub-Sahara Africa. J Finance Account. 2023;11(5):155-163. doi: 10.11648/j.jfa.20231105.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.jfa.20231105.12,
      author = {Saheed Akande Shittu and Hakeem Olayinka Onifade},
      title = {Capital Structure and Earnings Management Practices: Empirical Analysis in Sub-Sahara Africa},
      journal = {Journal of Finance and Accounting},
      volume = {11},
      number = {5},
      pages = {155-163},
      doi = {10.11648/j.jfa.20231105.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfa.20231105.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jfa.20231105.12},
      abstract = {This study assesses the impact of capital structure (CS) on Earnings Management Practices (EMP) in selected firms in sub-Sahara Africa. EMP was proxied by real EMP using Rowchodhury's (2006) model and accrual EMP measured by Khothari et al. (2005) model. The study applied the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimator to data collected from the financial statements of two hundred and seventy-six (276) firms purposively selected from Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, and Zimbabwe from 2010 to 2020, given 3,069 observations firm-years. The results show that firms in Kenya, Nigeria, and Tanzania partake in real EMP through the structure of their capital. However, firms in Ghana, South Africa, and Zimbabwe do not partake in real EMP through the structure of their capital. Furthermore, the findings reveal that firms in Ghana and South Africa use their capital structure to embark on accrual EMP, while firms in Nigeria, Kenya, and Zimbabwe do not. The study concludes that firms in selected countries in sub-Saharan Africa substitute real and accrual forms of EMP. Therefore, the study recommends that capital providers in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, and Zimbabwe should maintain sufficient attention to both real and accrual EMP for sustainable leveraging and the management of opportunistic selections of accounting choices, but increase the use of real EMP.},
     year = {2023}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Capital Structure and Earnings Management Practices: Empirical Analysis in Sub-Sahara Africa
    AU  - Saheed Akande Shittu
    AU  - Hakeem Olayinka Onifade
    Y1  - 2023/09/27
    PY  - 2023
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfa.20231105.12
    DO  - 10.11648/j.jfa.20231105.12
    T2  - Journal of Finance and Accounting
    JF  - Journal of Finance and Accounting
    JO  - Journal of Finance and Accounting
    SP  - 155
    EP  - 163
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2330-7323
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfa.20231105.12
    AB  - This study assesses the impact of capital structure (CS) on Earnings Management Practices (EMP) in selected firms in sub-Sahara Africa. EMP was proxied by real EMP using Rowchodhury's (2006) model and accrual EMP measured by Khothari et al. (2005) model. The study applied the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimator to data collected from the financial statements of two hundred and seventy-six (276) firms purposively selected from Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, and Zimbabwe from 2010 to 2020, given 3,069 observations firm-years. The results show that firms in Kenya, Nigeria, and Tanzania partake in real EMP through the structure of their capital. However, firms in Ghana, South Africa, and Zimbabwe do not partake in real EMP through the structure of their capital. Furthermore, the findings reveal that firms in Ghana and South Africa use their capital structure to embark on accrual EMP, while firms in Nigeria, Kenya, and Zimbabwe do not. The study concludes that firms in selected countries in sub-Saharan Africa substitute real and accrual forms of EMP. Therefore, the study recommends that capital providers in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, and Zimbabwe should maintain sufficient attention to both real and accrual EMP for sustainable leveraging and the management of opportunistic selections of accounting choices, but increase the use of real EMP.
    VL  - 11
    IS  - 5
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Accountancy, Federal Polytechnic Ayede, Nigeria

  • Department of Accounting, Crescent University, Abeokuta, Nigeria

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