盈餘管理對負債到期結構選擇之影響

Abstract

過去文獻已研究出許多影響公司債券到期日結構決策的因素，分析在不同假說設定下，對債券到期日長短選擇的影響。本文目的在於研究盈餘管理的行為是否會對負債到期結構之選擇有所影響，此外，亦討論採取盈餘管理的公司在發行債券後之長期績效。實證結果發現，發行債券前，公司若採取在財務報表上呈現較高盈餘之盈餘管理(積極盈餘管理)，公司愈有企圖發行到期日較長之債券，持有較高比例長期負債在其資本結構中，以避免外部頻繁的監控及較高之短期債券重複發行成本。實證亦證實採取積極盈餘管理的公司在發行債券後的五年內，會有負向的長期績效，顯示當投資人發現公司操縱盈餘事實時，將對其失去信心，進而反映在公司長期股票報酬的表現上。

Previous analysis has advanced many factors that will affect the firms’ choice of debt maturity structure. The main goal of our study is to examine the relationship between the debt maturity structure and the behavior of earnings management. Besides, we also measure the long-term stock return performance of these firms after issuing debt. From the empirical results, we find that firms which take earnings management to report higher earnings (aggressive) will have incentive to issue debt with longer maturity in order to avoid the frequent outside monitoring and higher issuing cost of short-term debt. In addition, we find that these firms with aggressive earnings management will face 5-year negative long-term stock return performance and indicate that after the manipulation is revealed, investor will lose their confidence and reflect on firms’ stock return performance.