Corporate site visits and earnings management

This study conducts the first analysis of the association between earnings management (EM) and corporate site visits. Results show that a corporate’s accrual-based EM is negatively associated with investors’ site visits, the number of external participants, especially institutional investors, and the depth and breadth of communication during a site visit. However, no significant relationship is found between the presence of core managers, non-institutional investors and accrual-based EM. Our findings provide significant implications for investors and regulators who seek to constrain EM.