资产减值:稳健性还是盈余管理

本文研究了我国上市公司资产减值的计提动机。很多研究已发现减值准备的两种计提动机:经济因素和盈余管理因素,但本文发现,稳健性因素也能影响资产减值准备的计提。在同样的毁损情况下,"坏消息"公司将比"好消息"公司计提更多的减值准备。此外,本文还发现,在利用减值准备进行利润操纵时,盈余管理动机的不同会影响减值类型的选择。扭亏和大清洗公司会采取各种类型减值准备进行盈余管理,而平滑和管理层变更公司只使用长期资产减值准备,而且是不影响营业利润的减值准备。

Write-downs: Conservatism or Earnings Management

This paper examines the motivation of recognizing asset write-downs.Literature documents two kinds of motivation of the write-down decision:economic factors and earnings management.We investigate the third kind of motivation:conservatism.In the same impairment circumstances,"bad news" companies recognize more write-downs than "good news" companies.Furthermore,we find that the companies with different reporting motivations use different types of write-downs to manage earnings.Specifically,companies with the incentives to avoid loss or take a big bath use both current and long-term asset write-downs,while companies with the incentives to smooth earnings or experience management turnover use only long-term asset write-downs,as such write-downs do not impact operating income.