The Influence of ownership structure and family management on the earnings management

Abstract

The study aimed to verify the influence of the structure of ownership and family on earnings management in Publicly listed companies. A descriptive, documental and quantitative research was carried out with data from 2010 to 2014. For the identification and analysis of the property structure, the methodology of La Porta, Lopez-de-Silanes e Shleifer (1999), who traced the chain of ownership until identifying the last controlling shareholder. For the identification and analysis of family management, the methodology of Prencipe et al. (2011), who investigated the participation of families in the executive board and the board of directors. Results management was analyzed through discretionary accruals based on the Modified Jones model (DECHOW; SLOAN; SWEENEY, 1995). It was found that in all years the percentage of companies with family ownership structure was higher than the percentage of companies with non-family structure. The number of companies that had family management was also significant, especially when compared to the result found in previous surveys. As for management, low-level indicators have been identified in most years. Finally, the research pointed out three main factors that influenced the lower management of results: family ownership structure; The combination of family ownership structure and the family CEO; And, the combination of the family property structure and the chairman of the family board. These results provide additional evidence for the existing literature on the factors that influence the management of results, specifically from the approach of family and non-family companies.