Purpose: This study verifies the debt covenant hypothesis by exploring the earnings management of zero-leverage firms that are not constrained by debt covenants. Furthermore, this study investigates whether the earnings management of zero-leverage firms varies depending on financial constraints,...

Globally, the unravelling of the corporate scandals leading to big multinational firms stumbling down to bankruptcy suits caused enormous loss of wealth to the investors. This study explores how the earnings management and capital structure can signal an early stage of the distressed financial...

This paper investigates the effect of external financing on earnings management in Vietnam, a bank-dominated economy. Using a sample of 494 listed non-financial firms from 2009 to 2018, we find that external financing is positively related to earnings management, implying that firms have...