Date of Award

2020-01-01

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Theses & Dissertations (College of Business)

Advisor(s)

Giorgio Gotti

Second Advisor

David Folsom

Abstract

I examine the impact of whistleblowing allegations on the financial reporting behavior of peer firms. This study provides several important findings. First, industry peers exhibit decreases in accrual-based earnings management, real earnings management, and the likelihood of financial misreporting in the two years following a whistleblowing allegation. Second, following a whistleblowing allegation, peer firms exhibit greater conditional conservatism. Third, peer firms increase earnings transparency to respond to whistleblowing allegations with the intention of improving financial reporting quality. I find results are strongest when the whistleblowing event relates specifically to accounting fraud. Whistleblowing allegations at large firms have greater impact on peer firms' post-whistleblowing financial reporting. Prior literature shows that whistleblowing allegations are associated with changes in the financial reporting of whistleblowing target firms; this paper provides evidence that whistleblowing allegations also impact peer firms' financial reporting.

Language

en

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Size

74 pages

File Format

application/pdf

Rights Holder

Fuzhao zhou

Available for download on Wednesday, May 01, 2120

Included in

Accounting Commons

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