金融资产初始分类与上市公司盈余管理

Initial Classification of Financial Assets and Earnings Management of Listed Companies

我国自2007年1月1日起实施的新会计准则规定,企业在短期金融资产初始分类时应根据管理者持有意图划分为交易性金融资产或可供出售金融资产,从而赋予了管理层更多选择的空间。企业持有越多可供出售金融资产,越有利于管理者进行盈余管理。本文从操控性应计利润和公司业绩的角度,研究新准则下持有较高比例可供出售金融资产的公司特征,并从事后角度进一步检验其经济后果。本文的研究发现,操控性应计利润较高、当年业绩较差的公司更有可能将金融资产划归为可供出售金融资产,同时,该类公司在下一年实现微利收益的概率更高。本文的研究结论表明,当前准则下的金融资产初始分类方法可能成为上市公司实施盈余管理的新途径。

The new accounting standards, which are implemented on January 1, 2007 and provide management more choices, prescribe that the initial classification of financial assets should be divided into trading or available-for-sale financial assets on the basis of managers＇ holding intention. From the point of discretionary accruals and corporate performance, this paper studies the characteristics of companies with higher ratios of available-for-sale financial assets, and further examines their economic consequences. We find that the higher discretionary accruals and the poorer performance the company has, the more likely it is to classify the financial assets as available-for-sale, and the higher possibility it is to achieve small profits. This study concludes that initial classification of financial assets under current guidelines may become a new approach for listed companies to implement earnings management.