Earnings management and sustainability assurance: The moderating role of CSR committee

This study examines the effect of earnings management on the decision to acquire sustainability assurance (SA) reports. It also offers insight into the moderating impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) committee over the earnings management-SA nexus. To test the hypotheses, a logit regression for panel data is employed for a sample of 2972 firm-year observations of non-financial firms listed on the STOXX Europe 600 during the period 2012-2018. The findings reveal that firms that involve in earnings management, either accrual earnings management or real activities manipulation, tend to obtain SA reports to gain, repair, or maintain their legitimacy. Furthermore, the outcomes show that the existence of CSR committee alleviates the symbolic use of SA. Overall, this study highlights that the sustainability reporting assurance process can be used as a tool to deviate or shift stakeholders' attention from the earnings management techniques used in their reporting. The results, therefore, will benefit standard-setters, policymakers, and stakeholders to be more cautious in differentiating between the substantial and symbolic SA reports.