Earnings Management and Ownership Structure: Evidence in Brazil

The research aims to identify whether there is an association between propensity to earnings management and ownership structure attributes in Brazilian public companies. The proposed measures by Leuz, Nanda and Wysocki (2003), and Zimmermann and Gontcharov (2003) estimated earnings management. The ownership structure of characteristics relate to the control of the firm, the ownership structure, participation in listings on stock exchange and levels of governance, as well as stock trading aspects. It was considered the period from 1998 to 2010. The data for measuring the variables were obtained in Economatica (R) database, the Annual Information Reference Forms and the Financial Statements available on institutional websites of BM&FBovespa and CVM. The empirical inferences had as descriptive statistics bases, correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis. The findings helped in not fully reject the hypothesis that the level of earnings management in publicly traded companies in Brazil can be significantly affected by characteristics of its ownership structure.