Impacto do uso de gerenciamento de resultados por meio de decisões operacionais e por accruals no endividamento das empresas: uma análise das companhias de capital aberto do Brasil

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of real earnings management (REM) and accruals earnings management (AEM) on the total, short-term, and long-term debt of 335 publicly traded, non-financial brazilian companies. Using quantile regression and robust fixed effects panel data, the results indicate that a higher level of REM increases total and short-term debt capacity but decreases long-term debt capacity. However, the practical effect is almost negligible since the coefficients are very small, suggesting that significant changes in debt capacity require extremely aggressive REM. It was also found that higher levels of AEM increase short-term debt capacity but reduce total and long-term debt capacity. It is concluded that using REM to increase debt capacity is not advisable, although it can be employed for other objectives without harming the debt potential. AEM is justifiable only if the goal is to increase short-term debt capacity, but the manager must be aware that this will reduce total and long-term debt capacity.