After Enron: An Empirical Examination on Earnings Conservatism in Malaysia

The failure of ENRON and subsequent demise of Arthur Andersen hasrenewed interest in earnings and audit research. This study examinesthe impact of ENRON debacle on earnings conservatism in Malaysia. Wehypothesised that in the period after ENRON, the auditors and managersof the firms have incentives...

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Main Authors: Abdul Wahab, Effiezal Aswadi, Zain, M., Marzuki, M.
Format: Journal Article
Published: U P E N A 2010
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/17801
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author Abdul Wahab, Effiezal Aswadi
Zain, M.
Marzuki, M.
author_facet Abdul Wahab, Effiezal Aswadi
Zain, M.
Marzuki, M.
author_sort Abdul Wahab, Effiezal Aswadi
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description The failure of ENRON and subsequent demise of Arthur Andersen hasrenewed interest in earnings and audit research. This study examinesthe impact of ENRON debacle on earnings conservatism in Malaysia. Wehypothesised that in the period after ENRON, the auditors and managersof the firms have incentives to report more conservatively to avoid riskof litigation and to protect reputation capital. Based on a sample of 1043firm-years over the period of 2001 and 2002, we find that, on average,firms do report more conservatively in 2002. In addition, evidencesuggests that former Andersen clients report more conservatively in 2002relatively to non-Andersen clients. Further, we document similar resultsfor firms switching to from another Big 4 to another Big 4 auditing firmin 2002. Finally, we discover firms that did not switch in 2002 do reportmore conservatively in 2002. We conclude that the ENRON debacle havea profound impact on firms to report more timely earnings
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T07:22:55Z
publishDate 2010
publisher U P E N A
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-178012017-05-30T08:04:34Z After Enron: An Empirical Examination on Earnings Conservatism in Malaysia Abdul Wahab, Effiezal Aswadi Zain, M. Marzuki, M. The failure of ENRON and subsequent demise of Arthur Andersen hasrenewed interest in earnings and audit research. This study examinesthe impact of ENRON debacle on earnings conservatism in Malaysia. Wehypothesised that in the period after ENRON, the auditors and managersof the firms have incentives to report more conservatively to avoid riskof litigation and to protect reputation capital. Based on a sample of 1043firm-years over the period of 2001 and 2002, we find that, on average,firms do report more conservatively in 2002. In addition, evidencesuggests that former Andersen clients report more conservatively in 2002relatively to non-Andersen clients. Further, we document similar resultsfor firms switching to from another Big 4 to another Big 4 auditing firmin 2002. Finally, we discover firms that did not switch in 2002 do reportmore conservatively in 2002. We conclude that the ENRON debacle havea profound impact on firms to report more timely earnings 2010 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/17801 U P E N A restricted
spellingShingle Abdul Wahab, Effiezal Aswadi
Zain, M.
Marzuki, M.
After Enron: An Empirical Examination on Earnings Conservatism in Malaysia
title After Enron: An Empirical Examination on Earnings Conservatism in Malaysia
title_full After Enron: An Empirical Examination on Earnings Conservatism in Malaysia
title_fullStr After Enron: An Empirical Examination on Earnings Conservatism in Malaysia
title_full_unstemmed After Enron: An Empirical Examination on Earnings Conservatism in Malaysia
title_short After Enron: An Empirical Examination on Earnings Conservatism in Malaysia
title_sort after enron: an empirical examination on earnings conservatism in malaysia
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/17801