The impact of audit quality on earnings management: Evidence from France

International audienceThis research investigates the relationship between financial reporting quality and audit quality within the context of French listed companies. The auditor brand name (Big4) is used as a proxy for audit quality and earnings management is ascertained through real and accruals earnings management estimation. Discretionary accruals are estimated using the Jones Model and the Modified Jones Model while real earnings management is estimated through the use of models proposed by Roychowdhury (2006). The results indicate that clients of Big4 audit firms record higher levels of accruals and real earnings management. This assertion could be attributed to the low level of auditor litigation risk in France. This study contributes to the literature by investigating the case for both discretionary accruals and real earnings management in a French environment that has peculiar auditing characteristics