IFRS and Earnings Management in Indonesia: The Effect of Independent Commissioners

This research aims at examining the effect of IFRS adoption on earnings management and also investigates the effect of independent commissioners on the relationship between IFRS adoption and earnings management. The sample ofthis study consists of non-financial firms with 1,127 firm-years observations during 2007 – 2010 from Indonesia Stock Exchange. The result of the study shows that accrual earnings management decreases after the adoption of IFRS. However, the independent commissioners have positive effect on the relationship between IFRS and accrual earnings management. This result shows that independent commissioners might not be effective in mitigating earningsmanagement. Further test on the effect of IFRS adoption on real earnings management shows that discretionary expenses have decreased. However, real earnings management: production costs and cash flows increased after the adoption. The interaction of independent commissioners and IFRS was found to be positively affecting discretionary expense and negatively affecting production costs

Keywords:

IFRS , accrual earnings management , real earnings management , independence commissioners