Executive variable compensation, earnings management, and analysts’ coverage; Empirical evidence in an emerging market

• Autores: Dante Baiardo Cavalcante Viana Junior, Igor Teodósio, Karoline Sobreira, Vera Ponte
• Localización: Contaduría y administración, ISSN 0186-1042, ISSN-e 2448-8410, Vol. 71, Nº. 1, 2026, págs. 1-24
• Idioma: español
• Títulos paralelos:
  • Compensación variable ejecutiva, gestión de resultados y cobertura de analistas;evidencia empírica en un mercado emergente
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo (pdf)
• Resumen
  • español

    This study aims to analyze the moderating effect of analyst coverage on the relationship between executive variable compensation (i.e., profit-sharing and share-based compensation) and earnings management practices in an emerging market. The analyses are based on a sample of Brazilian-listed firms covering the years between 2010 and 2023. We consider the absolute amount of discretionary accruals as a proxy for earnings management. Analyst coverage is measured by the number of analysts who follow the firms, while the executive variable compensation is estimated by hand-collected data related to the percentage of remuneration for both profit-sharing and share-based compensation. The results suggest that only variable compensation incentives for profit-sharing can induce managers to adopt higher levels of earnings management; we find no evidence taking into account share-based compensation. Moreover, our results also reveal that the coverage of financial analysts does not play a role in this relationship, not influencing the effect of variable compensation on earnings management in the Brazilian capital market. The results complement previous literature on earnings quality and executive compensation in emerging markets by disentangling the executive variable compensation in two different incentives (i.e., short-term and long-term incentives) –offering a larger picture of the association between the two constructs

  • English

    Este estudio tiene como objetivo analizar el efecto moderador de la cobertura de analistas en la relación entre la compensación variable de los ejecutivos (es decir, participación en las utilidades y compensación basada en acciones) y las prácticas de gestión de resultados en un mercado emergente. Los análisis se basan en una muestra de empresas cotizadas en Brasil que abarca los años entre 2010 y 2023. Consideramos el monto absoluto de los devengos discrecionales como una medida proxy de la gestión de resultados. La cobertura de analistas se mide por el número de analistas que siguen a las empresas, mientras que la compensación variable de los ejecutivos se estima a partir de datos recolectados manualmente sobre el porcentaje de remuneración correspondiente tanto a la participación en las utilidades como a la compensación basada en acciones. Los resultados sugieren que solo los incentivos de compensación variable relacionados con la participación en las utilidades inducen a los directivos a adoptar niveles más altos de gestión de resultados; no se encuentra evidencia similar en relación con la compensación basada en acciones. Además, los resultados revelan que la cobertura de analistas financieros no desempeña un papel en estarelación, ya que no influye en el efecto de la compensación variable sobre la gestión de resultados en el mercado de capitales brasileño. Estos hallazgos complementan la literatura previa sobre calidad de la información contable y compensación ejecutiva en mercados emergentes, al desagregar la compensación variable en dos tipos de incentivos (es decir, incentivos de corto y largo plazo), ofreciendo así una visión más amplia de la asociación entre estas dos dimensiones

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