This study provides evidence that consumer co-operative societies (co-ops) drive reported earnings toward zero profit by adjusting sales, discretionary expenses, and costs of goods sold. Evidence also indicates that co-ops with small losses manage earnings up to avoid reporting losses and make small profits. Furthermore, earnings management tends to decrease after the 2013 MOSAL (Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor) regulation. This paper examines a highly significant and currently unresearched segment of the economy using a unique and comprehensive dataset of annual information on Kuwaiti co-ops. It also provides new insights on the role of government regulations in curbing the accounting practices co-ops managers use to misreport financial statements.

这项研究提供了证据，表明消费者合作社（co-ops）通过调整销售，可自由支配的支出和所售商品的成本，使报告的收益朝着零利润的方向发展。证据还表明，有小额亏损的合作社可以管理收益，从而避免报告损失并赚取小额利润。此外，在2013年MOSAL（社会事务和劳工部）法规出台后，盈余管理趋于下降。本文使用关于科威特合作社的年度信息的独特而全面的数据集，考察了一个高度重要且目前尚未研究的经济领域。它还提供了有关政府法规在遏制合作社经理误报财务报表所采用的会计惯例中的作用的新见解。