ABSTRACT

In this study we examine the association between social capital and earnings management in small and medium firms (SMEs). Social capital, i.e. the community’s norms and networks, may play a role as an informal and external disciplining mechanism of managers and, therefore, affect earnings management practises in small and medium firms, less subject to formal internal and external monitoring than larger firms. We implement a cross-region analysis by using a sample of Spanish SMEs and employ three measures that consider sociological and economic dimensions of social capital: an index of social capital based on economic relationships and proxies for trust and civic engagement. We find a negative association between the proxies for social capital and earnings management. Hence, our findings suggest that managers of small and medium firms headquartered in regions of higher social capital are less likely to manage reported earnings. However, our findings also reveal that the relationship between social capital and earnings management practises in private SMEs depends on firm size.

摘要

在本研究中，我们考察了中小企业 (SME) 中社会资本与盈余管理之间的关联。社会资本，即社区的规范和网络，可以作为管理者的非正式和外部约束机制发挥作用，因此，影响中小型企业的盈余管理实践，不像大企业那样受到正式的内部和外部监督。我们通过使用西班牙中小企业样本进行跨区域分析，并采用三种衡量社会资本的社会学和经济维度的措施：基于经济关系的社会资本指数以及信任和公民参与的代理。我们发现社会资本和盈余管理的代理之间存在负相关。因此，我们的研究结果表明，总部位于较高社会资本地区的中小型公司的经理不太可能管理报告的收益。然而，我们的研究结果还表明，私营中小企业的社会资本和盈余管理实践之间的关系取决于公司规模。