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盈餘管理之行為意圖：代理情境、道德發展與計畫行為理論之解釋
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Behavioral Intention of Earnings Management: The Explanation
of Agency Problem, Moral Development and Theory of Planned
Behavior
1. Purpose/Objective
Since Enron’s announcement of bankruptcy in 2001, a number of financial scandals
have been uncovered around the world (e.g., WorldCom, Procomp, Far Eastern Air
Transport, and Rebar). Window dressing of financial statements and improper earnings
management behavior have caused widespread mistrust among the general public with
regard to financial statements. In response, supervisory units have tightened regulations and
worked to promote corporate governance in order to prevent similar occurrences in the
future.
Material misstatements in financial statements can be attributed to intentional fraud or
inadvertent mistakes; the difference between the two is intent. The Theory of Planned
Behavior (TPB)proposed by Ajzen (1985) has been widely applied to capture behavioral
intention. Statements on Auditing Standards (SAS), published in the U.S., defined three
major factors of fraud based on theories in the field of criminology: incentives/pressure,
opportunity, and attitudes/rationalization. The integration of these factors in research could
provide a more complete understanding of earnings management behavior. Thus, using TPB
as the framework, this study integrated scenarios of agency problems with variables in moral
development to develop a psychological model that reveals the behavioral intentions of
accountants in Taiwan with regard to earnings management.
2. Design/Methodology/Approach
This study uses questionnaires to collect primary data in order to test the research
model. The background of earnings management in the questionnaire deals with the
impairment of assets. Working from the perspective of psychological decision-making, this
study employs TPB for the integration of various scenarios related to agency problems and
moral development. We establish a behavior and intentions model comprising three
constructs, i.e., attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, to identify
factors influencing the behavioral intention of accountants with regard to earnings
Sin-Hui Yen
, Professor, Department of Accounting, Tamkang University
Yu-Shan Chang
, Assistant Professor, Department of Accounting, Tamkang University
Mei-Chi Wu
, Auditor, Deloitte Taiwan