Earnings Management Practices: The Comparative Studies Between Shariah Index (JII) and Conventional Index (LQ-45) In Indonesian Stock Exchange

Abstract

Earnings management is a phenomenon that is difficult to avoid because the impact of using the accrual basis for preparation of financial statements. The practice of earnings management can be viewed from two different perspectives, They are opportunistic behavior (negative) and management actions that should be done (positive). Healy and Wahlen (1998) consider earnings management as an act of misleading and deceiving shareholders. This is due to management has an asymmetric information about the condition of the companies. The purpose of this study is to analyze the difference of earnings management between the shariah index (JII) and conventional index (LQ-45). These samples are 153 and 187 companies listed in Indonesian stocks exchange from 2004-2010 periods. The analysis used independent sample t-test. The result shows that the average value of accruals (DACC ) on the companies listed in the conventional index is 0.8042210 and the average value of accruals (DACC 1 ) on the companies in the shariah index is 0.098318. Statistical test shows that there is not significant differences in earnings management practices (DACC) between companies in the shariah index and conventional index (prob.value = 0.335). It means that earnings management practices which tend to increase the profit made by the companies in the conventional index more than the companies in the shariah index. Earnings management perspective used in this study is opportunistic perspective. For further research, earnings management needs to be reviewed from the other perspective, such as efficiency perspective and a positive perspective.