The influence of operating cash flow in earnings management in construction companies listed at BM&FBovespa

Abstract

Accounting information management is often carried out in various ways in accordance with choices and operational decision-making which involve one of the company’s most important assets, that is, the cash. This work is, therefore, intended to depict how the operational cash flow influence plays an important role to identify and manage the earnings of the civil construction companies members of the BM&Bovespa - Stock Exchange, Commodities and Futures. The research is characterized as descriptive about the goals, with regard to the procedures and documentary about the approach, quantitative, being based on a sample of 15 companies. The data analysis was conducted from 2007 to 2009 making use of the Pae model (2005) which allows for checking the management level of earnings by means of discretionary accruals, taking into consideration the current lagged Operational Cash Flows (OCF) in relation to prior accruals. The research results showed that operational cash flow plays a role on checking the management of earnings and that such an account practice has already been adopted by the civil construction companies studied during the research, and that 2009, was considered to be the year, by which, the companies mostly managed their earnings. 

Key words: earnings management, operational cash flow, civil construction.