PENGARUH FINANCIAL DISTRESS, LEVERAGE DAN FREE CASH FLOW TERHADAP MANAJEMEN LABA (Perusahaan Sektor Transportasi & Logistik di Bursa Efek Indonesia 2019-2021)

Abstrak

This study aims to determine the effect of financial distress, leverage and free cash flow on earnings management, both real and accrual earnings management. Earnings management is a manager's fraudulent behavior to deceive stakeholders by changing the numbers in the financial statements. The research sample consisted of 21 companies from the transportation and logistics sector listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) for the 2019-2021 period using purposive sampling. Data analysis used panel data analysis with STATA 14.2. The results of the study show that simultaneously the independent variables affect Real Earnings Management and accruals. But partially, financial distress (FD) and free cash flow (FCF) have no effect on real earnings management (REM). The FD and FCF variables are not a factor causing managers to do REM or not to do REM, companies that experience financial distress or show low FCF numbers tend to focus on improving company performance. Leverage (LEV) has a positive effect on real earnings management. Companies with high LEV values show greater debt than assets, so managers do REM to cover the company's debt figures. Financial distress and leverage have no effect on accrual earnings management (AEM). Companies that experience financial distress or show high leverage make managers focus on overcoming these problems, so that these two factors are not the main factors for managers to carry out AEM. Free cash flow has a negative effect on accrual earnings management.

Keywords              : Accrual Earnings Management; Financial distress; Free cash flow; Leverage; Real Earnings   Management