Egor Nikulin

Purpose: The goal of the paper is to analyze the motives that determine the propensity of companies in both developed and developing countries to engage in earnings management on the basis of accounting treatment of R&D costs.
Methodology: The final sample analyzed in the paper is 47 Russian companies and 74 German companies for the period 2012-2013.
Findings: The results of the research show that managers of companies in Russia and in Germany are engaged in earnings management practices using R&D costs, although the incentives for these actions are different. In the case of Russian companies, managers enjoy discretion in accounting choices when trying to meet debt covenants by adopting those methods that increase financial results. German managers are focused more on the other type of earnings management incentives – earnings smoothing. There is evidence that the amount of capitalized R&D costs in German companies increases when financial results vary more.
Value: There is some evidence in favor of the presence of earnings management incentives in the decision to capitalize R&D costs in developed markets. However, this problem has rarely been studied in developing markets, and there is no comparison between the practices of developed and developing countries in the field. In this paper authors attempt to test the assumption that the contextual factors in developed and developing markets can differ, and thus they may provide different incentives for earnings management on the basis of R&D costs

The purpose of the current paper is to elaborate the model for assessing cumulative synergetic effect in M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions) deals on the basis of a real options approach. The majority of papers on the synergetic effects of M&A deals typically focus on a particular type of synergy, while the current paper proposes a model that accounts for the cumulative simultaneous effect of different types of operating and financial synergies. The methodology of our research is loosely based on Datar-Mathews real option valuation model, which is flexible and intuitive for practitioners. Formulae for assessing eight types of synergy typically arising from M&A deals are developed. They are integrated into a single model to assess their cumulative effect on the M&A deal using a simulation modelling approach. The method was used ex post to find synergy values in two recent M&A deals in the pharmaceutical industry, and produced sound results. The proposed approach to value target companies could be used by firms before an M&A deal in the due diligence process. Using this tool a company can build a bidding strategy and define the maximum premium it can pay for the target.

The purpose of the current paper is to elaborate a model to forecast a particular type of earnings management by companies: upward earnings management, downward earnings management or the absence of significant manipulation.
The sample analyzed in the current paper comprises 664 Russian and 2,380 Chinese public companies for the period 2009-2014. The forecast was made for 2014 based on annual accounting data for 2009-2013. Regression analysis, as well as Classification and Regression Tree modelling (CART), were used. The data forecast for 2014 was compared with actual data for that year, and the accuracy of the forecasting model was assessed.
The paper outlines the main conditions under which a particular type of earnings manipulation is expected to take place in a company in the accounting period following the current one. It is shown that the main factor influencing the company’s level of earnings manipulation of the next accounting period for both Russian and Chinese companies is the debt ratio calculated as the ratio of total liabilities to total assets. The other important factors are: the company size, return on equity, earnings persistence, the level of earnings manipulation in the current period and stock emission.