POISON PILLS AND EARNINGS MANAGEMENT: A STUDY OF COMPANIES LISTED ON B3
Poison Pills. Earnings Management. Anti-takeover Devices.
This study aims to investigate if the poison pills influences on the earnings management level of the companies listed in B3. For this, data were collected regarding the presence of this anti-takeover device. For this, data were collected regarding the presence of this anti-takeover device, as well as of accessory “eternity” clauses associated with the poison pills in the bylaws of 225 non-financial companies. In addition, the informations that are necessary to estimate the accruals discretionary by the model proposed by Dechow, Sloan and Sweeney (1995), as well as the control variables inserted in the econometric model, were obtained through the Bloomberg® database, comprising the period 2010-2016. Based on the results, it is verified that the simple adoption of the poison pills doesn’t influence the level of earnings management, considering that the poison pills didn’t have a significant relation with the discretionary accruals. However, in an exploratory way, new evidences were observed in the national context, considering that the PoisonpillCP variable is positively and significantly related to discretionary accruals, indicating, therefore, that the managers of Brazilian companies insert accessory “eternity” clauses allied to poison pills as a form of entrenchment, aiming, therefore, to increase the level of results management. Finally, it can be seen that the control variables profitability, size and time dummies are statistically significant to explain discretionary accruals, unlike market-to-book and leverage, that contradict the theoretical assumptions that these variables have an influence on the level of earnings management.