pricing power

Earnings management has a negative effect on earnings quality and it may weaken validity of financial reports. The main focus of researches about earnings management is why companies manipulate earnings. Pricing power of companies can potentially affect earnings management. Since the relation between product pricing power and earnings management has not been studied in Tehran Stock Exchange, this research tries to find a relation between product pricing power and earnings management and a relation between existing competition in industries and earnings management in Tehran Stock Exchange. The results show that there is not a significant relation between pricing power and earnings management. This is due to the mandatory nature of rules and regulations of product pricing in many internal industries. Also, those companies in more competitive industries may manage earnings in order to limit their competitors in obtaining precise information. The results of the present research show that there is a significant relation between existing competition of industries and earnings management in industries such as vehicle & parts, cement, gypsum & lime, chemicals, main metals, tile & ceramic, machinery & equipment, and pharmaceuticals. On the other hand, the results from the research model indicate no direct relation between the competitive pressure and earnings management.

Earnings management has inverted the main objective of financial reporting through the distortion of the actual economic performance of companies and prevented the complete transfer of information to market. Given the importance of subject of research, incentives that cause earnings management have been reviewed from various aspects. The main purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between competition in industry and pricing power at product market and earnings management in the companies listed in Tehran stock exchange. For this, modified Lerner index was used to measure pricing power and three middle Lerner indices including industry, reverse number of firms in the industry, four-firm concentration ratio were used as the indices of competition in industry. To measure earnings management, Modified Jones Model was used. The statistical population consists of all the firms listed in Tehran stock exchange. With regard to the considered criteria, 100 companies among 9 industries were selected as sample based on two digit ISIC codes. Findings of research indicate that the companies which enjoy the pricing power at product market less likely manage their earnings. Another finding indicates that earnings management increases by increasing competition in industry. Hence, the investors who intend to invest in competition industry should pay more attention to earnings management.