Highly-Valued Firms and Abnormal Earning items with emphasis on State Ownership

Earning is valued because of the information it provides to the capital market. But managers use abnormal Items to manipulate earning to achieve their intended goal, such as maintaining stock prices. Since the manager's benefit depends on the value of the company, he tries to maintain the status quo. So at first it uses accruals abnormal to manipulate earning, but accruals are reversible in nature, so they use abnormal items in later years. On the other hand, this may be different in state-owned companies. The present study examines the relationship between highly-valued firms and abnormal accruals items with emphasis on state ownership. In this regard, samples including 130 companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange during the period 2014-2020 have been selected and tested. The results show that companies use more accruals abnormal in the first years and less really abnormal items. But over time, the use of accruals abnormal decreases and they turn more to really abnormal items. Also, in overvalued state-owned companies, the use of accruals abnormal has received more attention, but the really abnormal items manipulation has not had a major impact.

The intrinsic value of the company is determined based on the information obtained regarding the operational ability of the company. But in practice, sometimes the stock price in the market is not an accurate reflection of the available information and the market does not act rationally in the face of the information, as a result of which the intrinsic value of the stock market will be different. If the market price of a company's stock is higher than its intrinsic value, overvaluation is created. In these cases, managers of overvalued companies may manipulate earnings through actual or accrued activity. Managers may do more accrual earnings management and less actual earnings management in the first years so that the company's future cash flows are not jeopardized. But over time, since accruals are reversible, they turn to real earnings management. Also, in addition to the financial status of economic enterprises, government ownership affects the motivation of managers during financial reporting and preparation of financial statements. Government support in the form of state ownership helps companies to use this advantage, to obtain more financial resources, so managers of overvalued state-owned companies have less incentive to manipulate earnings to maintain the company's overvaluation. Therefore, the main goal of this research is to investigate the relationship between company overvaluation and abnormal earnings with an emphasis on government ownership in companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange.

This research is applied in terms of purpose. Abnormal accruals and actual abnormal earnings are dependent variables and stock overvaluation is the independent variable. State ownership is also a moderating variable. The first and second hypotheses of the research state that there is a positive relationship between the overvaluation of the company and the amount of abnormal accruals and earnings. There is a negative relationship between the overvaluation of the company and the amount of real unusual items of earnings. Also, the third and fourth hypothesis of the research states, the increase in the duration of overvaluation has a negative relationship with the amount of accrual items of abnormal earnings, but it has a positive relationship with the amount of actual items of abnormal earning. Finally, the fifth and sixth hypotheses state that state ownership has an effect on the relationship between company overvaluation and the amount of abnormal accrual items of Earning and the amount of actual abnormal items of Earning. In order to collect data, a sample consisting of 130 listed companies in Tehran Stock Exchnge were selected for the period of 2014 to 2020. Also, to test research hypotheses, multivariate regression with panel data and ordinary least squares (OLS) approach and robust standard error method have been used.

The results of the research showed that when companies are overvalued, they manipulate earnings through abnormal accruals and use less manipulation of abnormal real earnings. Also, in the first and second year of stock valuation, companies manipulate earnings through accruals and due to the reversible nature of abnormal accruals, over time it becomes difficult for managers to show more earnings through the manipulation of abnormal accruals. So the manager has to reduce the use of unusual accruals over time. Continuing the process of manipulation in the fourth year, the amount of manipulation of unusual accrual items decreases and the use of actual unusual items increases. In addition, during the overvaluation of the company, the use of accruals has increased in government companies as well as in non-government companies. On the other hand, the overvaluation of corporate shares in non-government firms leads to a reduction in the use of abnormal real earnings manipulation.  But in overvalued public companies, the real unusual items of earning have decreased, but this decrease is not significant.

It is recommended to investors, creditors, including investors, while evaluating companies for investment, keep in mind that some companies may be overvalued due to the use of unusual earnings items. In this case, they should do more experience and analysis and not only pay attention to the last figure of the Earning and Loss report and consider the process of preparing the reports. So investors and creditors are suggested to be more aware of the overvaluation of the company. In addition, managers are also suggested that if the company under their supervision is overvalued, there is this insight for users that the company has used abnormal earnings items. Therefore, to prevent the market from creating a negative view of the company, try to improve the financial reports and increase the quality of the reports. Also, law makers and standard setters should take effective measures and measures to prevent the continuation of overvaluation of the company by applying stricter laws and stronger supervision.