코넥스 상장기업의 이익조정에 관한 실증연구

An Empirical Study on Earnings Management in KONEX

The KONEX market is the 3rd stock market providing funding opportunities for small and venture companies. We analyze whether firms listed in the KONEX manage their accounting earnings before the year these firms were listed as Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) to examine whether KONEX firms have differences in the terms of earnings management compared to Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and Korea Securities Dealers Automated Quotation(KOSDAQ)-listed firms. We selected 57 firms which are listed as IPOs in the KONEX during the period from July 2013 to December 2015 and also selected 224 non-IPO firms, 107 KOISPI firms and 223 KOSDAQ firms during same period of the KONEX to perform a regression analysis. Results of this study showed the following. First, KONEX firms tend to manage their accounting earnings just before the IPO year to be listed in the KONEX market. Second, the KONEX firms tend to manage their earnings more aggressively than KOSPI and KOSDAQ-listed firms. In conclusion, the KONEX firms are performing agreesive accounting earnings management and it seems that the difference of market regulation with other stock markets causes that tendency. We expect our study contribute that adequate measures are needed to settle the KONEX market successfully.