Corporate Governance and Earnings Management in a Nordic Perspective: Evidence from the Oslo Stock Exchange

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to examine the relation between Nordic corporate governance practices and earnings management. We find that the presence of employee representation on the board and the presence of an audit committee are both practices that reduce the occurrence of earnings management. Moreover, we find that both board independence and share ownership by directors positively affect earnings management, while board activity and directors as majority shareholders show an insignificant relation to earnings management. We contribute to the existing literature on corporate governance and earnings management by providing valuable insight into the Nordic corporate governance approach and its potential in mitigating earnings management.