The hypothesis of avoiding losses and decreases in earnings via extraordinary items

  1. Parte Esteban, Laura
Revista:
Revista española de financiación y contabilidad

ISSN: 0210-2412

Año de publicación: 2008

Número: 139

Páginas: 405-440

Tipo: Artículo

DOI: 10.1080/02102412.2008.10779649 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR

Otras publicaciones en: Revista española de financiación y contabilidad

Objetivos de desarrollo sostenible

Resumen

Este trabajo se centra en la hipótesis de evitar pérdidas y descensos en resultado mediante el uso de las partidas extraordinarias. En primer lugar, se comprueba la existencia de una discontinuidad en la representación gráfica de las series de resultados (niveles y cambios) ordinarios y antes de impuestos en una muestra de empresas auditadas españolas. En segundo lugar, se examina el efecto que las partidas extraordinarias provocan en la distribución de los resultados. Concretamente, si su reconocimiento obedece a una conducta oportunista de los administradores para «batir» con éxito los puntos de referencia fijados, o en otro caso, la discontinuidad se debe al efecto asimétrico que tiene el reconocimiento de los ingresos y gastos extraordinarios, motivado por el sesgo conservador del principio de prudencia, que obliga a reconocer gastos y previene el reconocimiento de ingresos (Beaver et al., 2007). La evidencia empírica obtenida pone de manifiesto una discontinuidad en la representación gráfica de las series de resultados y que se acentúa tras el reconocimiento de las partidas extraordinarias. El análisis de los datos soporta la idea de que los administradores se valen sistemáticamente de las partidas extraordinarias para mejorar sus resultados ordinarios y conseguir unos resultados antes de impuestos más favorables para los administradores. Este artículo puede servir para reflexionar acerca de la nueva estructura que el PGC 2007 establece para la cuenta de pérdidas y ganancias. Particularmente, sobre la conveniencia o no de mantener una categoría separada de resultados extraordinarios.

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