Earnings Management Through Foreign Currency Transactions on Companies Listed on Indonesia Stock Exchange

¹ Department of Accounting, Faculty of Business and Economics, Petra Christian University. Jl. Siwalankerto 121–131, Surabaya 60236, Indonesia
² Department of Accounting, Faculty of Economy and Business, Airlangga University, Jl. Airlangga 4–6, Surabaya 60286, Indonesia

^* Corresponding author: yulius@peter.petra.ac.id

Abstract

This research aims to examine whether the condition of Rupiah currency, the magnitude of monetary liabilities in foreign currencies, and the condition of operating profit affects the management’s aggressiveness to perform earnings management through foreign exchange gain or loss (FEGL) post. This research was conducted on 258 companies listed on the BEI in 2009 to 2015. This research was successfully proved on earnings management through foreign currency transactions phenomenon for several conditions. First, in the condition of Rupiah appreciation, the managers that have monetary liabilities in foreign currency are less than the monetary assets in foreign currency are more daring to make earnings management through FEGL post than companies that have monetary liabilities in foreign currency greater than monetary assets in foreign currency. Second, managers of companies that decreasing in operating profit, more daring to make earnings management through FEGL post than companies that experience an increase in operating profit. Under the depreciation of the Rupiah, the managers of companies with monetary liabilities in foreign currency are less than monetary assets in foreign currency, are more aggressive to perform earnings than the managers of companies who have monetary liabilities denominated in foreign currency greater than the monetary assets in foreign currency.