We analyze the effect of macroeconomic instability on earnings management and the moderating role of country-level institutions, examining how these phenomena differ in developed and emerging market countries. Focusing our analysis on macroeconomic instability instead of specific periods of financial crisis, we provide a more comprehensive view of the macroeconomic environment’s role as a key determinant of accounting quality. The empirical study relies on a worldwide sample from 34 countries throughout the period 1998–2018. Using several variables related to the macroeconomic environment, we construct a comprehensive macroeconomic instability index for each country that allows for changes over the years. Our findings suggest that when facing greater macroeconomic instability, firms from developed (emerging market) countries decrease (increase) the level of accruals-based earnings management, and firms from both types of countries decrease the level of real earnings management. We also find that in both developed and emerging market countries, the association between macroeconomic instability and accruals-based earnings management is lower in countries with stronger institutions.

我们分析了宏观经济不稳定对盈余管理的影响和国家级机构的调节作用，研究了这些现象在发达国家和新兴市场国家的差异。将我们的分析重点放在宏观经济不稳定而不是金融危机的特定时期，我们更全面地了解宏观经济环境作为会计质量关​​键决定因素的作用。实证研究依赖于 1998-2018 年期间来自 34 个国家的全球样本。使用与宏观经济环境相关的几个变量，我们为每个国家构建了一个综合的宏观经济不稳定指数，允许多年来发生变化。我们的研究结果表明，当面临更大的宏观经济不稳定时，发达国家（新兴市场）国家的公司降低（增加）应计制盈余管理水平，而这两种类型国家的公司都降低实际盈余管理水平。我们还发现，在发达国家和新兴市场国家，宏观经济不稳定与应计盈余管理之间的关联在制度更强大的国家中较低。