What factors might indicate a likelihood of financial misreporting? There might be markers in companies’ financial statements, for example, with respect to reserving practices or practices with respect to other estimated items. There may be more general indicators as well, as, for example where companies reliably hit their revenue estimates due to a rush of end of reporting period sales. According to a recent academic study, attitudes in the community where businesses are located may also affect companies’ propensity for financial misreporting.

In a May 30, 2017 paper entitled “Gambling Attitudes and Financial Misreporting” (here), Dale Christensen of the University of Oregon, Keith Jones of the University of Kansas, and David Kenchington of Arizona State University, companies headquartered  in areas where residents hold gambling-friendly attitudes are more likely to intentionally misreport financial information. The authors findings were summarized in an August 14, 2017 Wall Street Journal article entitled “A Roll of the Dice on Financial Misreporting” (here).
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