The influences of employees and customers/suppliers on income smoothing

Research Project

Project/Area Number	17K13822
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	Accounting
Research Institution	Kobe University
Principal Investigator	Fujiyama Keishi 神戸大学, 経済経営研究所, 講師 (00756463)
Project Period (FY)	2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2019)
Budget Amount *help	¥4,160,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥960,000) Fiscal Year 2019: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000) Fiscal Year 2018: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000) Fiscal Year 2017: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000)
Keywords	利益平準化 / 従業員 / 顧客 / サプライヤー / 労働法制 / 財務会計 / 会計学
Outline of Final Research Achievements	This project consisted of three studies. The first study investigated the nature of accounting earnings reported by Japanese listed firms during a period from 1970s to 2010s. Specifically, it focuses on the extent to which accounting earnings are smoothed, and find that the degree of income smoothing decreased after the collapse of the bubble economy in 1991 through 2000s. The second and third studies investigated the degree of income smoothing focusing on employees and customers/suppliers. The second study suggests that firms in countries with stringent labor protection legislation engage in higher income smoothing. The third one finds that if a firm is a major customer of another firm, it engages in higher income smoothing.
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	これまで会計研究では株主や債権者といった投資家が分析の中心であった。本研究課題はこれまであまり取り上げられてこなかった従業員や顧客・供給者について分析を行っている。分析の結果からは、日本企業にとって重要な利益の性質である利益平準化に投資家以外の利害関係者である従業員や顧客・供給者も影響を与えていることが示唆される。また、日本の社会のあり方が変化するにつれて企業が報告する利益の性質が変化していることをあきらかにしている。