Firm value adjustment speed through financial friction in the presence of earnings management and productivity growth: evidence from emerging economies

This study investigates the role of financial frictions on firm value within the framework of earnings management, including the impact of productivity growth. In contrast to prior studies, the present study employed an autoregressive model to examine the temporal dynamics of the variables to determine their short-term and long-term connection patterns. The results of the study indicate a negative association between financial frictions and firm value. Accrual earnings management, a practice employed by organizations to enhance their profit margins, serves as a mediator between financial frictions and firm value. This mediation of earnings management alleviates the adverse impact of financial frictions. The enhancement of productivity growth amplifies the conditional, indirect influence of earnings management. Moreover, this study reveals that financial frictions have a significant influence in the short-term, leading to overestimation of factor loadings. However, this impact stabilizes over time in the long run. Financial market frictions have the most prominent impact on firm value compared to the other two forms of frictions, namely, macroeconomic frictions and microeconomic frictions. Larger firms are more inclined to attain higher firm value than smaller enterprises. Managers can enhance firm value by exerting control over the influence of financial frictions in the economy through earnings management. The effectiveness of this strategy is contingent upon the level of productivity growth.