Usefulness of accounting information and earnings management: a doctrinal review

Abstract

The accounting information is subordinated to the attainment of the goals that the decision-maker has, under the consideration that the person who prepares the financial information applies a set of judgments to it. The objective of this paper is to survey studies and research that have been carried out and their results, related to the impact of earnings management on the usefulness of accounting information. Exploratory research is going to be carried out, which involves doctrinal analysis, emphasizing the usefulness for the decision-maker and the positive accounting theory, and its relationship with earnings management. It is important to continue researching the usefulness of financial information and go in-depth in surveys to propose alternatives in its presentation.