We recognize
that earnings management and tax-planning activities affect third-to-fourth-quarter
ETR changes and, thus, financial statement income. By controlling for tax fees
paid to auditors (our proxy for investments in tax planning), we provide a more
complete test of the extent to which firms manipulate tax expense to reach or
exceed their earnings targets.
4
Thus, we advance the earnings management literature
and extend DGM 2004 by investigating the extent to which greater third-tofourth-
quarter ETR reductions are associated with higher tax fees paid to auditors
for firms that would miss their consensus earnings forecasts absent ETR changes
(relative to firms that would otherwise meet or beat their targets).