We find that the positive association between short interest and total accruals is attributable to discretionary accruals. We do not find that short interest is positively related to non-discretionary accruals. Further, our results are stronger for firms that meet or narrowly beat earnings threshold using discretionary accruals. For highly shorted stocks, we document a significant abnormal return differential between high and low accrual stocks when ranked by total and discretionary accruals but not non-discretionary accruals. We provide large scale cross-sectional evidence that short sellers play a useful role in uncovering opportunistic earnings management.

Dr. Kang got his Ph.D. in Accounting, M.B.A. in Management, and B.B.A. in International Business and Trade from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, McGill University, and Korea University respectively. His research interest is Accounting Issues in Global Capital Markets. He’s published papers in journals like The Accounting Review. Furthermore, he won awards such as Lee Radebaugh Notable Contribution to International Accounting Research Award from American Accounting Association.