The Effect of Earning Management, Growth Opportunity, and Capital Structure on Company Value with Audit Quality as Moderating Variable

Abstract

Purpose: This study examines the effect of earnings management, growth opportunity, and capital structure on firm value. Design/Methodology/Approach: Audit quality moderates the relationship between earnings management, growth opportunities, and capital structure with firm value, using more recent data and absolute difference test analysis methods. The type of research used by the researcher is quantitative research. Quantitative research is research that emphasizes more on testing theories by measuring research variables expressed by numbers and analyzing data using statistical procedures. The objects used are all manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) in the 2015-2019 period. This study uses secondary data in the form of data from the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) in 2015-2019. Findings: The results of this study found that earnings management actions taken will give a favorable reaction which will have an impact on increasing the value of the company, which is reflected in the company's stock price, so that when the objectives of the manager and the owner of capital are different, then the management will harm the owner of the capital, by behaving unethically and committing accounting fraud. Meanwhile, the growth opportunity variable as proxied by the market to book assets (MTBA) has a positive and significant effect on firm value. Practical implications: This study finds that audit quality does not moderate the effect of earnings management, growth opportunity, and capital structure on firm value. Big-4 KAP cannot limit earnings management practices that impact increasing the value of its client's company; besides, the companies audited by Big-4 KAP also do not affect changes in capital structure and company growth. Originality value: From the results of this study, recommendations that can be given to investors or shareholders are that investors should analyze the company's financial condition, for example, the accrual rate used to profit.