Does IRS Monitoring Deter Managers From Committing Accounting Fraud?

Abstract

We examine whether monitoring by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) affects managers’ decisions to engage in fraudulent financial reporting. We argue that IRS monitoring provides a disciplining effect reducing managements’ incentives to engage in rent diversion activities such as costly financial statement misreporting. Using information on IRS audit rates and instances of fraud disclosed in Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Releases (AAERs), we find evidence consistent with IRS monitoring providing positive spillover effects in reducing the likelihood of accounting fraud. Our results are robust to using a matched sample of fraud and nonfraud firms. Altogether, we find evidence that tax authorities provide positive externalities in reducing agency costs through monitoring and enforcement.