Enterprise Digital Transformation and Earnings Management: A Review and Outlook
Main Article Content
Keywords
enterprise digital transformation, earnings management, mechanism of action, information asymmetry
Abstract
Against the backdrop of the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy, the impact of corporate digital transformation on earnings management has become a cutting-edge issue of academic concern, but existing research conclusions show significant discrepancies. This paper employs a systematic literature review method, tracing the cross-disciplinary research on corporate digital transformation and earnings management from three dimensions: conceptual connotation, measurement methods, and theoretical mechanisms. It summarizes a “four-effect” mechanism framework encompassing information effect, governance effect, resource effect, and pressure effect, and analyzes the root causes of research controversies from the perspectives of measurement standards, mechanism depth, type heterogeneity, and theoretical integration. The study finds that the impact of digital transformation on earnings management is not a simple linear relationship, but rather the result of a dynamic game involving multiple mechanisms. Future research should focus on promoting measurement standardization, deepening the analysis of mechanism interactions, and constructing an integrated theoretical framework.
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