Earnings Management Tests
To perform a univariate analysis of the hypothesis, I partition the sample into observations
with and without hypothesized income-increasing discretionary choices and compare
measures of discretionary accruals across the two subsamples.
Table 3, Panel A, reports
the results. The analysis considers two alternative definitions of the horizon problem.
In the first case, I assume a broader definition of the horizon problem: income-increasing discretionary choices are hypothesized when CEOs with performance-contingent SERPs are in their determinations years (i.e., observations that satisfy HORIZONDET * PERFSERP