Abstract
Earnings management is considered to be one of the most important issues related to financial statements,
which has been well-documented in accounting theory and practice for a long time. Earnings management has
become a critical topic in accounting, but few researchers have addressed this issue in the Vietnamese context.
This paper examines earnings management detection among Vietnamese companies listed on the Hochiminh
Stock Exchange (HOSE) by using the Beneish M-score model for a sample of 229 non-financial Vietnamese
companies listed on the HOSE during 2013-2014. The results showed that 48.4% non-financial Vietnamese
companies listed on the HOSE were involved in earnings management and the sample observations fit the
Beneish M-score model. In conclusion, this study suggests that the M-score model is one of the useful
techniques in detecting earnings manipulation behaviors of the companies and it could be applied for an
improvement in financial reporting quality and a better protection for investors.