Chung, Firth and Kim (2005) find that managers
engage in earnings management. Low-growth
companies with high free cash flow will use incomeincreasing
discretionary accruals to offset the low or
negative earnings that inevitably accompany
investments with negative net present values. This
paper suggests the external monitoring by big 6
auditors and institutional investors with substantial
shareholdings is effective in deterring managersû
opportunistic earnings management. Free cash flow
allied to low-growth opportunities has been identified
as a major agency problem where managers make
expenditures that reduce shareholder wealth.