General Background: Earnings management remains a critical concern in financial reporting, especially in sectors with high capital intensity like property and real estate. Specific Background: In Indonesia, such practices are increasingly scrutinized due to inconsistent findings regarding the roles of tax planning, deferred tax burden, leverage, firm size, and institutional ownership. Knowledge Gap: Few studies explore the moderating effect of profitability on these variables in earnings management, particularly in the post-pandemic period. Aims: This study investigates the influence of tax planning, deferred tax burden, firm size, leverage, and institutional ownership on earnings management, with profitability as a moderating variable, using 549 firm-year observations from 183 IDX-listed companies (2020–2023). Results: Results show leverage and deferred tax burden significantly affect earnings management. Profitability moderates the effects of deferred tax burden, leverage, and institutional ownership, while it has no moderating effect on tax planning or firm size. Novelty: This study provides new insights into the contingent role of profitability in shaping earnings management behaviors in emerging markets. Implications: The findings contribute to refining financial governance strategies, guiding investor risk assessments, and informing regulators on industry-specific supervisory frameworks that enhance financial reporting transparency.Highlight : Profitability as Moderator – Profitability affects the strength of the relationship between key financial factors and earnings management. Sector Focused – The study targets property and real estate companies listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange. Tax and Leverage Role – Tax planning and leverage significantly influence earnings management practices. Keywords : Earnings Management, Profitability, Moderating Variable, Property and Real Estate, Indonesian Stock Exchange
Sagala et al. (Wed,) studied this question.