Financial Sustainability and Earnings Management in the Spanish Sports Federations: A Multi-Theoretical Approach

The objective of this study is to analyze, from a multi-theoretical framework, whether the managers of the Spanish National Sports Federations (NSFs) apply earnings management using accounting accruals as a measure of managerial discretion; secondly, whether these practices are associated with both the level of dependence on external resources, and the economic and financial control mechanisms exercised by the Superior Sports Council (Consejo Superior de Deportes, CSD) for the granting of public subsidies. The study provides evidence that long-term debt levels and the size of sports federations are determinants of earnings management, with a more accentuated relationship in the case of Olympic and Paralympic sports federations.