Accountants preparing information are in a position to manipulate the view of economic reality presented in such information to interested parties. These manipulations can be regarded as morally reprehensible because they are not fair to users, they involve in an unjust exercise of power, and they tend to weaken the authority of accounting regulators. This paper develops a model for detecting earnings manipulators using financial statements’ ratios in a sample of Spanish listed companies. Our results provide evidence that accounting data can be extremely useful in detecting manipulators. This approach can be used by a large category of users of accounting information among which we can cite stock exchange supervisors or investing professionals.

In this paper, we conducted an extensive bibliometric analysis of the current state-of-the-art in sustainability reporting assurance (SRA). Our goal was to identify research patterns, critical areas, and emerging trends that can guide future research and development in this field. We used two advanced bibliometric software, VosViewer and Biblioshiny on R Studio, to conduct a complex bibliometric analysis. We visually analysed 633 studies from the Web of Science database from 1992 to 2023. Our study examined the trend of publications, the most influential journals, publications, authors, institutions, and interconnections among countries, keywords, and journals. Next, we conducted a bibliometric analysis of keywords and a thematic map analysis to identify emerging research themes. We then identified and ranked the 50 most influential studies in the field of SRA based on their average citations per year. Through content analysis, we highlighted the foundational theories, research methods used, and main thematic issues addressed in these studies. Finally, we suggested relevant avenues for future research in the SRA domain for each primary thematic analysis. Overall, this analysis provides valuable insights into current research trends and can help guide future research efforts in sustainability reporting assurance. En este artículo, llevamos a cabo un extenso análisis bibliométrico sobre el estado actual del arte en la verificación de los informes de sostenibilidad (SRA, por sus siglas en inglés). Nuestro objetivo fue identificar patrones de investigación, áreas clave y tendencias emergentes que puedan orientar futuras investigaciones y desarrollos en este campo. Utilizamos dos programas avanzados de análisis bibliométrico, VosViewer y Biblioshiny en R Studio, para realizar un análisis bibliométrico complejo. Analizamos visualmente 633 estudios extraídos de la base de datos Web of Science, desde 1992 hasta 2023. Nuestro estudio examinó la evolución de las publicaciones, las revistas, autores, instituciones y publicaciones más influyentes, así como las interconexiones entre países, palabras clave y revistas. A continuación, realizamos un análisis bibliométrico de palabras clave y un análisis de mapas temáticos para identificar temas de investigación emergentes. Posteriormente, identificamos y clasificamos los 50 estudios más influyentes en el ámbito de la SRA según su promedio de citas por año. Mediante un análisis de contenido, destacamos las teorías fundamentales, los métodos de investigación utilizados y los principales temas tratados en dichos estudios. Finalmente, propusimos líneas relevantes para futuras investigaciones en el ámbito de la verificación de los informes de sostenibilidad, basándonos en cada uno de los principales análisis temáticos. En conjunto, este análisis ofrece una visión valiosa de las tendencias actuales de investigación y puede contribuir a orientar los esfuerzos futuros en este campo.

Real Earnings Management (REM) represents a significant area of research within financial studies, having been thoroughly explored over time alongside accrual earnings management techniques as part of the broader issue of intentional financial reporting manipulation. This study analyses 339 articles published in journals indexed by the Web of Science (WOS) database from 2006 to 2024, aiming to provide a comprehensive review of the key findings and emerging research trends in this field. The results reveal that REM is becoming increasingly pertinent, with nearly 40% of the literature on this topic published in the past three years (2022-2024). The United States emerges as the leading contributor to research in this area. We conclude that REM is closely associated with accrual earnings management, corporate governance, and auditing practices. Furthermore, the manipulation of accounting choices in various institutional contexts, particularly in Pakistan, China, and India, has gained prominence in recent years. Future research should direct its attention toward REM in emerging markets and family-owned enterprises, as these areas present vital avenues for further exploration. JEL classification: M40, M41 Article History: Received: September 20, 2024; Reviewed: November 25, 2024; Accepted: December 2, 2024; Available online: December 17, 2024.

Our multidisciplinary review paper aims to explore the research paradigms of unethical behavior from different academic perspectives. By doing this, our paper contributes to a better understanding of unethical behavior by drawing knowledge from alternative understandings of such behavior. More specifically, our multidisciplinary inquiry aims to summarize the main findings documented by scholars from different disciplines that conducted independent research on the topic using unique perspectives and ideas associated with the field. As such, in order to gain a better understanding of how unethical behavior is examined through a range of different disciplines and areas of research we assessed the highly cited papers found at the intersection of various categories and research areas such as management, business economics, and psychology, ethics, engineering, and environmental sciences and ecology, public environmental occupational health. Having the goal to offer the most representative research on the topic, we based our review on the highly cited papers examining unethical behavior from the Clarivate Analytics’ Web of Science (WoS), the world`s leading scientific citation search and analytical information platform. The results show that the highly cited papers analyzed cluster around two major research themes as antecedents and factors increasing/enabling unethical behavior (e.g. propensity of moral disengagement, psychological entitlement, self-serving justifications, job insecurity, air pollution, polluted social contexts, creativity, favorable attitudes of upper-class toward greed, etc.) and factors deterring or limiting it (e.g. religion, ethical leadership). Given our multidisciplinary review, our study helps provide alternative understandings and important insights on the research of unethical behavior to serve for novel investigations in both practice and theory.