Fraud triangle and earnings management based on the modified M-score: A study on manufacturing company in Indonesia

This study combines the concept of a fraud triangle and a modified Beneish M-score to detect factors that trigger earnings management. The modified M-score formula used in this study contains five original and four additional ratios. A sample of 284 manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in the period 2017–2019 is used. Based on the logistic regression test and t-test, the results show that asset growth, changes in receivables to sales, and auditor changes have a negative relationship and debt ratio has a positive relationship with earnings management. In addition, return on assets has no relationship with earnings management. In other words, manipulator firms are subject to greater pressure on leverage and have fewer independent commissioners. This study is the first to utilise the modified Beneish M-score model to detect earnings management in manufacturing companies in Indonesia. The effectiveness of this model makes it a valuable tool in detecting fraud and is expected to be useful for future research.