The Effect of Free Cash Flow, Dividend Policy, and Financial Leverage on Earnings Management

ABSTRACT: This research was conducted to empirically examine the effect of free cash flow, dividend policy, and financial leverage on earnings management of manufacturing companies. The research population was 157 manufacturing companies in 2017 to 2018. Samples were obtained using the nonprobability sampling method with a purposive sampling technique. The number of research samples were 34 companies in 2 years of observation, so that 68 observations were obtained. The data analysis technique is multiple linear regression. The analysis shows that free cash flow has a negative effect on earnings management. Dividend policy has a negative effect on earnings management. While financial leverage has no effect on earnings management.
KEYWORDS: earnings management, free cash flow, dividends, financial leverage