THE MODERATING EFFECT OF AUDIT QUALITY ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EARNINGS MANAGEMENT AND SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES: EVIDENCE FROM TELECOMMUNICATION AND ENERGY COMPANIES IN INDONESIA

Abstract

This research investigates the relationship between earnings management and audit quality on sustainable investment opportunities in Indonesia, namely in the telecommunications and energy industries. This research comprises 288 firms' data and year-by-year observations from 2015 to 2022. The Panel Data Ordinary Least Square method is used to investigate the correlation and the multiple regression analysis is used to investigate the moderating impact of audit quality on the earnings management and sustainable investment opportunities relationship. The sampling technique used in this study was purposive sampling. The findings of this research show that earnings management has a significant negative effect on sustainable investment opportunities. Furthermore, there is no relationship between audit quality and sustainable investment opportunities. In addition, the moderation analysis shows that audit quality moderates the relationship between earnings management and sustainable investment opportunities.