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DOES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEVERAGE AND ACCOUNTING DISCRETION DIFFER ACROSS LEVERAGE LEVELS? THE CASE OF EXTREME INDEBTEDNESS
Abstract
This study investigates whether the relationship between leverage and discretionary accruals is uniform across firms. The sample consists of all manufacturing firms listed on Borsa Istanbul (BIST) during the 2013–2021 period, comprising 1,653 firm-year observations. The methodology employed is a panel data fixed-effects regression model. The findings reveal that leverage levels have a positive and significant relationship with discretionary accruals. However, contrary to the rest of the sample, the relationship between leverage and discretionary accruals is significantly negative for highly leveraged firms. The study's main findings are further supported by t-tests comparing the means of discretionary accruals across sub-samples. The results confirm that the discretionary accruals of highly leveraged firms differ significantly from the rest of the sample. Overall, the findings demonstrate that the relationship between leverage and discretionary accruals is not uniform within the same sample; rather, discretionary accruals vary depending on leverage levels. Consequently, any analysis of discretionary accruals conducted without accounting for different levels of leverage may carry the risk of producing misleading results.
Keywords
References
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Details
Primary Language
English
Subjects
Business Administration
Journal Section
Research Article
Authors
Publication Date
December 12, 2025
Submission Date
December 6, 2024
Acceptance Date
October 30, 2025
Published in Issue
Year 2025 Volume: 10 Number: 2
APA
Büyükkurt, Ö. F. (2025). DOES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEVERAGE AND ACCOUNTING DISCRETION DIFFER ACROSS LEVERAGE LEVELS? THE CASE OF EXTREME INDEBTEDNESS. Journal of Research in Business, 10(2), 426-443. https://doi.org/10.54452/jrb.1597346
AMA
1.Büyükkurt ÖF. DOES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEVERAGE AND ACCOUNTING DISCRETION DIFFER ACROSS LEVERAGE LEVELS? THE CASE OF EXTREME INDEBTEDNESS. JRB. 2025;10(2):426-443. doi:10.54452/jrb.1597346
Chicago
Büyükkurt, Ömer Faruk. 2025. “DOES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEVERAGE AND ACCOUNTING DISCRETION DIFFER ACROSS LEVERAGE LEVELS? THE CASE OF EXTREME INDEBTEDNESS”. Journal of Research in Business 10 (2): 426-43. https://doi.org/10.54452/jrb.1597346.
EndNote
Büyükkurt ÖF (December 1, 2025) DOES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEVERAGE AND ACCOUNTING DISCRETION DIFFER ACROSS LEVERAGE LEVELS? THE CASE OF EXTREME INDEBTEDNESS. Journal of Research in Business 10 2 426–443.
IEEE
[1]Ö. F. Büyükkurt, “DOES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEVERAGE AND ACCOUNTING DISCRETION DIFFER ACROSS LEVERAGE LEVELS? THE CASE OF EXTREME INDEBTEDNESS”, JRB, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 426–443, Dec. 2025, doi: 10.54452/jrb.1597346.
ISNAD
Büyükkurt, Ömer Faruk. “DOES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEVERAGE AND ACCOUNTING DISCRETION DIFFER ACROSS LEVERAGE LEVELS? THE CASE OF EXTREME INDEBTEDNESS”. Journal of Research in Business 10/2 (December 1, 2025): 426-443. https://doi.org/10.54452/jrb.1597346.
JAMA
1.Büyükkurt ÖF. DOES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEVERAGE AND ACCOUNTING DISCRETION DIFFER ACROSS LEVERAGE LEVELS? THE CASE OF EXTREME INDEBTEDNESS. JRB. 2025;10:426–443.
MLA
Büyükkurt, Ömer Faruk. “DOES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEVERAGE AND ACCOUNTING DISCRETION DIFFER ACROSS LEVERAGE LEVELS? THE CASE OF EXTREME INDEBTEDNESS”. Journal of Research in Business, vol. 10, no. 2, Dec. 2025, pp. 426-43, doi:10.54452/jrb.1597346.
Vancouver
1.Ömer Faruk Büyükkurt. DOES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEVERAGE AND ACCOUNTING DISCRETION DIFFER ACROSS LEVERAGE LEVELS? THE CASE OF EXTREME INDEBTEDNESS. JRB. 2025 Dec. 1;10(2):426-43. doi:10.54452/jrb.1597346