Global Journal of Management and Business Research, D: Accounting and Auditing, Volume 22 Issue 2

IV. R esults The empirical analysis reveals a two-way positive and significant relationship between the discretionary accruals and the effective tax rate. As for the effect of the tax rate on the discretionary accruals, an increase of 1% in the first leads to an increase of 3% in the latter. Therefore, when the tax burdens is important, managers use a little more of their discretionary powers in producing financial information, with the aim of lowering their firm’s end-year earnings before taxes. Thus, tax pressure has a significant influence on the management of accounting data. Although these results are contrary to the work of (Douanla, Tchabon, and Takoudjou, 2019), our first hypothesis is accepted. The other way around, the effective tax rate is positively and significantly determined by the discretionary accruals. A 1% increase in latters leads to a 0.86% increase in effective tax liability. Managers are willing to bear a slightly higher tax burden (very often from adjustments) if it allows them to dissimulate information to some other stakeholders. Thus, in the Cameroonian context which is characterised by a high level of information asymmetries, and a repressive power of the law, the management of accounting data significantly influences the effective tax. This is in line with the work of Djeudja (2017). The above results validate our third hypothesis, showing that the manipulation of accounting data exists in the Cameroonian context, and that managers use it to cope with the tax burden. Thus, in order to keep their tax burden within a threshold they consider acceptable, managers use their discretionary power to adapt the taxable income contained in the summary financial statements to their objective. Looking at the relationship between the effective tax rate and the management of accounting data in the specific cases of both large companies and SME, the results show that the positive influence of discretionary accruals on the effective tax rate is more pronounced in the latters. It can be noted that an increase of one unit in discretionary accruals leads to an increase in tax of 0.92%; and conversely, an increase of 1% in effective tax leads to an increase in discretionary accruals of 3.7%. In large companies, an increase in accruals of one unit leads to an increase in the effective tax rate of 0.543%. In contrast, the accruals are significant and negative influence by the Tie, an increase of 1% in effective tax leads to a decrease of 1.43 units in the use of discretionary accruals power. These results suggest that large firms in the Cameroonian context are more likely to face fiscal repression whenever their accounting data are manipulated. Indeed, due to their important role in the economy of the countr y 5 But the more the latter grows, the less it has the possibility of concealing information and will use its discretion less and less. However, it should be noted that whether a company is economically profitable or has recourse to short-term debt, it will be less likely to use its discretionary power, because it will not be useful to it; because on the one hand, having its object to make the whole of the invested capital profitable and on the other hand, having to face the debt before the end of the financial year. And also, a reliable and not very fake , these firms are subject to close and rigorous controls from the tax office. On the other hand, SMEs in the Cameroonian context are characterized by a high degree of information asymmetry (Wamba and Tchamanbé-Djiné, 2002), and make a very great use of accounting data management. This tendency to manipulate the financial information is even stronger when the country’s fiscal policy tightens, and the level of taxation increases. Furthermore, the discretionary accruals is negatively determined by the square of the effective tax rate, in both the entire sample and the small and medium-size enterprises. This is to suggest that the relationship between discretionary accruals and effective tax rate is non-linear but concave. That is, at low levels of effective tax rate, the relationship is positive; it becomes negative at higher levels. Our second hypothesis is validated. Conversely, this latter hypothesis is rejected in the large companies where the discretionary accruals is positively related to the square of the effective tax rate. This indicates a U-shape relationship between discretionary accruals and the latter. That is, at low levels of effective tax rate the relationship is negative, becoming positive at higher levels. Other than the relationship between tax and accounting data management, the empirical results allow us to note that discretionary accruals are significantly and negatively influenced by last year's tax, non-discretionary accruals, size, profitability and short- term debt. The relationship between discretionary accruals and last year's tax is justified by the continuous quest of companies to reduce deductible expenses as much as possible in each new fiscal year; thus, a level of tax expense in the previous year leads to an increase in expenses in the current year in order to obtain a lower taxable result. As the relationship between discretionary and non-discretionary accruals demonstrates, this desire to reduce the tax burden as much as possible leads companies to stray from the law. Thus, the more a company uses its discretionary power, the less it will put into practice the legal recommendations. Taxation and Accounting Data Management: An Empirical Study in Cameroon © 2022 Global Journals 74 Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XXII Issue II Version I Year 2022 ( )D 5 They represent less than 1% (0.99%) of the enterprises in Cameroon, but produce 65% of GDP (RGE/INS, 2009)