Abstract
The objective of the article is to present a systematic review of the literature on the relationship between earnings management and financial distress. The study seeks to understand the main findings of this relationship: main authors; periodicals; samples and regions; the proxies for the variables and the gaps to be explored. To this end, a systematic review of the literature was carried out, using the Proknow-C method. The raw article database (BAB) reported 1,477 articles from seven databases, which after following the steps of the Proknow-C method, with the support of Zotero and Excel software, resulted in a bibliographic portfolio (PB) of 36 articles, covering authors from five continents. The study contributes by allowing the problematization of concepts, exploring the results presented, biases, observing trends, methods most used in analyzes and, therefore, identifying research gaps. Among the 36 articles in PB, the journal that stands out in publishing the topic is Cogent Economics & Finance, the most cited article was that of Jaggi and Lee (2002); the magazine with the highest JCI was International Review of Financial Analysis and the magazine with the highest H-Index was Sustainability. Furthermore, the proxies used to measure earnings management and financial distress were investigated. The article contributes by identifying the approaches and results of contemporary studies, from high impact factor journals, and thus, indicating future directions for the research that will be carried out on the topic. Managers, regulators and financial institutions can use the results of this work to improve their financial management practices.References
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