Abstract: Taking the IPO companies of China’s A-share markets from April 2000 to 2012 as a sample, this paper conducts an empirical test of the impact of the company’s IPO time-consumption on the choice of the two different earnings management methods. The results show that after the IPO procedure is started, the degree of the accrued earnings management manipulated by the company will gradually decline over time, and the degree of manipulating the real earnings management will gradually increase. Further research finds that companies with longer-time IPOs have a relatively higher initial under-pricing rate, and their operation performance will be relatively poorer after listing. The conclusions of this paper can provide some reference for optimizing and adjusting the IPO issuing system.

Key words: initial public offering; accrued earnings management; real earnings management