The Beneish model is a statistical model that uses financial ratios calculated with accounting data of a specific company in order to check if it is likely (high probability) that the reported earnings of the company have been manipulated.
The Beneish M-score is calculated using 8 variables (financial ratios):[1][2]
DSRI = (Net Receivablest / Salest) / (Net Receivablest-1 / Salest-1) GMI = [(Salest-1 - COGSt-1) / Salest-1] / [(Salest - COGSt) / Salest] AQI = [1 - (Current Assetst + PP&Et + Securitiest) / Total Assetst] / [1 - ((Current Assetst-1 + PP&Et-1 + Securitiest-1) / Total Assetst-1)] SGI = Salest / Salest-1 DEPI = (Depreciationt-1/ (PP&Et-1 + Depreciationt-1)) / (Depreciationt / (PP&Et + Depreciationt)) SGAI = (SG&A Expenset / Salest) / (SG&A Expenset-1 / Salest-1) LVGI = [(Current Liabilitiest + Total Long Term Debtt) / Total Assetst] / [(Current Liabilitiest-1 + Total Long Term Debtt-1) / Total Assetst-1] TATA = (Income from Continuing Operationst - Cash Flows from Operationst) / Total Assetst The formula to calculate the M-score is:[1] The threshold value is -1.78 for the model whose coefficients are reported above.
A 2023 research paper will use an aggregate score of many companies to predict recessions.
[3][4] Enron Corporation was correctly identified 1998 as an earnings manipulator by students from Cornell University using M-score Noticeably, Wall Street financial analysts were still recommending to buy Enron shares at that point in time..[5][6]