Do nonprofits manipulate investment returns?

摘要

We provide evidence that nonprofit organizations manipulate reported investment returns to avoid investment losses. We find a sharp discontinuity around zero in cross-sectional distribution of the rates of return on investments for tax-exempt organizations: rates of return are significantly more likely to be slightly positive than slightly negative. This pattern is found for a wide range of nonprofit missions, including religious related charities and community improvement organizations. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.