| variable type | variable name | variable symbol | variable measurement |
| explained variable | real earnings management | absREM | see text for detailed measurements |
| explanatory variable | blockchain technology | BC | see text for detailed measurements |
| adjusting variable | proportion of institutional Investors shareholding | INST | number of shares held by institutional investors at the end of the year/number of shares outstanding at the end of the year |
| proportion of independent directors | Indep | number of corporate independent directors/total number of board members | |
| control variable | company size | SIZE | natural logarithm of the company’s total assets at the end of the period |
| earning capacity | ROA | net profit of the company at the end of the period/ Total assets of the company | |
| debt-servicing capacity | LEV | total liabilities of the company at the end of the period/total assets of the company | |
| nature of ownership | SOE | dummy variable, take 1 if the controlling shareholder is a state-owned unit, 0 otherwise | |
| market value to book ratio | MB | total market capitalisation of the company at the end of the period/corporate net assets | |
| is big 4 audited | BIG4 | dummy variable, take 1 if the accounting firm is an international Big 4, 0 otherwise | |
| proportion of the largest shareholder | TOP | shares held by the largest shareholder/total shares of the company | |
| management shareholding ratio | Mshare | management shareholding/total shares of the company | |
| company age | FirmAge | Ln(current year - year of establishment +1) |