Category Archives: Original Article

What drives firms’ commitment to fighting corruption? Evidence from the UK

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Abstract

The recent leak of the FinCEN files has highlighted the widespread presence of corruption in developing and developed economies, including the UK. Accordingly, this study aims to investigate the factors that drive companies to implement measures for preventing corruption in developed countries using FTSE 350 nonfinancial firms. Specifically, the research examines the influence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitments, board structure, and shareholding structure on adopting strategies, policies, and procedures aimed at countering corruption. Drawing upon agency, stakeholder, and legitimacy theories, our empirical evidence supports that CSR commitments and board independence positively influence firms' engagement in anticorruption measures. Conversely, institutional and managerial shareholdings are found to have a negative association with firms' efforts to combat corruption. In addition, the study shows that the effect of board characteristics became more pronounced following the enactment of the UK Bribery Act 2010, indicating risk-averse behavior. Various models, including cross-sectional and two-stage least squares (2SLS), are employed to analyze the data. Our findings have significant implications for understanding the complex relationship between CSR, corporate governance, and the ethical infrastructure of organizations. Ultimately, our results provide valuable insights for policymakers, companies, and other stakeholders in developing effective strategies, policies, and procedures to combat corruption activities.

National culture and the revenue‐expense matching

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Abstract

Prior studies on the link between country-level cultural aspects and firms' arbitrary accounting practices are scant, and they show mixed results. To gain more insight about the impact of national culture on earnings characteristics, we exploit the matching concept between revenues and expenses, which well reflects managerial estimation and discretion in earnings quality. Using a large sample of 57 countries over the period 1989–2012, we find that (1) the economic association between revenues and expenses becomes stronger in firms from collectivistic and high uncertainty-avoidant countries, (2) the impact of these dimensions of national culture on the matching is more salient for firms from countries characterized by a higher level of accrual accounting, a greater proportion of special-items, and limited openness, and (3) the cultural impact on matching is mainly driven by the correlation between revenue and discretionary expense (i.e., selling, general, and administrative expense). These findings are consistent with the view that national culture plays an informal governance role to influence firms' discretionary accounting choices.

Spillover effects within supply chains: Evidence from Chinese‐listed firms

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Abstract

There is increasing attention on information transfers along supply chain partners for firm (extreme) events. This growing literature finds spillover effects following certain types of firm events. Using data from credit rating actions of Chinese-listed firms over the period between March 2007 and May 2020, we examine the spillover effects of supply chains by focusing on the market reactions of event firms to the action announcements. We find strong evidence of spillover effects driven by the market reactions of event firms, which are enhanced through information diffusion channels as supply chain partners receive more investor attention. Moreover, the effects are stronger when event firms' market reactions are negative, event firms are non-stated-owned, the industry concentration of event firms is higher, or the supplier-customer business relationship is closer. Overall, these findings highlight the role of investor attention and network characteristics in supply chain spillovers.

IPO performance of portfolio ventures funded by impact investors versus venture capital investors

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Abstract

With the global rise of impact investments to achieve societal goals, an increasing number of new ventures that aim to create societal impact now seek to go public. However, while many conceptual studies suggest that impact investors are less likely to pursue financially oriented exit plans in exchange for generating societal impact, there is little empirical evidence to back up this claim. Using a propensity score matching approach, we draw on data from Crunchbase and empirically compare the initial public offering (IPO) performance of a large sample of 3398 investments by impact investors with 3398 investments by matched venture capital (VC) investors. We find that impact investor investments are less likely to lead to an IPO than VC investments. Besides, our results indicate that syndication by impact investors increases the likelihood of an IPO. This suggests that companies funded by impact investors benefit more from syndication than their VC-funded counterparts. Our findings have practical implications for impact investors, portfolio ventures, and policymakers.

Are institutional investors colluding with manipulators?

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Abstract

This paper examines the trading behavior of institutional investors in Taiwan before, during, and after a manipulation event and determines whether institutional investors benefit from their trading behavior during the period from the year 2000 to 2020. We find that stocks with a low turnover and small market capitalization are the main targets of price manipulators. In addition, the stock price of manipulated firms increases from the start date of the manipulation event, peaks at the end of the event, then falls after the event. Foreign institutions collude with manipulators to exaggerate stock prices for self-benefit. In contrast, securities dealers counter the trading behavior of manipulators and act as market stabilizers, causing them to suffer losses. Moreover, foreign institutions earn higher returns on stocks of manipulated firms with a low turnover during and soon after manipulation; however, they earn a higher return on stocks of manipulated firms with a high turnover in the long run after manipulation.

International takeover laws and corporate cash holdings

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We examine the impact on corporate cash holdings of international merger and acquisition (M&A) laws, which facilitate corporate takeovers. We use the staggered enactment of M&A laws from 1992 to 2005 and a sample spanning 34 jurisdictions, and find that levels of corporate cash holdings increase after passage of M&A laws. We also find that firms with better operating performance, higher earnings volatility, higher P/E ratio, and in jurisdictions with high M&A intensity hoard more cash after the enactment of M&A laws. These firms decrease dividends and capital expenditure and increase cash-based acquisitions in the post-M&A law period. Additional analysis shows that the effect is manifested in the subsample of firms in jurisdictions with better institutional environments. Lastly, we find that investor valuations of cash holdings decrease after the enactment of M&A laws. Collectively, our results suggest that managers hoard cash to finance M&A activities after the enactment of M&A laws, driven by the motive of empire-building, and that cash hoarding behaviors are viewed by investors as value-decreasing.

Institutional investors’ corporate site visits and aggressive financial reporting

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This paper investigates the impact of institutional investors' corporate site visits on financial reporting aggressiveness. While prior research has shed light on the monitoring impact of institutional shareholding on firms' financial reporting practices, institutional investors' preference regarding financial reporting remains unclear. Using a sample of Chinese firms listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange from 2012 to 2019, we find that institutional investors' on-site visits significantly increase financial reporting aggressiveness of hosting firms. The on-site visit effect is more salient in firms that are more sensitive to the influence of institutional investors, for example, firms with a less powerful chief executive officer, financially constrained firms, and firms operating in competitive industries. Our study highlights that under a setting of weak minority shareholder protection such as in China, managers are likely to recognize revenue aggressively to please powerful shareholders who paid intensive attention to them.

Ethnicity and homophily effects in US M&As

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We show that ethnic diversity of CEOs of merging firms has been increasing and report evidence of ethnic homophily effect in M&As transactions. Specifically, M&As perform better when the CEOs of the merging firms share a common ethnic background. In a sample of 444 US mergers completed between 2000 and 2018, we find that ethnic homophily improves the probability of deal completion. Furthermore, we report mild variation of performance across ethnic groups. White CEOs exhibit better postmerger performance while Asian CEOs instigate a better market reaction (announcement return). Subsequent analyses show that White CEOs tend to have longer tenure and longer experience while Asian CEOs tend to be more transparent. We discuss our findings in light of a few extant theories and show that our findings are robust to several additional tests including instrumental variables, Heckman's selection bias correction, and several variations in the model specifications and definitions of key variables.

Investor visits to corporate sites and cost stickiness

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Abstract

A corporate site visit is an effective way to obtain information on a firm. Most studies focus on the information advantages of corporate site visits, but evidence of their impact on firm operations is limited. In this paper, we investigate whether investors’ corporate site visits affect cost stickiness. Using data on investor corporate site visits to Chinese listed firms from 2013 to 2018, we find that these visits can inhibit cost stickiness. This finding holds in robustness tests and when controlling for endogeneity, including firm fixed effects, and using the Heckman selection model and the instrumental variables method. Further analyses reveal this inhibition is more pronounced for nonstate-owned enterprises and the results are more significant regarding cost stickiness in firms consuming nonlabor materials and firms visited by institutional investors. Moreover, we explore plausible mechanisms through which corporate site visits inhibit cost stickiness, such as through a monitoring channel and a learning channel. Our study contributes to academic evidence on the benefit and value of corporate site visits to firm operations, showing these visits can be a useful way to build connections between investors and firms.

Does the presentation reform of R&D expenses in China ease financial constraints in corporate innovation?

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Focusing on a sample of 9387 observations in China over the period 2016−2019, this paper empirically examines whether the presentation reform of R&D expenses that is changed from notes to income statements, mitigates corporate financial constraints of Chinese listed companies. Findings offer evidence that the financial constraints of firms decrease after the policy change, which is owing to the alleviation of information asymmetry. Further analysis reveals that the effect of the presentation reform on financial constraints is less prominent among companies that are state-owned, audited by the “Big four” and of higher institutional ownership. Overall, our study provides evidence supporting the influences of the format reform of financial reports and has implications for information users, regulators, and standard setters.