Linda H. Chen , George J. Jiang , Weiwei Wang , Joseph H. Zhang
{"title":"The impact of profitability pressure and capital market valuation on tax haven engagement","authors":"Linda H. Chen , George J. Jiang , Weiwei Wang , Joseph H. Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.adiac.2024.100804","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.adiac.2024.100804","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We investigate three key research questions related to firms' engagement in tax haven activities: (1) the relationship between firm profitability pressures and tax haven involvement, (2) how the capital markets price tax haven activities as potential risks, and (3) whether firm profitability pressures moderate the relationship between tax haven involvement and capital market risk perceptions. Analyzing data from 1995 to 2020, we find that firms facing profitability pressure are more likely to engage in tax haven activities. Additionally, tax haven involvement is typically viewed negatively by capital markets, signaling heightened information risk and agency costs. However, under profitability pressures, capital markets assess tax haven activities less unfavorably. These findings highlight the need to better understand the drivers of aggressive tax avoidance strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46906,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Accounting","volume":"68 ","pages":"Article 100804"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2024-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143128679","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The interactive effects of strategy communication and report integration on investors' reactions to corporate social responsibility measures","authors":"Lei Wang , Lei Dong","doi":"10.1016/j.adiac.2024.100784","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.adiac.2024.100784","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines nonprofessional investors' reactions to two important factors underlying the disclosure of corporate social responsibility (CSR) measures: report integration and strategy communication. We find that CSR measures in an integrated report appear to affect nonprofessional investors less than CSR measures in a standalone report. Providing strategy communication that conveys CSR strategic objectives and a causal connection between CSR performance and financial performance promotes investors' incorporation of CSR measures into their judgments and decisions. Together, report integration and CSR strategy communication interact to affect investment judgments and decisions, such that the weakened effect of CSR measures in an integrated report is less pronounced when CSR strategy communication is present than when CSR strategy communication is absent. As the interest in CSR reports continues to grow among investors, preparers, auditors, standard setters, regulators, and researchers, this study highlights the interplay between strategy communication and report integration in CSR disclosures.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46906,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Accounting","volume":"68 ","pages":"Article 100784"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142723815","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Philip Keejae Hong , Kyonghee Kim , Sukesh Patro , Kyunghwa Yu
{"title":"Accrual accounting and access to external funds: Evidence from small businesses","authors":"Philip Keejae Hong , Kyonghee Kim , Sukesh Patro , Kyunghwa Yu","doi":"10.1016/j.adiac.2024.100786","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.adiac.2024.100786","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study explores how the use of accrual accounting, as opposed to cash accounting, is related to small businesses' access to external funds and the type of borrowing relationships they have. The findings show that the use of accrual accounting is associated with better access to lines of credit and trade credit, which are important sources of external financing for small businesses. The use of accrual accounting is also positively associated with larger borrowing amounts, more favorable borrowing terms, the establishment of more credit relationships, and with more distant financial institutions. Likewise, accrual accounting is associated with shorter borrowing relationships and less reliance on personal contact with financial institutions. Overall, this study demonstrates a significant association between the use of accrual accounting and improved access to external finance for small businesses, suggesting that the informational limitations of cash accounting may be related to greater constraints in accessing external funding.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46906,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Accounting","volume":"68 ","pages":"Article 100786"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142723817","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Employee education and corporate tax outcomes: Evidence from firm-level reporting","authors":"Hanzhong Shi , Kaishu Wu , Kerui Zhai","doi":"10.1016/j.adiac.2024.100785","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.adiac.2024.100785","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Taking advantage of a unique financial reporting feature in the Chinese setting, this study examines whether the education level of a firm's rank-and-file employees is associated with its tax outcomes. We provide robust evidence that employee education is associated with reduced tax avoidance. Leveraging path analysis, we show that highly educated employees are related to corporate tax avoidance through a financial reporting channel and a corporate social responsibility (CSR) channel. In addition, we find that the main effect is more pronounced when employees have the right to voice their concerns and when the accounting department accounts for a greater portion of total employees. Finally, we show that employee education is associated with reduced tax risk. Overall, our study extends an emerging body of literature on the association between employee education and firm-related outcomes (e.g., Call, Campbell, Dhaliwal, & Moon Jr., 2017), along with finding another important determinant of corporate tax planning.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46906,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Accounting","volume":"68 ","pages":"Article 100785"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142723816","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Discussion of using accounting information to identify corporate acquisition motives: Implications on post-acquisition performance","authors":"Willie D. Reddic , Joshua C. Racca","doi":"10.1016/j.adiac.2024.100783","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.adiac.2024.100783","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46906,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Accounting","volume":"68 ","pages":"Article 100783"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142723821","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kareen Brown , Sohyung Kim , Cheol Lee , Parunchana Pacharn
{"title":"Climate risk and asymmetric cost behavior","authors":"Kareen Brown , Sohyung Kim , Cheol Lee , Parunchana Pacharn","doi":"10.1016/j.adiac.2024.100782","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.adiac.2024.100782","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Prior research indicates that managerial expectations about a firm's future can lead to asymmetric cost behavior or cost stickiness; optimism increases cost stickiness, while pessimism reduces it. We predict and find that firms facing greater climate risk exhibit less cost stickiness, aligning with the threat-rigidity perspective where managers are either reluctant to add new resources or dispose excess ones under high climate risk. This reaction intensifies over time. After the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, cost stickiness is less sticky, reflecting long-term intertemporal changes in managerial perceptions of climate risk and its impact on cost stickiness. In addition, firms in U.S. coastal states, those in agriculturally intensive states, or those financially constrained react more strongly to climate risk. Finally, we find evidence that political environments influence this cost behavior; firms show less cost stickiness under Democratic administrations and in states that vote Democratic.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46906,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Accounting","volume":"68 ","pages":"Article 100782"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2024-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142723820","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Persistent firm-level political risk and asymmetric cost adjustments","authors":"Masako Darrough , Mahmud Hossain , Anand Jha , Santanu Mitra","doi":"10.1016/j.adiac.2024.100769","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.adiac.2024.100769","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study explores how the intensity and duration of political risk persisting at the firm level affect managers' cost adjustment decisions. Prior studies that investigate managers' resource adjustment decisions document that managers respond to the current year's sales change in an asymmetric manner. Managers tend to hold on to slack resources (i.e., exhibiting cost stickiness) even when current sales decline if they anticipate sales decrease to be temporary with lower demand uncertainty in the future. Prior studies find that aggregate political risk affects resource allocation. By contrast, this study delineates how political risk at the firm level affects managers' decisions to retain or curtail slack resources in response to sales decline as influenced by the duration and intensity of such risk. We find that persistently high firm-level political risk is associated with higher-cost anti-stickiness (or lower-cost stickiness). Our cross-sectional tests demonstrate that the association between political risk and cost stickiness is further moderated by various managerial traits such as CEO's delta, managerial ability, and managerial overconfidence. We address the possible endogeneity issue by examining the exogenous shock to political risk due to the redistricting of U.S. Congressional districts. Our baseline results remain unchanged in several robustness tests, such as using an alternative measure developed from MD&A section of the annual report, adding more control variables, using quarterly data, using SG&A expenses in place of total operating costs as the dependent variable, and using a continuous measure of political risk in terms of risk dispersion.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46906,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Accounting","volume":"68 ","pages":"Article 100769"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2024-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142748783","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abhijit Das , Vincent K. Chong , Stijn Masschelein , Isabel Z. Wang , David R. Woodliff
{"title":"The effects of performance-based profit-sharing schemes and client pressure on auditors' pre-negotiation judgments","authors":"Abhijit Das , Vincent K. Chong , Stijn Masschelein , Isabel Z. Wang , David R. Woodliff","doi":"10.1016/j.adiac.2024.100781","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.adiac.2024.100781","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Prior studies in auditing have examined the impact of performance-based profit-sharing schemes (PES) and client pressure in terms of explicit pressure and implicit pressure on auditors' judgments independently, and there is an ex-ante expectation that these two factors will interact in the context of proposed audit adjustments in a prenegotiation setting. Based on the theory of motivated reasoning, this study examines whether explicit pressure by clients will have a smaller effect when auditors' PES is based on a firm-wide scheme as compared to a divisional scheme. We conduct a 2 × 2 between-subject experiment with 95 experienced auditors, predominantly audit managers from the US, that examines how performance-based profit-sharing schemes (i.e., firm-wide vs. divisional) of audit partners and client pressure (i.e., explicit vs. implicit) affect auditors' mindsets on the magnitude of provision for obsolete inventory to be reported in the client's financial statements in an auditor-client pre-negotiation setting. The findings show that auditors' PES and client pressure interact to affect auditors' behaviour in a pre-negotiation setting. Our results exhibit the concessionary (i.e., waiving a material audit adjustment) behaviour of audit partners, directors, and managers from the US. The findings extend contemporary research on auditor-client negotiation by providing evidence to the literature that PES schemes influence the behaviour of auditors in a pre-negotiation setting.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46906,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Accounting","volume":"68 ","pages":"Article 100781"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2024-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142723819","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Managerial ability, audit quality, and audit report lag","authors":"Yang Li , Sheng Liu , Yaou Zhou","doi":"10.1016/j.adiac.2024.100780","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.adiac.2024.100780","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines whether managerial ability is associated with audit report lag and, if so, whether this relation varies with the quality of the engaging auditor and/or the internal control environment. Utilizing the managerial ability measure developed by <span><span>Demerjian, Lev, and McVay (2012)</span></span>, we find that managerial ability is negatively related to audit report lags, consistent with the theory that managers with greater ability help reduce engagement risks and thus audit effort and contribute to a timelier auditing and financial reporting process. We also document that the observed association between managerial ability and audit report lags is mainly driven by auditors of lower quality, proxied by auditor size and auditor's industry specialization. This finding suggests that auditors with fewer resources and/or reputation concerns depend more on the client management team that assists them in improving financial reporting timeliness. Further, we find that the negative relationship is more pronounced when clients have internal control weaknesses, implying that the role of managerial ability is more salient when firms experience internal issues. Our findings suggest that a reasonably able management team is particularly critical to reporting timeliness for firms operating in relatively disadvantageous conditions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46906,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Accounting","volume":"68 ","pages":"Article 100780"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2024-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142723814","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Amanda Badger , Siqi Li , Hyungshin Park , Sang Hyun Park
{"title":"The effect of ASC 606 adoption on value relevance of revenues: Early evidence","authors":"Amanda Badger , Siqi Li , Hyungshin Park , Sang Hyun Park","doi":"10.1016/j.adiac.2024.100770","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.adiac.2024.100770","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines the effect of adopting the principle-based revenue recognition standard, i.e., ASC 606, on the value relevance of reported revenues. We hand-collect data on the cumulative effects of ASC 606 adoption on retained earnings to identify materially impacted firms. We find that, compared to firms not materially impacted by ASC 606 adoption, the value relevance of reported revenues has improved for firms materially impacted based on long-window tests, while the informativeness of reported revenues has not improved for firms materially impacted based on short-window tests around quarterly earnings announcements. We also find that analysts' revenue forecast revisions have increased incrementally for firms materially impacted by ASC 606 adoption. Overall, our results suggest that ASC 606 adoption has generally increased the value relevance and informativeness of reported revenues.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46906,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Accounting","volume":"68 ","pages":"Article 100770"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2024-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142723818","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}