{"title":"Do auditors care about firm-level political risk?","authors":"Chen Ma , Tu Xu , Jian Zhou , Siqi Fan","doi":"10.1016/j.jaccpubpol.2024.107240","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaccpubpol.2024.107240","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We study auditors’ client risk management with regard to firm-level political risk. While prior research relies mainly on economy-wide proxies for political risk (such as the economic policy uncertainty index), Hassan, Hollander, van Lent, and Tahoun (2019) suggest that a substantial part of political risk plays out at the firm level. Using a new measure of firm-level political risk, we find that higher political-risk firms are charged with higher audit fees and associated with longer audit report delay. Higher political-risk firms are also more likely to receive going concern opinions. However, we do not find that auditors are more likely to resign from higher political-risk firms. We contribute to the auditing literature by studying previously unexamined firm-level political risk and demonstrating that it affects auditor decisions. Our findings have significant implications for accounting firms, regulators, and managers and directors (especially audit committee members) of public companies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48070,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Accounting and Public Policy","volume":"48 ","pages":"Article 107240"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142310796","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Clawback provisions and insider trading profits","authors":"Jeong Hwan Joo , Hangsoo Kyung","doi":"10.1016/j.jaccpubpol.2024.107242","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaccpubpol.2024.107242","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Mitigating managerial rent extraction in the form of excess pay and insider trading profits based on financial misreporting is an important governance issue. Clawback provisions allow companies to recover excess pay related to misreported earnings when accounting restatements occur in subsequent periods. We examine whether clawback provisions effectively restrict insider trading profits through improved financial reporting quality. Our finding is that insider trading profits decrease after clawback adoption, and this effect is more prominent when clawback provisions are adopted to improve rather than signal already high levels of financial reporting quality. Moreover, we find that offering managers additional explicit pay to compensate for the increased compensation risk imposed by clawback provisions enhances the effectiveness of these provisions in curbing insider trading profits. Overall, our findings support the efficacy of clawback provisions in mitigating rent extraction through insider trading.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48070,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Accounting and Public Policy","volume":"48 ","pages":"Article 107242"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142238350","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jun Huang , Ting Li , Gary Gang Tian , Tianshu Zhang
{"title":"The impact of investment banks going public on underwriting behavior: Evidence from IPO clients’ earnings management","authors":"Jun Huang , Ting Li , Gary Gang Tian , Tianshu Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.jaccpubpol.2024.107241","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaccpubpol.2024.107241","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This study examines the economic incentive theory, positing that listed investment banks facing significant economic pressure are likely to compromise their underwriting quality to meet client demands. Analyzing Chinese IPO firms from 2006 to 2020, we observe that those underwritten by listed investment banks demonstrate more substantial earnings management compared to those underwritten by privately held banks. This tendency is more evident in scenarios where investment banks have stronger economic incentives, weaker corporate governance, and increased performance pressure. We also find that IPO firms underwritten by listed investment banks are likelier to pass the IPO screening by the China Securities Regulatory Commission and secure higher IPO prices through pronounced earnings management. Additionally, these firms show poorer post-IPO accounting performance and stock returns. Our findings suggest that the public listing of investment banks can compromise the impartiality and quality of their services as gatekeepers in the capital market, particularly in emerging markets with limited shareholder rights protection. These results underscore the need for investors, stakeholders and regulators to be vigilant about the potential compromise to the independence of investment banks following their public listings.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48070,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Accounting and Public Policy","volume":"48 ","pages":"Article 107241"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142233856","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Accounting comparability and customer concentration","authors":"Justin Chircop , Nhat Q. Nguyen , Tri T. Nguyen","doi":"10.1016/j.jaccpubpol.2024.107244","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaccpubpol.2024.107244","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This study examines the relationship between accounting comparability and customer concentration. Higher accounting comparability enhances customers’ ability to evaluate suppliers’ performance against their industry peers. This allows suppliers to attract more customers, hence reducing their customer concentration. We find a negative association between accounting comparability and customer concentration. This relation is stronger for firms with better profitability, higher information asymmetry, and more innovations. By establishing a link between accounting comparability and customer concentration, our study provides additional evidence about the consequences of accounting comparability and is helpful to both academics and practitioners.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48070,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Accounting and Public Policy","volume":"48 ","pages":"Article 107244"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027842542400067X/pdfft?md5=520ad3b091047a63752197b98ca3909a&pid=1-s2.0-S027842542400067X-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142232080","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The impact of stock market liberalization on management forecast precision–Evidence from Mainland-Hong Kong Stock Connect Programs in China","authors":"Renhui Fu , Fang Gao , Yi Zhao","doi":"10.1016/j.jaccpubpol.2024.107243","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaccpubpol.2024.107243","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This study examines the effects of stock market liberalization, specifically through the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect and the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect initiatives (jointly referred to as MHKSCPs), on the precision of management forecasts and the underlying mechanisms. We find that post MHKSCPs, management forecasts become less precise for bad news and more precise for good news, leading to an overall decrease in precision. The channels include litigation risk and media/analyst attention. The results are particularly pronounced in firms without foreign investors, within industries with higher proprietary costs, or in smaller firms. Moreover, there is a decrease in the information content of management forecasts, management forecast optimism, and financial report readability post MHKSCPs.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48070,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Accounting and Public Policy","volume":"48 ","pages":"Article 107243"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142168068","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Performance comparison and incentive contracts","authors":"Jumpei Hamamura , Eiji Ohashi","doi":"10.1016/j.jaccpubpol.2024.107239","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaccpubpol.2024.107239","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Workers use publicly observable performance information to evaluate their and their peers' status, thereby feeling superior or inferior. We analyze how such performance comparison affects optimal incentive contracts. In our model, a principal employs agents who may gain or lose utility by comparing their performance signals. We establish the following results. First, the optimal contract of each agent is based only on his own performance signal and muted compared to the setting with no performance comparison. Second, agents' performance comparison has a nontrivial effect on the principal's expected payment. Third, in the labor market where the principal cannot observe agents' sensitivity to performance comparison, she can attract the most desirable agents under some reasonable assumptions. We discuss the practical implications of these results.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48070,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Accounting and Public Policy","volume":"47 ","pages":"Article 107239"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142083609","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jon N. Kerr , Richard Price , Francisco J. Román , Miles A. Romney
{"title":"Corporate governance and tax avoidance: Evidence from governance reform","authors":"Jon N. Kerr , Richard Price , Francisco J. Román , Miles A. Romney","doi":"10.1016/j.jaccpubpol.2024.107232","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaccpubpol.2024.107232","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>We explore the association between corporate governance and tax avoidance in Mexico, a developing economy where the primary agency concern is between firm insiders and minority owners. The Mexican setting aligns with other non-U.S. settings and thus findings apply to a broad set of countries. We exploit governance reforms in Mexico and use a hand-collected governance index to show that improved corporate governance pushes tax avoidance toward a new equilibrium. In particular, we find evidence that Mexican firms with stronger governance engage in less tax avoidance and that our results are concentrated in family-owned firms and non-cross-listed firms, both of which have naturally weaker governance. Our findings suggest these governance reforms are effective in reducing tax avoidance, and we identify board independence and audit committees as mechanisms responsible for the decrease in tax avoidance.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48070,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Accounting and Public Policy","volume":"47 ","pages":"Article 107232"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141997310","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Quality choices in corporate social responsibility reporting under heterogeneous investor preferences","authors":"Akihiro Noda","doi":"10.1016/j.jaccpubpol.2024.107228","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaccpubpol.2024.107228","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure practices vary widely across firms, prompting the need to elucidate the theoretical foundation determining the quality of firms' CSR reporting. This study develops a model of quality choice in CSR reporting under heterogeneous investor preferences by directly extending the model of Friedman and Heinle (2016). In the model of this study, a firm determines the quality of CSR reporting by incurring costs and disseminates CSR information to investors. The model demonstrates that when CSR reporting quality is endogenized, the firm's choice of CSR reporting quality reflects the firm's targeted information users in a market with heterogeneous investor preferences. The firm targeting socially responsible (SR) investors chooses high-quality CSR reporting to incorporate SR investors' valuation of its CSR performance into its share price. The study's findings indicate that firms' incentives for strategic shareholder composition undermine the effectiveness of CSR regulations and standard-setting.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48070,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Accounting and Public Policy","volume":"47 ","pages":"Article 107228"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278425424000516/pdfft?md5=f5aacc2e3fe9b78fb07ae2eecf811dd6&pid=1-s2.0-S0278425424000516-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141991422","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Firm-level political risk and income smoothing","authors":"Taejin Jung , Daniel G. Yang","doi":"10.1016/j.jaccpubpol.2024.107229","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaccpubpol.2024.107229","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The political cost hypothesis of positive accounting theory predicts that managers make accounting choices to minimize potential wealth transfers in the political process. Using a firm-level measure of political risk based on managers’ discussion of political topics in conference calls, we find that political risk is positively associated with income smoothing, consistent with managers reducing earnings variability to reduce stakeholder attention. This relation is stronger for firms more dependent on government purchases and firms under more stringent tax-related scrutiny. On the other hand, the relation is attenuated when firms incur more political lobbying expenses. Lastly, we do not find that increased investor demand for high-quality accounting information during periods of high economic policy uncertainty is the mechanism underlying our evidence. Our paper contributes to a better understanding of the role of political factors in managers’ accounting choices.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48070,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Accounting and Public Policy","volume":"46 ","pages":"Article 107229"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141542538","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kenneth L. Bills , Hua-Wei Huang , Yi-Hung Lin , David A. Wood
{"title":"The impact of chief audit executive turnover in Taiwan","authors":"Kenneth L. Bills , Hua-Wei Huang , Yi-Hung Lin , David A. Wood","doi":"10.1016/j.jaccpubpol.2024.107230","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaccpubpol.2024.107230","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This study adds to the emerging body of research showing the importance of internal audit to improve corporate governance and firm performance. Specifically, we test how the market reacts to the announcement of a turnover to the head of internal audit (i.e., the chief audit executive (CAE)). We find negative cumulative abnormal returns in the days surrounding the announcement of a CAE turnover and that the market holds a relatively negative perception of CAE turnover regardless of the reasons for the turnover event. We then study two reasons for why the market would react negatively to the CAE turnover and find that CAE turnovers are associated with lower financial reporting quality (i.e., greater likelihood of misstatements, higher abnormal and positive discretionary accruals) and lower operating performance (i.e., return on assets, return on equity, and Tobin’s Q). We find evidence of both decreased financial reporting quality and firm performance following CAE turnovers. The financial reporting changes are largely temporary, only having an influence for one period after the turnover event. The firm performance effects are also temporary, but last for 2 to 5 years after the CAE turnover. Finally, in additional analyses we also find that CAE turnover is positively associated with external audit fees.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48070,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Accounting and Public Policy","volume":"46 ","pages":"Article 107230"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141729215","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}