scholarly journals Political connections, corporate governance, and tax aggressiveness in Malaysia

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 424-451 ◽  
Author(s):  
Effiezal Aswadi Abdul Wahab ◽  
Akmalia M. Ariff ◽  
Marziana Madah Marzuki ◽  
Zuraidah Mohd Sanusi

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between political connections and corporate tax aggressiveness in Malaysia. In addition, this paper investigates the relationship between corporate governance variables and corporate tax aggressiveness. Next, the study investigates the mitigating role of corporate governance in the relationship between political connections and corporate tax aggressiveness. Design/methodology/approach The sample of this study is based on 2,538 firm-year observations during the 2000-2009 periods. This study employs a panel least square regression with both period and industry fixed effects. The study retrieved the corporate governance variables from the downloaded annual reports, whilst the remaining data were collected from Compustat Global. Findings This study finds that politically connected firms are more tax aggressive than non-connected firms. Furthermore, the study finds that large board size decreases the likelihood of tax aggressiveness and a non-linear relationship exists between institutional ownership and tax aggressiveness suggesting increase in monitoring as the ownership increases. However, the study finds no evidence to suggest that corporate governance mitigates the influence of political connections in promoting tax aggressiveness behavior. The findings suggest that the impact of political connections could outweigh the benefits of changes in corporate governance in Malaysia. Research limitations/implications The data are not recent, but it reflects a rather longitudinal research period. Originality/value This paper extends the literature of tax research in Malaysia which is in its’ infancy stage. Furthermore, it investigates the role of political connections in tax-planning research.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Taruntej Singh Arora ◽  
Suveera Gill

PurposeThere is mixed evidence in the extant literature on the firm value implications of corporate tax aggressiveness in the developed economies. There are, however, limited studies that discuss this relationship in the case of emerging economies. The present study aims to bridge this research gap by exploring the relationship between corporate tax aggressiveness and firm value in context of the Indian economy.Design/methodology/approachThe sample comprises 547 S&P BSE 500 (Standard and Poor's Bombay Stock Exchange 500) Index companies for Financial Year (FY) 2009–10 through FY 2018–19. A fixed-effects panel model has been used to discern the impact of corporate tax aggressiveness on firm value with and without the moderating effect of a proxy for corporate governance strength.FindingsThe results highlight a significant negative relationship between corporate tax aggressiveness and firm value in India, whilst the analysis on the moderating effect of corporate governance strength on this relationship revealed a mix of significant and insignificant results. These results were robust to an alternate specification of the corporate governance strength proxy, the system GMM estimation employed to deal with endogeneity and a change in the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) regulation brought into effect by the Companies Act, 2013.Originality/valueThe study reveals a firm value discount associated with corporate tax aggressiveness in India which is likely due to its ability to increase opportunities for wealth expropriation by managers. This can further be attributed to the ineffective corporate governance mechanisms that make agency problems more severe in the case of emerging economies like India.


2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 232-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Effiezal Aswadi Abdul Wahab ◽  
Anwar Allah Pitchay ◽  
Ruhani Ali

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between Bumiputra (in reference to Malay indigenous race) directors, a proxy for culture and analysts forecast. In addition, the study investigates whether corporate governance affects that relationship. Design/methodology/approach – The sample of this study is based on 664 firm-year observations from 193 firms during the 1999-2009 periods. The authors employ a panel least square regression with both period and industry fixed effects. The authors retrieved of analyst data from the Institutional Broker Estimate System (I/B/E/S) database while the authors hand collected the corporate governance variables. The remaining data were collected from Compustat Global. Findings – The authors find a positive relationship between the proxy of culture, Bumiputra directors and analysts forecast error suggesting that cultural values influences the level of information in the Malaysian capital market. Research limitations/implications – The research is dependent on the data availability from I/B/E/S database. Originality/value – The authors extend the work of Haniffa and Cooke (2002) in investigating how cultural values influence the capital market. In addition, this is the first study that investigates culture values and the analysts forecast.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Taher Hamza ◽  
Elhem ZAATIR

Purpose This study aims to examine the impact of corporate tax aggressiveness on future stock price crash. It also tests the corporate tax aggressiveness prediction power of the stock price crash via a long forecast window (two years). Design/methodology/approach The study sample consisted of 1,169 firm-years observations. The multivariate analysis uses three measures of stock price crash risk, as a dependent variable. The key variable is tax aggressiveness lagged by one period (one year) as all independent variables. As a robustness check, this paper uses alternate measures of earning management and a longer forecast window (two years) to predict stock price crash risk. Findings Tax aggressiveness activity is positively related to a firm-specific future stock price crash. Corporate tax aggressiveness predicts stock price crash risk for a long forecast window (two years). The findings are robust to a number of checks and have several policy implications. Practical implications Investors should be cautious about the different risks of corporate tax aggressiveness: stock price crash risk. The important role of firm disclosure which leads to more relevant stock price informativeness. Adopt accounting conservatism behavior. The market perceives a socially irresponsible behavior and may harm the firm reputation. Social implications Incentives for French regulators to reduce the feeling of injustice by SMEs vis-à-vis large international companies that have the possibility of transferring part of their profits to a country different from that where it should be taxed to reduce their tax bases. Originality/value French companies are among the heavily taxed in Europe which makes France a particularly suitable context for studying tax aggressiveness issues. The first in the French context, that document a significant and positive relation between tax aggressiveness and future crash risk. It focuses on the important role of corporate tax planning as a means of withholding bad news and its consequences in inflating stock prices.


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 366-398
Author(s):  
Mehdi Mili ◽  
Anis Khayati ◽  
Amira Khouaja

Purpose Motivated by agency theory, this paper aims to explore the impact of bank diversification and bank independency on the likelihood of bank failure. The effects of corporate governance (ownership and board structures) are also examined. Design/methodology/approach Logistic regressions are used to explore the role of corporate governance on bank failure risk. This sample covers 608 banks from eight European countries. Findings The results suggest that the well-documented finding that diversification and bank independency may increase bank failure risk does not persist under strong corporate governance mechanism. Thus, to reduce the bank failure risk, diversification should be strongly monitored by the management to avoid excessive risk-taking by shareholders. Originality/value The approach used in this study differs from that used in previous studies from certain perspectives. First, unlike most previous studies that focused on the relationship between bank performance and bank diversification, the impact of income and asset diversification on bank failure is tested. Also, the impact of a combined effect of diversification and corporate governance variables on bank failure is tested. This allows the control for different ownership and board variables as factors that would potentially affect the likelihood of bank failure.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 597-612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nirmala Devi Mohanadas ◽  
Abdullah Sallehhuddin Abdullah Salim ◽  
Lim Kwee Pheng

Purpose This study aims to examine how corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance and corporate tax aggressiveness relate in Malaysia, an emerging economy in Southeast Asia. It also seeks to analyse how CSR performance in community, environment, marketplace and workplace themes relate to the tax aggressiveness of listed companies in this country. Design/methodology/approach This study analyses 182 companies listed in the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia from 2010 to 2012 using fixed-effects panel regression and ordinary least square regression. It uses current effective tax rate as a proxy for corporate tax aggressiveness and measures CSR performance using specially developed CSR performance disclosure index. Findings This study finds no statistical support that CSR performance is related to corporate tax aggressiveness in Malaysia. Similarly, there are no statistically significant relationships between environment-related and marketplace-related CSR performance and corporate tax aggressiveness. Nevertheless, community-related CSR performance has significant negative relationship with corporate tax aggressiveness. Workplace-related CSR performance meanwhile has significant positive relationship with corporate tax aggressiveness. Originality/value This study expands the current literature's focus on developed economies by examining the relationship between CSR and corporate tax aggressiveness in the setting of an emerging Asian economy, i.e. Malaysia. It is also the first empirical study focussing on this relationship among Malaysian listed companies.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Alves

Purpose This study draws on agency, theory to evaluate the relationship between chief executive officer (CEO) duality and earnings quality, proxied by discretionary accruals. Additionally, this study aims to examine whether board independence moderates the relationship between CEO duality and earnings quality. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a fixed-effects regression model to examine the effect of CEO duality on earnings quality and to test whether board independence moderates that relationship for a sample of non-financial listed Portuguese firms-year from 2002 to 2016. Findings Consistent with agency theory, this study suggests that CEO duality decreases earnings quality. Further, the results also suggest that the earnings quality reduction associated with CEO duality is attenuated when the board of directors has a higher proportion of independent directors. Practical implications The findings based on this study provide useful information to investors and regulators in evaluating the impact of CEO duality on earnings quality and the effect of board independence on the role of CEO duality, especially under concentrated ownership. Originality/value To the knowledge, this study is the first to investigate the role of board independence on the association between CEO duality and earnings quality. In addition, this paper is the first empirical study to investigate the direct and indirect effect of CEO duality on earnings quality in Portugal.


2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 351-371
Author(s):  
Kailing Deng ◽  
Linda Nichols ◽  
Li Sun

PurposeWe examine the impact of sales order backlog (an important leading performance indicator) on corporate cash holdings and the role of corporate governance in the relation between sales order backlog and cash holdings.Design/methodology/approachWe use the regression analysis to examine our research questions.FindingsConsistent with the agency motive and the precautionary motive of cash holdings, we document a significant negative relation between order backlog and cash, suggesting that firms with higher order backlog hold less cash. We further examine and find that the relationship between order backlog and cash becomes stronger for firms with stronger corporate governance, highlighting the role of governance in determining the level of corporate cash holdings.Originality/valueOur study contributes to the accounting literature on sales order backlog and the finance literature on corporate cash holdings. In particular, our study contributes to developing a more comprehensive understanding of the sales order backlog because it is still an under-researched area in accounting. To the best of our knowledge, this study is perhaps the first empirical study that examines the direct link between order backlog and cash.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Zhuang ◽  
Shuili Yang ◽  
Supat Chupradit ◽  
Muhammad Atif Nawaz ◽  
Rong Xiong ◽  
...  

PurposeFirst, the current study contributes to the available debate by reinvestigating the impact of economic growth (EG), foreign direct investment (FDI), technological innovation (TI) and inflation (INF) on trade openness (TO). Second, the study tests the moderating role of institutional quality (INS) on the relationship among EG, FDI, TI and TO. Third, the study tests how TO contributes to EG efficiency.Design/methodology/approachThe study collects the data from the group of twenty (G20) economies for the period of 1998–2020. The study applied the Kao (1999), Pedroni (2001), and Palamuleni (2017) cointegration tests to test the long-run association between variables. The study applied fully modified least square (FMOLS) and dynamic least square (DOLS) models to test the hypotheses.FindingsFindings of the study showed the positive impact of EG, FDI and TI on TO, which becomes more positive in the presence of institutional quality. Results indicate that INS plays an enhancing role in the relationship between FDI and TO, EG and TO and TI and TO. The study showed a negative relationship between INF and TO, and institutional quality plays a buffering role in the relationship between INF and TO.Originality/valueFirst, the study reinvestigates the empirical association among EG, FDI, TI, INF and TO. Second, the study tests the moderating role of INS on the relationship between the proposed variables by developing an index of all the indicators of INS. Third, the study tests the contributions of TO in economic efficiency (ECE). The contributions of the present study will increase the available literature of TO and help the policy makers of G20 nations to suggest important policies to promote TO and ECE.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 673-698
Author(s):  
Abiot Tessema

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of audit quality on information asymmetry for a sample of leading listed local banks in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). In addition, the paper examines whether a firm's political connections moderate the association between audit quality and information asymmetry.Design/methodology/approachThe author employs country fixed effects to examine the impact of audit quality on information asymmetry. The paper uses a sample of 49 leading listed local banks across the GCC and 236 bank-year observations, over the period of 2012–2016.FindingsUsing trading volume, trade value and stock return volatility as proxies for information asymmetry and audit quality through auditors' opinion and audit size, the paper documents that audit quality plays an important role in improving the quality of financial information reporting by providing greater independent assurance of the credibility of financial reports. The paper also documents that a firm's political connections have no effect on the association between audit quality and information asymmetry, indicating that the beneficial effects of audit quality are no greater for politically connected firms than for similar but politically unconnected firms.Practical implicationsThe findings of the study help policymakers, standard-setters and regulators to understand the potential adverse effect of political connections on the role of audit quality on information asymmetry. The study also provides important insights for audit regulators to better identify and understand the benefits of audit quality and to take policy matters that influence audit quality seriously.Originality/valueThe study increases our understanding of the impact of audit quality on the level of information asymmetry in different economic, legal and political institutions, regulatory and litigation incentives and social contexts compared to that of research conducted using data collected from developed and other emerging countries. This will help to widen our knowledge on the role of audit quality on information asymmetry across the globe.


2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 313-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grant Richardson ◽  
Grantley Taylor ◽  
Roman Lanis

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the impact of women on the board of directors on corporate tax avoidance in Australia. Design/methodology/approach The authors use multivariate regression analysis to test the association between the presence of female directors on the board and tax aggressiveness. They also test for self-selection bias in the regression model by using the two-stage Heckman procedure. Findings This paper finds that relative to there being one female board member, high (i.e. greater than one member) female presence on the board of directors reduces the likelihood of tax aggressiveness. The results are robust after controlling for self-selection bias and using several alternative measures of tax aggressiveness. Research limitations/implications This study extends the extant literature on corporate governance and tax aggressiveness. This study is subject to several caveats. First, the sample is restricted to publicly listed Australian firms. Second, this study only examines the issue of women on the board of directors and tax aggressiveness in the context of Australia. Practical implications This research is timely, as there has been increased pressure by government bodies in Australia and globally to develop policies to increase female representation on the board of directors. Originality/value This study is the first to provide empirical evidence concerning the association between the presence of women on the board of directors and tax aggressiveness.


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