scholarly journals Accruals quality and the cost of debt: the European evidence

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 333-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasser Eliwa ◽  
Andros Gregoriou ◽  
Audrey Paterson

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the empirical relationship between the cost of debt (CoD) and accruals quality (AQ) of European listed firms during the period of 2005 to 2014. Also, it aims to test the impact of the interrelationship between the financial crisis (2008-2009) and AQ on CoD. Finally, we decompose AQ into two components; the innate (InnateAQ) and discretionary components (DiscAQ); and test their relationships with CoD. Design/methodology/approach To empirically examine the relationship between AQ and CoD, a sample including 15 member states of the EU is constructed. AQ proxy is based on the McNichols (2002) modification of Dechow and Dichev (2002) model. A univariate analysis and a multivariate analysis are conducted to examine the relationship between AQ and CoD after controlling for firm characteristics and institutional variables. Findings We find a significant negative association between AQ and CoD in a vast proportion of the 15 countries under review. Also, the results indicate that during the crisis period, creditors pay relatively more attention to the quality of accounting information than during the pre-crisis period when they determine CoD of firms. Moreover, we report a link between the magnitude of this relationship and national characteristics and provide evidence of the significant effects of national characteristics and market forces on CoD. Finally, we find that InnateAQ drives the relationship with CoD. Practical implications This paper provides up-to-date evidence on the economic consequences of AQ and IFRS in the capital market. The results should, therefore, be of interest to managers, creditors, regulators and standard-setters. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to investigate the effects of AQ on CoD for European listed firms. Also, it examines the impact of financial crisis on the association between AQ and CoD.

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-270
Author(s):  
Ben Le

Purpose This paper aims to examine the impact of government ownership on the cost of debt and firm valuation in listed Vietnamese companies for the period 2007 to 2016. Design/methodology/approach The authors use both the generalised methods of the moment (GMM) and the ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions to analyse a panel data spanning over the period 2007 to 2016 in the markets of Vietnam. Further, the instrumental variable is used in the paper. Findings The authors find that firms with relative higher government stockholdings or state-owned companies where the government owns 50 per cent or more of shares outstanding enjoy a lower cost of debt compared to the other firms. Consequently, these firms have higher firm valuation and profitability. The results are robust for both the GMM and the OLS regressions. Further, firms that no longer retain government ownership have a higher cost of debt than the other firms. The results of the paper imply the importance of political connections in businesses in the market of Vietnam. Originality/value This paper connects the relationship between government ownership and the cost of debt with the relationship between government ownership and firm valuation. The paper tests the relationship between the cost of debt and government ownership using both OLS and GMM specifications and the results are robust for both approaches. The manuscript uses an instrumental variable to show that government ownership has a positive impact on higher firm performance through reducing cost of debt. Further, this paper addresses the possible issue of endogeneity.


Author(s):  
Alain Devalle

This paper aims at verifying the relationship between book value and  market value for a four years period (2006-2009) in Europe, under IFRS. In particular, I used value relevance approach to measure whether net income or comprehensive income are more useful to understand the relationship between market data and financial data. Moreover, the paper analyzes the impact of financial crisis on the value relevance of accounting data. The examination period runs from a pre-crisis period (2006-2007) to an in-crisis period (2008-2009). Results shows that comprehensive income is more value relevant than net income. Furthermore, the financial crisis has a positive impact on value relevance.  


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 473-496
Author(s):  
Hongling Guo ◽  
Keping Wu

PurposeThis study aims to investigate how opening high-speed railways affects the cost of debt financing based on China's background.Design/methodology/approachUsing panel data on Chinese listed firms from 2008 to 2017, this study constructs a quasi-natural experiment and adopts a difference-in-difference model with multiple time periods to empirically examine the relation between the high-speed railway openings and debt financing cost.FindingsOur results show that opening high-speed railways reduces the cost of debt financing, and this negative correlation is more significant in non-state firms, firms with weaker internal control, and firms that hire non-Big Four auditors. Besides, we explore the impact mechanisms and find that opening high-speed railways improves analyst attention, institutional investor participation, and information disclosure quality, which in turn lowers the cost of debt financing.Research limitations/implicationsThe results imply that the opening of high-speed railways helps to alleviate the information asymmetry and adverse selection between firms and creditors and ultimately reduces the cost of corporate debt financing.Practical implicationsThis paper can inform firms and stakeholders about the impact of opening high-speed railways on debt financing cost: it improves the information environment, reduces the geographical location restrictions of debt financing, ensures the reasonable pricing of corporate debt, and thus promotes the healthy and sound development of the debt market.Originality/valueThis paper provides theoretical support and empirical evidence for the impact of infrastructure construction on the information environment of the debt market in China, which enriches the research on the “high-speed railway economy.” In addition, as an exogenous event, the opening of high-speed railways instantly shortens the time distance between firms and external stakeholders, which gives us a natural environment to conduct empirical research, thus providing a new perspective for financial research on firms' geographical location.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Darush Yazdanfar ◽  
Peter Öhman

PurposeThe main purpose of this study is to describe and analyse the relationship between the 2008–2009 global financial crisis and small and medium-sized enterprises' cost of debt capital.Design/methodology/approachStatistical methods, including multiple OLS and dynamic panel data, were used to analyse a longitudinal cross-sectional panel dataset of 3865 Swedish SMEs operating in five industry sectors over the 2008–2015 period.FindingsThe results suggest that the cost of debt was influenced by the financial crisis and another macroeconomic factor, i.e. the interbank interest rate, and by firm-specific factors such as firm size and lagged cost of debt.Originality/valueTo the authors' best knowledge, this is one of few studies to examine the cost of debt among SMEs during the crisis and post-crisis periods using data from a large-scale, longitudinal, cross-sectional database.


2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 507-538 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed H. Elmagrhi ◽  
Collins G. Ntim ◽  
Yan Wang

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the level of compliance with, and disclosure of, good corporate governance (CG) practices among UK publicly listed firms and consequently ascertain whether board characteristics and ownership structure variables can explain observable differences in the extent of voluntary CG compliance and disclosure practices. Design/methodology/approach This study uses one of the largest data sets to-date on compliance and disclosure of CG practices from 2008 to 2013 containing 120 CG provisions drawn from the 2010 UK Combined Code relating to 100 UK listed firms to conduct multiple regression analyses of the determinants of voluntary CG disclosures. A number of additional estimations, including two stage least squares, fixed-effects and lagged structures, are conducted to address the potential endogeneity issue and test the robustness of the findings. Findings The results suggest that there is a substantial variation in the levels of compliance with, and disclosure of, good CG practices among the sampled UK firms. The authors also find that firms with larger board size, more independent outside directors and greater director diversity tend to disclose more CG information voluntarily, whereas the level of voluntary CG compliance and disclosure is insignificantly related to the existence of a separate CG committee and institutional ownership. Additionally, the results indicate that block ownership and managerial ownership negatively affect voluntary CG compliance and disclosure practices. The findings are fairly robust across a number of econometric models that sufficiently address various endogeneity problems and alternative CG indices. Overall, the findings are generally consistent with the predictions of neo-institutional theory. Originality/value This study extends, as well as contributes to, the extant CG literature by offering new evidence on compliance with, and disclosure of, good CG recommendations contained in the 2010 UK Combined Code following the 2007/2008 global financial crisis. This study also advances the existing literature by offering new insights from a neo-institutional theoretical perspective of the impact of board and ownership mechanisms on voluntary CG compliance and disclosure practices.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 203-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rozaimah Zainudin ◽  
Nurul Shahnaz Mahdzan ◽  
Chee Hong Yet

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship between stock price volatility (SPV) and dividend policy of industrial products firms listed on Bursa Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach The sample comprises 166 industrial products public-listed firms covering a time span from year 2003 to 2012. Using Baskin’s framework, firm’s SPV is related to dividend payout, controlling for earnings volatility, firm size, leverage and growth of assets. Further, the impact of the global financial crisis on the relationship between SPV and the tested variables is examined. Findings Earning volatility significantly explains SPV of industrial product firms during the crisis period, while dividend payout ratio (PR) predominantly influences volatility during pre- and post-crisis sub-periods. The empirical results indicate that dividend policy is a strong predictor of SPV of industrial products firms in Malaysia, particularly during the post-crisis period. Originality/value The paper explores the firm’s SPV and dividend policy for a new set of data focussing on industrial products firms listed on the Malaysian Stock Exchange.


2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 563-575 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Luis Fernández Sánchez ◽  
Ladislao Luna Sotorrío ◽  
Elisa Baraibar Diez

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to provide more knowledge about the model to generate reputation and its relationship in the long term with companies’ strategy of social responsibility. Particularly, research is done to test whether there is a positive effect of firms’ social behaviour (corporate social responsibility [CSR]), analysing differences of intensity and consistency, on their corporate reputation (CR) and whether the current financial crisis is a factor that has changed the relationship between both variables (moderator factor). Design/methodology/approach – This study uses a sample of 26 Spanish large firms of the Ibex35 index and covers an eight-year period from 2004 to 2011. To test the hypotheses of this research, a fixed-effects model was estimated using moderating regression analysis. Findings – The results obtained show that, for the Spanish Ibex35 companies, CSR practices according to their consistency have a significant positive effect on CR and in turbulent environments, as in the current financial crisis, it has had a significant positive influence on the CSR-CR relationship. Originality/value – Although a substantial number of empirical studies have examined the relationship between firms’ strategy and their performance, only a few of them have analysed the impact of the external environment on this relationship, whereby there is a need for longitudinal studies with different economic scenarios to achieve better knowledge of the CSR–CR relationship.


2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 533-561
Author(s):  
Henda Abdi ◽  
Mohamed Ali Brahim Omri

Purpose The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of web - based disclosure on the cost of debt for the MENA region setting. Design/methodology/approach The sample of this paper consists of 237 MENA listed non-financial companies for the year 2017. Multiple regression models were used to examine the impact of online disclosure on the cost of debt. Content analysis is used to measure the extent of web-based disclosure. Findings The results reveal that there is a negative and significant association between the web-based disclosure and the company’s cost of debt. These results support the hypothesis of the economic utility of the information disclosed on the website for creditors in this region. Practical implications The results of the study have important implications for managers in the MENA region. It is necessary for managers to improve the company’s transparency through web-based disclosure. The companies must benefit from the different technologies offered by the Internet in order to offer to the creditors unlimited access to up to date information. In fact, web-based disclosure may mitigate the information asymmetry, the uncertainty of creditors and, consequently, reduces the cost of debt. 10; 10;Moreover, the results of the study provide empirical evidence for the advantages of voluntary web-based disclosure. The results highlight the importance to companies and regulators of understanding the benefits of using the website as a means of information disclosure. The regulators in MENA countries can rely on these results to establish suitable policies to improve the quality of web-based disclosure. The regulators need also to put in rules in relation to the online disclosure. In fact, an understanding of web-based disclosure is important for regulators and companies. Given the positive effect of online disclosure (the reduction of the cost of debt), knowledge about the economic consequences of web-based disclosure would enable companies in the MENA region to optimize their online disclosure policies. Originality/value This study, added to the existing literature by examining the consequences of online disclosure practices in MENA countries. Most previous studies conducted in this region were limited to analyzing the determinants of the company’s web-based disclosure. This paper would extend the literature on the online disclosure practices by investigating the association between these practices and the cost of debt in a developing economics: the MENA region. Previous studies were limited to testing this association only in developed countries.


2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (8/9) ◽  
pp. 683-699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jost Hendrik Kovermann

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether tax avoidance has a positive or negative effect on firms’ cost of debt. It further investigates whether the implications for the cost of debt are different for tax avoidance and tax risk. Design/methodology/approach Based on a sample of 201 firms listed on Frankfurt Stock Exchange from 2009 to 2014, three tests are performed using pooled OLS regression. Controlling for numerous variables that have been found to influence the cost of debt, a first model examines the relationship between tax avoidance and the cost of debt. A second model examines the relationship between tax risk and the cost of debt and a third model interacts tax avoidance with tax risk. Findings The results show that tax avoidance has a negative effect on the cost of debt; however, tax risk increases the cost of debt. These results indicate that creditors generally view tax avoidance as positive and that tax avoidance is not regarded as inherently risky. Although tax avoidance is rewarded by capital markets with lower interest rates, tax risk contributes to higher interest rates. The effect of tax avoidance on the cost of debt depends therefore on the level of tax risk. Originality/value This paper contributes to two distinct strands of research: literature investigating the driving factors behind the cost of debt and literature investigating the consequences of firms’ tax avoidance activities.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 299-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lin Shao

Purpose The paper aims to provide a comprehensive investigation of the relationship between corporate governance (CG) structure and firm performance in Chinese listed firms from 2001 to 2015. The authors’ motivation derives from the fact that the CG system in China is different from those in the US, the UK, Germany, Japan and other countries. Design/methodology/approach A large unbalanced sample, covering more than 22,700 observations in Chinese listed firms, was used to explore, by means of a system-generalized method-of-moments (GMM) estimator, the relationship between CG structure and firm performance to remove potential sources of endogeneity. Findings Results show that Chinese CG structure is endogenously determined by the CG mechanisms investigated: there is no relationship between board size (including independent directors) and firm performance; CEO duality has a significantly negative effect on firm performance; concentration of ownership has a significantly positive influence on firm performance; managerial ownership is negatively correlated with firm performance; state ownership has a significantly positive effect on firm performance; and a supervisory board is positively correlated with firm performance. Practical implications The findings provide policymakers and firm managers with useful empirical guidance concerning CG in China. Originality/value Few integrative studies have examined the impact of CG structure on firm performance in China. This study adds new empirical evidence that the relation between CG structure and performance in China is endogenous and dynamic when controlling for unobserved heterogeneity, simultaneity, and dynamic endogeneity.


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