scholarly journals Earnings quality and the cost of equity capital: evidence on the impact of legal background

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Hassan Ahmed ◽  
Yasean Tahat ◽  
Yasser Eliwa ◽  
Bruce Burton
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Quality ◽  
Institutional Ownership ◽  
Equity Capital ◽  
Cost Of Equity Capital ◽  
Cost Of Equity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Earnings quality is of great concern to corporate stakeholders, including capital providers in international markets with widely varying regulatory pedigrees and ownership patterns. This paper aims to examine the association between the cost of equity capital and earnings quality, contextualised via tests that incorporate the potential for moderating effects around institutional settings. The analysis focuses on and compares evidence relating to (common law) UK/US firms and (civil law) German firms over the period 2005–2018 and seeks to identify whether, given institutional dissimilarities, significant differences exist between the two settings. Design/methodology/approach First, the authors undertake a review of the extant literature on the link between earnings quality and the cost of capital. Second, using a sample of 948 listed companies from the USA, the UK and Germany over the period 2005 to 2018, the authors estimate four implied cost of equity capital proxies. The relationship between companies’ cost of equity capital and their earnings quality is then investigated. Findings Consistent with theoretical reasoning and prior empirical analyses, the authors find a statistically negative association between earnings quality, evidenced by information relating to accruals and the cost of equity capital. However, when they extend the analysis by investigating the combined effect of institutional ownership and earnings quality on financing cost, the impact – while negative overall – is found to vary across legal backdrops. Research limitations/implications This paper uses institutional ownership as a mediating variable in the association between earnings quality and the cost of equity capital, but this is not intended to suggest that other measures may be of relevance here and additional research might usefully expand the analysis to incorporate other forms of ownership including state and foreign bases. Second, and suggestive of another avenue for developing the work presented in the study, the authors have used accrual measures of earnings quality. Practical implications The results are shown to provide potentially important insights for policymakers, creditors and investors about the consequences of earnings quality variability. The results should be of interest to firms seeking to reduce their financing costs and retain financial viability in the wake of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Originality/value The reported findings extends the single-country results of Eliwa et al. (2016) for the UK firms and Francis et al. (2005) for the USA, whereby both reported that the cost of equity capital is negatively associated with earnings quality attributes. Second, in a further increment to the extant literature (particularly Francis et al., 2005 and Eliwa et al., 2016), the authors find the effect of institutional ownership to be influential, with a significantly positive impact on the association between earnings quality and the cost of equity capital, suggesting in turn that institutional ownership can improve firms’ ability to secure cheaper funding by virtue of robust monitoring. While this result holds for the whole sample (the USA, the UK and Germany), country-level analysis shows that the result holds only for the common law countries (the UK and the USA) and not for Germany, consistent with the notion that extant legal systems are a determining factor in this context. This novel finding points to a role for institutional investors in watching and improving the quality of financial reports that are valued by the market in its price formation activity.

Does intellectual capital disclosure affect the cost of equity capital? An empirical analysis in the integrated reporting context

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 985-1007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Salvi ◽  
Filippo Vitolla ◽  
Nicola Raimo ◽  
Michele Rubino ◽  
Felice Petruzzella
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Capital ◽  
Equity Capital ◽  
Corporate Disclosure ◽  
Cost Of Equity Capital ◽  
Cost Of Equity ◽  
Integrated Reporting ◽  
Empirical Examination ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the impact of intellectual capital disclosure on the cost of equity capital in the context of integrated reporting, which represents the ultimate frontier in the field of corporate disclosure.Design/methodology/approachThe authors employ content analysis to measure intellectual capital disclosure levels along with a panel analysis on a sample of 164 integrated reports.FindingsEmpirical outcomes indicate that intellectual capital disclosure levels have a significantly negative association with the cost of equity capital.Originality/valueThis study's major contribution lies in its originality in terms of empirical examination of the relationship between intellectual capital disclosure in integrated reports and the cost of equity capital.

The impact of mandatory IFRS adoption on capital markets: evidence from Korea

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saerona Kim ◽  
Haeyoung Ryu
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Financial Statements ◽  
Joint Effect ◽  
Equity Capital ◽  
Cost Of Equity Capital ◽  
Cost Of Equity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Ifrs Adoption ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of adoption of the mandatory International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on the cost of equity capital in a unique Korean setting. In Korea, individual financial statements were taken as primary financial statements. Before the adoption of IFRS, consolidated financial statements were taken as supplementary financial statements. Design/methodology/approach The authors measure the cost of equity using the average estimates from the implied cost of capital models proposed by Claus and Thomas (2001), Gebhardt et al. (2001), Easton (2004) and Ohlson and Juettner-Nauroth (2005), using it as the primary dependent variable. Mandatory IFRS adoption, the independent variable in this study, is assigned a value of 1 for the post-adoption period and 0 otherwise. Findings Using a sample of listed Korean companies during the period from 2000 to 2013, the authors find evidence of a significant reduction in the cost of equity capital in Korean listed companies after mandatory adoption of the IFRS in 2011, after controlling for a set of market variables. Originality/value This study is one of a growing body of literature on the relations between mandatory IFRS adoption and the cost of equity capital (Easley and O’Hara 2004; Covrig et al. 2007; Lambert et al. 2007; Daske et al. 2008). According to the results of this study, increased financial disclosure and enhanced information comparability, along with changes in legal and institutional enforcement, seem to have had a joint effect on the cost of equity capital, leading to a large decrease in expected equity returns.

scholarly journals The impact of corporate social and environmental practices on the cost of equity capital: UK evidence

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 425-441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed H. Ahmed ◽  
Yasser Eliwa ◽  
David M. Power
Keyword(s):  
Equity Capital ◽  
Cost Of Equity Capital ◽  
Cost Of Equity ◽  
Environmental Practices ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Environmentally Responsible ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose There has been an ongoing call from various groups of stakeholders for social and environmental practices to be integrated into companies’ operations. A number of companies have responded by engaging in socially and environmentally responsible activities, while others choose not to participate in these activities, which incur additional costs. The absence of consensus regarding the economic implications of social and environmental practices provides the impetus for this paper. This study aims to examine the association between corporate social and environmental practices (CSEP) and the cost of equity capital measured by four ex ante measures using a sample of UK listed companies. Design/methodology/approach First, we undertake a review of the extant literature on CSEP. Second, using a sample of 236 companies surveyed in “Britain’s most admired companies” in terms of “community and environmental responsibility” during the period 2010-2014, we estimate four implied a cost of equity capital proxies. The relationship between a companies’ cost of equity capital and its CSEP is then calculated. Findings The authors find evidence that companies with higher levels of CSEP have a lower cost of equity capital. This finding determines the significant role played by CSEP in helping users to make useful decisions. Also, it supports arguments that firms with socially responsible practices have lower risk and higher valuation. Practical implications The finding encourages companies to be more socially and environmentally responsible. Furthermore, it provides up-to-date evidence of the economic consequences of CSEP. The results should, therefore, be of interest to managers, regulators and standard-setters charged with developing regulations to control CSEP, as these practices are still undertaken on a voluntary basis by companies. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the association between CSEP of British companies and their cost of equity capital. The study complements Ghoul et al. (2011), who examine the relationship between CSR and the cost of equity capital of the US sample. The authors extend Ghoul et al. (2011) by using a sample of the UK market after applying International Financial Reporting Standards.

Non-financial information and cost of equity capital: an empirical analysis in the food and beverage industry

2020 ◽  
Vol 123 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Raimo ◽  
Elbano de Nuccio ◽  
Anastasia Giakoumelou ◽  
Felice Petruzzella ◽  
Filippo Vitolla
Keyword(s):  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Equity Capital ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Cost Of Equity Capital ◽  
Cost Of Equity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Food And Beverage ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

PurposeThis study examines the effect that environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure generates on the cost of equity capital in the food and beverage (F&B) sector.Design/methodology/approachThis study analyses a sample of 171 international listed firms pertaining to the F&B sector and headquartered in North America, Western Europe and Asia Pacific (developed), forming an unbalanced panel of 1,316 observations, spanning the period 2010–2019. We run a fixed-effects panel regression model to test the relationship between ESG disclosure and the cost of equity capital.FindingsOur empirical outcomes suggest a significant negative relationship between ESG disclosure and the cost of equity capital. We find support for the notion that increased levels of ESG disclosure are linked to an improved access to financial resources for firms.Originality/valueThis is the first study that analyses the impact of ESG disclosure on the cost of equity capital in the F&B sector, taking existing literature a step further into more detailed and specific aspects of the relationship of focus.

The impact of financial instruments disclosures on the cost of equity capital

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amal Yamani ◽  
Khaled Hussainey ◽  
Khaldoon Albitar
Keyword(s):  
Equity Capital ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Financial Instruments ◽  
Cost Of Equity Capital ◽  
Cost Of Equity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Compliance Level ◽  
Ifrs 7 ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This study aims to investigate the impact of financial instrument disclosures under the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 7 on the cost of equity capital (COEC). Design/methodology/approach The sample consists of 56 banks listed in the Gulf cooperation council (GCC) stock markets over 7 years from 2011 to 2017. A self-constructed index is used to measure the compliance level in addition to quantitative methods and panel data regression adopted to test the research hypotheses. Findings The authors find that the compliance level with IFRS 7 does not improve from 2011 until 2017 in the GCC banks. The authors also find that compliance with IFRS 7 disclosures reduces the COEC. Originality/value The authors also provide new empirical evidence that the level of mandatory financial instruments disclosures under IFRS 7 reduces the COEC. The findings offer policy implications. It shows that compliance with IFRS 7 disclosure requirements leads to desirable economic consequences.

The impact of audit quality on earnings management and cost of equity capital: evidence from a developing market

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Le ◽  
Paula Hearn Moore
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Discretionary Accruals ◽  
Equity Capital ◽  
Cost Of Equity Capital ◽  
Cost Of Equity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Big 4 ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This study aims to examine the effects of audit quality on earnings management and cost of equity capital (COE) considering the impact of two owner types: government ownership and foreign ownership. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a panel data set of 236 Vietnamese firms covering the period 2007 to 2017. Because the two main dependent variables of the COE capital and the absolute value of discretionary accruals receive fractional values between zero and one, the paper uses the generalised linear model (GLM) with a logit link and the binomial family in regression analyses. The paper uses numerous audit quality measures, including hiring Big 4 auditors or the industry-leading Big 4 auditor, changing from non-Big 4 auditors to Big 4 auditors or the industry-leading Big 4 auditor, and the length of Big 4 auditor tenure. Big 4 companies include KPMG, Deloitte, EY and PwC, whereas the non-big 4 are the other audit companies. Findings The study finds a negative relationship between audit quality and both the COE capital and income-increasing discretionary accruals. The effects of audit quality on discretionary accruals and the COE capital depend on the ownership levels of two important shareholders: the government and foreign investors. Foreign ownership is negatively associated with discretionary accruals; however, the effect is more pronounced in the sub-sample of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), the firms where the government owns 50% or more equity, than in the sub-sample of Non-SOEs. Originality/value To the best of the knowledge, no prior similar study exists that used the GLM with a logit link and the binomial family regression. Global investors may be interested in understanding how unique institutional settings and capital markets of each country impact the financial reporting quality and cost of capital. Further, policymakers of developing markets may have incentives to improve the quality of financial reporting and reduce the cost of capital which should result in attracting more foreign investments.

The impact on the cost of equity capital in the effects of integrated reporting quality

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 519-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Filippo Vitolla ◽  
Antonio Salvi ◽  
Nicola Raimo ◽  
Felice Petruzzella ◽  
Michele Rubino
Keyword(s):  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Equity Capital ◽  
Cost Of Equity Capital ◽  
Cost Of Equity ◽  
Integrated Reporting ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact

Rank and File Employee Satisfaction and the Implied Cost of Equity Capital

2020 ◽  
pp. 0148558X2097194
Author(s):  
Jiajia Fu ◽  
Yuan Ji ◽  
Jiao Jing
Keyword(s):  
Employee Satisfaction ◽  
Market Competition ◽  
Equity Capital ◽  
Cost Of Equity Capital ◽  
Cost Of Equity ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Financing Cost ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Market Benefits ◽  
The Impact

Rank and file employees execute firms’ daily operating activities, but prior research rarely examines their importance due to a lack of employee information. In this article, we use a novel data set—company reviews by rank and file employees—to provide evidence on the impact of employee satisfaction on a firm’s cost of equity capital. We find that firms with higher employee satisfaction have a lower cost of equity. Our results are robust to a variety of endogeneity tests and model specifications. We also find that the effect of employee satisfaction is more pronounced for firms with higher risk, greater financial constraints, and higher labor intensity or product market competition where labor is more critical to firm success. Further analysis shows that the negative association between employee satisfaction and the cost of equity is primarily grounded in reviews from current rather than former employees. Finally, we document that firms with high employee satisfaction experience lower systematic and idiosyncratic risk. Overall, our article presents novel evidence on the capital market benefits of higher employee satisfaction, particularly with regard to financing cost reduction.

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