scholarly journals National culture and earnings management in developed and emerging countries

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dante Baiardo Cavalcante Viana Jr ◽  
Isabel Maria Estima Costa Lourenço ◽  
Marília Ohlson ◽  
Gerlando Augusto S F de Lima
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
National Culture ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Emerging Countries ◽  
Uncertainty Avoidance ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Cultural Dimension ◽  
Least Squares Regression ◽  
Content Type

PurposeThis study investigates how the association between national culture and earnings management compares between developed and emerging countries.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical analysis relies on a sample of 6,313 firm-year observations from 11 emerging markets and 27,605 firm-year observations from 22 developed countries. The authors use ordinary least squares regression methods to test the hypotheses of the study.FindingsBased on Hofstede's (2011) cultural dimensions, the authors find that firms from countries with a higher level of uncertainty avoidance and individualism are less likely to engage in earnings management, but the effect of uncertainty avoidance (individualism) is more (less) pronounced in the emerging countries. Moreover, the authors demonstrate that firms from emerging (developed) countries with higher levels of power distance and masculinity are less (more) likely to engage in earnings management. Finally, the authors find evidence of a trade-off between accruals-based and real earnings management in firms from countries with greater long-term orientation and an indulgence cultural dimension.Originality/valueThis paper adds to the literature by theoretically discussing and empirically analysing the role that developed and emerging countries' development plays on the effect of national culture on earnings management.

Entrepreneurship and economic growth: does gender matter?

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah R. Crane
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Cultural Barriers ◽  
Entrepreneurial Firms ◽  
Least Squares Regression ◽  
Content Type ◽  
World Survey ◽  
Country Analysis

PurposeEntrepreneurial firms contribute to economic growth, but the potential gendered nature of this contribution must be investigated as outcomes of male-owned and female-owned firms differ. The study investigates the female underperformance hypothesis in a cross-country analysis of Schumpeterian entrepreneurs. Next, it investigates if there is a gendered dimension of Schumpeterian firm contribution to economic growth.Design/methodology/approachThe study utilizes both nonparametric and parametric methodologies. Through nonparametric methods, the success of female-owned and male-owned firms is compared. Next, a parametric ordinary least squares regression model tests if there is a gendered nature of an entrepreneurial firm's economic contribution.FindingsIn nonparametric analyses, female-owned entrepreneurial firms in developed countries perform similarly to male-owned firms, while in developing countries male-owned firms significantly outperform female-owned firms. The author also finds strong evidence that the gender of the Schumpeterian entrepreneur does not matter in the contribution in economic growth.Research limitations/implicationsIn all countries, the number of female-owned entrepreneurial firms was significantly lower than that of male-owned firms. The findings point to consistent cultural barriers for women in innovation-related fields and persistent gendered norms in entrepreneurship. Thus, removal of cultural barriers and continued support for Schumpeterian entrepreneurship will benefit women and contribute to a country's economic growth.Originality/valueThe data for this study is a unique utilization of the Enterprise World Survey to identify Schumpeterian entrepreneurial firms. Additionally, the study challenges the female underperformance hypothesis and contributes to the literature on the role of entrepreneurship in economic growth.

Audit committee chairman characteristics and earnings management

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 339-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mujeeb Saif Mohsen Al-Absy ◽  
Ku Nor Izah Ku Ismail ◽  
Sitraselvi Chandren
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
Family Member ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Committee Chairman ◽  
Least Squares Regression ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Jones Model ◽  
Accounting Expertise

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of the characteristics of audit committee chairman (ACC) (tenure, age, gender, ethnicity, accounting expertise and directorship) on earnings management (EM) practices. Design/methodology/approach The Jones model and modified Jones model by Dechow et al. (1995) were used to determine the discretionary accruals (DA) of 288 Malaysian listed firms with lowest positive earnings for the years 2013‒2015. Findings The results of the ordinary least squares regression indicate that only tenure, gender and ethnicity of the ACC are associated with DA. A further test was conducted by dividing firms into two groups: firms whose boards are chaired by a family member and firms whose boards are chaired by a non-family member. The results reveal that it is possible for firms whose boards are chaired by family members to cause the corporate governance (CG) mechanisms, particularly the audit committee, to lose their effectiveness in overcoming the EM problem. In addition, robustness tests were conducted by using panel data regression, where the results were found to be similar to the original regression results. Originality/value This study alerts policymakers, firms and their stakeholders, as well as researchers, regarding the importance of having an independent board chairman, who has no relationship with any directors or major shareholders, as this may hinder the effectiveness of CG mechanisms in curbing EM, especially in emerging countries, such as Malaysia, where it is very difficult to stop members of the family from becoming board directors.

Legal family, cultural dimensions, and FDI

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 285-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanja Steigner ◽  
Marian K. Riedy ◽  
Antonina Bauman
Keyword(s):  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Cultural Distance ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Source Country ◽  
Least Squares Regression ◽  
Legal Origin ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the interaction between legal origin and cultural distance and its impact on foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into the OECD. Design/methodology/approach Ordinary least squares regression analysis is used to evaluate FDI flows into OECD countries between 2003 and 2012. Estimations use fixed effects and clustered standard errors. Findings FDI flows from civil to common law countries are greater than vice versa. Further, cultural distance impacts FDI flows depending on the legal origin of the source country. Specifically, more FDI flows from civil and common law countries, when the host country has a higher (lower) power distance (individualism) score. Civil law countries send more FDI into countries with higher masculinity, uncertainty avoidance and indulgence scores and with lower long-term orientation scores. The opposite is the case with common law source countries. The findings remain robust for various changes to the sample selection. Research limitations/implications The concepts of cultural distance and legal origin have been criticized. However, neither concept has been rejected; rather, both concepts persist as robust empirical research tools. Practical implications Scholars, managers and investors can gauge the impact of cultural distance on FDI flows based on the legal family of the source country. Further, policy makers might want to consider rebranding their countries in terms of cultural perceptions to show the attractiveness of specific cultural dimensions to foreign companies and investors. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper that jointly investigates FDI, legal origin and national culture.

Internal audit quality and earnings management: evidence from the UK

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hazem Ramadan Ismael ◽  
Hany Kamel
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Internal Audit ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Least Squares Regression ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Abnormal Accruals ◽  
The Uk

Purpose This study aims to examine the association between internal audit quality and the involvement of UK companies in earnings management practices. Design/methodology/approach To measure the internal audit quality, this study uses 115 responses for a postal questionnaire that was addressed to the heads of internal audit departments in a sample of non-financial listed companies in the UK context. The other financial and governance data for the respondent companies were collected from the Datastream and the companies’ annual reports. The present study uses the signed abnormal accruals as a proxy for earnings management and uses both logistic and ordinary least squares regression models to test the research hypothesis. Findings This study finds a negative relationship between the internal audit quality and the abnormal accruals, implying the prominent role of internal audit in reducing the upwards earnings management. The study also finds a significant impact of the internal audit competence on reducing the engagement of UK companies in income-increasing earnings management compared to the internal audit independence. This remarkable result suggests the companies need to focus more on enhancing the internal audit competence to reduce the opportunistic management’s behaviour. Practical implications This study has important implications for the internal audit’s practice, regulation and research. Originality/value This is the first study that investigates the relationship between internal audit quality and earnings management in the UK context. Furthermore, it uses a comprehensive measure for the internal audit function (IAF) quality covering different aspects of IAF quality based on the global Institute of Internal Auditor standards and prior internal audit literature.

Does hedging enhance firm value in good and bad times

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 132-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nafis Alam ◽  
Amit Gupta
Keyword(s):  
Firm Value ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Least Squares Regression ◽  
Hedging Strategy ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Dummy Variable ◽  
High Volatility

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine if the hedging strategy of the firm adds value to the firm, and if so, is the source of the benefit consistent with the hedging theory? Design/methodology/approach The paper used data from 129 top non-financial Indian companies spanning a period of 2008-2015 and analyzed using the ordinary least squares regression technique. Findings The study finds that firms engaged in hedging compared to non-hedgers have less volatility in the firm’s value. The use of hedging during the financial crisis is found to be value enhancing for the hedgers. The results also found that some firms do not disclose the notional value of derivatives clearly, which highlights the need of clear regulation for derivative declaration in the annual reports. Research limitations/implications Research implications of this study are to gain an insight into the hedging effectiveness in the highly volatile Indian market as compared to developed countries. High volatility in the exchange rate of Indian rupee further makes it one of the most relevant markets to study the effect of hedging on the firm’s value. Practical implications Mostly hedging is done purely for risk management, and if managers try to time the market by selective hedging, it can bring a negative impact for the firm. Findings show that managers should manage their hedging strategy based on changing the economic environment and not purely on the firms’ financial value. Originality/value To the authors’ best knowledge, this is the first study to extract the dollar value of derivative usage of sample firms and analyze its effectiveness in enhancing firm value in the presence of other financial parameters. This will be an advancement of previous studies, which used hedging as a dummy variable only. Most studies on this topic are carried out in developed countries; there is a limited research on developing markets such as India, and past studies have been more generic one like determinants of hedging and overall derivative scenario.

Business founders and performance of family firms: evidence from developing countries in Asia

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-239
Author(s):  
Yee Peng Chow
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Superior Performance ◽  
Least Squares Regression ◽  
Content Type ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine how business founders influence the performance of family firms in developing countries in Asia. Design/methodology/approach The pooled ordinary least squares regression is used on a sample of 134 public listed family firms from four developing countries in Asia during the period 2004–2014. This study also conducts sub-period analyses where the study period is divided into three sub-periods, i.e. before, during and after the global financial crisis (GFC). Findings This study finds that founder-led family firms outperform family firms led by nonfounders for the full study period. The results for the sub-period analyses also show that founder-led family firms outperform nonfounder-led family firms for the pre-crisis and during crisis periods. Finally, this study finds no evidence supporting the superior performance of founder-led family firms post-GFC. Originality/value Because family firm is one of the most fundamental forms of business organization in the world, policymakers have great concerns about how business founders influence the performance of these firms. Nonetheless, the existing research on family firms is chiefly concentrated on developed countries but there is a paucity of studies being conducted in the context of developing countries. Moreover, previous research has only considered the performance of these firms during normal or turbulent times but no prior studies have compared the firm performance during normal, turbulent and recovery periods. It is the aim of this paper to address these research gaps by using a new and more recent set of data.

Industry characteristics and earnings management: a study of Malaysian industries

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 837-854
Author(s):  
Shaista Wasiuzzaman
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Capital Intensity ◽  
Total Sample ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Least Squares Regression ◽  
Management Activity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Industry Level

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to detect variations in earnings management activity across industries and the possible influence of various industry variables on these variations.Design/methodology/approachA total sample of 4,249 firm-year observations from 13 different industries spanning a total of eight years (from 2005 to 2012) is used for this purpose. The ordinary least squares regression technique is used to test the influence of various industry variables on earnings management activity.FindingsThe findings indicate the presence of earnings management practices in Malaysian industries. Among industry-level variables, capital intensity, volatility and profitability are found to influence aggregate earnings management. Further analysis shows that volatility only influences the smoothing measure while profitability influences the discretionary measure. Interestingly, industry competitiveness and leverage are not able to explain the variations in earnings management across industries.Originality/valueTo the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study which documents the role of various industry characteristics in influencing earnings management activity. It highlights the importance of considering industry-level variables in a study on earnings management and, hence, adds to the growing literature on earnings management.

Does national culture matter? Understanding the impact of supply chain integration in multiple countries

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shan Liu ◽  
Jing Tan ◽  
Hongyi Mao ◽  
Yeming Gong
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Financial Performance ◽  
National Culture ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
Uncertainty Avoidance ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Supply Chain Integration ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Moderating Effects ◽  
Content Type

Purpose With increasing globalization, supply chain management in various national cultures requires understanding. This study aims to examine the moderating effects of individualistic and uncertainty avoidance cultures on the relationship between supply chain integration (SCI) and different dimensions of firm performance (i.e. flexibility and financial). Design/methodology/approach This study collected 124 pairwise survey data from supply chain and senior managers of retail firms in 35 countries. Hofstede’s national culture index was used to examine the moderating effects. Structural equation modeling and regression analysis were used to test the model. Findings Results corroborate that in a higher uncertainty avoidance culture, the positive influence of SCI on flexibility performance is stronger, but that on financial performance is weaker. By contrast, individualism reduces the positive influence of SCI on financial performance, but does not moderate that on flexibility performance. Originality/value This paper proposes a contingent model for SCI-performance relationships by integrating the relational view and the national cultural perspective. Critical national cultural dimensions moderate the effects of SCI on flexibility and financial performance. Therefore, operational managers should design differential SCI strategies in various cultural settings.

Corruption and earnings management in developed and emerging countries

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel Costa Lourenço ◽  
Alex Rathke ◽  
Verônica Santana ◽  
Manuel Castelo Branco
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Emerging Countries ◽  
Foreign Firms ◽  
American Depositary Receipts ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Developed Economies ◽  
Depositary Receipts

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine whether firms from countries presenting higher levels of corruption are more likely to have higher levels of earnings management than their counterparts from countries with lower levels of corruption. It also explicitly examines how this relationship compares between emerging and developed economies. Design/methodology/approach Using multiple regression analysis, this study tests the hypothesis of positive association between the countries’ level of corruption and the level of earnings management using a sample of foreign firms with American Depositary Receipts in the US market. Findings Findings indicate that higher corruption perception is related to higher incentives for firms to manipulate earnings in the case of emerging countries. Such results are not identified in developed countries where the level of minority investors’ protection is higher. Findings also indicate that in developed countries earnings management is negatively related to investor protection, which is not the case for emerging countries. Originality value As far as the authors are aware, this study is the first to examine the effects of corruption on earnings management on the basis of accounting firm-level data.

scholarly journals Revisiting the moderating role of culture between job characteristics and job satisfaction: a multilevel analysis of 33 countries

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Manli Gu ◽  
John Horng Li Tan ◽  
Muslim Amin ◽  
Md Imtiaz Mostafiz ◽  
Ken Kyid Yeoh
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
National Culture ◽  
Job Characteristics ◽  
Job Security ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Cultural Dimension ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Job Experience ◽  
Job Motivation ◽  
The Relationship

PurposeThis paper aims to address how national culture moderates the relationship between job characteristics and job satisfaction.Design/methodology/approachThe authors examine the most recent data collected from the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) in 2015 from a group of 33 countries. Hofstede's cultural model is used to represent and measure national culture.FindingsOne of the most significant findings from the authors’ two-level regression analysis is that having an interesting job contributes more to job satisfaction in individualistic countries than in collectivist countries. The authors also find that the newly introduced cultural dimension indulgence vs restraint has some significant moderating effect on the relationship between job security, salary, the perceived interest of a job and job satisfaction. Job security also seems to contribute less to job satisfaction in societies that are long-term oriented.Practical implicationsThis study provides further support for a more careful, nuanced examination of job motivation theories. Multinational companies should understand the needs of their employees and diversify their compensation packages accordingly. More attention should be paid to job design in individualistic or indulgent-oriented countries to create a satisfying job experience.Originality/valueThe authors examine the most recent data from ISSP and extend the literature by incorporating two additional cultural dimensions from Hofstede's model as moderators.

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