Do capital structure and cash holding expropriate minority shareholders? A case of non-financial concentrated firms in Pakistan

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 1289-1305
Author(s):  
Wajid Alim ◽  
Muhammad Kaleem ◽  
Sammar Abbas ◽  
Dilawar Khan

Purpose One aspect of agency theory suggests that dominant shareholders use the firm’s assets for their personal benefits and 1thus expropriate minority shareholders (tunneling). Accordingly, this paper aims to examine the effect of capital structure and cash holding decisions on minority shareholders' expropriation for short and long periods. Design/methodology/approach Data of 16 years (2000-2015) has been obtained from 200 non-financial firms registered at Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). The study used fixed effect and autoregressive distributed lagged to obtain the results. Findings The results suggest that the presence of more debts in capital structure is positively associated with minority shareholders' expropriation, whereas a negative association has been found between the level of cash holding and minority shareholders expropriation. These results have been observed as significant both for the short and long run. Research limitations/implications This study also suggests some important measures to control minority shareholders' expropriation by the dominant shareholders and thus to protect their rights. Originality/value There is a lack of literature for this severe issue in the developing countries especially Pakistan, so this study narrates the potential measures to the regulatory authority of the market to curb tunneling and to protect minority shareholders.

Author(s):  
Nadeem Ahmed Sheikh ◽  
Muhammad Azeem Qureshi

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how conventional and Islamic commercial banks in Pakistan choose their capital structure and what are the most significant factors that affect their choice of capital structure. Design/methodology/approach The authors collected the data from the annual reports of commercial banks listed on Karachi Stock Exchange Pakistan during 2004-2014. Panel data techniques, namely, pooled ordinary least squares, fixed effects and random effects, were used to estimate the relationship between book leverage and bank-specific variables such as profitability, size, growth, tangibility and earnings volatility. Findings Descriptive statistics indicate that conventional commercial banks are more levered than Islamic commercial banks. Moreover, conventional commercial banks are larger, profitable and have relatively safe earnings than Islamic commercial banks. In contrast, Islamic commercial banks have relatively more fixed operating assets and growth in total assets compared to the conventional commercial banks. Regression results indicate that profitability, growth and tangibility are negatively, whereas bank size and earnings volatility are positively, related to book leverage of conventional commercial banks. On the other hand, only three variables, namely, profitability, bank size and tangibility, have material effects on capital structure choice of Islamic commercial banks. Profitability and tangibility are negatively while bank size is positively related to book leverage of the Islamic banks. In sum, results of the study indicate that Islamic and conventional commercial banks have their own way to choose the capital structure than the non-financial firms; however, their choice is affected by the similar variables as identified for non-financial firms in Pakistan. Practical implications Results of this study provide support to bank managers to understand the effects of bank-specific variables on capital structure and make them able to determine a balanced capital structure considering the regulations framed by the central bank of the country. Originality/value This is the first study that investigates the factors that affect the capital structure of conventional and Islamic commercial banks in Pakistan. Moreover, findings of this study lay some foundation upon which a more detail analysis of capital structure of banks could be based.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 372-387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raheel Safdar ◽  
Chen Yan

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether income smoothing helps to reduce volatility in reported earnings and which firms are more inclined to be engaged in income smoothing. Design/methodology/approach The authors used negative correlation between pre-managed earnings of a firm and its discretionary accruals (DAs) as proxy for income smoothing and the firms having more negative correlation coefficient are expected to have lower volatility in their reported earnings. The authors used Kothari et al.’s (2005) version of modified-Jones model to estimate DAs and used least squares estimations to investigate the research questions using six-year (2007-2012) sample of non-financial firms listed over Karachi Stock Exchange, Pakistan. Findings The authors found that firms experiencing more volatility in economic activities and smaller firms are more aggressively involved in income smoothing. Moreover, a predominant majority (72.2 per cent) of firms in the sample are involved in income smoothing through accruals manipulation. Also, the authors found that firms which are more aggressively involved in income smoothing have lesser volatility in reported earnings. Lastly, the level of DAs per se does not have any impact on income smoothing. Research limitations/implications The proxy used for income smoothing, though the authors consider it to be better, is not the only one used in literature and the sample is limited to Pakistan. Originality/value This study adds to earnings management literature by providing evidence on extensive accrual manipulation for income smoothing in Pakistan.


2015 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Alipour ◽  
Mir Farhad Seddigh Mohammadi ◽  
Hojjatollah Derakhshan

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the determinants of capital structure of non-financial firms in Iran. Design/methodology/approach – This paper reviews different conditional theories of capital structure to formulate testable propositions concerning the determinants of capital structure of Iranian companies. Pooled ordinary least squares and panel econometric techniques such as fixed effects and random effects are used to investigate the most significant factors that affect the capital structure choice of manufacturing firms listed on Tehran Stock Exchange Iran during 2003-2007. Findings – The results of the study suggest that variables such as firm’s size, financial flexibility, asset structure, profitability, liquidity, growth, risk and state ownership affect all measures of capital structure of Iranian corporations. Short-term debt is found to represent an important financing source for corporations in Iran. The results of the present research are consistent with some capital structure theories. Research limitations/implications – In general, the results provide evidence that the five theories discussed influence emerging markets. Due to the existence of a negative relationship between profitability and capital structure, investors must consider capital structure before making investment decisions. Practical implications – This study has laid some groundwork to explore the determinants of capital structure of Iranian firms upon which a more detailed evaluation could be based. Furthermore, the empirical findings will help corporate managers in making optimal capital structure decisions. Originality/value – To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that explores the determinants of capital structure of manufacturing firms in Iran by using the most recent data. Moreover, this paper provides a theoretical model to explain the mechanism of how the ownership structure impacts debt financing.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 999-1014
Author(s):  
Kohei Miyamoto

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to trace a legal evolution of the monitoring board and to reveal what brought the evolution and what is expected to emerge. The paper points to unique complementarities in Japanese corporate governance institutions and norms which will affect how the monitoring board performs its functions. Design/Methodology/Approach Analysis is based on texts on corporate governance legislations in Japan from the revision of Commercial Code in 1950 to the revision of Companies Act in 2014. Other sources include Tokyo Stock Exchange regulations, White Paper on Corporate Governance and other academic literatures on Japanese corporate governance. Findings Changes of non-legal institutions and norms in Japanese corporate governance necessitated legal reforms toward the monitoring board. Persisting institutions and norms, in particular lifetime employment, influences how the monitoring board performs its functions in Japan. Originality/Value This paper explains how the evolution of the monitoring board in Japan emerged and what will cause different expected functions of the monitoring board in Japan and other jurisdictions.


2020 ◽  

This paper examines the relationship between financial constraints and the stock returns explaining the pricing of stock through financially constrained and unconstrained firms in Pakistan. Three proxies; total assets, tangible to total assets and cash holding to total assets ratios) have been used for financial constraints and the study tried to investigate that either the investors are compensated for taking the extra risk or not in Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). We find that the financially constrained firms don’t earn higher returns when their capital structure is heavy with liquid assets and their cash flows are more than the unconstrained firms in PSX. Moreover, the time series results showed that the risk-adjusted returns of the most constrained firms give the mix and somewhat negative and significant and insignificant results for the Pakistani firms listed in PSX sorted based on tangible to total assets and Cash holding to total asset ratios. Keywords: Asset Pricing, Financial constraints, risk-adjusted performance of portfolios


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hojat Mohammadi ◽  
Mahdi Salehi ◽  
Meysam Arabzadeh ◽  
Hassan Ghodrati

Purpose This paper aims to assess auditor narcissism’s effect on audit market competition (auditor concentration, clients’ concentration and competitive pressure). Design/methodology/approach This paper’s method is descriptive-correlational based on published information from listed firms on the Tehran Stock Exchange from 2012 to 2018 using a sample of 188 firms (1,310 observations). The method used for hypothesis testing is linear regression using panel data. Findings The results show a negative and significant relationship between auditor narcissism and audit market competition and its indices, including auditor concentration, clients’ concentration and competitive pressure. Moreover, a positive and significant relationship was observed between audit quality and audit market competition and its indices, including auditor concentration, client concentration and competitive pressure. Originality/value To analyzes competition indices in the audit market (auditor concentration, clients’ concentration and competitive pressure). The variable is assessed once more using the exploratory factor analysis of the so-called three variables single variable, named audit market competition. So the central question of the study is investigated within a broader sense. Moreover, as the present study is carried out in the emergent financial markets with extremely competitive audit markets to figure out the effect of auditors’ intrinsic characteristics on such markets’ competitiveness, it can provide useful information in this field.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bashar K. Abu Khalaf

The different capital structure theories propose the possible asymmetric behavior of capital structure. Thus, this paper empirically investigates whether non-financial Jordanian firms follow symmetrical or asymmetrical adjustment model. Then, an interaction model with the size and profitability (firm characteristics) investigated the impact of low/high profit and small/large size on the adjustment of leverage towards the target leverage ratio. This paper covered the period of 14 years (2002-2015) for a total of 110 companies listed on Amman Stock Exchange (75 industrial and 35 services). Results indicate that although Jordanian firms seek a target leverage ratio, their adjustment towards that target is Asymmetrical and high profitable and large companies tend to adjust faster than low profitable and small size companies.


2018 ◽  
Vol 67 (9) ◽  
pp. 1550-1565 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahdi Salehi ◽  
Nasrin Ziba ◽  
Ali Daemi Gah

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between financial reporting and cost stickiness in companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange. Design/methodology/approach Data of all Iranian manufacturing listed companies gathered for testing hypotheses during 2010–2016 and R statistical software are employed in order to analyzing data. Findings The results of this study indicate that there is a significant relationship between administrative, sale, material, labor and overhead costs and the financial reporting qualities of the companies under study. Originality/value The study focuses on relationship between financial reporting and cost stickiness in companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange, which is the first study of its type in Iran.


2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 609-623 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith Bender ◽  
Ioannis Theodossiou

Purpose Since the literature on the effect of the unemployment rate as reflection of economic fluctuations on crime shows an empirically ambiguous effect, the purpose of this paper is to argue that a new way of modeling the dynamics of unemployment and crime by focussing on the transitory and persistent effect of unemployment on crime helps resolve this ambiguity. Design/methodology/approach Panel data for US states from 1965 to 2006 are examined using the Mundlak (1978) methodology to incorporate the dynamic interactions between crime and unemployment into the estimation. Findings After decomposing the unemployment effect on crime into a transitory and persistent effect, evidence of a strong positive correlation between unemployment and almost all types of crime rates is unearthed. This evidence is robust to endogeneity and the controlling for cross-panel correlation and indicators for state imprisonment. Originality/value The paper is the first to examine the dynamics of the interaction of crime and economic fluctuations using the temporary and persistent effects framework of Mundlak (1978). In one set of estimates, one can evaluation both the short- and long-run effects of changes of unemployment on crime.


2017 ◽  
Vol 59 (5) ◽  
pp. 673-686
Author(s):  
Mahdi Salehi ◽  
Ali Asgar Alinya

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the relationship between corporate governance and auditors switching of listed companies on the Tehran Stock Exchange. Design/methodology/approach To achieve the objectives of this study, 12 hypotheses developed which and tests the relationship between corporate governance and selecting and switching auditors in Iran during 2008-20014 by selecting 116 listed companies on the Tehran Stock Exchange. To test the hypotheses, the cross-sectional time-series nature of research variables data, panel analysis is used. Also, to investigate the relationship between independent and dependent variables in each year, the logistic regression is used. Findings The results of the study indicate that there is a weak relationship between corporate governance auditors switching. Therefore, it could be concluded that there are some other effective factors on which selecting and switching auditors in studied companies are more dependent. Originality/value The current study is almost the first study which has been conducted in Iran, so the results of the study may be beneficial to the Iranian conditions as well as other developing countries.


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