The effect of family control on audit fees during financial crisis

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 645-665
Author(s):  
Jihad Al-Okaily
Keyword(s):  
Family Involvement ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Fixed Effect Model ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Family Control ◽  
Effect Model ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this study is to empirically examine the effect of family involvement in ownership, management and directorship on audit fees during the crisis and non-crisis periods. Design/methodology/approach Following Anderson and Reeb (2003), this paper uses a two-way fixed effect model to examine the impact of family control on audit fees in crisis and non-crisis periods. The fixed effects include dummy variables for each year and each industry code in the sample. Findings This paper finds that during normal economic periods, family firms pay lower audit fees relative to non-family firms because of the incentive alignment or monitoring effect. While, during crisis periods, family firms pay higher audit fees because of the shareholder expropriation effect. Research limitations/implications The results reported in this paper have both practical and policy implications for the demand and supply of audit services to firms having different ownership structures. Originality/value This is the first study of its kind to examine the effect of family ownership and involvement on audit fees during the crisis period.

Better with age: financial reporting quality in family firms

2019 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Tommasetti ◽  
Marcelo Á. da Silva Macedo ◽  
Frederico A. Azevedo de Carvalho ◽  
Sergio Barile
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Management Control ◽  
Financial Reporting Quality ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Family Control ◽  
A Value ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature on financial reporting quality (FRQ) within family firms (FFs), assessing whether longevity can determine a different propensity to earning management (EM) behaviors. Design/methodology/approach The sample, composed by Italian and Brazilian listed family (and non-family) firms, is segregated into old and young. For each subsample, unsigned discretionary accruals are calculated, using two different EM models. A linear regression model is then proposed, together with some robustness tests, to confirm the research hypothesis. Findings The outcome is that, within FFs, the entrenchment effect seems to be diminishing with the company’s age, up to become lower than the alignment effect. With some caveat, research also demonstrates that old FFs are more propense to supply higher FRQ than any other subsample group. Research limitations/implications The authors demonstrated that, in terms of EM decision process, FFs become virtuous just with time. More research is needed to evaluate the impact of the share and management control separately and to analyze different generation segmentation. Practical implications This paper could help non-family stakeholders, as it shows that different company types (family vs non-family), at a different stage of the life-cycle (young vs old) have a different attitude toward FRQ. On the other hand, family owners could exploit the longevity as a value driver. Originality/value This paper suggests that agency theory and socio-emotional theory are complementary in explaining the family control role in earnings management decisions. The study also contributes to the debate of FF homogeneity and on risk behavior in FFs, often portrayed as having a patient capital.

Diversification, family involvement and firm performance

2016 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 663-680 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emanuela Delbufalo ◽  
Sara Poggesi ◽  
Simone Borra
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Family Involvement ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Product Diversification ◽  
Geographic Diversification ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Italian Manufacturing Firms ◽  
Moderating Role

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of product and geographic diversification on the performance of Italian manufacturing firms and evaluate the moderating role of family involvement. Design/methodology/approach – The hypotheses have been tested by using a fixed-effects panel data regression model. Findings – Results show a linear relationship between product diversification and firm performance and an inverted U-shaped relationship between geographic diversification and firm performance. Moreover, when considering the status of the family firm, family ties have a negative moderating role on the performance of companies that are product and internationally diversified. Originality/value – By providing theoretical explanations and empirical evidence, the study extends the diversification-performance research by testing this relationship in an unexplored context (i.e. Italy), and by identifying a still not well explored contingency factor (i.e. family involvement). In doing so, diversification and family involvement literatures are brought together and the results show the importance of the type of owner regarding the impact of product and international diversification on firm performance.

Family involvement and the impact of information and communication technology on performance

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Felicitas Gargallo Castel ◽  
Carmen Galve Górriz
Keyword(s):  
Information And Communication Technology ◽  
Family Involvement ◽  
Communication Technology ◽  
Family Business ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Moderating Effect ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the moderated effect of family involvement on the relationship between information and communication technology (ICT) and firm performance. Design/methodology/approach According to agency and transaction cost theories, distinctive family business characteristics provide a unique context that favours a more efficient use of ICT. The authors perform a multivariate analysis that includes the moderating effect of family involvement and considers the possible endogeneity of the ICT variable. Findings The results, using a large panel of Spanish manufacturing firms, confirm the importance of family involvement for explaining differences in terms of the impact of this technology in family and non-family businesses. The relationship between ICT and performance is stronger for family firms than for non-family firms. Research implications The paper provides new evidence for the academic literature on ICT impact and family firms. It corroborates the importance of using an organizational perspective to explain differences in the effect of ICT on performance. Practical implications Family firms should understand the opportunities that family involvement offers regarding ICT impact on performance, and exploit this moderating effect to achieve competitive advantages. Originality/value No previous studies deal with the impact of family involvement on ICT-performance analysis. This study fills this gap and increases the understanding of how family business involvement moderates the ICT-performance relationship.

Family ownership and R&D investment: the moderating role of banks and private equity

2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (7) ◽  
pp. 1675-1694 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Cirillo ◽  
Mario Ossorio ◽  
Luca Pennacchio
Keyword(s):  
Family Involvement ◽  
Private Equity ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Family Ownership ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
D Investment

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to contribute to innovation and family business literature by establishing whether institutional involvement of private equity (PE) and banks in family firms moderates the relationship between family ownership and research and development (R&D) investment. Design/methodology/approach This paper used the socio-emotional wealth lens to carry out an econometric analysis on a large sample of Italian non-listed family firms. Using the sample selection model meant it was possible to account for potential selection bias arising from firms’ discretionary disclosure of R&D expenditure. Findings Family involvement in ownership reduced firms’ R&D intensity. When PE investors also held shares, the negative relationship was diverted. Bank involvement, however, did not have a significant effect on the relationship. Research limitations/implications This paper enriches the innovation management literature by increasing the understanding of the determinants of R&D investments in family firms. The results support the view that non-financial priorities in family firms are contingent upon non-family shareholders. This enriches the debate about the heterogeneity of family businesses and is consistent with the socio-emotional wealth framework, which has shown that risk preferences may vary if desired and actual performances are different. This may be a fruitful area for future research. Originality/value Contradicting the assumption that institutional owners all share the same perspective, this study is the first to assess the impact of different institutional shareholders on R&D intensity of private family firms.

Audit committee effectiveness and family firms: impact on performance

2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (6) ◽  
pp. 1021-1034
Author(s):  
Jihad Al-Okaily ◽  
Salma Naueihed
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Family Firm ◽  
Fixed Effects Model ◽  
Minority Shareholders ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the relationship between audit committee characteristics and firm performance, and whether family ownership and involvement moderate the latter relationship. Design/methodology/approach Following Anderson and Reeb (2003), this paper estimates a two-way fixed effects model. A sub-sample analysis is used by first examining the impact of audit committee effectiveness on firm performance only in non-family firms and then only in family firms. A fully interacted model was also analyzed in the robustness tests. Findings This paper finds that the audit committee characteristics of size, expertise and meeting frequency are positively and significantly related to non-family firm performance, while insignificantly related to family firm performance. Research limitations/implications The evidence reported in this paper may be of use for regulators and policy makers pondering corporate governance reforms, as well as for investors, managers and minority shareholders concerned with firm performance and valuation. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study of its kind to examine the moderating effect of family control and involvement on the relationship between firm performance and audit committee effectiveness in terms of size, expertise and meeting frequency.

Earnings pressure and R&D cut: the moderating effects of family control and debt

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Quang-Anh Le ◽  
Cheng-Yu Lee
Keyword(s):  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Moderating Effects ◽  
Corporate Investments ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Family Control ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Corporate Governance Mechanisms ◽  
Panel Data Regression ◽  
Short Termism ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This study aims to analyze the link between earnings pressure and R&D cut as well as the moderating effects of family control and debt. Design/methodology/approach In total, 6,130 firm-year observations of Taiwanese-listed firms were used to test the hypotheses by using a panel data regression with fixed effects estimation. Findings The study reveals that earnings pressure is positively related to R&D cut, and this relationship can be softened when having the presence of family control and debt. Research limitations/implications This study is conducted based on some conditions: data collection comes from a single source, earnings pressure mainly comes from analysts, R&D intensity is significant among industries, debt is a given condition to managers. Future studies, thus, are suggested to use other approaches to have further information and extend the knowledge without these conditions. Practical implications Under the pressure of meeting analyst forecast, managers have more opportunities to flourish their priority on improving temporary profits rather than implementing R&D investments with costly budget but unpredictable outcomes. In addition to responding to the positive effect of earnings pressure on trimming long-term corporate investments, this study also found some corporate governance mechanisms to soften the managerial short-termism behavior. Originality/value The findings partially contribute to broadening the existing knowledge base on the impact of earnings pressure on corporate activities and how some mechanisms serve as moderators.

scholarly journals Family control and influence on JV investment – the moderating effect of JV type and IC components

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (7) ◽  
pp. 68-91
Author(s):  
Giovanna Gavana ◽  
Pietro Gottardo ◽  
Anna Maria Moisello
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Joint Ventures ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Joint Venture ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Family Control ◽  
Board Characteristics ◽  
Capital Efficiency ◽  
Investment Size

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the effect of the nature of ownership and board characteristics on the investment choices in joint ventures (JVs) from the dimensional point of view, controlling for the effect of JV type and other components of intellectual capital.Design/methodology/approachThe authors study a sample of Italian, Spanish, German and French nonfinancial listed firms over the 2010–2018 period, controlling for the fixed effects of the company's sector of operation and the year. The authors also analyze the effect of family control and influence on JV investment size, taking into consideration certain board characteristics, the type of JV, human capital efficiency, structural capital efficiency and capital employed efficiency while also controlling for a firm's profitability and size. To test the hypotheses, GLS panel data was used.FindingsThe results indicate that the size of the investment in JVs is smaller for family firms than for nonfamily businesses. The presence of CEO duality has an opposing effect on the size of the investment in joint ventures as it has a lowering effect in family businesses while it exerts an amplifier influence in nonfamily businesses. Moreover, the type of joint venture has a significant effect for family firms: the choice of a link joint venture reduces the size of the investment. The authors find that human capital efficiency increases JV investment size for all firms.Originality/valueThis study is the first to analyze the effect of the main dimension of socioemotional wealth – family control and influence – on a firm's JV investment size. It controls for the effect of JV type – link or scale – and the interplay of the other IC components.

Does family involvement foster IPO value? Empirical analysis on Italian stock market

2015 ◽  
Vol 53 (5) ◽  
pp. 1125-1154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Cirillo ◽  
Mauro Romano ◽  
Otello Ardovino
Keyword(s):  
Initial Public Offering ◽  
Family Involvement ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Family Firm ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Family Control ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Italian Context

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the relationship between family involvement and Initial Public Offering (IPO) value in the Italian context. Design/methodology/approach – Based on a unique hand-collected data set, the authors test the hypotheses on companies that went public between 2000 and 2011, making inference on 113 firms using OLS hierarchical regressions. The authors quantify the IPO value from an outside investors’ perspective with two measures to proxy for IPO value in the short-term and apply robustness checks for long-run performance. In a stewardship framework, the authors examine demographic variables including family firm status, family involvement in managerial positions and family generations. Findings – The results suggest that family firm status positively influences IPO value, that greater family involvement corresponds to higher IPO value and lastly, that the beneficial effect of family control is mainly attributable to the first generation. The results are robust to alternative specifications of each phenomenon. Research limitations/implications – As a single-country study, the results refer exclusively to the Italian context and thus the evidence provided may not automatically be generalized to IPOs of comparable equity markets. Originality/value – This study expands current knowledge by showing how investors “price” family ownership in an IPO; furthermore the authors assess how certain characteristics of family firms affect the IPOs (e.g. family involvement and intergenerational).

The impact of the China–USA trade war on USA Chapter 12 farm bankruptcies

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Wu ◽  
Calum G. Turvey
Keyword(s):  
Fixed Effect Model ◽  
Mixed Effects ◽  
Cubic Splines ◽  
Fixed Effect ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
Producer Price ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Effect Model ◽  
Trade War ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to determine the effects of the 2018–2020 China–US trade war on US farm bankruptcies as filed under Chapter 12. The key task is to identify the economic factors affecting farm bankruptcies generally, and to then control for the trade war impacts including the Market Facilitation Program (MFP), floods, agricultural conditions and the health of agricultural finance leading into the trade war.Design/methodology/approachResults were obtained using ordinary least square regression and panel fixed effect model using bankruptcy rates and number as the dependent variable. Independent variables included market effects, credit conditions, yield variation, trade impacts, 2019 flooding, macroeconomic conditions and regional fixed effects. The authors use cubic splines to interpolate annual and quarterly data to a monthly base.FindingsBased on a fixed effect model, the authors find that all other things being equal the China–USA trade war would have had a significant impact on Chapter 12 farm bankruptcies, increasing the bankruptcy rate by 25.7%. The flooding in 2009 had minor effects of increasing the rate by only 0.05%. The overall impact will, however be substantially lower than the 25.7% because of the MFP. The MFP variables (binary) had mixed effects and its true impact is unknowable at this time; however, the authors also find that a 1% increase in the producer price index decreases bankruptcy rates by 2.62% and farm bankruptcy numbers by 3.70%. Likewise a 1% increase in GDP reduces bankruptcies by 3.25%. These suggest that the MFP program will have likely reduced farm bankruptcies considerably than what would have occurred in their absence. The authors also find that states heavily dependent on trade faced lower market uncertainty. Broader economic factors (net charge-offs of farm loans held by insured commercial banks, US real GDP, the average effective interest rate on nonreal estate farm loans) affect farm bankruptcy.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors use monthly bankruptcy statistics, however not all data were available in monthly measures requiring interpolation using cubic spline functions to approximate monthly changes in some variables. Although the MFP had mixed effects in the model, the mid- to longer-term effects may be more impactful. These longer-term effects (and even shorter-term effects through 2020) are complicated by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which will require a different identification strategy than that employed in this paper.Originality/valueThe analysis and results of this paper are, to the authors' knowledge, the first to investigate the impact of the China–US trade war on Chapter 12 farm bankruptcy filings. The use of cubic splines in the interpolation of agricultural data is also a technical innovation.

Can policy makers count with positive impact of entrepreneurship on economic development of the Czech regions?

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 286-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ondřej Dvouletý
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Entrepreneurial Activity ◽  
Gdp Per Capita ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of the present study is to empirically investigate the impact of the newly established entrepreneurial activity on economic development of the Czech NUTS 3 regions during the period of years 2003-2015. Design/methodology/approach An econometric approach was used to validate the stated hypotheses assuming a positive relationship between the new entrepreneurial activity and regional economic growth and a negative relationship between the new entrepreneurial activity and unemployment rate. For the methods, regression models with fixed effects were estimated on the panel that included 13 Czech regions, covering the period of years 2003-2015. The new entrepreneurial activity was classified into two forms – rate of newly established self-employed set-ups per capita and rate of newly established business companies and partnership set-ups per capita. Findings Different impacts of newly established business companies and the self-employed were found on real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. Only the higher rates of newly established business companies and partnership were associated with higher levels of GDP per capita in the Czech regions, and no impact was found for the rate of new self-employed set-ups. Nevertheless, both forms of newly established entrepreneurial activity were associated with lower unemployment rates in the Czech regions; however, the impact of newly established business companies was significantly higher. The obtained results have several policy implications, which are discussed in the present paper. Practical implications Support of entrepreneurship in the Czech regions may improve the situation on the local labour markets and may deliver new job opportunities through the newly established enterprises. The Czech entrepreneurship policies focused on the growth of GDP and economic boom should be oriented more on the support of high-growth enterprises (unicorns). Originality/value The empirical analysis was conducted on the basis of the research gap in the studies related to the impact of the newly established entrepreneurial activity on the economic development of the Czech regions. Obtained results have several policy implications, which are discussed in the present paper.

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