The Impact of Financial Disclosure Complexity on Bond Rating Agency Disagreement and the Cost of Debt Capital

Author(s):  
Samuel B. Bonsall ◽  
Brian P. Miller
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1768
Author(s):  
Lopin Kuo ◽  
Po-Wen Kuo ◽  
Chun-Chih Chen

This study examined the impact of mandatory corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure, CSR assurance and the reputation of assurance providers (accounting firms) on the cost of debt capital. Our difference-in-difference research design in conjunction with univariate and multiple regression analysis was assessed using a large sample of firms listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and the Taipei Exchange. Our empirical results revealed that mandatory CSR assurance on CSR disclosure provided by accounting firms tended to reduce the cost of debt capital. However, contrary to expectations, the reputation of the accounting firm (Big 4 accounting firms vs. non-Big 4 accounting firms) tasked with providing CSR assurance did not have a significant effect on the cost of debt capital. These results have implications for firms seeking an assurance provider as well as for Big 4 accounting firms. These results also provide specific evidence relevant to government agencies seeking to update policies and extend the scope of mandatory CSR assurance to other environmentally sensitive industries.


2005 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 849-872 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darius P. Miller ◽  
John J. Puthenpurackal

AbstractThis paper examines the potential benefits of security fungibility by conducting the first comprehensive analysis of global bonds. Unlike other debt securities, global bonds' fungibility allows them to be placed simultaneously in bond markets around the world; they trade, clear, and settle efficiently within as well as across markets. We test the impact of issuing these securities on firms' cost of capital, issuing costs, liquidity, and shareholder wealth. Using a sample of 230 global bond issues by 94 companies from the U.S. and abroad over the period 1996–2003, we find that firms lower their cost of (debt) capital by issuing these fungible securities. We also document that the stock price reaction to the announcement of global bond issuance is positive and significant, while comparable domestic and eurobond issues over the same time period are associated with insignificant changes in shareholder wealth.


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.


2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 721-753 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rainer Baule
Keyword(s):  

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.


2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Ranosz

AbstractThis article focuses on the analysis of the structure and cost of capital in mining companies. Proper selection of appropriate levels of equity and debt capital funding of investment has a significant impact on its value. Thus, to maximize the value of the company, the capital structure of the company should be composed to minimize the weighted average cost of capital. T he objective of the article is to present the capital structure of selected Polish and world’s mining companies and estimate their cost of equity and debt capital. In the paper the optimal capital structure for the Polish mining company (KGHM SA) was also estimated. It was assumed that both Polish and world’s mining companies, have no debt exceeding 45% in the financing structure. For the most of analyzed cases, the level of financing with debt capital is in the range between 10% and 35%. T he cost of equity exceeds the cost of debt capital and is in the range between 8% and 20%, while the cost of debt capital reaches the range between 1.9% and 12%. T he analysis of the optimal capital structure determining, performed for the selected mining company, showed that debt capital funding for the company should be in the range between 5.7% and 7.4%.


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