Market Valuation Consequences of Avoiding Taxes While also Being Socially Responsible

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-94
Author(s):  
Kerry K. Inger ◽  
Brian Vansant
Keyword(s):  
Tax Avoidance ◽  
Equity Market ◽  
Shareholder Wealth ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Market Valuation ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
Public Firms ◽  
The Public ◽  
Market Participants ◽  
Corporate Social

ABSTRACT In this study, we examine the effects of tax avoidance and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities on equity market valuation. Economic theory suggests that managers should avoid taxes through any legal means (Friedman 1970), and that CSR activities are of value to the extent that shareholder wealth is maximized (Hales, Matsumura, Moser, and Payne 2016). We hypothesize that while equity market participants may positively value both CSR and tax avoidance, these two actions are viewed as inconsistent with one another when engaged upon contemporaneously, where increased activity of one diminishes the value of the other. Results, using a sample of U.S. public firms during years 2000–2013, support our expectation and show a negative interaction between CSR and tax avoidance. A series of robustness checks provide additional evidence consistent with investors viewing CSR and tax avoidance as contradictory. JEL Classifications: G32; M41; M49; M410. Data Availability: Data are available from the public sources cited in the text.

scholarly journals Effect of Corporate Social Responsibility on Tax Avoidance in China

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 72-75
Author(s):  
Tong Chen ◽  
◽  
Maisarah Mohamed Saat ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Tax Avoidance ◽  
Effective Tax Rate ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
The Public ◽  
Chinese Listed Companies ◽  
Aggressive Tax Avoidance ◽  
Corporate Social

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has aroused heated discussion in recent years. The public generally believe that the enterprises with good CSR performance will not be involved in aggressive tax avoidance issues. However, as several famous socially responsible technology companies were found to be involved in aggressive tax avoidance, the association between those two variables has been doubted. This paper analyzes the effect of CSR on tax avoidance with the evidence of Chinese listed companies from 2016 to 2020. The finding is that good CSR performance leads to an increase in effective tax rate. In other words, the higher the CSR report score, the higher tax payment and the lower tendency in tax avoidance.

scholarly journals Socially Responsible Organizational Governance in the Public Sector

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 119-132
Author(s):  
Gita Lasytė
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
Public Governance ◽  
Organizational Governance ◽  
The Public ◽  
New Public ◽  
New Public Governance ◽  
Corporate Social

The present paper aims to examine the theoretical assumptions of socially responsible organizational governance in the public sector. In public authorities, corporate social responsibility is a relatively new phenomenon. Therefore, the paper focuses on the interaction between social responsibility and the New Public Governance. The article puts forward the assumption that the principles of governance of public goods and public services provided by the public sector are very close in content to the concept of social responsibility. The goal of the public governance process is efficiency and effectiveness not only in public administration institutions, but also in building a welfare society. In this context, the New public governance is in line with the principles of social responsibility. The similarities between the new public governance and social responsibility can be recognized in an understanding the values, processes and elements the primary standards of which are accountability, openness, efficiency, responsibility, compliance with procedural norms, division of power (involvement of stakeholders). The article also discusses the concept and characteristics of corporate social responsibility and provides criticism on the CSR phenomenon.

How Internal Control Protects Shareholders' Welfare: Evidence from Tax Avoidance in China

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 19-39
Author(s):  
Hsihui Chang ◽  
Xin Dai ◽  
Yurun He ◽  
Maolin Wang
Keyword(s):  
Control Systems ◽  
Internal Control ◽  
Agency Costs ◽  
Tax Avoidance ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Corporate Tax ◽  
Controlling Shareholders ◽  
The Public ◽  
Prior Literature

ABSTRACT This paper investigates how effective internal control protects shareholders' welfare in the context of corporate tax avoidance. Prior literature documents a positive association between internal control weakness and low tax avoidance. In this paper, we re-examine this association and complement prior research by finding that the direction of the association between internal control and tax avoidance depends on the level of tax avoidance. Specifically, for firms with low (high) levels of tax avoidance, internal control quality is positively (negatively) associated with tax avoidance. In additional analyses, we further explore how internal control mitigates agency costs for state-owned enterprises and tunneling activities. We show that for state-owned enterprises, which have lower incentives to avoid tax, effective internal control prevents managers from paying more taxes to cater to the controlling shareholders' interests. We also find that the association between tax avoidance and tunneling is reduced by effective internal control systems. Data Availability: Data are available from the public sources cited in the text.

Corporate Reporting of Nonfinancial Leading Indicators of Economic Performance and Sustainability

2012 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey R. Cohen ◽  
Lori L. Holder-Webb ◽  
Leda Nath ◽  
David Wood
Keyword(s):  
Economic Performance ◽  
Voluntary Disclosure ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Leading Indicators ◽  
Nonfinancial Information ◽  
The Public ◽  
Corporate Reporting ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Alternative Sources ◽  
Corporate Social

SYNOPSIS The call for disclosure of nonfinancial information has grown in response to the awareness that financial statements omit salient information about the company (Adams et al. 2011). This study follows earlier studies of nonfinancial disclosures of governance and corporate social responsibility information (Holder-Webb et al. 2008, 2009) and examines the public voluntary disclosure of a set of leading indicators of economic performance and sustainability of earnings provided during 2004 by a sample of 50 publicly traded firms across five industries. The results indicate that, among the sample firms, there remains a lack of rigorous and expansive disclosure of this type of information and that considerable variability exists in disclosure practice based on both industry and size. For example, companies disclose a wide variety of nonfinancial information both through mandatory filings such as 10-Ks and through alternative sources such as investor promotion materials and company websites, with the most frequent types of disclosures being concerned with information pertaining to market share and innovation. We conclude by discussing the role of this study within recent developments in integrative reporting (Adams et al. 2011) and suggest that these types of disclosures would benefit from the availability of assurance services. Data Availability: All information used in this paper is available from public sources.

Investor Sentiment for Corporate Social Performance

2018 ◽  
Vol 94 (4) ◽  
pp. 401-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
James P. Naughton ◽  
Clare Wang ◽  
Ira Yeung
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Performance ◽  
Social Performance ◽  
Abnormal Returns ◽  
Investor Sentiment ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Time Varying ◽  
The Public ◽  
Valuation Uncertainty ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
Jel Classifications

ABSTRACT We document time-varying investor sentiment for corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance. We show that announcements of CSR activities generate positive abnormal returns during periods when investors place a valuation premium on CSR performance. In addition, we find that firms boost CSR performance in response to investor sentiment, and that this response is more pronounced for those firms that are more inclined to respond to investor sentiment due to valuation uncertainty and investor horizon. Our results suggest that investor sentiment plays a role in firms' commitment to CSR. JEL Classifications: M41; D82; G14; G30; G31; G32; G34. Data Availability: Data are available from the public sources cited in the text.

Is Earnings Quality Associated with Corporate Social Responsibility?

2012 ◽  
Vol 87 (3) ◽  
pp. 761-796 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongtae Kim ◽  
Myung Seok Park ◽  
Benson Wier
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Earnings Management ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
Financial Reports ◽  
Top Executives ◽  
Accruals Quality ◽  
Corporate Social

ABSTRACT This study examines whether socially responsible firms behave differently from other firms in their financial reporting. Specifically, we question whether firms that exhibit corporate social responsibility (CSR) also behave in a responsible manner to constrain earnings management, thereby delivering more transparent and reliable financial information to investors as compared to firms that do not meet the same social criteria. We find that socially responsible firms are less likely (1) to manage earnings through discretionary accruals, (2) to manipulate real operating activities, and (3) to be the subject of SEC investigations, as evidenced by Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Releases against top executives. Our results are robust to (1) controlling for various incentives for CSR and earnings management, (2) considering various CSR dimensions and components, and (3) using alternative proxies for CSR and accruals quality. To the extent that we control for the potential effects of reputation and financial performance, our findings suggest that ethical concerns are likely to drive managers to produce high-quality financial reports. Data Availability: Data used in this study are available from public sources identified in the study.

scholarly journals The Use of CSR Measurement Matrix in the Aspect of Sustainable Development

2018 ◽  
Vol 18(33) (1) ◽  
pp. 80-87
Author(s):  
Anna Klepacka ◽  
Monika Bagińska
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Social Trust ◽  
Measurement Matrix ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
Iso 26000 ◽  
The Public ◽  
Development Tools ◽  
Csr Strategy ◽  
Corporate Social

The idea of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) represents the voluntary effort that companies invest in social life. Companies incorporate the concept of CSR strategy in their businesses, knowing its importance to the benefit of the public at large and to sustainable development. Any activity of any major company is exposed to public opinion, which plays a key role in shaping the image of the company. Companies compete to win social trust and acceptance of their activity. The aim of the article was to present the value and significance of CSR activities undertaken by companies, using the example of two businesses, i.e. Polski Koncern Naftowy (PKN) Orlen and Kompania Piwowarska in reference to sustainable development. The article compares the CSR measurement matrix that allows assessing whether a given company is socially responsible, to what extent CSR activities affect the company's stakeholders and to what extent they are consistent with sustainable development (assigning particular CSR development tools by Stakeholders applying the weights from 1 to 3). ISO 26000 standards define the principles of social and environmental responsibility as a guide for organizations and in the analysed companies are a tool that exerts one of the greatest impacts on stakeholders. For both companies, the most important stakeholders are Shareholders and Managers, and they are the ones who, to the largest extent, conduct a socially responsible dialogue for which all CSR development tools are important. Both companies conduct key activities, PKN Orlen used 91% and Kompania Piwowarska 73% of all CSR development tools considered in this study.

Joint Audit Engagements and Client Tax Avoidance: Evidence from the Italian Statutory Audit Regime

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pietro A. Bianchi ◽  
Diana Falsetta ◽  
Miguel Minutti-Meza ◽  
Eric Weisbrod
Keyword(s):  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Tax Avoidance ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Firm Characteristics ◽  
Professional Networks ◽  
Effective Tax Rates ◽  
Accounting Firms ◽  
The Public ◽  
Professional Network

ABSTRACT Under the Italian statutory audit regime, three individual accountants are jointly appointed to audit each client's annual financial statements and sign off on the tax return. These individuals can belong to the same or different accounting firms and through multiple and repeated collaborations they form a professional network. We use network measures of centrality to capture individuals' ability to acquire and apply tax expertise across clients. We demonstrate that clients engaging better-connected individual auditors have comparatively lower effective tax rates. Our results are robust to controlling for a number of client, individual, and accounting firm characteristics, as well as for alternative network connections between clients. We also use instrumental variables, individual fixed effects, and matching to mitigate the effect of endogenous pairing of clients and auditors. Our findings demonstrate that in a joint audit environment, individual auditor professional networks have consequences for tax outcomes. Data Availability: Data are obtainable from the public sources cited in the text and are available upon request.

Are Socially Responsible Firms Less Likely to Expatriate? An Examination of Corporate Inversions

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry He Huang ◽  
Li Sun ◽  
Tong (Robert Yu
Keyword(s):  
Stakeholder Theory ◽  
Operating Performance ◽  
Tax Planning ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
Full Sample ◽  
Planning Strategy ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
Practical Implications

ABSTRACT This study examines whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) is related to the likelihood of corporate inversions, a legal tax-planning strategy. We use a full sample to test stakeholder theory and a risk management view of CSR. We find that firms with higher CSR performance are less likely to expatriate compared to firms with lower CSR performance. Although equity investors react positively to inversion announcements, we find that the reaction is less positive for firms with higher CSR ratings. These results are consistent with stakeholder theory. We do not find evidence that inversion firms experience significant improvements in operating performance after inversion. Overall, this study improves our understanding of the role of CSR in corporate expatriation decisions and has practical implications for a firm's stakeholders. Data Availability: Data are available from sources identified in the paper.

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