Gender Diversity Effect on Tax Avoidance and Firm Risk

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of gender diversity on firm risk with tax avoidance as a mediating variable in manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX). This study used SPSS version 20.0 to process the data. The sample of this research is 51 manufacturing companies listed on the IDX using multiple regression panel data. This study uses financial statement data for the 2015 – 2019 period. The findings of this study are (1) there is a negative effect of gender diversity on tax avoidance; (2) there is a negative effect of gender diversity on firm risk; (3) there is a positive effect of tax avoidance on firm risk; (4) Gender diversity has an influence on firm risk through tax avoidance. The limitations of this study are as follows: the research sample is only in manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange with a limited number of samples because during the observation period there are companies that are losing, suspending, and delisting. Therefore, this research suggests that (1) Further research can expand the scope of the research sample or compare it with companies in other industrial sectors. (2) Further research can increase the number of other variables, such as Corporate Social Responsibility by using the Blau-Index measurement (1975) so that the measurement can be more detail and constructive. (3) Further research can use other samples in Asean countries by comparing the success rate of anti-corruption disclosure in ASEAN countries. The practical implications include the following: (1) the role of gender diversity in the company is very necessary for implementing Good Corporate Governance (GCG) thus a healthy company will be created so that the company's risk does not occur in the future. (2) the role of the government is needed in making policies so that companies do not do tax evasion. The originality of the research includes this study, which is the first to analyze gender diversity on firm risk through tax avoidance.

Corporate risk-taking after changes in credit rating

PurposeThe paper aims to investigate corporate risk-taking following changes in firms' credit ratings (CR) and the mechanisms the firms use in implementing the risk-taking.Design/methodology/approachThe paper employs fixed-effect regression models to examine risk-taking behaviour after firms experience changes in CR after their ratings are downgraded to the lower edge of the investment grade rating (i.e. BBB-) and after their CRs are downgraded below the investment rating.FindingsThe paper finds that, whilst in general, changes in CR are negatively associated with post-event risk-taking, firms downgraded to BBB- do not increase their risk-taking. Only when firms are rated below this grade, firms significantly increase their risk-taking, suggesting that the association between downgrades in CR and firm risk-taking following the event is not linear. Further analysis suggests that these downgraded firms do not increase research and development (R&D) expenses or capital expenditures but employ long-term debt as their risk-taking mechanism.Practical implicationsThe findings of the paper have practical implications for investors considering investing in downgraded-rating firms to shareholders of such firms and especially to those overseeing the firms' risk-taking policies.Originality/valueThe study fills the gap in the literature by providing empirical evidence on corporate risk-taking after changes in CR and also contributes to the optimal debt-maturity choice literature.

Evaluation Of Risk Management Maturity Of A Fintech Firm In Indonesia

This study identified the risk management maturity status, revealed the major sources of the firm risk management maturity, issues in running quality risk management of a financial technology firm in Indonesia, and recommended enhancements. It used the Risk and Insurance Management Society – Risk Maturity Model to evaluate the risk management maturity status. To get detailed information about the risk management implementation, the researchers also did observations and interviews. This study confirmed that the firm was in ad-hoc status. The firm was overconfident of their previous success in implementing risk management and careless in transforming the risk management concepts into real practices. Thus, they lost their ability to decide appropriate decisions in handling the risks that they faced. As a result, they could not run effective and efficient management. Detail findings and recommendations on the risk management maturity of the firm are provided in this article.

Does board gender diversity affect capital structure decisions?

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the indirect relationship between board gender diversity and capital structure decisions and to examine whether the capital structure is affected by the type of approach used to promote women’s participation in the boardroom. Design/methodology/approach Based on a sample of French non-financial listed companies over the period 2006–2019, this paper uses structural equations modeling, difference-in-differences using propensity score matching and chow test to highlight these effects. Findings This paper finds that the relationship between the board gender diversity and the capital structure is mediated through the information transparency channel and firm risk taking channel. Furthermore, the results show that the effect of board gender diversity on capital structure decisions varies through the approach adopted (voluntary, enabling or coercive). Originality/value This paper contributes to the literature in several ways. First, the study is to the knowledge the first to examine whether and how board gender diversity affects capital structure decisions through two mediations channels, namely, the information transparency and the firm risk taking. Second, the study is one of the first to examine whether the capital structure is affected by the type of approach used to promote women’s participation in the boardroom: coercive, enabling or voluntary approach.

Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure and Its Effect on Firm Risk: An Empirical Research on Vietnamese Firms

The purpose of the study was to gather empirical evidence on the influence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure on firm risk of Vietnam’s publicly listed companies. We used adjusted OLS estimation and regression analysis with adjusted panel data for heteroskedasticity and/or autocorrelation to analyze the correlation using data from 225 listed companies on Vietnam’s stock market from 2014 to 2019. The study’s sample period is relatively recent in the emerging market, especially considering regulatory differences and the availability of voluntary disclosure requirements. The findings of research on the relationship between CSR and corporate risk are mixed, particularly in developing markets. Research findings reveal a negative and significant association between CSR and firm risk, implying that stronger CSR performance lowers a company’s risk. This aims to strengthen a research perspective of this connection in emerging countries. Following that, we discuss some policy implications for listed firms and regulators in CSR disclosure.

Hedging on the Hill: Does Political Hedging Reduce Firm Risk?

We examine whether firms’ political hedging activities are effective at mitigating political risk. Focusing on the risk induced by partisan politics, we measure political hedging as the degree to which firms’ political connections are balanced across Republican and Democratic candidates. We find that greater political hedging is associated with reduced stock return volatility, particularly during periods of higher policy uncertainty. Similarly, greater political hedging is associated with reduced crash risk, investment volatility, and earnings volatility. Moreover, the reduction in earnings volatility appears to relate to both a firm’s taxes and its operating activities, as we find that greater political hedging is associated with reduced cash effective tax rate volatility and pretax income volatility. We further find investors are better able to anticipate future earnings for firms that engage in political hedging, suggesting that political hedging helps improve firms’ information environments. Lastly, we perform an event study using President Obama’s Clean Power Plan. We find that on the days this policy proposal was debated in Congress, energy and utility firms experienced heightened intraday return volatility (relative to other firms and nonevent days). However, this heightened volatility is mitigated for energy and utility firms that are more politically hedged. Overall, we conclude that political hedging is an effective risk management tool that helps mitigate firm risk. This paper was accepted by Suraj Srinivasan, accounting.

Value and risk effects of financial derivatives: Evidence of corporate governance on hedging, speculation and selective hedging strategies

<p>This study investigates whether there is a relationship between corporate governance and derivatives, whether corporate governance influence in firms impacts the association between derivatives and firm value, and whether corporate governance influence affects the association between derivatives and cash flow volatility, stock return volatility and market risk. This study uses two different data samples of publicly traded firms listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The first sample comprises a panel of 6900 firm year observations and the other consists of a panel of 6234 firm year observations both over the eight-year period from 2004-2011. With regard to whether there is a relationship between corporate governance and derivatives, the findings from the empirical results show that corporate governance does influence derivatives and therefore is an important determinant in the firm’s decisions to use derivatives. Of the thirteen corporate governance variables examined, board size, institutional shareholders, CEO age, CEO bonus, CEO salary, insider shareholders and total CEO compensation show significant association with derivatives. This study finds that derivative users exhibit higher firm value on account of the corporate governance influence, which is correspondingly largely insignificant for derivative non-users. Further the research indicates that the impact of corporate governance varies according to the different types of risks examined. Generally, the board of directors and CEO governance mechanisms reduce stock return volatility to achieve hedging effectiveness. This supports the view that directors and management take actions to reduce stock return volatility to protect their personal portfolios without having to bear the costs of hedging themselves. With respect to cash flow volatility, the board of directors and CEO related corporate governance mechanisms largely exhibit increased risk to show evidence of speculative behavior. It supports the perceptions that managers and directors have a strong motivation to show higher earnings to protect jobs and reputation and to enhance compensation. All the shareholder governance mechanisms encourage risk taking with respect to stock return volatility, without any increase in firm value. This is in line with research findings of market granularity by institutional and other larger block holders to indicate that these investors increase stock price volatilities and play the markets for their own financial gain. Besides they have little interest in diversifying firm risk as they already have well protected portfolios and would not want to incur additional costs of hedging. The study finds evidence of association between corporate governance and hedging, speculation and selective hedging. Of the thirteen corporate governance variables examined in the study board diversity consistently shows hedging effectiveness, with accompanying increase in firm value. While board meetings, institutional shareholders, block shareholders, CEO age, CEO base salary and CEO compensation exhibit exclusive speculative behavior. The remaining corporate governance mechanisms: board size, insider shareholding, CEO tenure, CEO bonus and audit committee size, show evidence of selective hedging behavior. The concurrent hedging and speculative behavior evidenced in this study supports literature in respect of selective hedging by non-financial firms. It also validates the idea that corporate governance delves in risk allocation strategies that have been evidenced by past research. The results remain unchanged, after using alternative measures for firm value and firm risk, and alternative methods of analyses.</p>