They do not look alike: what kind of private investors do equity crowdfunded firms attract?

Using a dataset of 170 firms that successfully fundraised via the two most prominent UK equity crowdfunding platforms, we investigate whether and how having successfully run an equity crowdfunding campaign is associated to the reputation of follow-on venture capital investors attracted. From the comparison with a control group of firms that received a seed round from business angels, we found that firms that have run a successful equity crowdfunding campaign attract lower reputable VCs. These results are confirmed when controlling for endogeneity and for firms’ characteristics. Considering the shareholder structure chosen by the firm raising equity crowdfunding, we found that firms opting for a direct shareholder structure, which entails higher coordination and agency costs, attract less reputable VCs compared to firms opting for the nominee shareholder structure.

PENGARUH MULTIPLE LARGE SHAREHOLDER STRUCTURE, LEVERAGE, DAN INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL TERHADAP KINERJA PERUSAHAAN JASA NON KEUANGAN YANG TERDAFTAR DI BURSA EFEK INDONESIA

Abstract— This research is quantitative and examined the effect of multiple large shareholder structure, leverage, and intellectual capital on company performance using the ROE. The data is retrieved from financial statements of service companies, exclude the finance subsector, listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange for the period 2014-2018. There are 36 companies and 171 data for the sample using the purposive sampling method. The method of analysis used is multiple linear regression. The result is that multiple large shareholder structure, leverage, and intellectual capital have significant effects simultaneously on non-finance company performance. Partially, multiple large shareholder structure, leverage, and intellectual capital have positive and significant effects on company performance. This research proves that company performance can be enhanced by maximizing multiple large shareholder structure roles as supervisors to decrease internal conflicts and represent the minority shareholders, keeping the leverage ratio to avoid default risk, and utilizing intellectual capital to advance the value-added of the company. Keywords: Multiple Large Shareholder Structure; Leverage; Intellectual Capital; Company Performance

Annual report readability and accounting irregularities: evidence from public listed companies in Indonesia

Purpose This study aims to examine the association between annual report readability and accounting irregularities in Indonesia. Using 967 firm-year observations over the 2014–2017 period, this paper unable to find evidence that annual report readability is associated with accounting irregularities. The results are robust after using alternate measurements of accounting irregularities proxies and readability indexes. This paper also finds that the corporate governance mechanism and foreign shareholder structure did not moderate the association between annual report readability and accounting irregularities. Design/methodology/approach The study uses an archival method with cross-sectional regression of 967 firm-year observations over the 2014–2017 period to investigate an association between annual report readability and accounting irregularities in an emerging market setting. To check the robustness of the results, this paper conducts a battery of robustness tests. Findings This paper finds evidence that annual report readability is not associated with accounting irregularities in Indonesia. The results are robust after using alternate measurements of accounting irregularities proxies and readability indexes. This paper also finds that the corporate governance mechanism and foreign shareholder structure did not moderate the association between annual report readability and accounting irregularities. This implies that the readability of annual reports does not have the ability to predict the likelihood of accounting irregularities in Indonesia. It is possible that firms with accounting irregularities will be inclined to voice simpler stories which can counteract the tendency of lies to be linguistically more complex. Indeed, according to the Education First English Proficiency Index, Indonesia is categorized at a low proficiency level. Furthermore, this paper also discovers that the average readability of the management discussion and analysis (MD&A) of Indonesian public listed firms is at an ideal score by having a Fog Index of 13.32. The findings provide valuable insights for stakeholders in using annual reports for their decision-making, especially in an emerging market setting and non-English speaking countries. Research limitations/implications It is important to interpret the findings in the context of the limitations of the readability index the authors used. It is argued that Fog Index, Flesch-Kincaid and Flesch Reading Ease have their own limitations as considered inadequate to be used in the context of business and accounting narratives that are adult-oriented and specialist in nature (Jones and Shoemaker, 1994; Loughran and McDonald, 2014). Another caveat relates to the use of proxies for accounting irregularities. The M-Score and F-Score have some limitations in which, among others, were determined without considering the normal level of accruals or period where manipulations were absent (Ball, 2013). Practical implications One reason underlying the result is that Indonesian firms, in general, do not consider the complexity of the annual report, particularly MD&A disclosures, as a tool to mask financial reporting irregularities. It is also possible that firms with accounting irregularities will incline to voice simpler stories because it is difficult to be untruthful (Lo et al., 2017). Indeed, according to Education First English Proficiency Index, Indonesia was categorized in low proficiency level and ranked 61st out of 100 countries being surveyed (Education First, 2019). As policymakers, locally and globally, are calling for more simplified reports including a plain English approach, the study can be insightful to their deliberations. It suggests that policymakers need to consider a country’s English proficiency, writing skills, regulatory environment and corporate policy on shaping the complexity and narrative of a firm’s communications. Originality/value The study contributes to a scarcity of research that investigates English-written annual reports in non-English speaking countries (Jeanjean et al., 2015; Lundholm et al., 2014). As such, the study findings provide insights related to MD&A in an under-researched area and contribute to improving MD&A not only in Indonesia but also in neighbor countries that share similar social, political and economic characteristics. Also, this study is important for foreign institutions or individuals investing on Indonesian-listed firms. According to Candra (2016), approximately 60% of companies listed in the Indonesia stock exchange are owned by foreign individuals or institutions. They rely greatly on the English texts of annual reports to understand the companies’ financial performance. Moreover, La Porta et al. (2002) asserted that firms with a majority of foreign shareholders (dominantly owned by foreign investors) are more likely to face information asymmetry, primarily due to geographical factors and language barriers.

Ownership structure and women on boards of directors of Canadian listed companies

This study examines how the structure of shareholder ownership (i.e., management, external blockholders, and board ownership) affects the presence of women on boards of directors. The results of an analysis of a sample of listed Canadian companies for the period 2007-2015, controlling for endogeneity, indicate that the proportion of women sitting on a firm’s board of directors is influenced by its shareholding structure, thus, supporting the view that the two governance mechanisms of gender diversity and shareholder structure can substitute for each other. The results also show that there is a curvilinear relationship between a company’s ownership structure and the proportion of women on its board of directors and audit committee. Indeed, findings show that as the concentration of company ownership increases, the proportion of women on boards of directors decreases to a threshold, following which we observe an increase in the proportion of women sitting on boards of directors and particularly on audit committees

Assessment of investment attractiveness in shares of socially responsible companies based on the RESPECT index in 2009–2017

Both in theory and practice, it is emphasised that engaging in CSR actions brings many benefits to companies. One of the commonly listed advantages is more trust from investors, which enables the achievement of superior returns from securities issued by socially responsible firms. The paper endeavours to investigate whether this benefit can be also noticed among businesses in the Polish index of socially responsible companies RESPECT. The study involves firms included in the RESPECT index from its inception (November 2011) to the end of 2017. The authors compared the RESPECT index with selected Polish market indices between 2009 and 2017. Empirical studies, based on an analysis of returns, risk, dividend yields, and shareholder structure, facilitated the assessment of the attractiveness of investments in the shares of socially responsible businesses against the background of other firms quoted on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

Do family CEOs benefit investment efficiency when they face uncertainty?

Purpose This paper aims to investigate whether family CEOs benefit investment efficiency under uncertainty with Chinese family firms and to test the moderating effect of ownership structure, including family ownership, the separation of family control from family ownership and the multiple large shareholder structure. Design/methodology/approach Fixed-effects models are designed for a sample of 5,734 firm-year observations for Chinese family firms from 2009 to 2014. Findings The results show that investment efficiency is low under uncertainty, and having family CEOs can reduce this negative relationship. Further analysis reveals that for firms with family CEOs, the negative effect of uncertainty on investment efficiency is weaker when the family has higher ownership, when family control is less separated from family ownership, or when family firms have multiple large shareholder structures. Research limitations/implications The authors do not distinguish founder-CEOs and descendant-CEOs. Most of Chinese family firms are still managed by founders, so the authors cannot explore the generation effect although different generations manage firms differently. Because family succession is becoming a more and more important problem in China, further research may be able to explore the generation effect. Practical/implications This paper suggests that in emerging economies with weak investor protection, outside minority shareholders can avoid expropriation from family owners by investing in firms with large family ownership, little separation of family control from ownership or multiple large shareholder structure. In addition, policymakers can encourage institutional investors to participate in family business to improve corporate governance. Originality/value Drawing on both Type I and Type II agency theory perspectives, the authors argue that although family CEOs can generally benefit firms’ investment efficiency, the benefits vary with firms’ ownership structure. In other words, family CEOs are not absolute agents or stewards but some extent of combination of both.