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Full-Text Articles in Business

Profitability Analysis Of Chinese Listed Firms: 1992-2004, Jianjun Niu, Heng Yue, Guohua Jiang Dec 2008

Profitability Analysis Of Chinese Listed Firms: 1992-2004, Jianjun Niu, Heng Yue, Guohua Jiang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This research collects and analyses the profitability data of Chineselisted companies from 1992 to 2004. Results show that, on average, theprofitability of Chinese listed companies has declined over the period. Post-IPOearnings also exhibit a downward trend. A further analysis reveals that changes inlisted firms’ profitability ratio follow a strong mean reversion pattern.


Managerial Ownership, Corporate Monitoring And Audit Pricing, Soongsoo Han, Julia Higgs, Tony Kang Dec 2008

Managerial Ownership, Corporate Monitoring And Audit Pricing, Soongsoo Han, Julia Higgs, Tony Kang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We study whether managerial ownership and corporate monitoring (board quality and analyst coverage) relate to audit pricing. Managerial ownership has been identified as a fraud risk factor under SAS 99. However, the role of ownership is not clear. Under an alignment view, high levels of stock ownership align management with shareholders. Under an entrenchment view, high levels of ownership may motivate management to be self interested. Corporate monitoring, as measured by analyst coverage and overall board quality (Gomper’s index), are associated with information quality. Audit pricing will be affected to the extent that auditors perceive monitoring as being relevant to …


Managerial Ownership And Firms' Information Environment, Soongsoo Han, Tony Kang, Gerald Lobo Dec 2008

Managerial Ownership And Firms' Information Environment, Soongsoo Han, Tony Kang, Gerald Lobo

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We examine the relation between managerial stock ownership and the firm’s information environment. We focus on three dimensions of the information environment: total, public, and private information precision (Barron, Kim, Lim and Stevens 1998). Our results suggest that firms’ total and public information precision are positively related to managerial ownership. In contrast, there is no clear pattern in private information precision across different levels of managerial ownership. We also observe that managerial ownership has a greater impact on the firm’s public information environment after the implementation of Regulation Fair Disclosure, suggesting that the regulation was effective in improving the firms’ …


Ceo Characteristics, Ceo-Firm Match And Corporate Refocus Value, Sheng Huang Oct 2008

Ceo Characteristics, Ceo-Firm Match And Corporate Refocus Value, Sheng Huang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper investigates how CEO characteristics affect firm value through divestiture. Using a novel dataset tracking CEO’s career path, from which CEO’s talent and expertise are reasonably inferred, I find when CEOs have differing abilities across divisions of conglomerates, they more likely divest divisions that they are less qualified to manage, and focus on divisions of better match with their talents and expertise. The better match of their talents with firms’ retained assets is the source of value creation from refocusing divestiture. Divestitures that increase corporate focus but not improve the talent-asset match do not create value in long run. …


Earnings Restatements, Changes In Ceo Compensation, And Firm Performance, Qiang Cheng, David Farber Sep 2008

Earnings Restatements, Changes In Ceo Compensation, And Firm Performance, Qiang Cheng, David Farber

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Prior research finds that earnings restatements are linked to CEOs' excessive option-based compensation and equity holdings. In this paper, we investigate whether firms that experience earnings restatements recontract with their CEOs to reduce their option-based compensation and if so, whether this leads to improved firm performance. Based on 289 restatement firms over the period 1997–2001, we find that the proportion of CEOs' compensation in the form of options declines significantly in the two years following the restatement. Furthermore, we document that this reduction is accompanied by a decrease in the riskiness of investments, as reflected in lower stock return volatility …


Analyst Coverage And The Cost Of Raising Equity Capital: Evidence From Underpricing Of Seasoned Equity Offerings, Robert M. Bowen, Xia Chen, Qiang Cheng Sep 2008

Analyst Coverage And The Cost Of Raising Equity Capital: Evidence From Underpricing Of Seasoned Equity Offerings, Robert M. Bowen, Xia Chen, Qiang Cheng

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Theorists have long recognized that information asymmetry among investors adversely affects the cost of raising equity capital (e.g., Diamond and Verrecchia 1991). When there is information asymmetry, relatively uninformed investors are reluctant to trade because of higher potential loss from transacting with informed investors (e.g., Glosten and Milgrom 1985; Kyle 1985). To trade, uninformed investors demand compensation for the risks of trading with informed investors (O’Hara 2003). In the case of issuing new equity, firms must issue shares at a discount to overcome the reluctance of uninformed investors. Such discounting leads to smaller proceeds to the firm and a higher …


Managerial Ownership And Firms' Information Environment, Soongsoo Han, Tony Kang, Gerald Lobo Aug 2008

Managerial Ownership And Firms' Information Environment, Soongsoo Han, Tony Kang, Gerald Lobo

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We examine the relation between managerial stock ownership and the firm’s information environment. We focus on three dimensions of the information environment: total, public, and private information precision (Barron, Kim, Lim and Stevens 1998). Our results suggest that firms’ total and public information precision are positively related to managerial ownership. In contrast, there is no clear pattern in private information precision across different levels of managerial ownership. We also observe that managerial ownership has a greater impact on the firm’s public information environment after the implementation of Regulation Fair Disclosure, suggesting that the regulation was effective in improving the firms’ …


Does Earnings Quality Affect Information Asymmetry: Evidence From Trading Costs, Nilabhra Bhattacharya, Hemang Desai, Kumar Venkataraman Aug 2008

Does Earnings Quality Affect Information Asymmetry: Evidence From Trading Costs, Nilabhra Bhattacharya, Hemang Desai, Kumar Venkataraman

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

The adverse consequences of poor earnings quality have been the subject of significant debate among academics, practitioners and regulators. However, the empirical evidence on pricing implications of earnings quality is sparse and controversial. We examine one potential consequence of poor earnings quality - its impact on information asymmetry. We document that poor earnings quality increases the adverse selection risk as manifested in trading costs and lowers liquidity in financial markets. Both innate and discretionary components of earnings quality contribute significantly to information asymmetry. Further, poor earnings quality exacerbates information asymmetry around earnings announcements, especially for firms where earnings represent the …


Search For Optimal Ceo Compensation: Theory And Empirical Evidence, Melanie Cao, Rong Wang Jul 2008

Search For Optimal Ceo Compensation: Theory And Empirical Evidence, Melanie Cao, Rong Wang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We integrate an agency model with dynamic search equilibrium to study three important issues concerning executive compensation. We show that 1) the equilibrium pay-to-performance sensitivity depends positively on a firm’s specific risk, and negatively on its systematic risk, which offers a plausible explanation for the inconclusive empirical relationship between the pay-to-performance sensitivity and a firm’s total risk; 2) a growing economy simultaneously induces the growth in executive compensation and firm size; 3) the faster growth of executive compensation relative to the growth of firm size in the past decade is mostly due to the increase in firms’ specific risks.


Cross-Country Analysis Of Auditor Specialization Premium: Effect Of Legal, Extra-Legal And Political Environments, Sirinidhi Bin, M. Hossain, Chee Yeow Lim Jul 2008

Cross-Country Analysis Of Auditor Specialization Premium: Effect Of Legal, Extra-Legal And Political Environments, Sirinidhi Bin, M. Hossain, Chee Yeow Lim

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Previous literature has provided mixed evidence of a premium in audit fee for industry-specialist auditors in US and other developed countries. In this cross-country study spanning twelve non-US countries, we provide evidence of such a premium in the international context, implying that specialist auditors provide a higher level of investor assurance than non-specialists. Further, we show that the average audit fee in countries with effective legal, extra-legal and political institutions is higher but the specialization premium is lower than in other countries. We interpret this finding as evidence that while effective institutions increase the demand for average level of audit …


The Association Between Excess Audit Fees And Audit Quality: A Us-Uk Comparison, Soongsoo Han, Tony Kang, Yong Keun Yoo Jun 2008

The Association Between Excess Audit Fees And Audit Quality: A Us-Uk Comparison, Soongsoo Han, Tony Kang, Yong Keun Yoo

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Prior studies that examine the association between excess audit fees and audit quality (measured by discretionary accruals) using US data fail to document a significant association. However, there is no convincing explanation for this result to date. In this study, we test a cancellation hypothesis, which suggests that the non-association might be due to the cancellation effect between the risk-effort effect and the bonding effect that excess fees capture. To the extent that excess fees capture the compensation for effort the auditor puts in for a risky client, which is not captured in the existing audit fee models (the risk-effort …


Do Family Firms Provide More Or Less Voluntary Disclosure?, Xia Chen, Shuping Chen, Qiang Cheng Jun 2008

Do Family Firms Provide More Or Less Voluntary Disclosure?, Xia Chen, Shuping Chen, Qiang Cheng

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We examine the voluntary disclosure practices of family firms. We find that, compared to nonfamily firms, family firms provide fewer earnings forecasts and conference calls, but more earnings warnings. Whereas the former is consistent with family owners having a longer investment horizon, better monitoring of management, and lower information asymmetry between owners and managers, the higher likelihood of earnings warnings is consistent with family owners having greater litigation and reputation cost concerns. We also document that family ownership dominates nonfamily insider ownership and concentrated institutional ownership in explaining the likelihood of voluntary disclosure. Using alternative proxies for the founding family's …


Governance Role Of Auditors And Legal Environment: Evidence From Corporate Disclosure Transparency, Sam Han, Tony Kang, Yong Keun Yoo May 2008

Governance Role Of Auditors And Legal Environment: Evidence From Corporate Disclosure Transparency, Sam Han, Tony Kang, Yong Keun Yoo

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This study examines whether auditor size associates with disclosure transparency. Given thatprior studies generally focus on discretionary accruals to investigate the relation betweenauditor size and financial reporting quality, there is little evidence on how auditor size relates toother attributes of reporting quality. Further, studies that examine this associationinternationally produce mixed results as to how auditor size relates to reporting quality indifferent legal origins. Focusing on corporate disclosure transparency (i.e., disclosure levels), wefind that auditor size and disclosure level are positively associated across countries and that theassociation is stronger in code law regimes than in common law regimes. The latter findingsupports …


The Impact Of Investor Protection Law On Takeovers: The Case Of Leveraged Buyouts, Jerry Cao, Douglas J. Cumming, Jeremy Goh, Meijun Qian, Xiaoming Wang Mar 2008

The Impact Of Investor Protection Law On Takeovers: The Case Of Leveraged Buyouts, Jerry Cao, Douglas J. Cumming, Jeremy Goh, Meijun Qian, Xiaoming Wang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper examines the impact of investor protection on the value creation of LBOs. We find that target shareholders’ wealth gain is higher in countries with better investor protection. The impact of investor protection on takeover premium is larger for LBO than non-LBO transactions. We also find evidence suggesting that club LBOs are not priced lower than non-club deals after accounting for endogeneity problem. These results suggest that investor protection law may act as an important safeguard for minority shareholders in LBO transactions.


Do Poison Pills Increase Firm Risk?, Thomas Turk, Jeremy C. Goh, Candace Ybarra Mar 2008

Do Poison Pills Increase Firm Risk?, Thomas Turk, Jeremy C. Goh, Candace Ybarra

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Management scholars have argued that an active takeover market discourages risk-taking by managers and that takeover defenses serve to counter the risk-reducing pressures of an active takeover market. This study employs the Black and Scholes Option Pricing Model to determine whether or not adoption of poison pill securities increases investor perceptions of firm risk. The results provide evidence that the Option-Implied Standard Deviations of common stock returns increase significantly on the poison pill adoption date, on average. Furthermore, the implied standard deviations remained significantly above pre-adoption levels for several days after the poison pill adoption, suggesting that the perceived increase …


Non-Audit Service Fees And Audit Quality: The Impact Of Auditor Specialization, Chee Yeow Lim, Hun-Tong Tan Mar 2008

Non-Audit Service Fees And Audit Quality: The Impact Of Auditor Specialization, Chee Yeow Lim, Hun-Tong Tan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We posit that the effect of non-audit fees on audit quality is conditional on auditor industry specialization. Industry specialist auditors are more likely than nonspecialists to be concerned about reputation losses and litigation exposure, and to benefit from knowledge spillovers from the provision of non-audit services. We find evidence that audit quality measured by increased propensity to issue going-concern opinion, increased propensity to miss analysts' forecasts, as well as higher earnings-response coefficients increases with the level of non-audit services acquired from industry specialist auditors compared to nonspecialist auditors.


The Implications Of Debt Heterogeneity For R&D Investment And Firm Performance, Parthiban David, Jonathan P. O'Brien, Toru Yoshikawa Feb 2008

The Implications Of Debt Heterogeneity For R&D Investment And Firm Performance, Parthiban David, Jonathan P. O'Brien, Toru Yoshikawa

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

An assumption in prior research is that debt is homogeneous and provides inappropriate governance for R&D investments. We argue that debt is heterogeneous: although transactional debt does indeed impose strict contractual constraints that provide inappropriate governance for R&D investments, relational debt has very different characteristics that provide more appropriate governance. Using a sample of Japanese firms, we find that firms that align their debt structures with their R&D investments perform better than those that are misaligned. Furthermore, firms tend to align their debt structure with R&D investments, but only after deregulation permits relatively free access to various types of debt.


Too Little Or Too Much? Untangling The Relationship Between Corporate Philanthropy And Corporate Financial Performance, Heli Wang, Jaepil Choi, Jiatao Li Jan 2008

Too Little Or Too Much? Untangling The Relationship Between Corporate Philanthropy And Corporate Financial Performance, Heli Wang, Jaepil Choi, Jiatao Li

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

What is the relationship between corporate philanthropy and corporate financial performance? Some scholars argue that corporate philanthropy facilitates stakeholder cooperation and helps secure access to critical resources controlled by those stakeholders, suggesting that corporate philanthropy should be positively associated with corporate financial performance. In contrast, other scholars take a negative stance, suggesting that corporate philanthropy diverts valuable corporate resources and tends to inhibit corporate financial performance. Existing empirical studies have not found conclusive evidence on the corporate philanthropy-financial performance relationship. Integrating and extending existing perspectives, this study develops the argument that the relationship between corporate philanthropy and financial performance is …


Audit Partner Tenure, Audit Firm Tenure, And Discretionary Accruals: Does Long Auditor Tenure Impair Earnings Quality?, Chih-Ying Chen, Chan-Jane Lin, Yu-Chen Lin Jan 2008

Audit Partner Tenure, Audit Firm Tenure, And Discretionary Accruals: Does Long Auditor Tenure Impair Earnings Quality?, Chih-Ying Chen, Chan-Jane Lin, Yu-Chen Lin

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Mandatory audit partner relation has been adopted in some countries while audit firm rotation is still being debated in many places. Most of the extant research on the relation between auditor tenure and earnings quality provides evidence at the audit firm level. However, since audit firm tenure is correlated with partner tenure and audit firm rotation is more costly than partner rotation, it is important to know whether earnings quality is related to audit firm tenure, partner tenure, or both. We investigate this issue using a sample of Taiwanese companies for which the audit report must be signed by two …