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Research Collection School Of Accountancy

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Full-Text Articles in Corporate Finance

Financial Reporting Quality Of Chinese Reverse Merger Firms: The Reverse Merger Effect Or The China Effect?, Kun-Chih Chen, Qiang Cheng, Ying Chou Lin, Yu-Chen Lin, Xing Xiao Sep 2016

Financial Reporting Quality Of Chinese Reverse Merger Firms: The Reverse Merger Effect Or The China Effect?, Kun-Chih Chen, Qiang Cheng, Ying Chou Lin, Yu-Chen Lin, Xing Xiao

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

In this paper, we examine why Chinese reverse merger (RM) firms have lower financial reporting quality than U.S. IPO firms. We find that the financial reporting quality of U.S. RM firms is similar to that of matched U.S. IPO firms, but Chinese RM firms exhibit lower financial reporting quality than Chinese ADR firms. We also find that Chinese RM firms exhibit lower financial reporting quality than U.S. RM firms. These results indicate that the use of the RM process is associated with poor financial reporting quality only in firms from China, where legal enforcement and investor protection are weak. In …


Does The Relation Between Information Quality And Capital Structure Vary With Cross-Country Institutional Differences?, Jeff Zeyun Chen, Chee Yeow Lim, Gerald J. Lobo Sep 2016

Does The Relation Between Information Quality And Capital Structure Vary With Cross-Country Institutional Differences?, Jeff Zeyun Chen, Chee Yeow Lim, Gerald J. Lobo

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Prior research based on U.S. data finds that firms with better information quality raise more equity whereas firms with poorer information quality prefer to issue debt when they seek external financing. Little is known about whether the same conclusion holds outside the U.S. and how the country-level institutional environment influences the relation between information quality and capital structure choices. We examine the relation between accounting information quality (measured by earnings precision, accruals quality, and analyst consensus) and financial leverage across 24 countries and whether that relation varies systematically with country-level investor protection and financial orientation. We document a lower financial …


"Other Information" In An Audit (Part 2), Foo S.L. Aug 2016

"Other Information" In An Audit (Part 2), Foo S.L.

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

In light of the new reporting requirements, SSA 720 (Revised) articulates a systematic approach on Other Information (OI) work. It comprises five key elements. These are Obtaining, Reading and Considering, Responding, Reporting and Documentation of OI (Figure 1). Invariably, these enhancements provide useful guidance to the auditors. With additional prescribed work efforts, it also calls for a greater integration of OI work scope with the overall audit planning.


Aggregate Earnings Surprises, Monetary Policy, And Stock Returns, Lindsey A. Gallao, Rebecca N. Hann, Congcong Li Aug 2016

Aggregate Earnings Surprises, Monetary Policy, And Stock Returns, Lindsey A. Gallao, Rebecca N. Hann, Congcong Li

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This paper examines whether the negative association between aggregate earnings and returns is explained by the monetary policy news in aggregate earnings. Using Federal funds futures data to construct a measure of policy news, we find that aggregate earnings convey information about the Fed׳s policy actions. Additionally, the negative aggregate earnings-returns association is muted when we control for policy surprises. This result is more pronounced in periods with negative policy surprises, which tend to trigger a more significant market reaction. Taken together, these results suggest that aggregate earnings convey policy news and the market reacts negatively to policy surprises, which …


The Effect Of Statement Of Financial Accounting Standards No. 157 Fair Value Measurements On Analysts' Information Environment, Orie E. Barron, Sung Gon Chung, Kevin Ow Yong Jul 2016

The Effect Of Statement Of Financial Accounting Standards No. 157 Fair Value Measurements On Analysts' Information Environment, Orie E. Barron, Sung Gon Chung, Kevin Ow Yong

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This study examines the effect of the adoption of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 157 Fair Value Measurements (hereafter FAS 157) on analysts’ information environment. A major controversy surrounding FAS 157 disclosures is whether Level 3 measurements provide useful information to financial statement readers. We provide evidence suggesting that FAS 157 disclosures regarding Level 3 measurements are able to reduce uncertainty in analysts’ information environment. Our results reveal that the provision of such fair value disclosures is associated with reduced uncertainty regarding future earnings and lower forecast errors. We also find that unrealized gains and losses from fair value …


Seeing Is Believing: Analysts' Corporate Site Visits, Qiang Cheng, Fei Du, Xin Wang, Yutao Wang Jul 2016

Seeing Is Believing: Analysts' Corporate Site Visits, Qiang Cheng, Fei Du, Xin Wang, Yutao Wang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This study examines the impact of corporate site visits on analysts’ forecast accuracy based on a sample of such visits to Chinese listed firms during 2009–2012. We find that analysts who conduct visits (“visiting analysts”) have a greater increase in forecast accuracy than other analysts. Consistent with the notion that site visits facilitate analysts’ information acquisition through observing firms’ operations, we find that the results are stronger for manufacturing firms, firms with more tangible assets, and firms with more concentrated business lines. Moreover, we find that the effect of a site visit is greater when the site visit is an …


Data Mining Journal Entries For Fraud Detection: A Replication Of Debreceny And Gray's (2010) Techniques, Poh Sun Seow, Pan, Gary, Themin Suwardy Jul 2016

Data Mining Journal Entries For Fraud Detection: A Replication Of Debreceny And Gray's (2010) Techniques, Poh Sun Seow, Pan, Gary, Themin Suwardy

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

The alarming frequency of fraud occurrences suggests that corporations continue to face persistent threat of fraud (Cecchini et al., 2010a; Summers and Sweeney, 1998). According to Association of Certified Fraud Examiner (ACFE)’s 2014 Report, a typical organization may lose five percent of its revenue to fraud every year. As such, the consequences of fraud may impact the shareholders, creditors, auditors and the public’s confidence in the integrity of corporations’ financial systems (Rezaee, 2005).


Internal Governance And Real Earnings Management, Qiang Cheng, Jimmy Lee, Terry J. Shevlin Jul 2016

Internal Governance And Real Earnings Management, Qiang Cheng, Jimmy Lee, Terry J. Shevlin

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We examine whether internal governance affects the extent of real earnings management in U.S. corporations. Internal governance refers to the process through which key subordinate executives provide checks and balances in the organization and affect corporate decisions. Using the number of years to retirement to capture key subordinate executives’ horizon incentives and using their compensation relative to CEO compensation to capture their influence within the firm, we find that the extent of real earnings management decreases with key subordinate executives’ horizon and influence. The results are robust to alternative measures of internal governance and to various approaches used to address …


Cross-Country Differences In The Effect Of Political Connections On Stock Price Informativeness, Yuanto Kusnadi, Bin Srinidhi Jun 2016

Cross-Country Differences In The Effect Of Political Connections On Stock Price Informativeness, Yuanto Kusnadi, Bin Srinidhi

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Using a sample of firms from 28 countries, we investigate the cross-country differences in the effect of political connections on the information environment. We find that politically connected firms in the emerging markets exhibit lower stock price informativeness than similar unconnected firms but we do not find this result in the developed markets. This finding is robust to controlling for earnings quality, analyst coverage, share-turnover, and insider ownership. Examination of specific differences between countries reveals that the weakening of the information environment for connected firms is prevalent in countries that have high levels of corruption, no electoral democracy, and low …


The Impact Of The Sarbanes-Oxley Act On Clients’ Audit Opinion Shopping Behavior, Jong-Hag Choi, Heesun Chung, Catherine Heyjung Sonu, Yoonseok Zang Jun 2016

The Impact Of The Sarbanes-Oxley Act On Clients’ Audit Opinion Shopping Behavior, Jong-Hag Choi, Heesun Chung, Catherine Heyjung Sonu, Yoonseok Zang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This study investigates whether the tendency for audit clients to engage in opinion shopping becomes weaker after the enforcement of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX). While Lennox (2000) provides evidence that U.K. firms successfully engage in opinion shopping, there is limited evidence on the mitigating effect of SOX on opinion shopping. Using observations collected from the period before and after the enforcement of SOX (year 2001, 2004 and 2005), we find that, for our sample period, firms are likely to switch (retain) their incumbent auditors when the likelihood of receiving a going concern opinion is lower (higher) from a successor auditor, …


The Influence Of Ethical Leadership On Managerial Performance: Mediating Effects Of Mindfulness And Corporate Social Responsibility, John J. Williams, Alfred E. Seaman Jun 2016

The Influence Of Ethical Leadership On Managerial Performance: Mediating Effects Of Mindfulness And Corporate Social Responsibility, John J. Williams, Alfred E. Seaman

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

In a continuing world of corporate misdeeds and unscrupulous decision making, much of the management and academic literatures points to the incomplete knowledge of the consequences of ethics leadership. One of the bastions of ethics gatekeeping in the firm is the CFO but remarkably scant information can be found on their perceptions concerning ethics leadership. This study addresses this void by examining mindfulness and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives as new mediating linkages in comprehending the influence of ethics leadership on managerial performance. Findings reveal that ethical leadership is positively associated with CSR initiatives which, in turn, operate to enhance …


The Effect Of Ceo Stock-Based Compensation On Pricing Of Future Earnings, Bobae Choi, Jae Bum Kim May 2016

The Effect Of Ceo Stock-Based Compensation On Pricing Of Future Earnings, Bobae Choi, Jae Bum Kim

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This paper examines whether CEO stock-based compensation has an effect on the market’s ability to predict future earnings. When stock-based compensation motivates managers to share their private information with shareholders, it will expedite the pricing of future earnings in current stock prices. In contrast, when equity-compensated managers attempt to temporarily manipulate the stock price to maximize their own benefit rather than that of shareholders, the market may not fully anticipate future performance. We find that a CEO’s stock-based compensation strengthens the association between current returns and future earnings, indicating that more information about future earnings is reflected in current stock …


The Downside Of The Network Ties Between Ceo/Cfos And Auditors Through External Directorships: Evidence From Auditor Selection And Subsequent Audit Quality, Jaeyoon Yu, Byungjin Kwak, Myung Seok Park, Yoonseok Zang May 2016

The Downside Of The Network Ties Between Ceo/Cfos And Auditors Through External Directorships: Evidence From Auditor Selection And Subsequent Audit Quality, Jaeyoon Yu, Byungjin Kwak, Myung Seok Park, Yoonseok Zang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This study examines whether the professional ties of Chief Executive Officers/Chief Financial Officers (CEO/CFOs) to auditors through external directorships affect auditor selection and subsequent audit quality. Professional ties to auditors arise when the CEO/CFO of a firm (referred to as the home firm) serves as an outside director of another firm that hires an auditor (a connected auditor). Using a sample of firms with auditor switches over the period 2003-2012, we find that home firms are more likely to appoint connected auditors. Furthermore, utilizing a difference-in-differences approach, we find that home firms appointing connected auditors experience a significant decline in …


Financial Health And Corporate Performance: A Comparison Of Manufacturing Companies In China And India, See Liang Foo, Shaakalya Pathak May 2016

Financial Health And Corporate Performance: A Comparison Of Manufacturing Companies In China And India, See Liang Foo, Shaakalya Pathak

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

The People’s Republic of China (China) and India are two leading economies in Asia Pacific. This study examines the relationship between the financial health, as measured by the Altman Z-Score, and corporate performance, as measured by the Return on Equity (ROE), of listed manufacturing companies in these two markets. A linear regression was conducted between these variables to determine the magnitude and direction of their relationships. The trends of Z-Scores over a fourteen-year period are also analysed. The analysis covers the period from 2000 to 2013 (inclusive) and yielded a statistically positive correlation between ROE and the Z-Score for both …


Mandatory Financial Reporting And Voluntary Disclosure: The Effect Of Mandatory Ifrs Adoption On Management Forecasts, Xi Li, Holly I. Yang May 2016

Mandatory Financial Reporting And Voluntary Disclosure: The Effect Of Mandatory Ifrs Adoption On Management Forecasts, Xi Li, Holly I. Yang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This study examines the effect of the mandatory adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on voluntary disclosure. Using a difference-in-difference analysis, we document a significant increase in the likelihood and frequency of management earnings forecasts following mandatory IFRS adoption, consistent with the notion that IFRS adoption alters firms' disclosure incentives in response to increased capital-market demand. We find the increase to be larger among firms domiciled in code-law countries, suggesting a catching-up effect among firms facing low disclosure incentives pre-adoption. We then propose and test three channels through which IFRS adoption could alter firms' disclosure incentives: improved earnings quality, …


Mandatory Financial Reporting And Voluntary Disclosure: The Effect Of Mandatory Ifrs Adoption On Management Forecasts, Xi Li, Holly I. Yang May 2016

Mandatory Financial Reporting And Voluntary Disclosure: The Effect Of Mandatory Ifrs Adoption On Management Forecasts, Xi Li, Holly I. Yang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This study examines the effect of the mandatory adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on voluntary disclosure. Using a difference-in-difference analysis, we document a significant increase in the likelihood and frequency of management earnings forecasts following mandatory IFRS adoption, consistent with the notion that IFRS adoption alters firms' disclosure incentives in response to increased capital-market demand. We find the increase to be larger among firms domiciled in code-law countries, suggesting a catching-up effect among firms facing low disclosure incentives pre-adoption. We then propose and test three channels through which IFRS adoption could alter firms' disclosure incentives: improved earnings quality, …


Financial Health And Corporate Performance Of Listed Manufacturing Companies In South Korea And Taiwan: A Comparative Study Of The Two Asian Tigers, See Liang Foo, Shaakalya Pathak Apr 2016

Financial Health And Corporate Performance Of Listed Manufacturing Companies In South Korea And Taiwan: A Comparative Study Of The Two Asian Tigers, See Liang Foo, Shaakalya Pathak

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

South Korea and Taiwan are two leading economies in Asia Pacific. This study examines the relationship between the financial health, as measured by the Altman Z-Score, and corporate performance, as measured by the Return on Equity (ROE), of listed manufacturing companies in these two markets. A linear regression was conducted between these variables to determine the magnitude and direction of their relationships. The trends of Z-Scores over a fourteen-year period are also analyzed. The analysis covers the period from 2000 to 2013(inclusive) and yielded a statistically positive correlation between ROE and the Z-Score for both markets. South Korea and Taiwan …


Takeover Defenses In The Era Of Shareholder Activism, Sa-Pyung Sean Shin Apr 2016

Takeover Defenses In The Era Of Shareholder Activism, Sa-Pyung Sean Shin

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This paper examines the interplay between takeover defenses and shareholder activism. Using a comprehensive sample of shareholder activism events between 2006 and 2014, I find a differential impact of takeover defense measures on the likelihood of being targeted for activism; a dual-class structure or a staggered board deters activism, whereas firms with a poison pill in place are more likely to become targets. Activists are more likely to demand removal of takeover defense measures and/or sale of the target firm if the firm has a staggered board or a poison pill in place, suggesting that when takeover defenses block the …


Accounting Conservatism And Stock Price Crash Risk: Firm-Level Evidence, Jeong-Bon Kim, Liandong Zhang Mar 2016

Accounting Conservatism And Stock Price Crash Risk: Firm-Level Evidence, Jeong-Bon Kim, Liandong Zhang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Using a large sample of U.S. firms during 1964-2007, we find that conditional conservatism is associated with a lower likelihood of a firm's future stock price crashes. This finding holds for multiple measures of conditional conservatism and crash risk and is robust to controlling for other known determinants of crash risk and firm-fixed effects. Moreover, we find that the relation between conservatism and crash risk is more pronounced for firms with higher information asymmetry. Overall, our results are consistent with the notion that conditional conservatism limits managers' incentive and ability to overstate performance and hide bad news from investors, which, …


Ceo Overconfidence And Management Forecasting, Paul Hribar, Holly I. Yang Mar 2016

Ceo Overconfidence And Management Forecasting, Paul Hribar, Holly I. Yang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This paper examines how overconfidence affects the properties of management forecasts. Using both the ‘over‐optimism’ and ‘miscalibration’ effects of overconfidence to generate our predictions, we examine three research questions. First, we examine whether overconfidence increases the likelihood of issuing a forecast. Second, we examine whether overconfidence increases the amount of optimism in management forecasts. Third, we examine whether overconfidence increases the specificity and precision of the forecast. We use both options‐ and press‐based measures to proxy for individual overconfidence, and find support for all three research questions. We further find that the results are concentrated among firms that provide forecasts …


Female Board Representation And Corporate Acquisition Intensity, Guoli Chen, Craig Crossland, Sterling Huang Feb 2016

Female Board Representation And Corporate Acquisition Intensity, Guoli Chen, Craig Crossland, Sterling Huang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This study examines the impact of female board representation on firm-level strategic behavior within the domain of mergers and acquisitions (M&A). We build on social identity theory to predict that greater female representation on a firm's board will be negatively associated with both the number of acquisitions the firm engages in and, conditional on doing a deal, acquisition size. Using a comprehensive, multi-year sample of U.S. public firms, we find strong support for our hypotheses. We demonstrate the robustness of our findings through the use of a difference-in-differences analysis on a sub-sample of firms that experienced exogenous changes in board …


Investor Reactions To Company Disclosure Of High Ceo Pay And High Ceo-To-Employee Pay Ratio: An Experimental Investigation, Khim Kelly, Jean Lin Seow Jan 2016

Investor Reactions To Company Disclosure Of High Ceo Pay And High Ceo-To-Employee Pay Ratio: An Experimental Investigation, Khim Kelly, Jean Lin Seow

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

There is significant debate about the usefulness of disclosing the CEO-to-median employee pay ratio, as required under Section 953(b) of the Dodd-Frank Act in the United States. Using an experiment, we find that disclosing higher-than-industry CEO pay (versus comparable-to-industry CEO pay) marginally decreases perceived CEO pay fairness and perceived workplace climate, which is counteracted by a significant positive effect on perceived CEO attraction/retention ability, although there are no significant indirect effects through these perceptions on perceived investment potential. However, incrementally disclosing a higher-than-industry pay ratio (versus disclosing only higher-than-industry CEO pay) significantly decreases perceived CEO pay fairness and marginally deceases …


The Effect Of Board Independence On Information Asymmetry, Beng Wee Goh, Jimmy Lee, Jeffrey Ng, Kevin Ow Yong Jan 2016

The Effect Of Board Independence On Information Asymmetry, Beng Wee Goh, Jimmy Lee, Jeffrey Ng, Kevin Ow Yong

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Boards have an important role in ensuring that investors’ interests are protected. Our paper first examines whether the independence of a firm's board affects information asymmetry among investors. We provide evidence that greater board independence leads to lower information asymmetry. Next, we provide evidence that more voluntary disclosure and greater analyst coverage are two underlying mechanisms via which greater board independence reduces information asymmetry. Of the two mechanisms, we find that analyst coverage is more significant in influencing how board independence affects information asymmetry. Overall, our paper contributes to a better understanding of the effect of board independence on information …


Corporate Political Connections And Tax Aggressiveness, Chansog (Francis) Kim, Liandong Zhang Jan 2016

Corporate Political Connections And Tax Aggressiveness, Chansog (Francis) Kim, Liandong Zhang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This study investigates the relation between corporate political connections and tax aggressiveness. We study a broad array of corporate political activities, including the employment of connected directors, campaign contributions, and lobbying. Using a large hand-collected data set of U.S. firms' political connections, we find that politically connected firms are more tax aggressive than nonconnected firms, after controlling for other determinants of tax aggressiveness, industry and year fixed effects, and the endogenous choice of being politically connected. Our findings are robust to various measures of political connections and tax aggressiveness. These results are consistent with the conjecture that politically connected firms …


Client Conservatism And Auditor-Client Contracting, Mark L. Defond, Chee Yeow Lim, Yoonseok Zang Jan 2016

Client Conservatism And Auditor-Client Contracting, Mark L. Defond, Chee Yeow Lim, Yoonseok Zang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We find that auditors of more conservative clients charge lower fees, issue fewer going concern opinions, and resign less frequently, consistent with more conservative clients imposing less engagement risk on their auditors. Using path analysis, we find evidence that both inherent risk and auditor business risk explain these associations. Also consistent with conservatism reducing auditor business risk, we find that client conservatism is associated with fewer lawsuits against auditors and with fewer client restatements. Taken together, our results are consistent with auditors viewing client conservatism as an important determinant of engagement risk that, in turn, affects auditor-client contracting decisions. Our …


Insider Trading Restrictions And Corporate Risk-Taking, Yuanto Kusnadi Nov 2015

Insider Trading Restrictions And Corporate Risk-Taking, Yuanto Kusnadi

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This paper examines the effect of insider trading restrictions on corporate risk-taking. Using a cross-country sample of 38 countries over the 1990 to 2003 period, we find that corporate risk-taking is positively related to insider trading restrictions. This finding is robust to alternative regression specifications and sample periods, to the use of alternative measures of insider trading restrictions and risk-taking incentives, and to controls for possible endogeneity. Further investigation suggests that the relation between insider trading restrictions and corporate risk-taking is influenced by cross-sectional differences in stock market development and legal origin, and that the increase in risk-taking is beneficial …


Navigating The “Patent-Cliff”: The Role Of Corporate Real Estate In The Life Science Industry, Clarence Goh Oct 2015

Navigating The “Patent-Cliff”: The Role Of Corporate Real Estate In The Life Science Industry, Clarence Goh

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

The Life Science industry is standing on the edge of a “patent cliff.” In 2015, the world’s biggest pharmaceutical firms stand to lose up to US$47.5 billion in revenues from the expiry of the patents of some of their biggest blockbuster drugs. For example, Celebrex – an arthritis drug which contributed almost US$3 billion to Pfizer’s revenues in 2014 – is set to see its patent expire later this year, opening it up to competition from “generic” alternatives which are often sold at much cheaper prices.


Corporate Real Estate’S Rising Profile In The Banking And Finance Industry, Clarence Goh Sep 2015

Corporate Real Estate’S Rising Profile In The Banking And Finance Industry, Clarence Goh

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Seven years after the financial crisis, profits have returned to the banking and finance industry – statistics compiled by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) for banks in the US showed that overall industry profits hit near record highs in 2014.


Economic Freedom, Investment Flexibility, And Equity Value: A Cross-Country Study, Chih-Ying Chen, Peter F. Chen, Qinglu Jin Sep 2015

Economic Freedom, Investment Flexibility, And Equity Value: A Cross-Country Study, Chih-Ying Chen, Peter F. Chen, Qinglu Jin

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Prior studies show that equity value has convex relations with earnings and book value of equity, respectively, due to growth and adaptation options (Burgstahler and Dichev 1997a; Zhang 2000). These studies, however, do not consider the role of institutions in affecting firms' ability to exercise growth and adaptation options. In this study, we investigate whether these convex relations vary with the degree of a country's economic freedom, which may influence the frictions and costs of exercising these options. We develop four hypotheses: In countries with greater economic freedom, (1) a firm's capital investment in response to profitability is greater; (2) …


Ceo Contractual Protection And Managerial Short-Termism, Xia Chen, Qiang Cheng, Alvis K. Lo, Xin Wang Sep 2015

Ceo Contractual Protection And Managerial Short-Termism, Xia Chen, Qiang Cheng, Alvis K. Lo, Xin Wang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

How to address managerial short-termism is an important issue for companies, regulators, and researchers. We examine the effect of CEO contractual protection, in the form of employment agreements and severance pay agreements, on managerial short-termism. We find that firms with CEO contractual protection are less likely to cut R&D expenditures to avoid earnings decreases and are less likely to engage in real earnings management. The effect of CEO contractual protection is both statistically and economically significant. We further find that this effect increases with the duration and monetary strength of CEO contractual protection. The cross-sectional analyses indicate that the effect …