Corporate Governance, Accounting Conservatism, and Manipulation

Corporate Governance, Accounting Conservatism, and Manipulation
Author: Judson Caskey
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2015
Genre:
ISBN:

We develop a model to analyze how board governance affects firms' financial reporting choices, and managers' incentives to manipulate accounting reports. In our setting, ceteris paribus, conservative accounting is desirable because it allows the board of directors to better oversee the firm's investment decisions. This feature of conservatism, however, causes the manager to manipulate the accounting system to mislead the board and distort its decisions. Effective reporting oversight curtails managers' ability to manipulate, which increases the benefits of conservative accounting and simultaneously reduces its costs. Our model predicts that stronger reporting oversight leads to greater accounting conservatism, manipulation, and investment efficiency.

Institutional Ownership and Conservatism

Institutional Ownership and Conservatism
Author: Ryan Peterson
Publisher:
Total Pages: 9
Release: 2014
Genre:
ISBN:

Prior studies have examined whether conservatism acts as a compliment or a supplement to corporate governance. One argument is that firms with better corporate governance exhibit greater accounting conservatism because of the corporate governance. The other possibility is that conservatism is demanded in the absence of other forms of corporate governance. This study adds to that line of literature by examining the effect of institutional ownership on accounting conservatism. Specifically, we test whether firms with less institutional ownership exhibit more or less accounting conservatism. Consistent with the argument that greater corporate governance leads to more accounting conservatism, our results indicate a higher degree of conservatism in high-institutional ownership settings, consistent with a complimentary relationship between the monitoring from institutional ownership and conservatism. This finding contributes to the debate over why accounting conservatism occurs by finding an increased level of conservatism in firms with better corporate governance.

The Market for Corporate Control and Accounting Conservatism

The Market for Corporate Control and Accounting Conservatism
Author: Jeffrey L. Callen
Publisher:
Total Pages: 58
Release: 2014
Genre:
ISBN:

This study explores the impact of state anti-takeover laws on the governance role of conditional accounting conservatism. Passage of these laws introduced an exogenous shock to the takeover threats faced by firms and constitutes a natural experiment for investigating the relation between financial reporting conservatism and governance. Employing a difference-in-differences methodology and accounting conservatism measures that are congruent with this methodology, we find that conditional accounting conservatism increased significantly after the passage of state anti-takeover laws consistent with accounting conservatism acting as a substitute internal governance mechanism for the weakened external governance environment. We further conjecture and document that the resulting increase in conservatism is greater for firms operating in less competitive industries, firms with better performance, and firms with lower institutional ownership. This study provides a more comprehensive understanding of the overall effect of state anti-takeover laws and contributes to the long standing debate about the impact of anti-takeover legislation on corporate control and governance.

Corporate Governance and Firm Performance

Corporate Governance and Firm Performance
Author: Mark Hirschey
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2009-04-16
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1848555369

Focuses on corporate governance, broadly defined as the system of controls that helps corporations and other organizations effectively manage, administer, and direct economic resources. This book focuses on: the impact of deregulation and corporate structure on productive efficiency; and the effectiveness of the fraud triangle and SAS.

Earnings Management

Earnings Management
Author: Thomas E. McKee
Publisher: Thomson South-Western
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2005
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

Learn how to legally manage your earnings with EARNINGS MANAGEMENT! This finance text demystifies earnings management and provides you with 28 reasonable and legal techniques. Read this text and you will gain valuable knowledge about earning management concepts and tools and gain insight into the management decisions that can shape financial statements and the underlying quality of the earnings.

Earnings Quality

Earnings Quality
Author: Jennifer Francis
Publisher: Now Publishers Inc
Total Pages: 97
Release: 2008
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1601981147

This review lays out a research perspective on earnings quality. We provide an overview of alternative definitions and measures of earnings quality and a discussion of research design choices encountered in earnings quality research. Throughout, we focus on a capital markets setting, as opposed, for example, to a contracting or stewardship setting. Our reason for this choice stems from the view that the capital market uses of accounting information are fundamental, in the sense of providing a basis for other uses, such as stewardship. Because resource allocations are ex ante decisions while contracting/stewardship assessments are ex post evaluations of outcomes, evidence on whether, how and to what degree earnings quality influences capital market resource allocation decisions is fundamental to understanding why and how accounting matters to investors and others, including those charged with stewardship responsibilities. Demonstrating a link between earnings quality and, for example, the costs of equity and debt capital implies a basic economic role in capital allocation decisions for accounting information; this role has only recently been documented in the accounting literature. We focus on how the precision of financial information in capturing one or more underlying valuation-relevant constructs affects the assessment and use of that information by capital market participants. We emphasize that the choice of constructs to be measured is typically contextual. Our main focus is on the precision of earnings, which we view as a summary indicator of the overall quality of financial reporting. Our intent in discussing research that evaluates the capital market effects of earnings quality is both to stimulate further research in this area and to encourage research on related topics, including, for example, the role of earnings quality in contracting and stewardship.

Earnings Management, Conservatism, and Earnings Quality

Earnings Management, Conservatism, and Earnings Quality
Author: Ralf Ewert
Publisher:
Total Pages: 142
Release: 2012
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

Earnings Management, Conservatism, and Earnings Quality reviews and illustrates earnings management, conservatism, and their effects on earnings quality in an economic modeling framework. Both earnings management and conservative accounting introduce biases to financial reports. The fundamental issue addressed is what economic effects these biases have on earnings quality or financial reporting quality. Earnings Management, Conservatism, and Earnings Quality reviews analytical models of earnings management and conservatism and shows that both can have beneficial or detrimental economic effects, so a differentiated view is appropriate. Earnings management can provide additional information via the financial reporting communication channel, but it can also be used to misrepresent the firm's position. What the authors find is that similar to earnings management, conservatism can reduce the information content of financial reports if it suppresses relevant information, but it can be a desirable feature that improves economic efficiency. The approach to study earnings management, conservatism, and earnings quality is based on the information economics literature. A variety of analytical models are reviewed that capture the effects and subtle interactions of managers' incentives and rational expectations of users. The benefit of analytical models is to make precise these, often highly complex, strategic effects. They offer a rigorous explanation for the phenomena and show that sometimes conventional wisdom does not apply. The monograph is organized around a few basic model settings, which are presented in simple versions first and then in extensions to elicit the main insights most clearly. Chapter 2 presents the basic rational expectations equilibrium model with earnings management and rational inferences by the capital market. Chapter 3 is devoted to earnings quality and earnings quality metrics used in many studies. Chapter 4 studies conservatism in accounting. Finally, the authors examine the interaction between conservatism and earnings management. Each chapter ends with a section containing a summary of the main findings and conclusions.

International Corporate Governance

International Corporate Governance
Author: Thomas Clarke
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 541
Release: 2007-07-31
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1134350880

Comprehensive and up-to-date, this important textbook analyzes the escalating crisis in corporate governance and the growing interest in its reform across the globe. Written by a leading name in the field of corporate governance from a genuinely international perspective, this excellent textbook provides a balanced analysis of the relative strengths and weaknesses of the Anglo-Saxon, European and Asian traditions of corporate governance; offering a prognosis of the future development, complexity and diversity of corporate governance forms and systems. It: investigates the reasons for the failure of Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, Parmalat and other major international corporations examines the role of international standards of corporate governance, with the intervention of the OECD, World Bank and IMF explores the continuing cultural diversity in corporate and institutional forms in the United States and UK, Europe and Asia Pacific. Illustrated with a wealth of up-to-the minute case studies and packed full of excellent illustrative material that guides student readers through this complex subject, International Corporate Governance is a must read for anyone studying corporate governance today.

Accounting Choices in Family Firms

Accounting Choices in Family Firms
Author: Silvia Ferramosca
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2018-03-13
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3319735888

This book provides a critical analysis of the current state of knowledge on the relationship between family firms and a wide range of accounting choices, including earnings management, accounting conservatism, and financial and non-financial disclosure. In examining the choices made in family firms, the authors explore and elucidate the relevance of agency, socioemotional wealth, stewardship, and resource-based theories. Readers will also find close consideration of the impacts of a country’s culture and societal values on accounting choices. In particular, further evidence is provided on the impact of different cultures on accounting conservatism in family businesses. Finally, avenues for future accounting research on family firms are discussed, highlighting theoretical and empirical challenges. In addition to offering a revealing analysis of the influence of ownership types and cultures on accounting choices within family firms, the book identifies significant practical implications for the management of family firms and policy implications for regulators and standard setters.