Value of Cash Holdings and Accounting Conservatism

Value of Cash Holdings and Accounting Conservatism
Author: Henock Louis
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2015
Genre:
ISBN:

We posit that accounting conservatism could mitigate the value destruction associated with increases in cash holdings. Consistent with this conjecture, we find that the market value of an additional dollar in cash holdings increases in accounting conservatism. This result is robust to controlling for strength of corporate governance, earnings quality, past stock performance, potential unobserved firm heterogeneity, potential endogenous changes in conservatism, and other relevant variables. Most of the discussion about conservatism in the literature is about its role in mitigating conflicts of interest between owners/managers and debtholders and in reducing the cost of debt. Our analysis suggests that accounting conservatism also mitigates agency costs related to incentive conflicts between shareholders and managers by inducing a more efficient use of cash holdings by managers, thereby providing direct benefits to shareholders. The notion that accounting conservatism would reduce managers' incentives to engage in value-destroying projects has long been suggested in the literature. However, our study is the first to empirically establish that accounting conservatism increases the value of cash holdings. This evidence is particularly important in light of the tremendous growth in cash holdings in the U.S. in recent years (Bates, Kahle, and Stulz 2009) and the massive value losses that can result from cash holdings (Jensen and Walkling 2010).

International Corporate Governance

International Corporate Governance
Author: Kose John
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
Total Pages: 210
Release: 2011-03-31
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0857249150

Presents research on corporate governance from a number of countries across the world, including the United States, Spain, Malaysia, Israel and others. This title examines many important corporate governance mechanisms, such as board characteristics, ownership structure, legal protection of shareholders, and annual general meetings.

Comparative Research on Earnings Management, Corporate Governance, and Economic Value

Comparative Research on Earnings Management, Corporate Governance, and Economic Value
Author: Vieira, Elisabete S.
Publisher: IGI Global
Total Pages: 433
Release: 2021-02-12
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1799875989

New trends are emerging regarding earnings management and corporate governance showing similarities and striking differences in the practices of different countries and economies. These new trends currently shape the field of modern corporate governance with crucial issues being looked at in governance law and practices, accounting systems, earnings quality and management, stakeholder involvement, and more. In order to advance these new avenues in corporate governance, research looks at accounting policies firms use in different opportunistic circumstances in order to manage earnings, the corporate governance practices in different countries, firm performance, and other dimensions of companies. The understanding of these topics is beneficial in understanding the current state of different types of firms and their practices in modern times. Comparative Research on Earnings Management, Corporate Governance, and Economic Value is focused on the investigation of key challenges and perspectives of corporate governance and earnings management and outlines possible scenarios of its development. The chapters explore this new avenue of research and cover theoretical, empirical, and experimental studies related to different themes in the global context of earnings management and corporate governance. This book is ideal for economists, businesses, managers, accountants, practitioners, stakeholders, researchers, academicians, and students who are interested in the current issues and advancements in corporate governance and earnings management.

The Benefits and Costs of Group Affiliation

The Benefits and Costs of Group Affiliation
Author: Stijn Claessens
Publisher:
Total Pages: 36
Release: 2002
Genre: Capital market
ISBN:

This paper investigates the benefits and associated agency costs of using internal capital markets through affiliating with groups using data of two thousand firms from nine East Asian economies between 1994-96. We find that mature and slow-growing firms with ownership structures more likely to create agency problems gain more from group affiliation, while young and high-growth firms more likely lose. Agency problems are important explanatory factors of firm value in economies outside Japan, but less so in Japan. Consistent with the literature, financially-constrained firms benefit from group affiliation. Our results are robust to different time periods and estimation techniques.

Empirical Capital Structure

Empirical Capital Structure
Author: Christopher Parsons
Publisher: Now Publishers Inc
Total Pages: 107
Release: 2009
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 160198202X

Empirical Capital Structure reviews the empirical capital structure literature from both the cross-sectional determinants of capital structure as well as time-series changes.

Politicians' Equity Holdings and Accounting Conservatism

Politicians' Equity Holdings and Accounting Conservatism
Author: Vishal Paul Baloria
Publisher:
Total Pages: 98
Release: 2014
Genre:
ISBN:

In this thesis, I examine the association between politician ownership and accounting conservatism for a sample of S&P 1500 firms between 2005 and 2011. The contracting explanation predicts that politician owned firms adopt less conservative accounting because lenders are less concerned with downside default risk for these politically favored firms. The political costs explanation predicts that politician owned firms adopt more conservative financial reporting to shield allied politicians from voter scrutiny. I find that equity ownership by members of the U.S. House and Senate is associated with lower levels of conditional conservatism. This negative association is more pronounced among: (1) firms owned by local politicians, where there is a greater alignment between the interests of the politician and the firm, and (2) firms with long-term issuer credit ratings, for which debt market participants particularly value conservatism as a mechanism for conveying information on downside default risk. I also examine the relationship between politician ownership and unconditional conservatism and fail to document a statistical relationship between the two constructs. Collectively, the results of my thesis provide consistent evidence of a lower contracting demand for conditional conservatism among politician owned firms.

Accounting for Risk

Accounting for Risk
Author: Stephen Penman
Publisher:
Total Pages: 148
Release: 2021-11-11
Genre:
ISBN: 9781680838909

Accounting for Risk is about using accounting information to assess risk and the required return for bearing that risk. The focus is on investing in firms and the equity claims on firms: How much should an investor discount the price of a share in a firm for risk, and how can accounting information help to answer that question? That discount is variously called the required return, the expected return, or the cost of capital. The monograph links two strands of research - the first is accounting-based valuation research where value is assessed from expected cash flows, earnings, or residual earnings. The focus has been on forecasting those payoffs however forecasting payoffs is only one part of valuation. The other issue is how those expected payoffs should be discounted for risk. This monograph engages the question whether accounting information aid in the determination of risk and the discount rate? The second strand of research is asset pricing. While "asset pricing" might suggest this research is involved in determining prices, it is actually in pursuit of the required return to investing - the risk discount to price. Can accounting information about risk and return be utilized in building operational pricing models? Accounting for Risk also enhances financial statement analysis. While traditional financial statement analysis--ratio analysis--was conducted without much reference to finance theory, modern financial statement analysis derives from accounting-based valuation models that are based on the no-arbitrage theory on the pricing of expected dividends. That brings accounting and finance closer together. The key is an understanding of the accounting principles underlying the recognition and measurement in the financial statements. This requires an appreciation of how accounting handles risk, thereby generating accounting numbers that convey information about risk and expected return.

Accounting Theory

Accounting Theory
Author: Harry I. Wolk
Publisher: SAGE
Total Pages: 697
Release: 2008
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1412953456

Presents complex materials in a clear and understandable manner. Incorporating the latest accounting standards and presenting the most up-to-date accounting theory from the top academic journals in accounting and finance throughout the world.