Audit Quality of The Engagement Partner and Audit Firm

Journal of Economics and Development, 2019

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of internal control on tax avoidance analyzing internal (family ownership) and external (environmental uncertainty) factors on the effectiveness of internal control in preventing tax avoidance. Design/methodology/approach-First, the authors examine the direct effect of the effectiveness of internal control on tax avoidance. Second, the authors examine the effect of moderation of family ownership and environmental uncertainty on the relationship of the effectiveness of internal control on tax avoidance. Third, the authors divide the full sample into two groups, high and less effectiveness of internal control to examine the direct effect of internal control effectiveness on tax avoidance and when considering moderating variables. Fourth, the authors use two different measures of the effectiveness of internal control. Findings-This research found that effective internal control can reduce tax avoidance. Family ownership affects the relationship between internal control and tax avoidance, but environmental uncertainty does not influence the relationship between internal control and tax avoidance. Practical implications-Internal control increases compliance with rules and policies, so companies must design and implement effective internal control to prevent tax avoidance activities in violation of tax regulations. Originality/value-In contrast to previous studies, this study measures the effectiveness of internal control using the index of internal control practice disclosure and considers internal and external factors that can affect the effectiveness of internal control to prevent tax avoidance.

Accounting Research Journal

Purpose The study aims to examine the effect of multiple directorships on accrual-based earnings management and real earnings management. It analyses whether earnings management practices in the Saudi context increase or decrease with the average number of multiple directorships. Design/methodology/approach The study uses the approach by Roychowdhury (2006) to capture the level of real earnings management and uses the cross-sectional model by Jones (1991) to measure accrual-based earnings management. Findings The paper provides partial evidence supporting the “busyness” hypothesis where earnings management practices increase with the number of multiple directorships. The evidence shows that multiple directorships have a positive and significant effect on real earnings management in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. However, we find no significant impact of multiple directorships on accrual-based earnings management. Originality/value This is the first study that empirically investigates ...

SHS Web of Conferences

Reporting is a method for businesses to communicate with their various stakeholders. While the factors contributing to sustainability reporting and disclosure have been thoroughly investigated, the findings are inconclusive. Similarly, the non-financial reporting literature is disclosed of operational and non-operational activities related to ecological as well as social disclosure of firm. However, in recent years, stakeholders have increased their demand for green innovation practices (GIPs) to be included as a new component of ecological reporting. Thus, companies' proactivity in adopting green innovation reporting is reflected (GIR). This research propounds enhancing transparency in sustainability reporting by including corporations' GIPs, which will increase the transparency level of firm operations and instil greater stakeholder confidence. To accomplish this study, the legitimacy and signalling theories were used as an environmental solution. Additionally, an exhausti...

Journal of Risk and Financial Management

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of corporate governance quality and ownership structure on the relationship between the agency cost and firm performance. Both the fixed-effects model and a more robust dynamic panel generalized method of moment estimation are applied to Chinese A-listed firms for the years 2008 to 2016. The results show that the agency–performance relationship is positively moderated by (1) corporate governance quality, (2) ownership concentration, and (3) non-state ownership. State ownership has a negative effect on the agency–performance relationship. Various robust tests of an alternative measure of agency cost confirm our main conclusions. The analysis adds to the empirical literature on agency theory by providing useful insights into how corporate governance and ownership concentration can help mitigate agency–performance relationship. It also highlights the impact of ownership type on the relationship between agency cost and firm performa...

Naše gospodarstvo/Our economy

This paper aims to explore the effect of the Algiers Stock Exchange listing on real earnings management. The study included 14 non-financial non-listed companies during the period 2015-2019 and six non-financial listed companies during the period 2010-2019. Due to the small number of companies listed on the Algiers Stock Exchange, the period of study was extended in the case of listed companies to provide enough observations. The measurement of real earnings management is based on the model of abnormal cash flows from operations (Roychowdhury, 2006), while the hypothesis testing is based on a model of multiple linear regression. The results indicate that the company size and the nature of financial statement (consolidation) do not have any effect on real earnings management in Algerian companies. The results are not consistent with the author’s hypothesis about the positive effect of stock market listing on real earnings management. The empirical evidence suggests that the Algiers S...

Corporate Ownership and Control

This study examines how excess cash drives earnings management and firm value in China. Using a fixed effect panel regression on a sample of 12,629 observations covering 300 firms listed in the Shanghai Stock Exchange, we find that excess cash has a positive impact on firm value confirming pecking order theory. Our results show that earnings management has a negative impact on firm value in China, which supports the efficient earnings management view. We find that managers in Chinese firms are less likely to use excess cash for manipulating earnings. We provide empirical evidence that firms with excess cash seem to use it more for precautionary purpose than earnings management and the excess corporate liquidity of Chinese firms is used for value-enhancing activities. The test of robustness using the Instrumental Variable (IV) model confirms the results of the study. Our study merges two areas of corporate finance by incorporating agency problems concerning earnings management and ca...

International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, 2012

This study examines the impact of audit committee (AC) characteristics on earnings management (EM), of FTSE 350 companies, for the fi scal years 2006 and 2007. Characteristics such as number of members and meetings; independence; directors ' remuneration; outside directorships; various types of fi nancial expertise; AC members ' ownership; regulated sector; and the listing on FTSE 100 are investigated . No signifi cant association was found between absolute discretionary accruals and these characteristics, apart from in the regulated industry . The results for signed discretionary accruals show that some characteristics have an effect on either upward or downward EM. This reveals the importance of distinguishing between AC effectiveness on constraining upward and downward EM. This article explores some qualitative AC characteristics, which have not previously been examined. In addition, it is probably the fi rst to examine the effect of several AC characteristics on EM in the UK context. The fi ndings of this study provide useful insights for regulators in order to improve and reconsider the current regulations on AC mechanisms. The fi ndings of generally ineffectual ACs in the United Kingdom, along with many similar fi ndings from other countries (see Xie et al , 2003 and Baxter and Cotter, 2009 ), raise concerns about the current situation of the

International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management, 2021

Purpose In recent years, firms tend to direct their attention in communicating their environmental actions with their stakeholders. However, the level of environmental disclosers varies significantly among firms. This paper aims to explain the variation in environmental disclosure of firms based on their ownership type, namely – state ownership and institutional ownership. The study further aims to understand whether and how the relationship between ownership structure and environmental disclosure changes regarding countries’ development levels. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses a sample of 27,847 firm-year observations from 72 countries/economic districts between the years 2002 and 2017 and regression analysis to test how the relationship between different ownership structures and environmental disclosure and whether this relation is conditional on countries’ development levels. Findings This study finds that firms with higher state ownership have higher environmental dis...

Problems and Perspectives in Management, 2019

This critical analysis seeks to explore the inclusivity and feasibility of the legal application of organizational governance principles related to limited liability companies (LLCs) in Indonesia, which are considered essential pillars of Indonesia’s economic stability. The investigators employed the non-probability purposive sampling to select 150 study participants from a population of 250 administrative panel members working in PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia and PT Bank Mandiri. Structured and semi-structured questionnaires were constructed and distributed online through emails. The subjects’ responses were coded manually, using the NVivo software for ease of analysis. The result showed that (1) 84.5% of participants believed that ineffective relationship building approaches, corruption, and inadequate information disclosure mechanisms among internal and external shareholders formed the main challenges to implementation of corporate governance principles in Indonesian LLCs, (2) 97.8% o...

International Journal of Business and Society, 2022

This study aims at examining the effect of reputation-based disclosure on the cost of capital and the role of the controlling ownership as a moderating variable. The sample of the study consists of manufacturing firms listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) for the years 2009-2013. This study uses price-earnings to growth (PEG) as a proxy of the cost of capital. The result demonstrates that reputation-based voluntary disclosure has a negative effect on the cost of capital. The controlling ownership further strengthened this effect. The cost of capital is reduced by higher disclosure. However, the interaction between reputation-based disclosure and ownership structure has a positive effect on the cost of capital. The result of this study is robust, using other measurements of the cost of capital (Fama-French model). It implies that investors can utilize firms' disclosure as a signal to estimate returns. Firms, however, strive to impress investors positively to reduce the expected returns.

International Journal of Accounting & Information Management, 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the differential effects of institutional non‐blockholders (NONB) and active institutional blockholders (ACTB) on earnings management behavior, as measured by discretionary accruals.Design/methodology/approachThis paper also proposes that the hypothesized influence of NONB and ACTB on earnings management behavior is affected by earnings pressure (EP) (i.e. the gap between target earnings and pre‐managed earnings). In particular, it believes that the stimulating effect of NONB on earnings management may not manifest when the stimulating effect of EPs is already strong and the mitigating effect of ACTB may manifest only when the stimulating effect of EP is there. The sample into three EP conditions: pressure to increase earnings, neutral pressure and pressure to decrease earnings is grouped. Consistent with the expectations, the paper finds that NONB stimulates earnings management, but only when EP is not strong and that ACTB mitigates ea...

Global Business Review, 2018

This article examines the factors that influence the accrual-based earnings management (AM) and real earnings management (RM) in the Indian context. Different firm-specific parameters as determinants of AM and RM are examined using panel data for 268 listed Indian manufacturing firms for the period 2009–2013. To estimate the AM and RM, Modified Jones Model (Dechow, Sloan, & Sweeney, 1995) and Roychowdhury Model (2006, Journal of Accounting and Economics, 42(3), 335–370) are used, respectively. Findings based on these models indicate that the Indian firms indulge in both AM and RM. Firm-specific parameters namely growth opportunity, financial leverage, firm’s performance and business group affiliation positively affect both AM and RM, whereas firm’s size, institutional ownership and firm age affect negatively. However, accounting flexibility measured by the ratio of net operating assets and sales is only positively related to accrual-based earnings management. Overall, the study find...

Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice

We integrate research on family-owned firms (FOFs) and the Behavioral Theory of the Firm (BTOF) to study wrongdoing—a specific dimension of corporate social responsibility (CSR) associated with destructive risk—in family- versus nonfamily-owned firms (NFOFs). We argue that FOFs are likely to respond differently from NFOFs to risks because in addition to concern for economic costs and benefits, FOFs are uniquely concerned with the socioemotional wealth (SEW) accruing from the noneconomic costs and benefits of their actions. Furthermore, we argue that the differences in behavior are dependent upon whether the nature of risk associated with a behavior is destructive, as in the case of wrongdoing, versus productive, as in the case of other previously examined behaviors such as research and development [R&D] investment, diversification, or internationalization. Our analyses, based on 17,022 observations from a sample of 1,900 publicly traded U.S. firms from 1999 to 2016, provide robust e...

European Management Review, 2015

This paper develops a model that can contribute to the detection of legally registered firms defined as Mafia firms (LMFs) due to having been confiscated by judicial authorities, in relation to alleged connections of their owners with Italian organized crime. The model correctly classifies 76.41% of firms within a matched sample of 852 firm-years including LMFs and lawful firms. Furthermore, we present an analysis of financial statement characteristics of singular private firms which are socially irresponsible by nature and whose incentives, modus operandi and legal financial statement formats differ from those of listed companies. In particular, we show that specific accruals and earnings management proxies may provide more insight into accounting manipulation patterns of LMFs. More importantly, our paper can help practitioners and regulators identify accounting signals that can be used in risk assessment models or in the detection of criminal infiltrations and related illicit practices.

Future Business Journal

This paper aims at investigating the effect of board of directors attributes on real earnings management (REM). A panel data of 78 Egyptian listed companies was collected over the period 2008–2017 to test the hypotheses. The results of the system generalized method of moment model revealed that the board size is negatively and significantly correlated with REM proxies, except for abnormal cash flows from operations (ABCFO) measure. Whereas, board meetings are positively and significantly related to REM except for ABCFO. Furthermore, board independence and chief executive officer duality provided varying results due to different REM proxies that have been used in this paper. The results of this study highlight the fact that there is no unified corporate governance (CG) system that fits all countries; therefore, each country should form its CG code in a way that takes into consideration its economic, political, legal, and institutional needs. Furthermore, regulators have the motivatio...

PLOS ONE, 2022

The study examined the relationship between ownership structure and financial performance of commercial banks in Kenya for the period 2009-2020. The data were collected from audited financial statements of 39 commercial banks in Kenya. Regression results found strong evidence on ownership structures in explaining the differences in commercial banks' financial performance. The results established that the greatest influence of ownership structures was on net interest margin at 53.04% and return on assets at 31.37%. Influence of ownership structures was found to be low on return on equity at 3.32% and earnings per share at 2.13%. The results found a negative association between state ownership and net interest margin, negative association between management ownership and both net interest margin and earnings per share, negative association between institutional ownership and return on assets and a negative association between foreign ownership and earnings per share. Based on the findings, commercial banks should vary their ownership structures to boost financial performance. Secondly, banks with high percentage of state ownership should consider partial privatization to improve corporate governance practices. Third, banks should adopt managerial ownership policy limiting the proportion of equity stock on executives to limit their powers in strategic decision making. Fourth, the study proposes a percentage limit on equity stock of an individual institutional investor. Lastly, the study proposes that bank's management to come up with a policy detailing the role and place of foreign investors in strategic decision making to ensure their presence in every decision undertaken by bank managers.

Future Business Journal

This paper analyzes the nonlinear relationship between corporate ownership structure and income manipulation through accrual-based earnings management in the Egyptian context. To do so, we develop a sample of 78 listed non-financial firms, covering the period 2008–2017. Using the dynamic panel threshold analysis approach (Seo and Shin in J Econom 195: 169–186, 2016), we found a nonlinear relationship between ownership structure and earnings manipulations. This proves the presence of an optimal ownership structure threshold below which the ownership structure generates an entrenchment effect on earnings management. However, above this threshold, the ownership structure has an alignment effect. Certainly, these results confirm the theoretical predictions in relation to managerial ownership, governmental ownership, and earnings management (agency, political and development theories, respectively). These results yield important policy implications. It is recommended to set an optimal th...

Open Journal of Accounting

The aim of this study is to examine whether the level of firm ownership (i.e., institutional, foreign, family, and government) is associated with firm's tax planning practices. Using a sample of public companies in the IDX during the period of 2014 to 2019, and by utilizing the least square dummy variable (LSDV) regression model, this study found that as the level of family ownership, foreign ownership, and government ownership increases, companies will be less likely to engage in tax planning practices which are measured by the effective tax rate. On the other hand, the level of institutional ownership shows no significant relation to tax planning practices. The results of this study provide insight into the relationship between the level of public firm ownerships in Indonesia and tax planning practices.