Work Ethic, Employment Contracts, and Firm Value

We analyze how the work ethic of managers impacts a firm's employment contracts, riskiness, growth potential, and organizational structure. Flat contracts are optimal for diligent managers because they reduce risk-sharing costs, but they attract egoistic agents who shirk and unskilled agents who add no value. Stable, bureaucratic firms with low growth potential are more likely to gain value from managerial diligence. Firms that hire from a virtuous pool of agents are more conservative in their investments and have a horizontal corporate structure. Our theory also yields several testable implications that distinguish it from standard agency models.     

Firm Value,Information Problems and the Internal Capital Market

We examine how information problems between the firm and the investor affect the value of an internal capital market. While the extant literature finds that, on average, the diversified firm's access to an internal capital market is positively related to firm value, this paper finds that the results hold only for firms which face low levels of information problems. Firms facing the high levels of information problems realize no value from internal capital market access, consistent with the Jensen Free Cash Flow hypothesis. When information problems are large, agency costs dominate any savings that result from using an internal capital market to avoid selling under-priced securities in the external capital markets.     

Strategic Decision Making of the Firm Under Asymmetric Information

This paper develops a simple signaling model whereby high valuation firm uses levels of investment, debt and dividends to convey information to the market regarding its valuation. Conditions are determined under which investment, debt and dividends are employed in a separating Nash equilibrium. Unlike many other signaling models where the source of asymmetric information concerns only the mean of the firms' cash flow, our model allows for two sources of asymmetric information: the mean and the variance of the cash flow. This paper finds that the choice of signals depends on the relative importance of these two sources of informational asymmetry. For example, we show that high valued firms signal their values by decreasing their debt if the source of asymmetric information is mainly driven by the variance of the cash flows. This latter result differs from the debt signaling models found in the literature. The findings of this paper are consistent with extensive empirical evidence.     

Corporate Social Responsibility,Tax Aggressiveness,and Firm Market Value

This paper examines the relationship of corporate social responsibility (CSR), tax aggressiveness, and firm market value. An economic model has been developed to show that profit‐maximization firms are willing to incur additional costs in CSR, such as paying more taxes, as long as they can differentiate their products from non‐CSR firms, and that socially conscious consumers will buy products from CSR firms at prices higher than those of non‐CSR firms. The empirical study in this paper indicates that the higher the CSR ranking of a firm, the less likely a firm is to engage in tax aggressiveness. It also indicates that a reputation of higher CSR will enhance firm market value. Using Canadian companies listed in the S&P/TSX 60 index, I find that both firms’ five‐year effective tax rates and annual effective tax rates are positively associated with their overall CSR scores as well as with their social scores. Firms’ five‐year effective tax rates are also positively associated with their governance index. I also find that firms’ overall CSR ranking and governance scores are positively associated with their market value.     

IPO Underpricing, Firm Quality, and Analyst Forecasts

We find that IPO underpricing is positively related to post-IPO growth in sales and EBITDA, but is not significantly related to growth in earnings. Our evidence suggests that accrual reversals or earnings management may cause this inconsistency. We interpret the growth rates of sales and EBITDA as measures of firm quality, and conclude that our evidence supports the notion that IPO firms with greater underpricing are of better quality. Our tests on analysts' earnings forecast errors show that analysts are less positively biased in their earnings forecasts for IPO firms that have greater underpricing.     

预算报告编制参与、调整及其决策价值

预算报告作为管理会计报告的一个重要组成部分,被广泛运用于企业的经营管理。为探究预算报告决策价值的影响因素及其作用机理,我们深入企业调查预算报告运用现状和效果,并通过问卷调查形式获得第一手数据。本文基于179个问卷样本,采用因子分析等统计方法研究预算报告编制参与、预算调整对预算报告决策价值的影响。研究结果表明,较高的参与度以及适时的调整可以有效地改善预算报告的决策价值,且在发生调整时引入参与这一因素可以进一步提高预算报告的决策价值。     

投资者情绪、资产证券化与公允价值信息含量——来自A股市场PE公司IPO核准公告的经验证据

本文基于我国企业会计准则国际趋同背景,综合运用价值相关性理论和投资者情绪理论,以2007-2011年持有PE公司股权的A股上市公司为样本,实证检验PE公司IPO核准公告的信息含量和IPO公允价值的价值相关性。研究发现,IPO核准公告具有显著的信息含量,而且与IPO公允价值显著正相关。同时,投资者情绪对IPO核准公告和IPO公允价值之价值相关性有显著的正向影响。但是,机构投资者对IPO核准公告信息含量的影响并不显著。本文的研究结论对我国全面引入国际趋同的公允价值计量规范之经济后果评估,以及投资者情绪和机构投资者在传递市场有效信息中的作用,具有重要的政策参考意义。     

Cross-Subsidies, External Financing Constraints, and the Contribution of the Internal Capital Market to Firm Value

We examine the link between the excess value of a diversifiedfirm and the value of its internal capital market. Subsidiesto small financially constrained segments with good relativeinvestment opportunities significantly increase excess value,while transfers of resources from segments with good relativeinvestment opportunities significantly decrease excess value.Of interest is that subsidies to small financially constrainedsegments with poor relative investment opportunities also significantlyincrease excess value. However, there is little evidence thatthis result depends on the diversity of a firm's investmentopportunities. We conclude that financing constraints drivethe relationship between the internal capital market and firmvalue.     

大洋彼岸,零度以下

盛夏,美国资本市场的中国概念股却经受着寒冰暴雪。从信任危机发展到生存危机,从个案诉讼发展到全面围猎,而嘉汉林业与"浑水"的交战,更表明诉讼浪潮已漫延至其他海外市场上市的中国企业。全世界都在追问原因,但对于CFO来说,如何行动,才应是思考的重点。     

全流通IPO应废除市值配售

市值配售是我国证券市场特定历史时期的产物,带有浓厚的行政干预色彩.市值配售不仅没有达到原定的政策目标,而且也阻碍了资本市场按照市场原则配置资源,不符合证券市场发展方向.在股权分置改革完成后的全流通IPO中,必须废除市值配售方式,以体现证券市场的公正,提高证券市场的效率.     

Diversification,Organization, and Value of the Firm

Because corporate diversification coevolves with organizational structure, a discount for diversification, which is widely documented in the literature, can be caused by organizational structure rather than by the industrial scope of the firm. I examine this possibility based on a large sample of Japanese firms for which the legal (parent–subsidiary) structure of the organization is easily observable. I identify a significant discount for diversified firms with and without control over the organizational structure. I also find that firms with a legally segmented structure (e.g., holding companies) are deeply discounted. My results suggest that diversification and organization are both important determinants of firm value.     

反倾销调查和反补贴调查应对措施的有效性研究

本文以2006年至2012年间发布反倾销或反补贴公告的我国上市企业为样本,从企业事前的防范措施、事后的处理方法以及过程中政府的作用三个方面,运用事件研究法对反倾销调查和反补贴调查应对措施的有效性进行了研究。结果表明,反倾销或反补贴调查公告对企业市场价值产生了显著的负面影响,而海外设立工厂和政府补助对累计异常收益有显著正向作用。这说明在应对贸易救济调查时,需要企业能够实现事前的防范性战略转型,同时也需要政府的大力帮扶和适当介入来最大限度减小贸易救济调查给企业经营带来的不利影响。     

Taxes, Financing Decisions, and Firm Value

We use cross-sectional regressions to study how a firm's value is related to dividends and debt. With a good control for profitability, the regressions can measure how the taxation of dividends and debt affects firm value. Simple tax hypotheses say that value is negatively related to dividends and positively related to debt. We find the opposite. We infer that dividends and debt convey information about profitability (expected net cash flows) missed by a wide range of control variables. This information about profitability obscures any tax effects of financing decisions.     

Auditor Fees, Market Microstructure, and Firm Transparency

Abstract:  Auditors, as corporate insiders, have access to private information regarding the firm's financial and business opacity that is unavailable to outside investors. We test whether auditors price their knowledge of firm opacity in their audit fees by examining two competing hypotheses. The first states that higher audit fees may reflect the greater risk that the auditor faces in auditing an opaque firm. Under this hypothesis, market based measures of opacity will be positively correlated with higher fees. The second hypothesis states that firms buy reputational capital from their auditor by paying high fees in an attempt to improve the market's perception of the firm's transparency. In this case, higher audit fees are negatively correlated with market based measures of opacity. Our results are consistent with the first hypothesis, that auditors price opacity risk into their fees.     

超募融资、管理层权力与私有收益——基于IPO市场的经验证据

超募融资是关系到资本市场资源配置效率的重要问题,一直受到社会公众和监管部门的深切关注。以我国IPO超募融资为背景,结合管理层权力理论,本文探讨了IPO超募对高管私有收益的影响。以2006-2011年上市公司为样本,本文研究发现:(1)整体上,超募融资的上市公司其高管获得更高的货币性和非货币性私有收益;(2)区分产权性质,这一现象在国有企业和非国有企业中均显著存在;(3)结合管理层权力分析,管理层权力的增大有助于高管获取高额的货币性和非货币性私有收益,但这一关系主要存在于非国有企业;(4)市场对超募公司为高管发放超额货币性私有收益的行为,给予了负面的反应,而对于发放超额非货币性私有收益的行为没有显著反应。本文的发现拓展了超募融资、管理层权力经济后果的相关研究,并为超募融资效率的监管提供了一定的启示。     

企业负债率、研发投资强度与企业价值

选取2003—2010年沪深A股上市公司R＆D数据,研究R＆D投入与上市公司债务融资的相关性和R＆D投入与上市公司市场价值关联性。实证研究发现：企业的负债率越高,其研发投入越少,非国有控股上市公司所面临的债务融资约束更大;企业的研发投入对公司价值具有正向影响,并且这种影响会因企业负债水平的高低而不同。在模型中进一步加入RDI＊D负债水平交叉项后发现,相对于负债水平较低的企业,负债水平较高企业的研发投入对公司价值的正向影响是减弱的,对于非国有控股上市公司,这种减弱效应更为显著。     

Getting Out Early: An Analysis of Market Making Activity at the Recommending Analyst's Firm

This paper examines trading volume for Nasdaq market makers around analyst recommendation changes issued by an analyst at the same firm. Using Nasdaq PostData, we find a disproportionate increase in market making volume associated with the firm's recommendation changes and evidence of elevated sell volume at the recommending analyst's firm in the 2 days preceding a downgrade. The implications are that the information source matters in determining the placement of trades and that the issuing analyst's firm appears to be rewarded for prereleasing information through increased volume. These findings constitute new evidence of compensation for research production through the market making channel.     

Global Diversification, Industrial Diversification, and Firm Value

Using a sample of 44,288 firm–years between 1984 and 1997, we document an increase in the extent of global diversification over time. This trend does not reflect a substitution of global for industrial diversification. We also find that global diversification results in average valuation discounts of approximately the same magnitude as those for industrial diversification. Analysis of the changes in excess value associated with changes in diversification reveals that increases in global diversification reduce excess value, while reductions in global diversification increase excess value. These findings support the view that the costs of global diversification outweigh the benefits.     

Value, Survival, and the Evolution of Firm Organizational Structure

We examine corporate product diversification as a dynamic process. Consistent with prior research, we find that the average diversification discount is about 8% when using the standard value-multiple approach. However, we find that a significant portion of the diversification discount arises from benchmark comparisons of value ratios of mature firms with those of very young firms that are more likely to have high value multiples. The magnitude of the diversification discount falls by 15% to 30% when we control for firm age. We also show that diversification reduces the mortality rate of firms, and we provide evidence that mature firms pursue diversification strategies partly as a means to exit stagnant business segments for industries that are more highly valued.