Connected transactions and firm value: Evidence from China-affiliated companies

This paper investigates tunneling through related-party transactions (RPT) using a unique dataset of listed Chinese companies in Hong Kong. While prior findings suggest that investors do not seem to systematically discount tunneling firms, we find that firm value (Tobin's q and market-to-book value) is significantly lower for firms undertaking potentially expropriating transactions. In addition, cumulative abnormal returns (CAR) are lower for RPTs with disclosure exemptions and are negatively related to some RPT types. Our results suggest that firms tunnel using RPTs with disclosure exemptions and that disclosure requirements matter for RPTs. These RPTs could signal firms' corporate-governance quality, as investors substantially discount firms that undertake potentially expropriating transactions.     

Related party transactions and firm value: The moderating role of corporate social responsibility reporting

This study investigates the influence of related party transactions (RPTs) on firm value. Further, it examines whether a firm’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting reflects its corporate values and ethical concerns, therefore mitigating the value-destroying effects of RPTs. Based on 274 observations from publicly listed firms in Indonesia, our results show that RPTs (i.e., related party sales) are negatively related to firm value. Further, we find that in the presence of better CSR reporting, the relationship between RPTs and firm value becomes more positive. This is in line with the view that CSR reporting, which reflects firms’ ethical concerns, may serve as a mechanism against managers’ opportunism. However, we find that related party payables have a positive relationship with firm value. Further investigation reveals that, although certain RPTs show a short-term, value-enhancing effect, these transactions seem to result in subsequent tunneling activities, suggesting managerial opportunism in the long term.     

Related-party transactions and corporate governance: The evidence from the Taiwan stock market

In this study we explore how corporate governance affects the level of related-party transactions (RPTs) and how it moderates the motives of using RPTs in Taiwan, an ownership-concentrated economy. The empirical results show that good corporate governance is effective in constraining RPTs with the negative relation being sustainable across different measures of RPTs (raw, residual and industry-adjusted RPTs) and across different types of RPTs (related sales, lending and guarantee, and related borrowings). The propping-up hypothesis indicates that the level of related sales is positively correlated with the condition that firms plan to issue seasoned equity next period and the condition of a decrease in the reported earnings. The internal capital market hypothesis indicates that the level of related lending and guarantee (related borrowing) is negatively (positively) correlated with the condition of an increase in capital expenditure and an increase in net working capital. The empirical results lend partial support to the two hypotheses. More importantly, we find that corporate governance moderates the relation between the motives and the level of RPTs.     

Relationship Networks and Earnings Informativeness: Evidence from Corruption Cases

The measurement difficulties arising from relationship‐based business transactions can result in accounting opacity. We test this hypothesis by exploiting a natural experiment. Using a sample of firms that were networked with 45 high‐level Chinese bureaucrats involved in corruption scandals between 1996 and 2007, we examine the patterns in the earnings informativeness of these firms before and after the exogenous break of the networks. We predict that the costs and benefits of business‐politics relationships, which are not measurable by the current accounting systems, diminish the ability of accounting earnings to track a firm's economic performance. In turn, a break in a political relationship due to anti‐corruption enforcement reduces the measurement noise and improves the earnings informativeness. We find that, relative to the matched control firms, there is indeed a significant increase in the earnings informativeness of the networked firms following the public exposure of a scandal. Robustness tests fail to show that the documented improvement in the earnings informativeness is primarily due to systematic changes in the firms’ earnings management behavior or disclosure policies.     

Tunneling as an incentive for earnings management during the IPO process in China

Using a sample of 185 Chinese IPO firms listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange during the period 1999–2001, we show that related-party (RP) sales of goods and services could be used opportunistically to manage earnings upwards in the pre-IPO period. We also provide evidence that such behavior may be motivated by the prospect of tunneling opportunities in the post-IPO period, i.e., exploiting economic resources from minority shareholders for the benefit of the parent company. We provide evidence of one such opportunistic tunneling tool: non-repayment by Chinese parent companies of net outstanding corporate loans made to them by their newly listed subsidiaries. Furthermore, we provide evidence in support of our assertion of an association between such tunneling behavior in the post-IPO period and earnings management via abnormal RP sales in the pre-IPO period. Finally, we demonstrate the apparent failure of investors in Chinese IPOs to perceive the link between the two phenomena. The results enhance understanding of the motives for and consequences of earnings manipulation during the IPO process. They highlight a potential additional investment risk facing foreign investors in China’s capital markets as well as in Chinese firms cross-listed in non-Chinese stock exchanges, and have policy implications for China and other emerging markets which need to improve the protection of minority shareholders’ rights.     

Brand royalty flows within large business groups: The effect of holding company structure and related party transactions committees

This study investigates the intragroup flows of brand royalties within large Korean business groups, known as chaebols. We find that member firms pay a greater amount of brand royalties when the business groups they are part of adopt a holding company governance structure, consistent with the bitter denunciation that chaebols transfer wealth from member firms to holding companies over which they have direct control. However, member firms pay a smaller amount of brand royalties when their related-party transactions (RPTs) are monitored by a designated RPT committee on the board of directors. The results show that monitoring RPTs is effective in mitigating the alleged unethical wealth transfer through excessive brand royalties within large business groups. Our study adds to the literature on RPTs by shedding new light on brand royalty, specifically by illustrating how intragroup brand royalties are determined and charged to member firms, and by introducing the RPT committees as a new internal governance mechanism to discourage abusive RPTs.     

Cross‐Firm Real Earnings Management

Our analysis is rooted in the notion that stockholders can learn about the fundamental value of any firm from observing the earnings reports of its rivals. We argue that such intraindustry information transfers, which have been broadly documented in the empirical literature, may motivate managers to alter stockholders’ beliefs about the value of their firm not only by manipulating their own earnings report but also by influencing the earnings reports of rival firms. Managers obviously do not have access to the accounting system of peer firms, but they can nevertheless influence the earnings reports of rival firms by distorting real transactions that relate to the product market competition. We demonstrate such managerial behavior, which we refer to as cross‐firm real earnings management, and explore its potential consequences and interrelation with the practice of accounting‐based earnings management within an industry setting with imperfect (nonproprietary) accounting information.     

The Timing of Asset Sales: Evidence of Earnings Management?

This paper presents empirical evidence from a sample of publicly traded Singaporean firms on the question: to what extent do firms manage earnings through the timing of asset sales? Previous studies have focused on accounting motives behind asset sales, ignoring the need to also consider economic motives. Some empirical evidence is provided to support the hypothesis that managers of firms with decreasing net earnings–per–share smooth earnings upwards using asset sales.     

Valuation Effects for Asset Sales

This study provides evidence that the outcome for shareholders resulting from asset sales is determined at the time of transaction by the value for the asset sold. Assets sold above market value are followed by positive and significant abnormal returns over the following three months; these returns are magnified in firms where the balance of power in corporate governance favors shareholders. Abnormal returns following undervalued asset sales are insignificant from zero, indicating value-preservation. Value-preservation when the assets are sold below market value becomes less likely as firms approach financial constraints. The reverse is true when assets are sold above market value. This evidence is documented for apartment REITs, which have a large number of comparable transactions available for estimating expected market values.     

Not All Related Party Transactions (RPTs) Are the Same: Ex Ante Versus Ex Post RPTs

Related party transactions (RPTs) are potential means for insiders to expropriate outside shareholders via self‐dealing. There are, however, possible benefits to these arrangements for outside shareholders. We find that the overall volume of disclosed RPTs is generally not significantly associated with shareholder wealth as measured by operating profitability or Tobin's Q. However, the results for total RPT volume obscure that ex ante RPTs, transactions that predate a counterparty becoming a related party, are innocuous at worst in terms of their association with operating profitability and significantly positively associated with Tobin's Q whereas ex post RPTs, transactions initiated after a counterparty becomes a related party, are significantly negatively associated with operating profitability. Ex post RPTs also result in significant share price declines when first disclosed and are associated with an increased likelihood that a firm will enter financial distress or deregister its securities. These results are consistent with ex post RPTs serving as means for insiders to expropriate outside shareholders.     

Related Party Transactions,Corporate Governance and CEO Compensation

Examining the years 2001–2012, we document a decrease in reported CEO related party transactions (RPTs) and an increase in reported outside director RPTs, with the largest change occurring around the 2006 Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) RPT disclosure changes. Our analysis of the determinants of RPTs and their association with CEO compensation also shows an impact of the SEC disclosure change, as we find support for the weak governance hypothesis in the pre‐2006 period and some support for the efficient contracting hypothesis post‐2005. While our results vary by model, pre‐2006, consistent with weak governance we find that outside director RPTs are positively associated with CEO compensation, with our estimates of the impact ranging from 8 to 18% depending on the model. In the post‐2005 period, this result dissipates, and we find some evidence consistent with the efficient contracting hypothesis. Overall we find that the SEC RPT disclosure change appears to have had a significant impact on reported RPTs, the determinants of those RPTs, and the impact of those RPTs on CEO compensation.     

关联交易对企业价值的影响——基于中国上市公司的实证研究

关联交易可以降低交易成本和交易风险,提高企业价值,但也可能成为控股股东对上市公司或中小股东进行利益侵占的手段,对企业价值造成负面影响。通过实证分析的方法检验我国A股上市公司关联交易对企业价值的影响,结果显示,在全部关联交易类型中,购买商品、销售商品、资产重组、提供或接受劳务、担保抵押、许可协议、其他计入收入方的交易这7类对企业价值具有负面影响,且关联交易总体的发生也降低了企业价值。为抑制非公允关联交易的发生,建议优化上市公司的股权结构、完善独立董事和监事会制度、完善关联交易的信息披露制度等。     

Does Concentrated Founder Ownership Affect Related Party Transactions? Evidence from an Emerging Economy

This study examines the impact of concentrated founder ownership on related party transactions (RPTs) for Indian firms. We find that concentrated founder ownership is positively related to RPTs and is more likely to encourage RPTs that are beneficial for the minority shareholders. We also observe that RPTs are associated with higher firm value. This relationship is more pronounced for business group firms and firms with more highly concentrated founder ownership. We show that the reputation incentive plays a very important role in founders’ decisions, and they use RPTs as an efficient transaction mechanism.     

The Market for Corporate Assets: Who Engages in Mergers and Asset Sales and Are There Efficiency Gains?

We analyze the market for corporate assets. There is an active market for corporate assets, with close to seven percent of plants changing ownership annually through mergers, acquisitions, and asset sales in peak expansion years. The probability of asset sales and whole-firm transactions is related to firm organization and ex ante efficiency of buyers and sellers. The timing of sales and the pattern of efficiency gains suggests that the transactions that occur, especially through asset sales of plants and divisions, tend to improve the allocation of resources and are consistent with a simple neoclassical model of profit maximizing by firms.     

Understanding accounting discretion in China: An analysis of fair value reporting for investment property

This study sheds light on the discretionary accounting practices in China, the largest emerging market in the world. In particular, we focus on whether Chinese firms use discretion in investment property fair values to manage reported performance. We examine whether firms’ ex ante needs for accounting discretion affect their decisions to adopt fair value reporting for investment property and the ex post performance management by these fair value adopters. Our findings show that the voluntary adoption of fair value reporting for investment property in China remains low. However, the fair value option for investment property is significantly more likely to be chosen by firms with greater needs for accounting discretion. Consistent with the conjecture that firms choose the fair value model to manipulate reported earnings, we show that fair value adopters use the unrealized gains and losses associated with investment properties to smooth earnings and that these firms are also more likely to meet or beat earnings benchmarks after adoption. Overall, our findings indicate that the use of fair value reporting for investment property in the emerging Chinese market is driven by managerial opportunism.     

Security Issue Timing: What Do Managers Know,and When Do They Know It?

We study put option sales on company stock by large firms. An often‐cited motivation for these transactions is market timing, and managers' decision to issue puts should be sensitive to whether the stock is undervalued. We provide new evidence that large firms successfully time security sales. In the 100 days following put option issues, there is roughly a 5% abnormal stock return, with much of the abnormal return following the first earnings release date after the sale. Direct evidence on put option exercises reinforces these findings: exercise frequencies and payoffs to put holders are abnormally low.     

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.     

Longitudinal value relevance of earnings and intangible assets: Evidence from Australian firms

Recent U.S. studies report that earnings value relevance has declined over time. Some authors suggest non-recognition of intangible assets in the U.S. is a major reason for declining earnings value relevance. However, the evidence is mixed on the effect of non-recognition of intangible assets. To examine this conjecture, this paper examines earnings value relevance for Australian firms since Australian GAAP has not prohibited intangible asset recognition. Using a variety of established models and specifications, our results indicate that for the average firm, there is weak evidence of decline in earnings value relevance. However, firms that capitalize intangibles have increasing earnings value relevance. Further, the magnitude of the difference in earnings value relevance between capitalizing firms and non-capitalizing firms is most pronounced in the latter part of the 1990s and this difference is increasing.     

Asset Disposal as a Method of Real Earnings Management: Evidence from the UK

We examine asset sales as a method of real earnings management around the benchmarks of loss avoidance and last year's earnings. Evidence is reported of asset sales to boost or reduce earnings near the benchmark of last year's earnings. For the zero earnings benchmark our results are moderated by the opening balance of accruals: only firms with high levels of accruals use asset sales to boost earnings to avoid a loss and only firms with low levels of accruals use asset sales as part of a big bath. We suggest that firms with high accrual balances find it difficult to use additional income-increasing accruals but find it more convenient to write off accruals rather than sell assets to artificially reduce earnings. International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are associated with reduced use of asset sales for gains and especially with reduced asset sales for losses. We ascribe this to IFRS introducing additional judgement and estimation in relation to the valuation of both long-lived and current assets on a recurring basis.     

Valuation consequences of regulatory changes in revenue recognition: Evidence from advertising barter sales

This study compares the valuation of advertising barter sales recognized under APB Opinion No. 29, relative to transactions recorded under EITF Issue No. 99-17. EITF 99-17 was the FASB's response to the perception that Internet-related firms were overstating revenue. The results indicate an inverse relation between price-to-sales ratios and the amount of advertising barter recorded under APB 29 by e-tailing firms. In contrast, we find no evidence of a discount for similar transactions recognized under EITF 99-17. This change in value relevance is consistent with increased credibility of recorded revenue. These results have implications for revenue recognition practices and accounting regulation.