The value relevance of deferred tax attributed to asset revaluations

Our study focuses on the incremental value relevance of the balance sheet relative to the income statement approach to deferred tax accounting and whether such value relevance is attributable to firms being required to report the deferred tax consequences of asset revaluations. Our results suggest that the increment to deferred tax balances upon adopting the balance sheet approach has value relevance, with such value relevance driven by the deferred taxes on certain asset revaluations (specifically, property, plant and equipment, and equity-accounted investments). We interpret our results as reflecting investors’ preference for the balance sheet approach to deferred tax accounting and their view that deferred taxes on asset revaluations are real liabilities.     

Personal Taxation in Firm Market Valuation: Theory and Test*

In this paper, I extend Ohlson's 1995 firm market valuation model to incorporate personal taxes: the taxes on dividends and the taxes on capital gains. Without personal taxes, firm market value can be expressed as the present value of future benefits received by the shareholders (dividends, in this case). With personal taxes, the benefits received by the shareholders should be classified into three categories (due to their different tax treatments): dividends, share repurchases, and new share issues (i.e., contributed capital). The extended model shows the effects of personal taxation on firm market valuation: retained earnings are valued less than contributed stocks, both dividends taxes and capital gains taxes affect retained earnings valuation and firm market value, and firms choose cash distribution methods (paying dividends and repurchasing shares) to increase their retained earnings valuation, therefore increasing their market value. An empirical test using a sample from the Disclosure Select Canada and Financial Post Card data bases for the years 1995‐98 supports these personal tax effects.     

Dividend Taxes and Share Prices: Evidence from Real Estate Investment Trusts

Prior empirical evidence regarding the impact of dividend taxes on firm valuation is mixed. This study avoids some of the complications encountered in previous empirical work by exploiting institutional characteristics of REITs, such as their limited discretion over dividend policy and the relative transparency of REIT assets. We regress the market value of equity on the market value of assets and tax basis, which creates tax deductions that lower future dividend taxes without affecting future pretax cash flow. We find that firm value is positively related to tax basis, suggesting that future dividend taxes are capitalized into share prices.     

Comprehensive versus partial deferred tax liabilities and equity market values

This study investigates the value relevance of the deferred tax liability recognized using comprehensive versus partial allocation. Our research examines New Zealand firms who, prior to the introduction of International Financial Reporting Standards, were free to choose between comprehensive and partial allocation. We test the joint hypothesis that the partial, as opposed to comprehensive, deferred tax liability is relevant for equity valuation and is sufficiently reliable to be reflected in investors’ valuation assessments. Our results are consistent with this prediction.     

The ability of deferred tax to predict future tax

We examine the usefulness of tax allocation accounting (deferred tax) for predicting future tax paid and future tax expense. Deferred taxes increase the explanatory power (R²) of regression models where future taxes paid or future tax expense is the dependent variable. However, the mean out‐of‐sample forecast errors for tax paid (future tax expense) is 30 (45.5) percent. Deferred tax increases predictive ability on pooled data, but is inconsistent on a year‐by‐year basis. We examine three explanations for poor predictive ability: losses, tax changes and asset growth. We discuss the policy and practical implications of our findings.     

Valuation of tax expense

As tax expense reflects value lost to taxes paid, it should be negatively associated with value, provided nontax, value-relevant information is controlled for. However, valuation regressions estimated in prior research—using contemporaneous tax expense and nontax variables—document substantial variation in the coefficients on tax expense, ranging from significant negative to significant positive values. We show this variation is (a) caused by the omission of expected future profitability, and (b) explained by many factors that cause variation in the correlations among included variables and omitted future profitability. Unfortunately, difficulties associated with separating the impact of individual factors hampers tax research investigating determinants of the value relevance of tax expense.     

Industry upheaval and valuation: Empirical evidence from the international oil and gas industry

Accounting literature suggests that contemporaneous earnings are more useful than current operating cash flow in predicting future cash flows and, therefore, also more relevant for company valuation. However, recent research indicates that elevated levels of merger and acquisition activity or a changing economic environment may reduce the value relevance of earnings. Using the oil and gas industry as a case, this paper examines how the oil industry upheaval in the late 1990s influenced the value relevance of financial statement information. We extend the literature by testing for a structural shift in the equity market valuation process. Our results provide evidence of a structural break in the value relevance of accounting information. In contrast to prior research, we find that the value relevance of cash flows actually decreased in the recent oil industry upheaval. On the other hand, the value relevance of book equity increased. Furthermore, we find that accounting-method choice (full cost versus successful efforts) affects the value relevance of accounting information.     

The Financial Crisis and the Value‐relevance of Recognised Deferred Tax Assets

The objective of this study is to consider if the value‐relevance of recognised deferred tax assets, which often represent unused tax losses, was affected by the financial crisis. A regression analysis of a sample of Australian and United Kingdom firms reveals that the value‐relevance of recognised deferred tax assets was affected by the financial crisis. However, the impact of the financial crisis differed between the sample countries. The study shows that a plausible explanation for this difference might be found in the tax law of the two countries. Findings of this paper will be of interest to regulators and standard setters, as they highlight how interaction between accounting requirements and tax law affects the relevance of accounting and tax information.     

Creating a Bigger Bath Using the Deferred Tax Valuation Allowance

Abstract:  The provisions of SFAS No. 109 allow US companies to make an earnings big bath even bigger through the establishment of a deferred tax valuation allowance. At the time a firm recognizes a non-cash charge, it also recognizes a deferred tax asset to represent the future tax benefits of the charge. Recognition of the deferred tax asset partially mitigates the negative earnings impact of the special charge. However, if the firm does not expect to have sufficient future taxable income to utilize the future tax benefits of the charge, SFAS No. 109 requires the firm to establish a deferred tax valuation allowance, effectively eliminating the recognized deferred tax asset. Thus, the establishment of the valuation allowance amplifies the negative earnings impact of the non-cash charge. We use a valuation allowance prediction model to identify firms that create a larger-than-expected valuation allowance; these firms may be creating a large valuation allowance as a reserve to be used to manage earnings in a subsequent period. We find that the vast majority of these larger-than-expected valuation allowances apparently reflect informed management pessimism about the future in that these firms actually do have poorer operating performance in subsequent periods. We do not find any evidence that subsequent reversals of valuation allowances are used to turn a loss into a profit. However, we do find a very small number of firms that appear to have used a valuation allowance reversal to meet or beat the mean analyst forecast.     

Market's perception of deferred tax accruals

This study investigates the value relevance and incremental information content of deferred tax accruals reported under the ‘income statement method’ (AASB 1020 Accounting for Income Taxes) over the period 2001–2004. Our findings suggest that deferred tax accruals are viewed as assets and liabilities. We document a positive relation between recognized deferred tax assets and firm value using the levels model, while the results from the returns model suggest that deferred tax liabilities reflect future tax payments. The balance of unrecognized deferred tax assets provides a negative signal to the market about future profitability, particularly for companies from the materials and energy sectors and loss‐makers.     

Deferred taxes,earnings management,and corporate governance: Malaysian evidence

This study examines whether Malaysian public listed companies (PLCs) use deferred taxes to avoid an earnings decline. In addition, this study also examines whether corporate governance mechanisms attenuate the extent to which deferred taxes are used to manage earnings. Using a sample of 221 PLCs listed on the main and second boards of Bursa Malaysia in 2008 with a complete set of data available from 2005 to 2008, this study finds that Malaysian PLCs use both the accrual and valuation allowance components of net deferred tax liabilities to avoid a decline in earnings. The study also finds that ownership structure and board structure affect the extent to which earnings management is associated with a deferred tax component.     

Discounting and the Treatment of Taxes in Impairment Reviews

Abstract:  IAS 36 requires an asset's recoverable amount to be measured by discounting its pre-tax rather than post-tax cash flows. Although defined so as to produce the same value, the pre-tax approach is claimed to be simpler and more reliable. The paper demonstrates that an appropriate pre-tax discount rate varies between assets with different tax depreciation schedules and that it changes over time. Hence, pre-tax discounting is likely to become complex. The paper advocates an amendment of the standard such that value in use is measured by company-specific after-tax cash flows, and such that deferred taxes are included in the impairment review.     

Impact of foreign operations on reported effective tax rates: interplay of foreign taxes, U.S. taxes and U.S. GAAP

Effective tax rates can have a significant effect on a firm’s cash flows and reported earnings. As the operations of U.S. companies become increasingly global in scope, an important issue is how their foreign operations impact their effective tax rates, and, in turn, their reported earnings. This study describes how foreign taxes, U.S. taxes, and U.S. accounting principles interact to determine the impact of foreign operations on a firm’s effective tax rate. This analysis will assist users of financial statements in assessing the quality of earnings, making interfirm comparisons, evaluating the performance of management, judging the risks of additional tax assessments, and predicting future effective tax rates.     

Payout Policy Relevance and Accounting‐based Valuation

DeAngelo and DeAngelo (2006) (D&D) argue ‘payout policy is not irrelevant and investment is not the sole determinant of value, even in frictionless markets’. Consistent with this view, we argue that the concept of a perfect capital market in Miller and Modigliani (1961) (M&M) and Fama and Miller (1972) can be extended to allow for managerial moral hazard if managers are assumed not to participate in securities trading. An updated version of the M&M valuation model is presented and the possibility of managerial free cash flow (FCF) retention through operating expense manipulation and sub‐optimal investment policies is discussed. Our analysis supports D&D's argument that payout policy is relevant and indicates that value relevance of payout depends on the quality of earnings measurement and the optimality of investment policy. Following this, we develop a framework for analyzing valuation and informational roles of payout in accounting‐based valuation models and apply this framework to the Ohlson (1995) and Feltham and Ohlson (1996) models. This analysis shows how these models permit payout valuation relevance due to managerial FCF retention but not payout informational relevance. Finally, we consider how the Feltham and Ohlson (1996) model can be extended to incorporate time variation in expected profitability of capital investment caused by time variation in managerial FCF retention activities and show that this explicitly affects payout value relevance. We conclude that the development of models where payout plays an explicit valuation role due to issues of moral hazard is an important direction for future research.     

Effects of tax reform on drop-off ratios and on the ex-dividend and ex-right prices

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the integrated tax system introduced in Taiwan on the valuation of dividends. Based on Elton and Gruber??s (Rev Econ Stat 52:68?C74, 1970) model, the ratio of ex-day price drop to cash dividend per share (i.e., the drop-off ratio) should reflect the relative taxes on dividends and capital gains. In Taiwan, the suspension of capital gains taxes, the coexistence of taxable and non-taxable stock dividends, and the change in tick sizes allow us to control for the influences of non-tax factors on drop-off ratios. In this paper, we find significant increases in drop-off ratios for both cash dividends and taxable stock dividends after Taiwan??s tax reform (in 1998), while we find no significant changes in drop-off ratios for non-taxable stock dividends. These results provide further evidence to support the argument that tax affects the valuation of firms.     

Beta Geared and Ungeared: Further Analysis of the Case of Active Debt Management

This paper extends previous work by Appleyard and Strong (1989) concerned with the implications of an active debt management policy (ADMP) for de-gearing a geared firm's equity beta. First, alternative derivations of the ADMP beta de-gearing formulae for an MM perfect capital market with corporation tax and for a world with corporation and personal taxes are presented. These derivations do not require the assumption of level perpetuity expected cash flows and therefore indicate a broader basis for the ADMP beta de-gearing formulae than previously demonstrated. Secondly, possible investor valuation errors from use of a PDMP (passive debt management policy) valuation methodology to value firms pursuing an ADMP are analysed in the context of an MM perfect capital market with corporation tax. Given constant (or zero) growth in the firm's expected unlevered cash flows, this analysis indicates that degearing errors from use of the PDMP beta de-gearing formula will only be associated with valuation errors if there is a change in the firm's target debt ratio and that the significance of such valuation errors will be largely dependent on the expected growth rate.     

The Usefulness of Book-to-Market and ROE Expectations for Explaining UK Stock Returns

Abstract:  The fundamental valuation perspective on stock returns suggests that book-to-market will be positively related to returns if market value of equity equals future expected cash flows discounted at the expected return and book value proxies for future cash flows. Building on this perspective, we develop a log linear model which includes expectations of future BM and ROE in addition to current BM as explanatory variables for future stock returns. We show that these three variables explain a significant part of UK cross-sectional stock returns and that they remain highly statistically significant after including additional risk proxy variables. This supports relevance of fundamental valuation based firm characteristics for explaining stock returns and indicates their potential usefulness for predicting future stock returns.     

Discussion of ‘Making Deferred Taxes Relevant’

Abstract

In this discussion of Brouwer and Naarding's article ‘Making Deferred Taxes Relevant’, which is published in this issue of Accounting in Europe, I question several aspects of their proposal to change the tax accounting standard. I argue that a quest for more value relevance of individual balance sheet items is not a good guideline for accounting standard setting. The distinction between book-first and tax-first temporary differences may be helpful for some analytical purposes, but it is not sufficiently robust to serve as a basis for an accounting standard. However, I agree with the authors that the efforts to improve IAS 12 should not be abandoned.     

The Aggregation and Valuation of Deferred Taxes

Review of Accounting Studies - This paper clarifies some of the conflicting arguments about the value relevance of deferred taxes. We address two questions. First, does accounting aggregation hold,...     

Cost of capital equations under the Australian imputation tax system

Since the introduction of the Australian imputation tax system, there have been problems both in the measurement of the market value of franking (imputation tax) credits and in their application to estimating cash flows and the cost of capital. In the present paper, we provide a convenient and robust resolution to the above problems in the context of an internally consistent set of equations for the cost of capital, asset valuation and the capital asset pricing model (CAPM). The equations apply under both classical and imputation tax systems and under differential taxation of dividends, capital gains and interest. The simple form of the CAPM presented here is shown to encompass more complex versions of the CAPM, which attempt to accommodate the effect of personal taxes. The valuation equations require an estimate of the market value of $1 of the firm's dividends, within which is embedded the market value of the imputation tax credits. Separate estimates of the value of imputation tax credits, or Officer's gamma factor, are not required.