Is the market valuation of banks’ loan loss provision conditional on auditor reputation?

We examine how auditor reputation conditions the market valuation of banks’ loan loss provision (LLP). The inherent uncertainty associated with and discretion permitted in estimating the LLP contributes to information asymmetry. The auditor’s certification and monitoring roles influence firm value by mitigating this information asymmetry. We examine two aspects of auditor reputation, auditor type (Big 5 vs. non-Big 5) and auditor expertise, in the banking industry. We find a significant, positive association between the discretionary component of LLP and stock return for banks audited by the Big 5 auditors. Further analysis indicates that auditor expertise within banking and not auditor type drives this significant, positive association. Overall, our results are consistent with auditor expertise in the banking industry mitigating information asymmetry between bank managers and investors and enhancing the information conveyed by discretionary loan loss provision.     

Defining inventory control points in multiproduct stochastic pull systems

Multistage pull production systems have been widely implemented in recent years and constitute a significant aspect of lean manufacturing. One of the important considerations in such systems is identifying the control points, i.e. where in the multistage sequence to locate the output buffers. Allowable container/batch sizes, optimal inventory levels, and ability of systems to automatically adjust to stochastic demand depend on the location of these control points yet the issue of optimal location has not been widely addressed. This paper considers a multiproduct pull setting where part types compete with each other for common production resources. In this environment it is important to consider factors such as lead time variability and to include the corresponding queuing aspects into the model. Each workstation is modeled as a GI/G/1 queue. Waiting times spent by parts at workstations are approximated using a decomposition/recomposition algorithm. Necessary and sufficient conditions are provided for the optimality of a single control point. Conditions under which multiple control points are optimal are investigated along with the impact of product mix and utilization parameters on the number of control points. Analytical model results are validated by simulation.     

Is there a relation between audit fee cuts during the global financial crisis and banks’ financial reporting quality?

As a result of the global financial crisis (GFC), several audit clients were able to negotiate lower audit fees for the years 2008 and 2009. However, the PCAOB has expressed concern that lower audit fees might lead to lower audit effort and lower audit quality and financial reporting quality. This study examines the relation between audit fee cuts and banks’ financial reporting quality. Specifically, we focus on earnings management via loan loss provisions (LLP), the relation between current period LLP and future loan charge-offs, i.e., LLP validity, and the timely recognition of loan losses. For banks audited by Big 4 auditors, we find that income-increasing abnormal LLP are decreasing in audit fee cuts and LLP validity is increasing in audit fee cuts. For banks audited by non-Big 4 auditors, LLP validity is higher for banks that received a fee cut of more than 25% relative to other banks audited by non-Big 4 auditors. We do not observe an association between timely loan loss recognition and cuts in audit fees except for banks audited by non-Big 4 auditors and exempt from internal control audits where a fee cut of more than 25% is associated with less timely loan loss recognition. Overall, the findings suggest that Big 4 auditors constrained earnings management via LLP in banks that received cuts in audit fees. Our findings have important implications for regulators, investors, and others.     

Uncertainty and Compensation Design in Strategic Interfirm Contracts

In strategic outsourcing contracts, a substantial portion of implementation occurs at the client's premises and requires integration of effort between the vendor and the client. Compensation design in such contracts involves trade-offs between the higher (lower) incentive properties of fixed-price (cost-plus) contracts and their higher (lower) ex ante contracting and ex post adaptation costs. Uncertainty influences these trade-offs and affects compensation design. We explore the compensation implications of two types of uncertainty—volatility and ambiguity—which are reflected in the client's accounting measures. Volatility reflects the unpredictability of changes in the future environment, which makes it difficult to contractually specify future contingencies. Ambiguity reflects lack of consensus about the nature, drivers, and value effects of uncertainty, which makes it difficult to contractually specify responses to contingencies if and when they occur. Volatility increases the likelihood of ex post adaptation costs, while ambiguity increases ex ante contracting costs; therefore, volatility and ambiguity decrease the attractiveness of fixed-price contracts. We use accounting and market measures to calibrate volatility and ambiguity and examine their implications for compensation design and ex post renegotiation. Analysis of archival data for 455 strategic outsourcing contracts valued over $15 million indicates that volatility and ambiguity influence contract compensation design and renegotiation likelihood. These results hold even after controlling for asset specificity, task complexity, and relational factors. We conclude that accounting measures can provide signals of volatility and ambiguity and thereby influence compensation design in strategic interfirm contracts.     

Strengthening organizational ambidexterity with top management team mechanisms and processes

Abstract

Organizational ambidexterity is the organizational capability to simultaneously pursue explorative and exploitative innovation strategies. Studies have examined the Top Management Team (TMT) actions and decisions with the ambidextrous orientation of a firm. Further, studies have also shown that a behaviourally integrated TMT is positively associated with organizational ambidexterity. However, there has been limited research examining the antecedents to the behaviourally integrated TMT. Anchored in the upper echelons perspective, we have examined the influence of TMT processes and mechanisms on organizational ambidexterity. The TMT is observed to positively influence ambidexterity by enhancing the firm’s ability to meet the differentiation-integration challenges, and by facilitating the effective deployment of ambidextrous Human Resource (HR) architectures for employee learning. Thereby, this investigation examines the effect of TMT processes and mechanisms in enabling structural as well as contextual ambidexterity. The results from a sample of 78 hi-tech Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) across different industries were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling. We find the mediating role of TMT behavioural integration in the effect of TMT connectedness and TMT cross-functional interfacing mechanisms on organizational ambidexterity. However, our results show that rewards contingent on organizational performance do not motivate the TMT members to facilitate organizational ambidexterity. The results from this study lend support to the upper echelons perspective and add to two distinct streams of literature namely organizational ambidexterity and behavioural integration.     

How do auditors view managers’ voluntary disclosure strategy? The effect of earnings guidance on audit fees

The objective of this study is to examine the relation between attributes of earnings forecasts issued by managers and audit fees. Although there is an extensive literature on managers’ disclosure of earnings forecasts, there is a paucity of research on how auditors incorporate information from these voluntary disclosures. We find that the issuance of an annual or quarterly management earnings forecast in the prior period is positively associated with the current period audit fees. Our results indicate that on average, audit fees are higher by about 7% for firm-years associated with an annual forecast. Among the firms that issue earnings forecasts, we find no association between audit fees and likelihood of updating a previously issued earnings forecast, indicating that auditors do not view such behavior negatively. Further, we find audit fees to be positively associated with the error and the bias (or optimism) in the forecasts for annual forecasts but not for quarterly forecasts. Overall, these results suggest that management’s forecast behavior captures higher business risk for the auditor via greater risk of earnings management or litigation risk.     

Credit Spread Changes and Equity Volatility: Evidence from Daily Data

We investigate the determinants of daily changes in credit spreads in the U.S. corporate bond market. Using a sample of liquid investment grade and high‐yield bonds, we show that both systematic bond and stock market factors as well as idiosyncratic equity market factors affect changes in the yield spread at the daily frequency. In particular, we find that increase in stock market volatility has a positive effect on changes in the spread of corporate bonds over the corresponding Treasuries beyond that captured by standard term structure variables. Our results show that there is an almost contemporaneous inverse relationship between changes in the bond yield spread and the stock return of the issuing firm.     

Modeling aggregate air-travel itinerary shares: logit model development at a major US airline

This study reports the results of aggregate air-travel itinerary share models estimated at the city-pair level for all city-pairs in the US. These models determine the factors that influence airline ridership at the itinerary level and support carrier decision-making. The models are estimated using aggregate multinomial logit methodology and use comprehensive data. Independent variables for the models measure various itinerary service characteristics: level-of-service, connection quality, carrier, carrier market presence, fares, aircraft size and type, and time of day. The results are intuitive, and validation tests indicate that the models outperform existing methods. Finally, the impacts of changing various itinerary service attributes on carrier market share are discussed.     

The influence of mergers on firms' product‐mix strategies

This study draws on the institutional and resource‐based theories of the firm and examines whether multi‐product firms use mergers as a strategic tool to reconfigure their product‐mix toward high‐profit products. We propose that mergers facilitate product‐mix reconfiguration by relaxing institutional and organizational constraints on resource redeployment. Analysis of data from the U.S. hospital industry reveals that, relative to non‐merging hospitals, merging hospitals increased their presence in profitable, insured services but did not shift away from low‐profit services used by the uninsured. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Simultaneous Relation Between Auditor Switching and Audit Opinion: An Empirical Analysis

Previous studies examining the relation between the audit opinion and auditor switching assume a one-way causation, with the issuance of a qualified opinion triggering a switch. However, analytical studies dealing with auditor independence issues (e.g., Magee and Tseng, 1990; Dye, 1991; Teoh, 1992) suggest an opposite causation, in which the auditor is less likely to qualify the opinion for a client who may switch auditors. Some evidence of an opposite causation is provided by Krishnan (1994), who finds that auditors treat switchers more conservatively (relative to non-switchers) in issuing the audit opinion. The causation between switching and the audit opinion is clearly important for policy decisions regarding both opinion shopping and auditor independence. In this paper, we test the two-way causation hypothesis and find evidence in support of a two-way causation. Our simultaneity-adjusted estimates confirm previous findings of a positive effect of a qualified opinion on switching (Chow and Rice, 1982; Craswell, 1988; Citron and Taffler, 1992). However, we find in addition that auditors are more likely to issue qualified opinions to switchers. This finding does not support the analytical studies cited earlier.