scholarly journals Do Political Connections Affect the Conservative Financial Reporting of Family Firms?

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (20) ◽  
pp. 5563
Author(s):  
Hsin-Yi Chi ◽  
Tzu-Ching Weng ◽  
Guang-Zheng Chen ◽  
Shu-Ping Chen
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Political Connections ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Reporting Incentives ◽  
Final Sample ◽  
The Family ◽  
Governance Practice ◽  
Using Data

This paper investigates the effect of political connections on the association between family firms and conservative financial reporting. While family firms have incentives to reduce agency and litigation-related costs by means of conservative reporting, firms with political connections tend to have opaque financial reporting, which enable them to engage in rent-seeking activities. Using data for Taiwanese listed firms between 1996 and 2012, the final sample observations were 13,877 firm-year observations from a population of 21,393 firm-year observations. We found that political connections weaken the positive relationship between family ownership and conservative financial reporting. This suggests that politically connected family firms make fewer demands for conservative financial reporting. This study contributes to the literature on how political connections affect the family owners’ reporting incentives. Policy makers may consider political connections as an essential factor with respect to establishing governance practice in family firms.

The Effect of Audit Quality and Audit Committees on Goodwill Impairment Losses

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nagham Al Dabbous ◽  
Naser Abughazaleh ◽  
Osama Al-Hares
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Private Information ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Audit Committees ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Goodwill Impairment ◽  
Reporting Incentives ◽  
Mandatory Adoption

Using a sample of 528 firm-year observations, drawn from the top 500 U.K. listed firms, this study examines the effect of audit quality and audit committee (hereafter: AC) characteristics on goodwill impairment losses recorded following the mandatory adoption of IFRS 3 “Business Combinations”. The hypothesis investigated is that managers disciplined by effective ACs and auditors are less likely to act opportunistically but instead use their accounting discretion to convey their private information resulting in the recognition of higher amounts of existing goodwill impairments that better reflect the underlying performance of the firm. Shareholders will not expect ACs and auditors to constrain accounting choices (e.g., goodwill impairments) used credibly by managers. After controlling for economic factors and financial reporting incentives, empirical results reveal that auditor and AC characteristics do not seem to have a significant effect on the recognition of goodwill impairments. Although ACs are expected to act as a monitoring device, the monitoring incentives of AC directors may be hampered by the joint board responsibility for the quality of financial reporting. The results also suggest that the formation of ACs does not always necessarily imply effective monitoring as ACs may fall short of doing what are generally perceived as their duties (Sommer, 1991). These results may be of interest to standard setters, regulators and policy makers.

Founding Family Ownership and the Selection of Industry Specialist Auditors

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fei Kang
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Structure And Agency ◽  
Founding Family ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Dual Class Shares ◽  
Dual Class ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Industry Specialist

SYNOPSIS This study examines how family firms' unique ownership structure and agency problems affect their selection of industry-specialist auditors. Using data from Standard & Poor's (S&P) 1500 firms, the results show that family firms are more likely to appoint industry-specialist auditors than non-family firms, which suggests that family firms have strong incentives to signal the quality of financial reporting. Additional analysis indicates that due to the potential entrenchment problems, family firms with family member CEOs or with dual-class shares have even a higher tendency to hire industry-specialist auditors to signal their disclosure quality.

Better with age: financial reporting quality in family firms

2019 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Tommasetti ◽  
Marcelo Á. da Silva Macedo ◽  
Frederico A. Azevedo de Carvalho ◽  
Sergio Barile
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Management Control ◽  
Financial Reporting Quality ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Family Control ◽  
A Value ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature on financial reporting quality (FRQ) within family firms (FFs), assessing whether longevity can determine a different propensity to earning management (EM) behaviors. Design/methodology/approach The sample, composed by Italian and Brazilian listed family (and non-family) firms, is segregated into old and young. For each subsample, unsigned discretionary accruals are calculated, using two different EM models. A linear regression model is then proposed, together with some robustness tests, to confirm the research hypothesis. Findings The outcome is that, within FFs, the entrenchment effect seems to be diminishing with the company’s age, up to become lower than the alignment effect. With some caveat, research also demonstrates that old FFs are more propense to supply higher FRQ than any other subsample group. Research limitations/implications The authors demonstrated that, in terms of EM decision process, FFs become virtuous just with time. More research is needed to evaluate the impact of the share and management control separately and to analyze different generation segmentation. Practical implications This paper could help non-family stakeholders, as it shows that different company types (family vs non-family), at a different stage of the life-cycle (young vs old) have a different attitude toward FRQ. On the other hand, family owners could exploit the longevity as a value driver. Originality/value This paper suggests that agency theory and socio-emotional theory are complementary in explaining the family control role in earnings management decisions. The study also contributes to the debate of FF homogeneity and on risk behavior in FFs, often portrayed as having a patient capital.

scholarly journals Family Control, Political Connection, and Corporate Green Governance

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
pp. 7068
Author(s):  
Xiaolin Li ◽  
Weian Li ◽  
Yaowei Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Family Firms ◽  
Chinese Family ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Connection ◽  
Social Emotional ◽  
Family Control ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Green Governance ◽  
Governance Practice

This paper firstly introduces green governance into the empirical research of family firms. Due to the fact that family firms have their own particularity in the principal agent and also have a strong desire to preserve social emotional wealth, this paper deeply studies the driving influence of family control on the green governance of family firms, and analyzes the moderating effect based on the political connection of executives. Taking the 2015–2017 Chinese family-listed firms that released social responsibility reports as the research sample, we find that family control contributes to the improvement of corporate green governance in family firms. However, the political connection of the actual controller weakens the effect of family control on the green governance of family firms. In addition, this research is also carried out under different situations, such as at the regional level and individual level. The research helps family firms give full play to their own advantages, guide the green governance practice of family firms, and improve the level of green governance.

In the Founder's Shadow: Conflict in the Family Firm

1999 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 311-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter S. Davis ◽  
Paula D. Harveston
Keyword(s):  
Family Business ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Telephone Survey ◽  
Business Owners ◽  
Next Generation ◽  
Independent Variables ◽  
The Family ◽  
Nonlinear Trends ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Two Independent Variables

This paper examines the extent to which conflict across generations of family firms is due to the effects of two independent variables—generation and generational shadow. The presence of a generational shadow was indicated by whether either or both of the parents continued to influence the company once the next generation assumed control. Hypotheses predicted nonlinear trends in conflict and interactions between generation and generational shadow. Using data from a national telephone survey of over 1,000 family business owners, the results of an ANOVA test confirmed that the presence of generational shadow, in particular, that of the founder, increases organizational conflict.

Corporate disclosure and foreign share ownership: empirical evidence from African countries

2015 ◽  
Vol 57 (5) ◽  
pp. 417-444
Author(s):  
Godfred A. Bokpin ◽  
Zangina Isshaq ◽  
Eunice Stella Nyarko
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Corporate Disclosure ◽  
Statistical Relation ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Share Ownership ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Corporate Disclosures

Purpose – The study aims to seeks to ascertain the impact of corporate disclosure on foreign equity ownership. Corporate disclosures are important to for stock markets because it is an activity that mitigates information differences between company insiders and outsiders. Design/methodology/approach – Corporate disclosures assume an even greater important when company outsiders are not domiciled in the same country as the company and the company insiders. In this study, the relation between foreign share ownership and corporate disclosures using data on Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria is examined. Findings – The consistent results in this study are that foreign share ownership is positively related to firm size. A negative relation, however, between foreign share ownership and corporate disclosure is found, but this turns out to be related to disclosures about ownership, while disclosures on financial reporting and board management have a positive and insignificant statistical relation taking into account unobserved country, time and firm effects. Further analysis shows that corporate disclosures are very persistent and negatively related to lag foreign share ownership. No consistent statistical relation is found between disclosure and market-to-book values as a proxy for investment opportunities. It is recommended to African-listed firms to pursue adoption of high-quality financial reporting standards and to increase their reporting on board management. The study also recommends that the African Government weighs the benefits of detailed ownership disclosures. Originality/value – The study utilises frontier market data to complement existing literature on how corporate disclosure and transparency influences foreign investors decision to invest in Africa.

The effect of internal controls on financial reporting quality in Iranian family firms

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 254-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahmoud Lari Dashtbayaz ◽  
Mahdi Salehi ◽  
Toktam Safdel
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Internal Controls ◽  
Financial Reporting Quality ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Significant Negative Relationship

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between internal controls weakness and financial reporting quality and the effect of family ownership on the mentioned relationship in Iranian listed firms.Design/methodology/approachIn this way, the authors included the number of 139 firms from 2013 to 2017, of which 28 were family firms. The hypotheses are analyzed based on panel data and means comparison.FindingsThe results illustrated that weakness in internal controls has a significant negative relationship with financial reporting quality. In other words, internal controls weakness decreases the quality of financial reporting quality. Moreover, the results showed that being familial does not affect the aforementioned relationship.Originality/valueConsequently, there is no suitable criteria to distinguish family firms and there is a need to take them into serious consideration because very few studies have been conducted focusing on this issue in Iran, as it is considered an argumentative subject to be discussed in the Iranian market.

scholarly journals Board Directors’ Expertise and Corporate Corruption Disclosure: The Moderating Role of Political Connections

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (16) ◽  
pp. 4491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masud ◽  
Bae ◽  
Manzanares ◽  
Kim
Keyword(s):  
Resource Dependence ◽  
Moderating Effect ◽  
Political Connections ◽  
Corporate Management ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Board Directors ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Relationship

Professional expert directors extensively influence corporate corruption disclosure (CCD), while higher political connections may exacerbate corporate management. This study investigates the relationship between the presence of external experts on a board and CCD, as well as the moderating effect of political connections, on the positive role of legal experts in CCD. The study combines agency, resource dependence and stakeholder theories to show how resourceful directors on the board can promote corruption disclosure. Using data on listed firms in the Bangladeshi financial sector, the study analyzes 247 firm-year observations from 2012 to 2016. The results of a multiple regression analysis indicate that accounting experts, legal experts, political connections and corporate media visibility each have a positive and significant influence on CCD. Moreover, the moderating effect of political connections on the relationship between legal experts and CCD is negative and significant due to their higher political influences. The study has significant implications for corporate governance and for policies concerning the development of the economy while reducing corruption.

scholarly journals Principal-Principal Conflicts and Socioemotional Wealth in Family Firms

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason See Toh Seong Kuan ◽  
Chin Fei Goh ◽  
Owee Kowang Tan ◽  
Norliza Mohd Salleh
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Family Firm ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Family ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Governance Practice ◽  
Corporate Governance Practice ◽  
The Relationship

Corporate governance is the concern of all the parties throughout the world regarding their viability in order to ensure the sustainability of the firm. As the family firms are listed in the public exchange, there are different kind of the investors in the corporation produce the resolution that are opposing to each other. Moreover, the large capital that is injected by the institutional investor complicates the role played in the corporation that shapes the culture and philanthropy. The phenomenon leads to the complex relationship in one corporation due to the different types of interest. Board composition and board independence are stretched by numerous scholars regarding the core importance in the corporation. Executive compensation is another area of corporate governance that is widely discussed by the scholars regarding the relationship with the long-term firm performance. Therefore, this review paper will focus on the application of the Principal-principal Conflicts theory and Socio-Emotional Wealth theory to narrate the whole scenario of the governance practice in the family firm. Throughout the paper, current rigorous practice of the family firms will be deeply investigated to cover the deep insights of the current phenomenon. The meticulous review of this paper is able to synthesize the significance of these theories towards the general governance setting in the family firms. Eventually, the working paradigm of the family firm can be clearly justified with the rationale that is justified. At the end of the review, the two main theories are concluded to be equally essential to illustrate the corporate governance practice in family firms across the globe.

scholarly journals The Determinants of Forward-looking Disclosures in Interim Reports for Non-financial Firms: Evidence from a Developing Country

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 125 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Mathuva
Keyword(s):  
Developing Country ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Capital Investment ◽  
Financial Risk ◽  
Financial Reports ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Financial Firms ◽  
Reporting Incentives ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Forward Looking

This paper examines the determinants of the forward-looking disclosures (FLD) in the interim financial reports (IFRs) of non-financial firms listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE). Data were collected from a total of 91 firm-year observations for the mid interim periods between 2009 and 2011. A FLD score was developed for each firm in the sample based on the firm’s disclosure of forward-looking statements in its IFR. The results indicate that firms with higher debt, better performance, higher capital investment and with more concentration of foreign investment tend to have more FLDs in their IFRs. Conversely, cross listed firms are associated with lower FLDs, implying that cross listed firms provide lower forward-looking information compared to non-cross listed firms. Results show a high degree of FLD for better performing firms and firms with higher financial risk. This study contributes to literature by providing evidence to which financial reporting incentives contribute to FLDs in a developing country where enforcement is weak. As a conclusion, the paper recommends firms to provide comprehensive FLDs in future to effectively mitigate informational asymmetries between the management and owners of the firms, especially firms with more concentrated foreign ownership. 

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