IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/acctfi/v58y2018i1p171-193.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Discretion in bank loan loss allowance, risk taking and earnings management

Author

Listed:
  • Justin Jin
  • Kiridaran Kanagaretnam
  • Gerald J. Lobo

Abstract

We study whether banks use the allowance for loan losses (ALL) for efficiency or for opportunistic reasons. We find that banks that had higher abnormal ALL during the period prior to the 2007–2009 crisis engaged in less risk taking during the pre‐crisis period and had a lower probability of failure during the crisis period. In testing earnings management to meet or beat earnings benchmarks, we find that abnormal ALL is unrelated to next period's loss avoidance and just meeting or beating the prior year's earnings. Our results suggest that banks use ALL for efficiency and not for opportunistic purposes.

Suggested Citation

  • Justin Jin & Kiridaran Kanagaretnam & Gerald J. Lobo, 2018. "Discretion in bank loan loss allowance, risk taking and earnings management," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 58(1), pages 171-193, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:acctfi:v:58:y:2018:i:1:p:171-193
    DOI: 10.1111/acfi.12210
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/acfi.12210
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/acfi.12210?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kiridaran Kanagaretnam & Gerald J. Lobo & Dong†Hoon Yang, 2004. "Joint Tests of Signaling and Income Smoothing through Bank Loan Loss Provisions," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(4), pages 843-884, December.
    2. Karen Benson & Robert Faff & Tom Smith & Steven Cahan, 2014. "Fifty years of finance research in the Asia Pacific Basin," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 54(2), pages 335-363, June.
    3. Collins, Jh & Shackelford, Da & Wahlen, Jm, 1995. "Bank Differences In The Coordination Of Regulatory Capital, Earnings, And Taxes," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 263-291.
    4. Karen Benson & Peter M Clarkson & Tom Smith & Irene Tutticci, 2015. "A review of accounting research in the Asia Pacific region," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 40(1), pages 36-88, February.
    5. Beltratti, Andrea & Stulz, René M., 2012. "The credit crisis around the globe: Why did some banks perform better?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(1), pages 1-17.
    6. Rebel Cole & Lawrence White, 2012. "Déjà Vu All Over Again: The Causes of U.S. Commercial Bank Failures This Time Around," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 42(1), pages 5-29, October.
    7. Dahl, Drew, 2013. "Bank audit practices and loan loss provisioning," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(9), pages 3577-3584.
    8. Laeven, Luc & Levine, Ross, 2009. "Bank governance, regulation and risk taking," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(2), pages 259-275, August.
    9. Mitchell A. Petersen, 2009. "Estimating Standard Errors in Finance Panel Data Sets: Comparing Approaches," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 435-480, January.
    10. Erkens, David H. & Hung, Mingyi & Matos, Pedro, 2012. "Corporate governance in the 2007–2008 financial crisis: Evidence from financial institutions worldwide," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 389-411.
    11. Kevin M. Stevenson, 2012. "Financial reporting: Hearing the GFC message? What message?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 52(1), pages 9-20, March.
    12. Jin, Justin Yiqiang & Kanagaretnam, Kiridaran & Lobo, Gerald J., 2011. "Ability of accounting and audit quality variables to predict bank failure during the financial crisis," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(11), pages 2811-2819, November.
    13. Scott B. Jackson & Xiaotao (Kelvin) Liu, 2010. "The Allowance for Uncollectible Accounts, Conservatism, and Earnings Management," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(3), pages 565-601, June.
    14. Beck, Paul J. & Narayanamoorthy, Ganapathi S., 2013. "Did the SEC impact banks' loan loss reserve policies and their informativeness?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 42-65.
    15. Rick L. Williams, 2000. "A Note on Robust Variance Estimation for Cluster-Correlated Data," Biometrics, The International Biometric Society, vol. 56(2), pages 645-646, June.
    16. Houston, Joel F. & Lin, Chen & Lin, Ping & Ma, Yue, 2010. "Creditor rights, information sharing, and bank risk taking," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(3), pages 485-512, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tran, Arthur M. & Griffiths, Mark D. & Winters, Drew B., 2023. "Small bank managers are prudent: A Benford’s Law approach to analyzing loan loss allowances," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 125.
    2. Qing L. Burke & Terry D. Warfield, 2021. "Bank interest rate risk management and valuation of earnings," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(3), pages 4287-4337, September.
    3. Ozili, Peterson K, 2020. "Bank loan loss provisioning during election years: cross-country evidence," MPRA Paper 96639, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Dal Maso, Lorenzo & Kanagaretnam, Kiridaran & Lobo, Gerald J. & Mazzi, Francesco, 2020. "Is accounting enforcement related to risk-taking in the banking industry?," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    5. Chris Magnis & Stephanos Papadamou & George Emmanuel Iatridis, 2024. "The impact of corporate governance mechanisms on mitigating banks’ propensity for risk-taking," Journal of Banking Regulation, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 25(3), pages 234-255, September.
    6. García Osma, Beatriz & Mora, Araceli & Porcuna-Enguix, Luis, 2019. "Prudential supervisors’ independence and income smoothing in European banks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 156-176.
    7. Kim, Sungjae Francis, 2023. "Currency carry trades, risk management, and firm value: Evidence from Korean banking industry," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    8. Akhtaruzzaman, Md & Chiah, Mardy & Docherty, Paul & Zhong, Angel, 2021. "Betting against bank profitability," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 304-323.
    9. Salem, Rami & Usman, Muhammad & Ezeani, Ernest, 2021. "Loan loss provisions and audit quality: Evidence from MENA Islamic and conventional banks," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 345-359.
    10. Anagnostopoulos, Yiannis & Husa, Kjetil A. & Noikokyris, Emmanouil, 2022. "A three-phase comparative efficiency analysis of US and EU banks," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 113-127.
    11. Vo, Nguyen Ngoc Thao & Nguyen, Thai Vu Hong & Phan, Duc Hong Thi, 2022. "Earnings management and bank risk-taking behavior in Asia-Pacific region," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    12. Chih‐Wei Wang & Jing‐Yu Peng, 2021. "The impact of internal and external factors on the relationship between information opacity and open‐market repurchases," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(3), pages 4085-4118, September.
    13. Roshanthi Dias, 2021. "Capital regulation and bank risk‐taking – new global evidence," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(1), pages 847-884, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jin, Justin Yiqiang & Kanagaretnam, Kiridaran & Lobo, Gerald J. & Mathieu, Robert, 2013. "Impact of FDICIA internal controls on bank risk taking," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 614-624.
    2. Allen N. Berger & Björn Imbierowicz & Christian Rauch, 2016. "The Roles of Corporate Governance in Bank Failures during the Recent Financial Crisis," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 48(4), pages 729-770, June.
    3. Bley, Jorg & Saad, Mohsen & Samet, Anis, 2019. "Auditor choice and bank risk taking," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 37-52.
    4. Tu Nguyen & Sandy Suardi & Jing Zhao, 2021. "Employee Treatment and Bank Default Risk during the Credit Crisis," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 59(3), pages 173-208, June.
    5. Kanagaretnam, Kiridaran & Lim, Chee Yeow & Lobo, Gerald J., 2014. "Effects of international institutional factors on earnings quality of banks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 87-106.
    6. Iftekhar Hasan & Liuling Liu & Gaiyan Zhang, 2016. "The Determinants of Global Bank Credit-Default-Swap Spreads," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 50(3), pages 275-309, December.
    7. Dal Maso, Lorenzo & Kanagaretnam, Kiridaran & Lobo, Gerald J. & Mazzi, Francesco, 2020. "Is accounting enforcement related to risk-taking in the banking industry?," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    8. Jin, Justin Yiqiang & Kanagaretnam, Kiridaran & Lobo, Gerald J. & Mathieu, Robert, 2017. "Social capital and bank stability," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 99-114.
    9. Ashraf, Dawood & Ramady, Mohamed & Albinali, Khalid, 2016. "Financial fragility of banks, ownership structure and income diversification: Empirical evidence from the GCC region," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 56-68.
    10. García-Kuhnert, Yamileh & Marchica, Maria-Teresa & Mura, Roberto, 2015. "Shareholder diversification and bank risk-taking," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 602-635.
    11. Vallascas, Francesco & Mollah, Sabur & Keasey, Kevin, 2017. "Does the impact of board independence on large bank risks change after the global financial crisis?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 149-166.
    12. Jin, Justin Yiqiang & Kanagaretnam, Kiridaran & Lobo, Gerald J., 2013. "Unintended consequences of the increased asset threshold for FDICIA internal controls: Evidence from U.S. private banks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 4879-4892.
    13. Beck, Thorsten & Chen, Tao & Lin, Chen & Song, Frank M., 2016. "Financial innovation: The bright and the dark sides," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 28-51.
    14. Liu, Liuling & Zhang, Gaiyan & Fang, Yiwei, 2016. "Bank credit default swaps and deposit insurance around the world," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 339-363.
    15. Ajay Palvia & Emilia Vähämaa & Sami Vähämaa, 2015. "Are Female CEOs and Chairwomen More Conservative and Risk Averse? Evidence from the Banking Industry During the Financial Crisis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 131(3), pages 577-594, October.
    16. Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Cheung, Adrian (Wai Kong) & Taylor, Grantley, 2020. "Financial statement comparability and bank risk-taking," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3).
    17. Stefano Azzali & Luca Fornaciari & Tatiana Mazza, 2016. "Income Smoothing via Loan Loss Provision in Credit Cooperative Banks," FINANCIAL REPORTING, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2016(2), pages 33-54.
    18. Vo, Nguyen Ngoc Thao & Nguyen, Thai Vu Hong & Phan, Duc Hong Thi, 2022. "Earnings management and bank risk-taking behavior in Asia-Pacific region," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    19. Imbierowicz, Björn & Rauch, Christian, 2014. "The relationship between liquidity risk and credit risk in banks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 242-256.
    20. Chiaramonte, Laura & Croci, Ettore & Poli, Federica, 2015. "Should we trust the Z-score? Evidence from the European Banking Industry," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 111-131.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:acctfi:v:58:y:2018:i:1:p:171-193. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaanzea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.