IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/asiaec/v36y2022i1p3-21.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Corporate Tax Avoidance and Firm Diversification: Evidence from Chinese Listed Firms

Author

Listed:
  • Zhigang Qin
  • Wen Liu
  • Maonan Chen

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between the diversified operation strategy of Chinese listed firms and corporate tax avoidance. In contrast to the traditional viewpoint that diversified firms are more prone to tax avoidance, the present study concludes that the tax avoidance level of diversified firms is lower than that of specialized operation firms. Further research also shows that the nature of the property rights and supervision faced by firms can affect the conclusion drawn from the baseline analysis. Our findings reflect that diversified state‐owned enterprises have lower tax avoidance levels than diversified non‐state‐owned enterprises, and the impacts of internal and external supervision on tax avoidance are different. A possible explanation for the reduced tax avoidance with diversification is that diversification weakens internal control and reduces a firm's ownership concentration.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhigang Qin & Wen Liu & Maonan Chen, 2022. "Corporate Tax Avoidance and Firm Diversification: Evidence from Chinese Listed Firms," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 36(1), pages 3-21, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:asiaec:v:36:y:2022:i:1:p:3-21
    DOI: 10.1111/asej.12257
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/asej.12257
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/asej.12257?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. Zimmerman, Jerold L., 1983. "Taxes and firm size," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 119-149, April.
    2. Aivazian, Varouj A. & Qiu, Jiaping & Rahaman, Mohammad M., 2015. "Bank loan contracting and corporate diversification: Does organizational structure matter to lenders?," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 252-282.
    3. Lang, Larry H P & Stulz, Rene M, 1994. "Tobin's q, Corporate Diversification, and Firm Performance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(6), pages 1248-1280, December.
    4. Magnis, Chris & Iatridis, George Emmanuel, 2017. "The relation between auditor reputation, earnings and capital management in the banking sector: An international investigation," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(PA), pages 338-357.
    5. Kaplan, Steven N & Weisbach, Michael S, 1992. "The Success of Acquisitions: Evidence from Divestitures," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(1), pages 107-138, March.
    6. Lewellen, Wilbur G, 1971. "A Pure Financial Rationale for the Conglomerate Merger," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 26(2), pages 521-537, May.
    7. Habib, Ahsan & Bhuiyan, Md. Borhan Uddin, 2011. "Audit firm industry specialization and the audit report lag," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 32-44.
    8. Gollop, Frank M & Monahan, James L, 1991. "A Generalized Index of Diversification: Trends in U.S. Manufacturing," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 73(2), pages 318-330, May.
    9. Lee, Keonbeom & Peng, Mike W. & Lee, Keun, 2008. "From diversification premium to diversification discount during institutional transitions," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 47-65, January.
    10. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    11. Habib, Ahsan, 2011. "Audit firm industry specialization and audit outcomes: Insights from academic literature," Research in Accounting Regulation, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 114-129.
    12. Kim, Jeong-Bon & Li, Leye & Lu, Louise Yi & Yu, Yangxin, 2016. "Financial statement comparability and expected crash risk," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 294-312.
    13. Hongbin Cai & Qiao Liu, 2009. "Competition and Corporate Tax Avoidance: Evidence from Chinese Industrial Firms," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(537), pages 764-795, April.
    14. Chen, Sheng-Syan & Ho, Kim Wai, 2000. "Corporate diversification, ownership structure, and firm value: The Singapore evidence," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 315-326.
    15. David S. Scharfstein & Jeremy C. Stein, 2000. "The Dark Side of Internal Capital Markets: Divisional Rent‐Seeking and Inefficient Investment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(6), pages 2537-2564, December.
    16. Zheng, Suyan, 2017. "Can corporate diversification induce more tax avoidance?," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 47-60.
    17. Hanlon, Michelle & Heitzman, Shane, 2010. "A review of tax research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 127-178, December.
    18. Mikko Zerni & Elina Haapamäki & Tuukka Järvinen & Lasse Niemi, 2012. "Do Joint Audits Improve Audit Quality? Evidence from Voluntary Joint Audits," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(4), pages 731-765, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Zheng, Suyan, 2017. "Can corporate diversification induce more tax avoidance?," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 47-60.
    2. Martin, John D. & Sayrak, Akin, 2003. "Corporate diversification and shareholder value: a survey of recent literature," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 37-57, January.
    3. Patrick Bielstein & Mario Fischer & Christoph Kaserer, 2018. "The cost of capital effect of M&A transactions: Disentangling coinsurance from the diversification discount," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 24(4), pages 650-679, September.
    4. Campa, Jose M. & Chang, P. H. Kevin & Refalo, James F., 2002. "An options-based analysis of emerging market exchange rate expectations: Brazil's Real Plan, 1994-1999," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 227-253, October.
    5. Matsusaka, John G. & Nanda, Vikram, 2002. "Internal Capital Markets and Corporate Refocusing," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 176-211, April.
    6. Martynova, M. & Renneboog, L.D.R., 2006. "The Performance of the European Market for Corporate Control : Evidence from the 5th Takeover Wave," Discussion Paper 2006-118, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    7. Martynova, M., 2006. "The market for corporate control and corporate governance regulation in Europe," Other publications TiSEM 8651e281-4914-41f2-ac14-1, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    8. Schmid, Markus M. & Walter, Ingo, 2009. "Do financial conglomerates create or destroy economic value?," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 193-216, April.
    9. Manohar Singh & Ike Mathur & Kimberly C. Gleason, 2004. "Governance and Performance Implications of Diversification Strategies: Evidence from Large U.S. Firms," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 39(4), pages 489-526, November.
    10. Nilakshi Borah & Liu Pan & Jung Chul Park & Nan Shao, 2018. "Does corporate diversification reduce value in high technology firms?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 683-718, October.
    11. Jose Manuel Campa & Simi Kedia, 2002. "Explaining the Diversification Discount," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(4), pages 1731-1762, August.
    12. Volkov, Nikanor I. & Smith, Garrett C., 2015. "Corporate diversification and firm value during economic downturns," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 160-175.
    13. Stefan Erdorf & Thomas Hartmann-Wendels & Nicolas Heinrichs & Michael Matz, 2013. "Corporate diversification and firm value: a survey of recent literature," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 27(2), pages 187-215, June.
    14. USHIJIMA Tatsuo, 2016. "Corporate Diversification, Employee Bargaining Power, and Wages," Discussion papers 16103, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    15. Xi He, 2012. "Two Sides of a Coin: Endogenous and Exogenous Effects of Corporate Diversification on Firm Value," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 12(4), pages 375-397, December.
    16. Elif AKBEN SELCUK, 2014. "Corporate Diversification, Group Affiliation and Firm Value: Evidence From Turkey," Journal of BRSA Banking and Financial Markets, Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency, vol. 8(2), pages 151-174.
    17. De Simone, Lisa & Klassen, Kenneth J. & Seidman, Jeri K., 2022. "The effect of income-shifting aggressiveness on corporate investment," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(1).
    18. Holger Mueller, 2016. "Reallocation of Capital and Labor within Firms," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, Springer;Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics, vol. 152(4), pages 289-303, October.
    19. van Lelyveld, Iman & Knot, Klaas, 2009. "Do financial conglomerates create or destroy value? Evidence for the EU," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(12), pages 2312-2321, December.
    20. Curi, Claudia & Murgia, Maurizio, 2018. "Divestitures and the financial conglomerate excess value," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 187-207.

    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:asiaec:v:36:y:2022:i:1:p:3-21. 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/eaeaaea.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.