IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jbfnac/v48y2021i9-10p1630-1667.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Governments as customers: Exploring the effects of government customers on supplier firms’ information quality

Author

Listed:
  • Chen Chen
  • Ting‐Chiao Huang
  • Mukesh Garg
  • Mehdi Khedmati

Abstract

This study finds that firms with major government customers have better information quality and, therefore, lower future stock price crash risks. Our main findings are robust to various tests accounting for endogeneity concerns, including propensity score matching analysis and entropy balancing method. We also conduct a difference‐in‐differences analysis based on a quasi‐natural experiment that exogenously enhances government procurement contracts’ disclosure quality. Further analysis shows that the effects of government customers are more pronounced when traditional information intermediaries are weaker (i.e., firms with lower institutional ownership and analyst coverage, of smaller size, and audited by non‐industry‐specialized auditors). Consistent with government customers improving the information quality, we also find that firms with major government customers are less likely to have SEC‐attributed restatements.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen Chen & Ting‐Chiao Huang & Mukesh Garg & Mehdi Khedmati, 2021. "Governments as customers: Exploring the effects of government customers on supplier firms’ information quality," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(9-10), pages 1630-1667, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:jbfnac:v:48:y:2021:i:9-10:p:1630-1667
    DOI: 10.1111/jbfa.12530
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jbfa.12530
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jbfa.12530?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. Hui, Kai Wai & Klasa, Sandy & Yeung, P. Eric, 2012. "Corporate suppliers and customers and accounting conservatism," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 115-135.
    2. Chen, Joseph & Hong, Harrison & Stein, Jeremy C., 2001. "Forecasting crashes: trading volume, past returns, and conditional skewness in stock prices," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 345-381, September.
    3. Arif, Salman & Marshall, Nathan T. & Schroeder, Joseph H. & Yohn, Teri Lombardi, 2019. "A growing disparity in earnings disclosure mechanisms: The rise of concurrently released earnings announcements and 10-Ks," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1).
    4. Scholes, Myron & Williams, Joseph, 1977. "Estimating betas from nonsynchronous data," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(3), pages 309-327, December.
    5. Chaney, Paul K. & Faccio, Mara & Parsley, David, 2011. "The quality of accounting information in politically connected firms," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1-2), pages 58-76, February.
    6. Cohen, Daniel A. & Li, Bin & Li, Ningzhong & Lou, Yun, 2016. "Major Government Customers and Loan Contract Terms," HEC Research Papers Series 1179, HEC Paris.
    7. Aobdia, Daniel, 2019. "Do practitioner assessments agree with academic proxies for audit quality? Evidence from PCAOB and internal inspections," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 144-174.
    8. Hutton, Amy P. & Marcus, Alan J. & Tehranian, Hassan, 2009. "Opaque financial reports, R2, and crash risk," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(1), pages 67-86, October.
    9. Alexander Bleck & Xuewen Liu, 2007. "Market Transparency and the Accounting Regime," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(2), pages 229-256, May.
    10. Mai Dao & Hua-Wei Huang & Ken Y. Chen & Ting-Chiao Huang, 2014. "Can Management Turnover Restore the Financial Statement Credibility of Restating Firms? Further Evidence," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(7-8), pages 893-925, September.
    11. Hainmueller, Jens, 2012. "Entropy Balancing for Causal Effects: A Multivariate Reweighting Method to Produce Balanced Samples in Observational Studies," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(1), pages 25-46, January.
    12. Folster, Stefan & Henrekson, Magnus, 2001. "Growth effects of government expenditure and taxation in rich countries," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(8), pages 1501-1520, August.
    13. Daniel Cohen & Bin Li & Ningzhong Li & Yun Lou, 2016. "Major Government Customers and Loan Contract Terms," PSE Working Papers hal-01970759, HAL.
    14. Keith L. Jones & Gopal V. Krishnan & Kevin D. Melendrez, 2008. "Do Models of Discretionary Accruals Detect Actual Cases of Fraudulent and Restated Earnings? An Empirical Analysis," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(2), pages 499-531, June.
    15. Hyun A. Hong & Jeong‐Bon Kim & Michael Welker, 2017. "Divergence of Cash Flow and Voting Rights, Opacity, and Stock Price Crash Risk: International Evidence," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(5), pages 1167-1212, December.
    16. Devereux, Michael B & Love, David R F, 1995. "The Dynamic Effects of Government Spending Policies in a Two-Sector Endogenous Growth Model," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 27(1), pages 232-256, February.
    17. Kormendi, Roger C, 1983. "Government Debt, Government Spending, and Private Sector Behavior," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(5), pages 994-1010, December.
    18. Jin, Li & Myers, Stewart C., 2006. "R2 around the world: New theory and new tests," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(2), pages 257-292, February.
    19. Thanh Ngo & Jurica Susnjara, 2020. "Government contracts and US bond yield spreads: A study on costs and benefits of materialized political connections," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(7-8), pages 1059-1085, July.
    20. Daniel Cohen & Bin Li & Ningzhong Li & Yun Lou, 2016. "Major Government Customers and Loan Contract Terms," Working Papers hal-01970759, HAL.
    21. Kai Wai Hui & Chuchu Liang & P. Eric Yeung, 2019. "The effect of major customer concentration on firm profitability: competitive or collaborative?," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 189-229, March.
    22. DeAngelo, Linda Elizabeth, 1981. "Auditor size and audit quality," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 183-199, December.
    23. Chen, Yunsen & Xie, Yuan & You, Hong & Zhang, Yanan, 2018. "Does crackdown on corruption reduce stock price crash risk? Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 125-141.
    24. Barua, Abhijit & Lennox, Clive & Raghunandan, Aneesh, 2020. "Are audit fees discounted in initial year audit engagements?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(2).
    25. 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.
    26. Kim, Jeong-Bon & Li, Yinghua & Zhang, Liandong, 2011. "CFOs versus CEOs: Equity incentives and crashes," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(3), pages 713-730, September.
    27. Denis Cormier & Michel Magnan & Barbara Van Velthoven, 2005. "Environmental disclosure quality in large German companies: Economic incentives, public pressures or institutional conditions?," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1), pages 3-39.
    28. Barro, Robert J, 1990. "Government Spending in a Simple Model of Endogenous Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 103-126, October.
    29. Hainmueller, Jens & Xu, Yiqing, 2013. "ebalance: A Stata Package for Entropy Balancing," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 54(i07).
    30. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1997. "Industry costs of equity," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 153-193, February.
    31. Belo, Frederico & Gala, Vito D. & Li, Jun, 2013. "Government spending, political cycles, and the cross section of stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(2), pages 305-324.
    32. Cen, Ling & Maydew, Edward L. & Zhang, Liandong & Zuo, Luo, 2017. "Customer–supplier relationships and corporate tax avoidance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(2), pages 377-394.
    33. Dimson, Elroy, 1979. "Risk measurement when shares are subject to infrequent trading," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 197-226, June.
    34. Dhaliwal, Dan & Judd, J. Scott & Serfling, Matthew & Shaikh, Sarah, 2016. "Customer concentration risk and the cost of equity capital," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 23-48.
    35. Hu, Juncheng & Li, Xiaorong & Duncan, Keith & Xu, Jia, 2020. "Corporate relationship spending and stock price crash risk: Evidence from China's anti-corruption campaign," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    36. Jeong†Bon Kim & Liandong Zhang, 2014. "Financial Reporting Opacity and Expected Crash Risk: Evidence from Implied Volatility Smirks," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(3), pages 851-875, September.
    37. Efraim Benmelech & Eugene Kandel & Pietro Veronesi, 2010. "Stock-Based Compensation and CEO (Dis)Incentives," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(4), pages 1769-1820.
    38. Rajeev H. Dehejia & Sadek Wahba, 2002. "Propensity Score-Matching Methods For Nonexperimental Causal Studies," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(1), pages 151-161, February.
    39. Alexander Dyck & Adair Morse & Luigi Zingales, 2010. "Who Blows the Whistle on Corporate Fraud?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(6), pages 2213-2253, December.
    40. Hu, Jinshuai & Li, Siqi & Taboada, Alvaro G. & Zhang, Feida, 2020. "Corporate board reforms around the world and stock price crash risk," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    41. Mara Faccio, 2006. "Politically Connected Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(1), pages 369-386, March.
    42. Jong Chool Park & Qiang Wu, 2009. "Financial Restatements, Cost of Debt and Information Spillover: Evidence From the Secondary Loan Market," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(9‐10), pages 1117-1147, November.
    43. Harrison Hong & Jeffrey D. Kubik & Amit Solomon, 2000. "Security Analysts' Career Concerns and Herding of Earnings Forecasts," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 31(1), pages 121-144, Spring.
    44. Eitan Goldman & Jörg Rocholl & Jongil So, 2013. "Politically Connected Boards of Directors and The Allocation of Procurement Contracts," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 17(5), pages 1617-1648.
    45. Neu, D. & Warsame, H. & Pedwell, K., 1998. "Managing public impressions: environmental disclosures in annual reports," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 265-282, April.
    46. S. P. Kothari & Susan Shu & Peter D. Wysocki, 2009. "Do Managers Withhold Bad News?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(1), pages 241-276, March.
    47. Jong Chool Park & Qiang Wu, 2009. "Financial Restatements, Cost of Debt and Information Spillover: Evidence From the Secondary Loan Market," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(9-10), pages 1117-1147.
    48. Jim Goldman & Philip Strahan, 2020. "Government as Customer of Last Resort: The Stabilizing Effects of Government Purchases on Firms," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(2), pages 610-643.
    49. Feroz, Eh & Park, K & Pastena, Vs, 1991. "The Financial And Market Effects Of The Secs Accounting And Auditing Enforcement Releases," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29, pages 107-142.
    50. Campello, Murillo & Gao, Janet, 2017. "Customer concentration and loan contract terms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(1), pages 108-136.
    51. Ho, Daniel E. & Imai, Kosuke & King, Gary & Stuart, Elizabeth A., 2007. "Matching as Nonparametric Preprocessing for Reducing Model Dependence in Parametric Causal Inference," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(3), pages 199-236, July.
    52. Callen, Jeffrey L. & Fang, Xiaohua, 2015. "Religion and Stock Price Crash Risk," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 50(1-2), pages 169-195, April.
    53. Yu, Fang (Frank), 2008. "Analyst coverage and earnings management," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 245-271, May.
    54. Callen, Jeffrey L. & Fang, Xiaohua, 2013. "Institutional investor stability and crash risk: Monitoring versus short-termism?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 3047-3063.
    55. An, Heng & Zhang, Ting, 2013. "Stock price synchronicity, crash risk, and institutional investors," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 1-15.
    56. Callen, Jeffrey L. & Fang, Xiaohua, 2015. "Short interest and stock price crash risk," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 181-194.
    57. Cory A. Cassell & Gary Giroux & Linda A. Myers & Thomas C. Omer, 2013. "The Emergence of Second-Tier Auditors in the US: Evidence from Investor Perceptions of Financial Reporting Credibility," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(3-4), pages 350-372, April.
    58. Nikiforos Laopodis, 2001. "Effects of government spending on private investment," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(12), pages 1563-1577.
    59. Kim, Jeong-Bon & Li, Yinghua & Zhang, Liandong, 2011. "Corporate tax avoidance and stock price crash risk: Firm-level analysis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(3), pages 639-662, June.
    60. Feng Cao & Jian Sun & Rongli Yuan, 2019. "Board directors with foreign experience and stock price crash risk: Evidence from China," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(9-10), pages 1144-1170, October.
    61. B. Korcan Ak & Panos N. Patatoukas, 2016. "Customer-Base Concentration and Inventory Efficiencies: Evidence from the Manufacturing Sector," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 25(2), pages 258-272, February.
    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. Xiaoxu Ling & Siyuan Yan & Louis T. W. Cheng, 2022. "Investor relations under short‐selling pressure: Evidence from strategic signaling by company site visits," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(7-8), pages 1145-1174, July.
    2. Sun, Zeyu & Yang, Ge & Bai, Haichen, 2023. "The spillover effect of customers' financial risk on suppliers' conservative reporting: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    3. Huang, Jun & Han, Feifei & Li, Yun, 2023. "Government as major customer: The effects of government procurement on corporate environmental, social, and governance performance," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).

    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. Cao, Feng & Zhang, Xueyan & Yuan, Rongli, 2022. "Do geographically nearby major customers mitigate suppliers’ stock price crash risk?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(6).
    2. Liao, Lin & Sharma, Divesh & Yang, Yitang (Jenny) & Zhao, Rui, 2023. "Adoption and content of key audit matters and stock price crash risk," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    3. Cao, Hung & Phan, Hieu V. & Silveri, Sabatino, 2024. "Data breach disclosures and stock price crash risk: Evidence from data breach notification laws," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    4. Li, Qian & Liu, Shangqun, 2023. "Does alternative data reduce stock price crash risk? Evidence from third-party online sales disclosure in China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    5. Zhao, Rui & Zhang, Dayong & Guo, Mengmeng, 2024. "Do natural disasters affect stock price crash risk? Evidence from emerging markets," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    6. Kim, Jeong-Bon & Liao, Shushu & Liu, Yangke, 2021. "Married CEOs and Stock Price Crash Risk," QBS Working Paper Series 2021/09, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's Business School.
    7. Thomas R. Kubick & G. Brandon Lockhart, 2021. "Industry tournament incentives and stock price crash risk," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 50(2), pages 345-369, June.
    8. Ma, Xiaofang & Wang, Wenming & Wu, Jiangang & Zhang, Wenlan, 2020. "Corporate customer concentration and stock price crash risk," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    9. Choi, Young Mok & Park, Kunsu, 2022. "Zero-leverage policy and stock price crash risk: Evidence from Korea," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    10. Jin, Hong-min & Su, Zhong-qin & Wang, Lu & Xiao, Zuoping, 2022. "Do academic independent directors matter? Evidence from stock price crash risk," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 1129-1148.
    11. Zhou, Jingting & Li, Wanli & Yan, Ziqiao & Lyu, Huaili, 2021. "Controlling shareholder share pledging and stock price crash risk: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    12. Chen, Yangyang & Fan, Qingliang & Yang, Xin & Zolotoy, Leon, 2021. "CEO early-life disaster experience and stock price crash risk," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    13. Liu, Qigui & Tang, Jinghua & Li, Donghui & Xing, Lu, 2023. "The role of bad-news coverage and media environments in crash risk around the world," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 488-509.
    14. Richardson, Grant & Obaydin, Ivan & Liu, Chelsea, 2022. "The effect of accounting fraud on future stock price crash risk," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    15. Tee, Chwee Ming & Lee, Mei Yee & Majid, Abdul, 2021. "Heterogeneous political connections and stock price crash risk: Evidence from Malaysia," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C).
    16. Hu, Juncheng & Li, Xiaorong & Duncan, Keith & Xu, Jia, 2020. "Corporate relationship spending and stock price crash risk: Evidence from China's anti-corruption campaign," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    17. Loureiro, Gilberto & Silva, Sónia, 2022. "Earnings management and stock price crashes post U.S. cross-delistings," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    18. Min Jung Kang & Y. Han (Andy) Kim & Qunfeng Liao, 2020. "Do bankers on the board reduce crash risk?," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 26(3), pages 684-723, June.
    19. Balachandran, Balasingham & Duong, Huu Nhan & Luong, Hoang & Nguyen, Lily, 2020. "Does takeover activity affect stock price crash risk? Evidence from international M&A laws," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    20. Li, Yiwei & Zeng, Yeqin, 2019. "The impact of top executive gender on asset prices: Evidence from stock price crash risk," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 528-550.

    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:jbfnac:v:48:y:2021:i:9-10:p:1630-1667. 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: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0306-686X .

    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.