IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/joares/v53y2015i3p593-631.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Foreign Institutional Ownership and the Global Convergence of Financial Reporting Practices

Author

Listed:
  • VIVIAN W. FANG
  • MARK MAFFETT
  • BOHUI ZHANG

Abstract

This paper investigates whether foreign institutional investors affect the global convergence of financial reporting practices. Using several measures of reporting convergence, we show that U.S. institutional ownership is positively associated with subsequent changes in emerging market firms’ accounting comparability to their U.S. industry peers. We identify this association using an instrumental variable approach that exploits exogenous variation in U.S. institutional investment generated by the JGTRRA Act of 2003. Further, we provide evidence of a specific mechanism—the switch to a Big Four audit firm—through which U.S. institutional investors affect reporting convergence. Finally, we show that, for emerging market firms, an increase in comparability to U.S. firms is associated with an improvement in the properties of foreign analysts’ forecasts.

Suggested Citation

  • Vivian W. Fang & Mark Maffett & Bohui Zhang, 2015. "Foreign Institutional Ownership and the Global Convergence of Financial Reporting Practices," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(3), pages 593-631, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:joares:v:53:y:2015:i:3:p:593-631
    DOI: 10.1111/1475-679X.12076
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-679X.12076
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1475-679X.12076?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. Geert Bekaert & Campbell R. Harvey, 2000. "Foreign Speculators and Emerging Equity Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(2), pages 565-613, April.
    2. Gus De Franco & S.P. Kothari & Rodrigo S. Verdi, 2011. "The Benefits of Financial Statement Comparability," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(4), pages 895-931, September.
    3. Bong‐Chan Kho & René M. Stulz & Francis E. Warnock, 2009. "Financial Globalization, Governance, and the Evolution of the Home Bias," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(2), pages 597-635, May.
    4. Alex Edmans & Vivian W. Fang & Emanuel Zur, 2013. "The Effect of Liquidity on Governance," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 26(6), pages 1443-1482.
    5. Marianne Bertrand & Paras Mehta & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2002. "Ferreting out Tunneling: An Application to Indian Business Groups," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(1), pages 121-148.
    6. repec:bla:jfinan:v:53:y:1998:i:1:p:99-129 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. La Porta, Rafael & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1997. "Legal Determinants of External Finance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(3), pages 1131-1150, July.
    8. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1986. "Large Shareholders and Corporate Control," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(3), pages 461-488, June.
    9. Mihir A Desai & Dhammika Dharmapala, 2011. "Dividend Taxes and International Portfolio Choice," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(1), pages 266-284, February.
    10. Alex Edmans, 2009. "Blockholder Trading, Market Efficiency, and Managerial Myopia," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(6), pages 2481-2513, December.
    11. DeAngelo, Linda Elizabeth, 1981. "Auditor size and audit quality," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 183-199, December.
    12. Miguel A. Ferreira & Massimo Massa & Pedro Matos, 2010. "Shareholders at the Gate? Institutional Investors and Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(2), pages 601-644, February.
    13. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez‐De‐Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 1999. "Corporate Ownership Around the World," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(2), pages 471-517, April.
    14. Mike Burkart & Denis Gromb & Fausto Panunzi, 1997. "Large Shareholders, Monitoring, and the Value of the Firm," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(3), pages 693-728.
    15. DeFond, Mark & Hu, Xuesong & Hung, Mingyi & Li, Siqi, 2011. "The impact of mandatory IFRS adoption on foreign mutual fund ownership: The role of comparability," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 240-258, April.
    16. Christian Leuz & Karl V. Lins & Francis E. Warnock, 2010. "Do Foreigners Invest Less in Poorly Governed Firms?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(3), pages 3245-3285, March.
    17. Basu, Sudipta, 1997. "The conservatism principle and the asymmetric timeliness of earnings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 3-37, December.
    18. Shyam NMI Sunder & Ronald A. Dye, 2001. "Why Not Allow the FASB and IASB Standards to Compete in the U.S.?," Yale School of Management Working Papers ysm192, Yale School of Management.
    19. Ferreira, Miguel A. & Matos, Pedro, 2008. "The colors of investors' money: The role of institutional investors around the world," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(3), pages 499-533, June.
    20. Christensen, Hans B. & Hail, Luzi & Leuz, Christian, 2013. "Mandatory IFRS reporting and changes in enforcement," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 147-177.
    21. Dahlquist, Magnus & Pinkowitz, Lee & Stulz, René M. & Williamson, Rohan, 2003. "Corporate Governance and the Home Bias," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(1), pages 87-110, March.
    22. Chen, Xia & Harford, Jarrad & Li, Kai, 2007. "Monitoring: Which institutions matter?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 279-305, November.
    23. Lau, Sie Ting & Ng, Lilian & Zhang, Bohui, 2010. "The world price of home bias," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 191-217, August.
    24. Ball, Ray & Robin, Ashok & Wu, Joanna Shuang, 2003. "Incentives versus standards: properties of accounting income in four East Asian countries," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1-3), pages 235-270, December.
    25. Leuz, Christian & Nanda, Dhananjay & Wysocki, Peter D., 2003. "Earnings management and investor protection: an international comparison," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 505-527, September.
    26. repec:bla:jfinan:v:53:y:1998:i:1:p:65-98 is not listed on IDEAS
    27. Fan, Joseph P. H. & Wong, T. J., 2002. "Corporate ownership structure and the informativeness of accounting earnings in East Asia," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 401-425, August.
    28. Aggarwal, Reena & Erel, Isil & Ferreira, Miguel & Matos, Pedro, 2011. "Does governance travel around the world? Evidence from institutional investors," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(1), pages 154-181, April.
    29. Sreedhar T. Bharath & Sudarshan Jayaraman & Venky Nagar, 2013. "Exit as Governance: An Empirical Analysis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(6), pages 2515-2547, December.
    30. Holger Daske & Luzi Hail & Christian Leuz & Rodrigo Verdi, 2008. "Mandatory IFRS Reporting around the World: Early Evidence on the Economic Consequences," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(5), pages 1085-1142, December.
    31. David Yermack, 2010. "Shareholder Voting and Corporate Governance," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 2(1), pages 103-125, December.
    32. Anat R. Admati & Paul Pfleiderer, 2009. "The "Wall Street Walk" and Shareholder Activism: Exit as a Form of Voice," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(7), pages 2445-2485, July.
    33. Christian Leuz, 2010. "Different approaches to corporate reporting regulation: How jurisdictions differ and why," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(3), pages 229-256.
    34. Mark Lang & Karl V. Lins & Mark Maffett, 2012. "Transparency, Liquidity, and Valuation: International Evidence on When Transparency Matters Most," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(3), pages 729-774, June.
    35. Robert W. Holthausen, 2009. "Accounting Standards, Financial Reporting Outcomes, and Enforcement," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(2), pages 447-458, May.
    36. Maffett, Mark, 2012. "Financial reporting opacity and informed trading by international institutional investors," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 201-220.
    37. Vicentiu M. Covrig & Mark L. Defond & Mingyi Hung, 2007. "Home Bias, Foreign Mutual Fund Holdings, and the Voluntary Adoption of International Accounting Standards," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(1), pages 41-70, March.
    38. DeFond, Mark & Zhang, Jieying, 2014. "A review of archival auditing research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 275-326.
    39. Alford, A & Jones, J & Leftwich, R & Zmijewski, M, 1993. "The Relative Informativeness Of Accounting Disclosures In Different Countries," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31, pages 183-223.
    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. Christian Leuz & Peter D. Wysocki, 2016. "The Economics of Disclosure and Financial Reporting Regulation: Evidence and Suggestions for Future Research," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 525-622, May.
    2. Dasgupta, Amil & Fos, Vyacheslav & Sautner, Zacharias, 2021. "Institutional investors and corporate governance," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 112114, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Ugur Lel, 2019. "The role of foreign institutional investors in restraining earnings management activities across countries," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 50(6), pages 895-922, August.
    4. Simon Döring & Wolfgang Drobetz & Sadok El Ghoul & Omrane Guedhami & Henning Schröder, 2021. "Institutional investment horizons and firm valuation around the world," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 52(2), pages 212-244, March.
    5. Belén Gill de Albornoz Noguer & Simona Rusanescu, 2017. "Foreign ownership and financial reporting quality in private subsidiaries," Working Papers. Serie EC 2017-02, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).
    6. Jeong-Bon Kim & Mikhail Pevzner & Xiangang Xin, 2019. "Foreign institutional ownership and auditor choice: Evidence from worldwide institutional ownership," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 50(1), pages 83-110, February.
    7. Chou, Julia & Zaiats, Nataliya & Zhang, Bohui, 2014. "Does auditor choice matter to foreign investors? Evidence from foreign mutual funds worldwide," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 1-20.
    8. Chauhan, Yogesh & Kumar, Surya B., 2019. "Does accounting comparability alleviate the informational disadvantage of foreign investors?11We thank the editor, Professor Carl R. Chen, and two reviewers for their comments that greatly improved th," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 114-129.
    9. Edmans, Alex & Holderness, Clifford, 2016. "Blockholders: A Survey of Theory and Evidence," CEPR Discussion Papers 11442, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Firth, Michael & Gao, Jin & Shen, Jianghua & Zhang, Yuanyuan, 2016. "Institutional stock ownership and firms’ cash dividend policies: Evidence from China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 91-107.
    11. Tsafack, Georges & Guo, Lin, 2021. "Foreign shareholding, corporate governance and firm performance: Evidence from Chinese companies," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C).
    12. Ormazabal, Gaizka, 2018. "The Role of Stakeholders in Corporate Governance: A View from Accounting Research," CEPR Discussion Papers 12775, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. In Tae Hwang & Kang Sung Hur & Sun Min Kang, 2018. "Does the IFRS Effect Continue? An International Comparison," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-20, December.
    14. Drobetz, Wolfgang & Ehlert, Sebastian & Schröder, Henning, 2021. "Institutional ownership and firm performance in the global shipping industry," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    15. Alex Edmans, 2014. "Blockholders and Corporate Governance," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 6(1), pages 23-50, December.
    16. Khosa,Amrinder & Ahmed,Kamran & Henry,Darren, 2019. "Ownership Structure, Related Party Transactions, and Firm Valuation," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108492195, September.
    17. Zhang, Qiyu & Zhang, Xiaoxiang & Chen, Ding & Strange, Roger, 2022. "Market discipline or rent extraction: Impacts of share trading by foreign institutional investors in different corporate governance and investor protection environments," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    18. Fuxiu Jiang & Kenneth A Kim, 2020. "Corporate Governance in China: A Survey [The role of boards of directors in corporate governance: a conceptual framework and survey]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 24(4), pages 733-772.
    19. Jayaraman, Sudarshan, 2012. "The effect of enforcement on timely loss recognition: Evidence from insider trading laws," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 77-97.
    20. Deng, Baijun & Li, Zhongfei & Li, Yong, 2018. "Foreign institutional ownership and liquidity commonality around the world," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 20-49.

    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:joares:v:53:y:2015:i:3:p:593-631. 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=0021-8456 .

    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.