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Strategic Subsidiary Disclosure

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  • SCOTT D. DYRENG
  • JEFFREY L. HOOPES
  • PATRICK LANGETIEG
  • JARON H. WILDE

Abstract

Although subsidiary disclosures in firms’ filings with the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC; Exhibit 21) represent the most granular required public disclosure of a firm's geographic footprint, little is understood about the quality of the disclosure, and anecdotal evidence suggests firms may not fully comply with the disclosure requirements. We use data provided by multinational firms to the Internal Revenue Service regarding their foreign subsidiary locations to explore the accuracy of public subsidiary disclosures on Exhibit 21 of Form 10‐K per SEC rules. The overall incidence of nondisclosure is low, suggesting that most firms comply with Exhibit 21 disclosure rules, and that for most applications, Exhibit 21 disclosures provide a reasonable proxy for locations of significant subsidiaries. Nevertheless, there is some evidence of nondisclosure, particularly when subsidiaries are in tax havens, when the firm is more highly scrutinized in the media, or when the firm has other characteristics consistent with low‐quality disclosures such as SEC comment letters.

Suggested Citation

  • Scott D. Dyreng & Jeffrey L. Hoopes & Patrick Langetieg & Jaron H. Wilde, 2020. "Strategic Subsidiary Disclosure," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(3), pages 643-692, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:joares:v:58:y:2020:i:3:p:643-692
    DOI: 10.1111/1475-679X.12308
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    2. Katarzyna Anna Bilicka & Elisa Casi & Carol Seregni & Barbara Stage, 2021. "Tax Strategy Disclosure: A Greenwashing Mandate?," CESifo Working Paper Series 9030, CESifo.
    3. Bingyi Chen & Jenelle K. Conaway, 2022. "Do U.S. Investors Value Foreign Component Auditors?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(3), pages 805-851, June.
    4. Baptiste Souillard, 2020. "Import Competition And Corporate Tax Avoidance: Evidence From The China Shock," Working Papers ECARES 2020-30, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    5. Song, Qian & Holland, Kevin, 2023. "The quality of tax accounting for financial reporting purposes: International evidence from the United Kingdom," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    6. Baptiste Souillard, 2022. "Profit Shifting, Employee Pay, and Inequalities: Evidence from US-Listed Companies," CESifo Working Paper Series 9720, CESifo.
    7. Müller, Raphael & Spengel, Christoph & Vay, Heiko, 2020. "On the determinants and effects of corporate tax transparency: Review of an emerging literature," ZEW Discussion Papers 20-063, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    8. Olbert, Marcel & Spengel, Christoph & Weck, Stefan, 2023. "Multinational firms in tax havens: Corporate motives, regulatory countermeasures, and recent statistics," ZEW Discussion Papers 23-036, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    9. Belaounia, Samia & Tao, Ran & Zhao, Hong, 2024. "Director foreign experience: Geographic specificity and value implication," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    10. Belnap, Andrew, 2023. "The effect of intermediary coverage on disclosure: Evidence from a randomized field experiment," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(1).
    11. Casi, Elisa & Lisowsky, Petro & Stage, Barbara M. B. & Todtenhaupt, Maximilian, 2024. "Business model digitalization, competition, and tax savings," Discussion Papers 2024/6, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Business and Management Science.
    12. Zero Deng, 2020. "Foreign Exchange Risk, Hedging, and Tax‐Motivated Outbound Income Shifting," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(4), pages 953-987, September.
    13. Giese, Henning & Koch, Reinald & Sureth, Caren, 2024. "Where to locate tax employees? The role of tax complexity and tax risk implications," arqus Discussion Papers in Quantitative Tax Research 285, arqus - Arbeitskreis Quantitative Steuerlehre.
    14. Taran, Alina & Simga-Mugan, Can & Mironiuc, Marilena, 2021. "Country-segment disclosure of foreign operations from Central and Eastern Europe: Country-level determinants and value relevance," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    15. Souillard, Baptiste, 2022. "Intra-industry spillovers of profit shifting and investments in tax havens," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 581-599.

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