IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/accoun/v49y2014i1p27-52.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Earnings Management in Business Groups: Tax Incentives or Expropriation Concealment?

Author

Listed:
  • Beuselinck, Christof
  • Deloof, Marc

Abstract

This study provides evidence that Belgian firms affiliated to a business group (holding) manage their earnings more than stand-alone firms. Earnings management is especially more prevalent in fully owned group firms compared to group firms with minority shareholders. This evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that controlling shareholders face fewer constraints to manage earnings if opportunistic earnings management cannot adversely affect the value of minority shareholders and is inconsistent with the claim that group firms would engage in earnings management to hide controlling shareholders' self-serving transactions. On the incentive part, we find that group firms strategically manage earnings in response to tax incentives. More specifically, we show that signed discretionary accruals of group firms depend significantly more on the marginal tax rate status of the firm as compared to independent firms. Finally, we document that earnings management is particularly facilitated through intra-group transactions.

Suggested Citation

  • Beuselinck, Christof & Deloof, Marc, 2014. "Earnings Management in Business Groups: Tax Incentives or Expropriation Concealment?," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 27-52.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:accoun:v:49:y:2014:i:1:p:27-52
    DOI: 10.1016/j.intacc.2014.01.008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0020706314000090
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.intacc.2014.01.008?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Simon Johnson, 2000. "Tunneling," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(2), pages 22-27, May.
    2. 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.
    3. Gopalan, Radhakrishnan & Nanda, Vikram & Seru, Amit, 2007. "Affiliated firms and financial support: Evidence from Indian business groups," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(3), pages 759-795, December.
    4. Scholes, Ms & Wilson, Gp & Wolfson, Ma, 1992. "Firms Responses To Anticipated Reductions In Tax Rates - The Tax-Reform Act Of 1986," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30, pages 161-185.
    5. Aasmund Eilifsen & Kjell Henry Knivsfla & Frode Saettem, 1999. "Earnings manipulation: cost of capital versus tax," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(3), pages 481-491.
    6. Ferris, Stephen P. & Kim, Kenneth A. & Kitsabunnarat, Pattanaporn, 2003. "The costs (and benefits?) of diversified business groups: The case of Korean chaebols," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 251-273, February.
    7. Kooyul Jung & Boyoung Kim & Byungmo Kim, 2009. "Tax Motivated Income Shifting and Korean Business Groups (Chaebol)," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(5‐6), pages 552-586, June.
    8. Plesko, George A., 2003. "An evaluation of alternative measures of corporate tax rates," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 201-226, June.
    9. Gramlich, J.D.Jeffrey D. & Limpaphayom, Piman & Ghon Rhee, S., 2004. "Taxes, keiretsu affiliation, and income shifting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 203-228, June.
    10. Marco Becht & Colin Mayer, 2002. "Corporate control in Europe," Revue d'économie politique, Dalloz, vol. 112(4), pages 471-498.
    11. Jacob, J, 1996. "Taxes and transfer pricing: Income shifting and the volume of intrafirm transfers," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(2), pages 301-312.
    12. Buysschaert, An & Deloof, Marc & Jegers, Marc, 2004. "Equity sales in Belgian corporate groups: expropriation of minority shareholders? A clinical study," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 81-103, January.
    13. 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.
    14. Claessens, Stijn & Fan, Joseph P.H. & Lang, Larry H.P., 2006. "The benefits and costs of group affiliation: Evidence from East Asia," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 1-26, March.
    15. Hyun-Han Shin & René M. Stulz, 1998. "Are Internal capital Markets Efficient?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(2), pages 531-552.
    16. Fields, Thomas D. & Lys, Thomas Z. & Vincent, Linda, 2001. "Empirical research on accounting choice," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 255-307, September.
    17. Jones, Jj, 1991. "Earnings Management During Import Relief Investigations," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 193-228.
    18. Becht, M.C. & Chapelle, A. & Renneboog, L.D.R., 1999. "Shareholding Cascades : The Separation of Ownership and Control in Belgium," Other publications TiSEM 7a15c5ff-a909-44ed-abb6-9, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    19. Vander Bauwhede, Heidi & Willekens, Marleen & Gaeremynck, Ann, 2003. "Audit firm size, public ownership, and firms' discretionary accruals management," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 1-22.
    20. Collins, J & Kemsley, D & Lang, M, 1998. "Cross-jurisdictional income shifting and earnings valuation," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(2), pages 209-229.
    21. Brenda Van Tendeloo & Ann Vanstraelen, 2008. "Earnings Management and Audit Quality in Europe: Evidence from the Private Client Segment Market," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 447-469.
    22. Barca, Fabrizio & Becht, Marco (ed.), 2001. "The Control of Corporate Europe," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199247424.
    23. An Buysschaert & Marc Deloof & Marc Jegers & An Rommens, 2008. "Is Group Affiliation Profitable in Developed Countries? Belgian Evidence," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(6), pages 504-518, November.
    24. Roychowdhury, Sugata, 2006. "Earnings management through real activities manipulation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 335-370, December.
    25. DeFond, Mark L. & Jiambalvo, James, 1994. "Debt covenant violation and manipulation of accruals," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1-2), pages 145-176, January.
    26. Faccio, Mara & Lang, Larry H. P., 2002. "The ultimate ownership of Western European corporations," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 365-395, September.
    27. Jeong†Bon Kim & Cheong H. Yi, 2006. "Ownership Structure, Business Group Affiliation, Listing Status, and Earnings Management: Evidence from Korea," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(2), pages 427-464, June.
    28. Graham, John R., 1996. "Proxies for the corporate marginal tax rate," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 187-221, October.
    29. Saugata Banerjee & Benoit Leleux & Theo Vermaelen, 1997. "Large Shareholdings and Corporate Control: An Analysis of Stake Purchases by French Holding Companies," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 3(1), pages 23-43, March.
    30. Marco Becht & Fabrizio Barca, 2001. "The control of corporate Europe," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/13302, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    31. Mills, Lillian F. & Newberry, Kaye J., 2004. "Do Foreign Multinationals’ Tax Incentives Influence Their U.S. Income Reporting and Debt Policy?," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 57(1), pages 89-107, March.
    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. Junjian Gu, 2022. "Country Portfolio and Taxation: Evidence from Japan," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 175(3), pages 583-607, January.
    2. Thomas Dilger & Sabine Graschitz, 2015. "Influencing Factors on Earnings Management, Empirical Evidence from Listed German and Austrian Companies," International Journal of Business and Economic Sciences Applied Research (IJBESAR), International Hellenic University (IHU), Kavala Campus, Greece (formerly Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology - EMaTTech), vol. 8(2), pages 69-86, October.
    3. Shun-Ji Jin & In Tae Hwang & Sun Min Kang, 2018. "Improving Sustainability through a Dual Audit System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-15, January.
    4. Comporek Michał, 2024. "Earnings Management in Business Groups during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic," Central European Economic Journal, Sciendo, vol. 11(58), pages 286-304.
    5. Ramesh Chandra Das & Chandra Sekhar Mishra & Prabina Rajib, 2017. "Real Versus Accrual-based Earnings Management," Paradigm, , vol. 21(2), pages 156-174, December.
    6. 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.
    7. Ruqia Shaikh & Guo Fei & Muhammad Shaique & Muhammad Rizwan Nazir, 2019. "Control-Enhancing Mechanisms and Earnings Management: Empirical Evidence from Pakistan," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-23, August.
    8. Adnan Shoaib & Muhammad A. Siddiqui, 2022. "Earning information content changes based on accrual measures and quality measures: Evidences from member countries of Asia Pacific trade agreement," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(1), pages 1526-1546, January.
    9. Yamada, Akihiro & Sakurai, Yuuta & Ishida, Ryo, 2020. "Influence of geographic distribution on real activities manipulation within consolidated companies: Evidence from Japan," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    10. Ramesh Chandra Das & Chandra Sekhar Mishra & Prabina Rajib, 2017. "Detection of Anomalies in Accounting Data Using Benford¡¯s Law: Evidence from India," Journal of Social Science Studies, Macrothink Institute, vol. 4(1), pages 123-139, January.
    11. Ramesh Chandra Das & Chandra Sekhar Mishra & Prabina Rajib, 2018. "Firm-specific Parameters and Earnings Management: A Study in the Indian Context," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 19(5), pages 1240-1260, October.
    12. Haiyan Jiang & Gary Tian & Donghua Zhou, 2021. "The influence of the deregulation of short‐selling on related‐party transactions: Evidence from China," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(5-6), pages 1022-1056, May.
    13. Junjian Gu, 2019. "A Potential Risk of Increasing Cross-National Distance: Evidence from Less Sustainable Tax Policies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-22, May.
    14. Frederick Kibon Changwony & Anthony Kwabena Kyiu, 2024. "Business strategies and corruption in small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises: The impact of business group affiliation, external auditing, and international standards certification," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(1), pages 95-121, January.
    15. Yong-Shik Kim, 2023. "The Association between Voluntary Carbon Disclosure and Accounting Comparability: Examining the Moderating Effect of Korean Business Groups," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-17, March.
    16. Nor Shaipah Abdul Wahab, 2016. "Malaysian multinational companies (MNC): Permanent and temporary nature of tax planning," Cogent Business & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(1), pages 1248644-124, December.
    17. Ranjitha Ajay & R. Madhumathi, 2015. "Institutional Ownership and Earnings Management in India," Indian Journal of Corporate Governance, , vol. 8(2), pages 119-136, December.

    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. BEUSELINCK, Christof & DELOOF, Marc, "undated". "Bussiness groups, taxes and accruals management," Working Papers 2006015, University of Antwerp, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    2. Beuselinck, C.A.C. & Deloof, M., 2006. "Business Groups, Taxes and Accruals Management," Discussion Paper 2006-46, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    3. Beuselinck, C.A.C. & Deloof, M., 2006. "Business Groups, Taxes and Accruals Management," Other publications TiSEM 46f42485-43d5-4cc6-9d56-c, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    4. An Buysschaert & Marc Deloof & Marc Jegers & An Rommens, 2008. "Is Group Affiliation Profitable in Developed Countries? Belgian Evidence," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(6), pages 504-518, November.
    5. George, Rejie & Kabir, Rezaul, 2008. "Business groups and profit redistribution: A boon or bane for firms?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 61(9), pages 1004-1014, September.
    6. Pier Luigi Marchini & Tatiana Mazza & Alice Medioli, 2018. "The impact of related party transactions on earnings management: some insights from the Italian context," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 22(4), pages 981-1014, December.
    7. Roy Kouwenberg & Pipat Thontirawong, 2016. "Group affiliation and earnings management of Asian IPO issuers," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 897-917, November.
    8. Almeida, Heitor & Park, Sang Yong & Subrahmanyam, Marti G. & Wolfenzon, Daniel, 2011. "The structure and formation of business groups: Evidence from Korean chaebols," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(2), pages 447-475, February.
    9. Dechow, Patricia & Ge, Weili & Schrand, Catherine, 2010. "Understanding earnings quality: A review of the proxies, their determinants and their consequences," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 344-401, December.
    10. Alzoubi, Ebraheem Saleem Salem, 2018. "Audit quality, debt financing, and earnings management: Evidence from Jordan," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 69-84.
    11. Susan Perkins & Randall Morck & Bernard Yeung, 2008. "Innocents Abroad: The Hazards of International Joint Ventures with Pyramidal Group Firms," NBER Working Papers 13914, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Heitor Almeida & Sang Yong Park & Marti Subrahmanyam & Daniel Wolfenzon, 2009. "The Structure and Formation of Business Groups: Evidence from Korean Chaebols," NBER Working Papers 14983, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Randall Morck, 2011. "Finance and Governance in Developing Economies," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 3(1), pages 375-406, December.
    14. Claessens, Stijn & Fan, Joseph P.H. & Lang, Larry H.P., 2006. "The benefits and costs of group affiliation: Evidence from East Asia," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 1-26, March.
    15. Heitor Almeida & Daniel Wolfenzon, 2005. "A Theory of Pyramidal Ownership and Family Business Groups," NBER Working Papers 11368, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Bansal, Shashank & Singh, Harminder, 2023. "Does market competition foster related party transactions? Evidence from emerging market," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    17. Khosa,Amrinder & Ahmed,Kamran & Henry,Darren, 2019. "Ownership Structure, Related Party Transactions, and Firm Valuation," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108492195, October.
    18. Byun, Hae-Young & Choi, Sunhwa & Hwang, Lee-Seok & Kim, Robert G., 2013. "Business group affiliation, ownership structure, and the cost of debt," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 311-331.
    19. Li, Ting & Zaiats, Nataliya, 2017. "Information environment and earnings management of dual class firms around the world," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 1-23.
    20. Hsu, Audrey Wen-hsin & Liu, Sophia Hsin-Tsai, 2016. "Organizational structure, agency costs, and accrual quality," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 35-60.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Business groups; Earnings management; Marginal tax rate; Ownership structure;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion and Avoidance
    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting

    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:eee:accoun:v:49:y:2014:i:1:p:27-52. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620179 .

    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.