IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/bracre/v46y2014i1p18-32.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do higher value firms voluntarily disclose more information? Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Chen, Jean J.
  • Cheng, Xinsheng
  • Gong, Stephen X.
  • Tan, Youchao

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of guanxi on the relation between firm value and voluntary disclosure of information about new investment projects in China's institutional setting. We find a negative relation between firm value and voluntary disclosure for firms that rely heavily on guanxi in their value creation (e.g. non-high-tech firms, and firms located in regions with underdeveloped institutions). By contrast, for firms that rely less heavily on guanxi and more on other sources of core competencies (e.g. high-tech firms, and firms in high-marketisation regions), we find a positive relation between firm value and voluntary disclosure. The moderating role of guanxi on the relation between firm value and voluntary disclosure is explained by firms conscientiously balancing the costs and benefits of voluntary disclosure relative to guanxi. Specifically, high guanxi-dependence firms refrain from detailed voluntary disclosures for fear of revealing sensitive information that may harm their guanxi. In contrast, low guanxi-dependence firms rely more heavily on voluntary disclosures to reduce information asymmetry and financing cost, with such incentives being particularly strong for high value firms. Our evidence has implications for research on motives for disclosure and regulation of financial reporting.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen, Jean J. & Cheng, Xinsheng & Gong, Stephen X. & Tan, Youchao, 2014. "Do higher value firms voluntarily disclose more information? Evidence from China," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 18-32.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:bracre:v:46:y:2014:i:1:p:18-32
    DOI: 10.1016/j.bar.2013.06.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890838913000437
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.bar.2013.06.003?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. 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.
    2. Bamber, LS & Cheon, YS, 1998. "Discretionary management earnings forecast disclosures: Antecedents and outcomes associated with forecast venue and forecast specificity choices," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(2), pages 167-190.
    3. Bai, Chong-En & Li, David D. & Tao, Zhigang & Wang, Yijiang, 2000. "A Multitask Theory of State Enterprise Reform," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 716-738, December.
    4. 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.
    5. Dye, Ra, 1985. "Disclosure Of Nonproprietary Information," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(1), pages 123-145.
    6. Bailey, Warren & Huang, Wei & Yang, Zhishu, 2011. "Bank Loans with Chinese Characteristics: Some Evidence on Inside Debt in a State-Controlled Banking System," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(6), pages 1795-1830, December.
    7. Mark H. Lang & Russell J. Lundholm, 2000. "Voluntary Disclosure and Equity Offerings: Reducing Information Asymmetry or Hyping the Stock?," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(4), pages 623-662, December.
    8. Cheung, Yan-Leung & Jiang, Ping & Tan, Weiqiang, 2010. "A transparency Disclosure Index measuring disclosures: Chinese listed companies," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 259-280, June.
    9. Eng, L. L. & Mak, Y. T., 2003. "Corporate governance and voluntary disclosure," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 325-345.
    10. Fan, Joseph P.H. & Wong, T.J. & Zhang, Tianyu, 2007. "Politically connected CEOs, corporate governance, and Post-IPO performance of China's newly partially privatized firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 330-357, May.
    11. Chow, Gregory C, 1997. "Challenges of China's Economic System for Economic Theory," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(2), pages 321-327, May.
    12. Raghuram G. Rajan & Luigi Zingales, 1998. "Which Capitalism? Lessons Form The East Asian Crisis," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 11(3), pages 40-48, September.
    13. Grossman, Sanford J, 1981. "The Informational Role of Warranties and Private Disclosure about Product Quality," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 24(3), pages 461-483, December.
    14. Paul Hribar, 2004. "Discussion of Competitive Costs of Disclosure by Biotech IPOs," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 357-364, May.
    15. Wenfeng Wu & Chongfeng Wu & Oliver M. Rui, 2012. "Ownership and the Value of Political Connections: Evidence from China," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 18(4), pages 695-729, September.
    16. Jung, Wo & Kwon, Yk, 1988. "Disclosure When The Market Is Unsure Of Information Endowment Of Managers," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(1), pages 146-153.
    17. Armitage, Seth & Marston, Claire, 2008. "Corporate disclosure, cost of capital and reputation: Evidence from finance directors," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 314-336.
    18. Nagar, Venky & Nanda, Dhananjay & Wysocki, Peter, 2003. "Discretionary disclosure and stock-based incentives," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(1-3), pages 283-309, January.
    19. Seung Ho Park & Yadong Luo, 2001. "Guanxi and organizational dynamics: organizational networking in Chinese firms," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(5), pages 455-477, May.
    20. Steve Lovett & Lee C Simmons & Raja Kali, 1999. "Guanxi Versus the Market: Ethics and Efficiency," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 30(2), pages 231-247, June.
    21. McConnell, John J. & Muscarella, Chris J., 1985. "Corporate capital expenditure decisions and the market value of the firm," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 399-422, September.
    22. Beyer, Anne & Cohen, Daniel A. & Lys, Thomas Z. & Walther, Beverly R., 2010. "The financial reporting environment: Review of the recent literature," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 296-343, December.
    23. Daniel A. Bens, 2002. "The Determinants of the Amount of Information Disclosed about Corporate Restructurings," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(1), pages 1-20, March.
    24. repec:cup:jfinqa:v:46:y:2011:i:06:p:1795-1830_00 is not listed on IDEAS
    25. Clement Chow & Michael Fung & Kevin Lam & Heibatollah Sami, 2012. "Investment opportunity set, political connection and business policies of private enterprises in China," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 38(3), pages 367-389, April.
    26. Michael Firth & Oliver M. Rui & Wenfeng Wu, 2011. "The Effects of Political Connections and State Ownership on Corporate Litigation in China," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 54(3), pages 573-607.
    27. Bushee, BJ & Noe, CF, 2000. "Corporate disclosure practices, institutional investors, and stock return volatility," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38, pages 171-202.
    28. Chen, Xiao & Lee, Chi-Wen Jevons & Li, Jing, 2008. "Government assisted earnings management in China," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 262-274.
    29. Robert Bushman & Wayne Landsman, 2010. "The pros and cons of regulating corporate reporting: A critical review of the arguments," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(3), pages 259-273.
    30. Wernerfelt, Birger & Montgomery, Cynthia A, 1988. "Tobin's q and the Importance of Focus in Firm Performance," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(1), pages 246-250, March.
    31. Alexander W. Butler & Umit G. Gurun, 2012. "Educational Networks, Mutual Fund Voting Patterns, and CEO Compensation," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(8), pages 2533-2562.
    32. Ferdinand A. Gul, 2006. "Auditors' Response to Political Connections and Cronyism in Malaysia," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(5), pages 931-963, December.
    33. Dye, Ronald A, 1986. "Proprietary and Nonproprietary Disclosures," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 59(2), pages 331-366, April.
    34. Wang, Qian & Wong, T.J. & Xia, Lijun, 2008. "State ownership, the institutional environment, and auditor choice: Evidence from China," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 112-134, September.
    35. Yadong Luo, 2003. "Industrial dynamics and managerial networking in an emerging market: the case of China," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(13), pages 1315-1327, December.
    36. Verrecchia, Robert E., 1983. "Discretionary disclosure," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 179-194, April.
    37. Paul R. Milgrom, 1981. "Good News and Bad News: Representation Theorems and Applications," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 12(2), pages 380-391, Autumn.
    38. Firth, Michael & Gong, Stephen X. & Shan, Liwei, 2013. "Cost of government and firm value," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 136-152.
    39. George A. Akerlof, 1970. "The Market for "Lemons": Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 84(3), pages 488-500.
    40. Wagenhofer, Alfred, 1990. "Voluntary disclosure with a strategic opponent," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 341-363, March.
    41. Boyan Jovanovic, 1982. "Truthful Disclosure of Information," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 13(1), pages 36-44, Spring.
    42. Asim Ijaz Khwaja & Atif Mian, 2005. "Do Lenders Favor Politically Connected Firms? Rent Provision in an Emerging Financial Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(4), pages 1371-1411.
    43. Healy, Paul M. & Palepu, Krishna G., 2001. "Information asymmetry, corporate disclosure, and the capital markets: A review of the empirical disclosure literature," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 405-440, September.
    44. Jesse A. Ellis & C. Edward Fee & Shawn E. Thomas, 2012. "Proprietary Costs and the Disclosure of Information About Customers," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(3), pages 685-727, June.
    45. Chung, Kee H. & Wright, Peter & Charoenwong, Charlie, 1998. "Investment opportunities and market reaction to capital expenditure decisions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 41-60, January.
    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. Shan, Yuan George, 2019. "Do corporate governance and disclosure tone drive voluntary disclosure of related-party transactions in China?," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 30-48.
    2. Yongliang Yang & Jin Wen & Yi Li, 2020. "The Impact of Environmental Information Disclosure on the Firm Value of Listed Manufacturing Firms: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-20, February.
    3. Liu, Sun, 2015. "Corporate governance and forward-looking disclosure: Evidence from China," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 16-30.
    4. Li, Bin & Liang, Yilan & Shahab, Yasir & Gull, Ammar Ali & Ashraf, Naeem, 2022. "Parent-subsidiary dispersion, cost of debt and debt default: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    5. Arpita Sharma & Shailesh Rastogi, 2021. "Impact of Efficiency on Voluntary Disclosure of Non-Banking Financial Company—Microfinance Institutions in India," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-21, June.
    6. Anthony P Cannizzaro & Robert J Weiner, 2018. "State ownership and transparency in foreign direct investment," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(2), pages 172-195, February.

    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. Beyer, Anne & Cohen, Daniel A. & Lys, Thomas Z. & Walther, Beverly R., 2010. "The financial reporting environment: Review of the recent literature," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 296-343, December.
    2. Richard Frankel & Joshua Lee & Zawadi Lemayian, 2018. "Proprietary costs and sealing documents in patent litigation," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 452-486, June.
    3. Jesse A. Ellis & C. Edward Fee & Shawn E. Thomas, 2012. "Proprietary Costs and the Disclosure of Information About Customers," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(3), pages 685-727, June.
    4. Ali, Ashiq & Klasa, Sandy & Yeung, Eric, 2014. "Industry concentration and corporate disclosure policy," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 240-264.
    5. Rezaee, Zabihollah & Tuo, Ling, 2017. "Voluntary disclosure of non-financial information and its association with sustainability performance," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 47-59.
    6. Jeremy Bertomeu & Davide Cianciaruso, 2018. "Verifiable disclosure," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 65(4), pages 1011-1044, June.
    7. Stephan Hollander & Maarten Pronk & Erik Roelofsen, 2010. "Does Silence Speak? An Empirical Analysis of Disclosure Choices During Conference Calls," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(3), pages 531-563, June.
    8. Andrew J. Leone & Steve Rock & Michael Willenborg, 2007. "Disclosure of Intended Use of Proceeds and Underpricing in Initial Public Offerings," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(1), pages 111-153, March.
    9. 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.
    10. Imhof, Michael J & Seavey, Scott E., 2018. "How investors value cash and cash flows when managers commit to providing earnings forecasts," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 74-87.
    11. Verrecchia, Robert E., 2001. "Essays on disclosure," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1-3), pages 97-180, December.
    12. Anna Boisits & Roland Königsgruber, 2016. "Information acquisition and disclosure by firms in the presence of additional available information," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 24(1), pages 177-205, March.
    13. Einhorn, Eti, 2007. "Voluntary disclosure under uncertainty about the reporting objective," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2-3), pages 245-274, July.
    14. Callen, Jeffrey L. & Fang, Xiaohua & Zhang, Wenjun, 2020. "Protection of proprietary information and financial reporting opacity: Evidence from a natural experiment," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    15. Thakor, Anjan V., 2015. "Strategic information disclosure when there is fundamental disagreement," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 131-153.
    16. Luminita Enache & Antonio Parbonetti & Anup Srivastava, 2020. "Are all outside directors created equal with respect to firm disclosure policy?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 541-577, August.
    17. Greg Clinch & Robert E. Verrecchia, 1997. "Competitive Disadvantage and Discretionary Disclosure in Industries," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 22(2), pages 125-137, December.
    18. Suijs, Jeroen, 2007. "Voluntary disclosure of information when firms are uncertain of investor response," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2-3), pages 391-410, July.
    19. Arya, Anil & Mittendorf, Brian, 2013. "Discretionary disclosure in the presence of dual distribution channels," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 168-182.
    20. Bruce Ian Carlin & Shaun William Davies & Andrew Miles Iannaccone, 2010. "Competing for Attention in Financial Markets," NBER Working Papers 16085, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    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:bracre:v:46:y:2014:i:1:p:18-32. 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: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/the-british-accounting-review .

    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.