IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/bracre/v51y2019i3p316-332.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Earnings credibility in politically connected family firms

Author

Listed:
  • Bona-Sánchez, Carolina
  • Pérez-Alemán, Jerónimo
  • Santana-Martín, Domingo Javier

Abstract

We investigate whether politically connected family firms provide the market with more or less credible earnings compared with unconnected family firms. Our results evidence that politically connected family firms show higher earnings informativeness than unconnected family firms. Our findings are consistent with the market perceiving that, in the presence of political ties, family firms are more likely to reduce information asymmetries by signalling their superior earnings quality.

Suggested Citation

  • Bona-Sánchez, Carolina & Pérez-Alemán, Jerónimo & Santana-Martín, Domingo Javier, 2019. "Earnings credibility in politically connected family firms," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 316-332.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:bracre:v:51:y:2019:i:3:p:316-332
    DOI: 10.1016/j.bar.2018.12.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890838918300842
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.bar.2018.12.003?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. Robert M. Bushman & Joseph D. Piotroski & Abbie J. Smith, 2004. "What Determines Corporate Transparency?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 207-252, May.
    2. Kin-Wai Lee, 2007. "Corporate voluntary disclosure and the separation of cash flow rights from control rights," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 28(4), pages 393-416, May.
    3. 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.
    4. Klein, April, 2002. "Audit committee, board of director characteristics, and earnings management," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 375-400, August.
    5. Renee B. Adams & Benjamin E. Hermalin & Michael S. Weisbach, 2010. "The Role of Boards of Directors in Corporate Governance: A Conceptual Framework and Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(1), pages 58-107, March.
    6. Nianhang Xu & Xinzhong Xu & Qingbo Yuan, 2013. "Political Connections, Financing Friction, and Corporate Investment: Evidence from Chinese Listed Family Firms," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 19(4), pages 675-702, September.
    7. Vafeas, Nikos, 2000. "Board structure and the informativeness of earnings," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 139-160, June.
    8. Villalonga, Belen & Amit, Raphael, 2006. "How do family ownership, control and management affect firm value?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 385-417, May.
    9. Mara Faccio, 2010. "Differences between Politically Connected and Nonconnected Firms: A Cross‐Country Analysis," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 39(3), pages 905-928, September.
    10. Connie L. Becker & Mark L. Defond & James Jiambalvo & K.R. Subramanyam, 1998. "The Effect of Audit Quality on Earnings Management," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(1), pages 1-24, March.
    11. Julan Du & Yi Dai, 2005. "Ultimate Corporate Ownership Structures and Capital Structures: evidence from East Asian economies," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(1), pages 60-71, January.
    12. Bliss, Mark A. & Gul, Ferdinand A., 2012. "Political connection and cost of debt: Some Malaysian evidence," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 1520-1527.
    13. Bunkanwanicha, Pramuan & Fan, Joseph P. H. & Wiwattanakantang, Yupana, 2013. "The Value of Marriage to Family Firms," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 48(2), pages 611-636, April.
    14. Li, Hongbin & Meng, Lingsheng & Wang, Qian & Zhou, Li-An, 2008. "Political connections, financing and firm performance: Evidence from Chinese private firms," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 283-299, October.
    15. Davis-Friday, Paquita Y. & Eng, Li Li & Liu, Chao-Shin, 2006. "Response to discussion of "The effects of the Asian crisis, corporate governance and accounting system on the valuation of book value and earnings"," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 48-50.
    16. Wendy Beekes & Peter Pope & Steven Young, 2004. "The Link Between Earnings Timeliness, Earnings Conservatism and Board Composition: evidence from the UK," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(1), pages 47-59, January.
    17. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1998. "Law and Finance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1113-1155, December.
    18. Steen Thomsen & Torben Pedersen, 2000. "Ownership structure and economic performance in the largest european companies," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(6), pages 689-705, June.
    19. 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.
    20. David S. Jenkins & Gregory D. Kane & Uma Velury, 2009. "Earnings Conservatism and Value Relevance Across the Business Cycle," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(9-10), pages 1041-1058.
    21. 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.
    22. Bubolz, Margaret M., 2001. "Family as source, user, and builder of social capital," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 129-131, March.
    23. Chen, Charles J.P. & Li, Zengquan & Su, Xijia & Sun, Zheng, 2011. "Rent-seeking incentives, corporate political connections, and the control structure of private firms: Chinese evidence," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 229-243, April.
    24. Fraser, Donald R. & Zhang, Hao & Derashid, Chek, 2006. "Capital structure and political patronage: The case of Malaysia," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 1291-1308, April.
    25. Leuz, Christian & Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, 2006. "Political relationships, global financing, and corporate transparency: Evidence from Indonesia," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(2), pages 411-439, August.
    26. Lang, Mark & Smith Raedy, Jana & Wilson, Wendy, 2006. "Earnings management and cross listing: Are reconciled earnings comparable to US earnings?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1-2), pages 255-283, October.
    27. Faccio, Mara & Parsley, David C., 2009. "Sudden Deaths: Taking Stock of Geographic Ties," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(3), pages 683-718, June.
    28. Davis-Friday, Paquita Y. & Eng, Li Li & Liu, Chao-Shin, 2006. "The effects of the Asian crisis, corporate governance and accounting system on the valuation of book value and earnings," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 22-40.
    29. Duchin, Ran & Sosyura, Denis, 2012. "The politics of government investment," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(1), pages 24-48.
    30. Johnson, Simon & Mitton, Todd, 2003. "Cronyism and capital controls: evidence from Malaysia," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 351-382, February.
    31. Marianne Bertrand & Antoinette Schoar, 2006. "The Role of Family in Family Firms," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(2), pages 73-96, Spring.
    32. 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.
    33. 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.
    34. Ahmad-Zaluki, Nurwati A. & Campbell, Kevin & Goodacre, Alan, 2011. "Earnings management in Malaysian IPOs: The East Asian crisis, ownership control, and post-IPO performance," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 111-137, June.
    35. Mara Faccio, 2006. "Politically Connected Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(1), pages 369-386, March.
    36. Lozano, M. Belén & Martínez, Beatriz & Pindado, Julio, 2016. "Corporate governance, ownership and firm value: Drivers of ownership as a good corporate governance mechanism," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 1333-1343.
    37. repec:bla:jfinan:v:58:y:2003:i:3:p:1301-1327 is not listed on IDEAS
    38. 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.
    39. Francis, Jennifer & Schipper, Katherine & Vincent, Linda, 2005. "Earnings and dividend informativeness when cash flow rights are separated from voting rights," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 329-360, June.
    40. Karthik Ramanna & Sugata Roychowdhury, 2010. "Elections and Discretionary Accruals: Evidence from 2004," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(2), pages 445-475, May.
    41. 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.
    42. 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.
    43. David S. Jenkins & Gregory D. Kane & Uma Velury, 2009. "Earnings Conservatism and Value Relevance Across the Business Cycle," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(9‐10), pages 1041-1058, November.
    44. Choi, Jong-Hag & Kim, Jeong-Bon & Lee, Jay Junghun, 2011. "Value relevance of discretionary accruals in the Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 166-187, March.
    45. Ahmed, Anwer S. & Duellman, Scott, 2007. "Accounting conservatism and board of director characteristics: An empirical analysis," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2-3), pages 411-437, July.
    46. Dechun Wang, 2006. "Founding Family Ownership and Earnings Quality," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(3), pages 619-656, June.
    47. Jones, Jj, 1991. "Earnings Management During Import Relief Investigations," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 193-228.
    48. Fan, Joseph P.H. & Rui, Oliver Meng & Zhao, Mengxin, 2008. "Public governance and corporate finance: Evidence from corruption cases," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 343-364, September.
    49. Boubakri, Narjess & Guedhami, Omrane & Mishra, Dev & Saffar, Walid, 2012. "Political connections and the cost of equity capital," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 541-559.
    50. Ali, Ashiq & Chen, Tai-Yuan & Radhakrishnan, Suresh, 2007. "Corporate disclosures by family firms," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(1-2), pages 238-286, September.
    51. Chong‐En Bai & Jiangyong Lu & Zhigang Tao, 2006. "Property rights protection and access to bank loans," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 14(4), pages 611-628, October.
    52. Ronald C. Anderson & David M. Reeb, 2003. "Founding‐Family Ownership and Firm Performance: Evidence from the S&P 500," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(3), pages 1301-1328, June.
    53. Alvaro Cuervo, 2002. "Corporate Governance Mechanisms: a plea for less code of good governance and more market control," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(2), pages 84-93, April.
    54. Joseph P.H. Fan & Feng Guan & Zengquan Li & Yong George Yang, 2014. "Relationship Networks and Earnings Informativeness: Evidence from Corruption Cases," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(7-8), pages 831-866, September.
    55. Pramuan Bunkanwanicha & Yupana Wiwattanakantang, 2009. "Big Business Owners in Politics," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(6), pages 2133-2168, June.
    56. Raymond Fisman, 2001. "Estimating the Value of Political Connections," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(4), pages 1095-1102, September.
    57. Kothari, S.P. & Leone, Andrew J. & Wasley, Charles E., 2005. "Performance matched discretionary accrual measures," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 163-197, February.
    58. Bushman, Robert M. & Piotroski, Joseph D., 2006. "Financial reporting incentives for conservative accounting: The influence of legal and political institutions," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1-2), pages 107-148, October.
    59. Iatridis, George & Dimitras, Augustinos I., 2013. "Financial crisis and accounting quality: Evidence from five European countries," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 154-160.
    60. Annalisa Prencipe & Sasson Bar-Yosef & Henri C. Dekker, 2014. "Accounting Research in Family Firms: Theoretical and Empirical Challenges," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(3), pages 361-385, September.
    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. García-Meca, Emma & López-Iturriaga, Félix J. & Santana-Martín, Domingo Javier, 2022. "Board gender diversity and dividend payout: The critical mass and the family ties effect," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    2. López-Iturriaga, Félix J. & Santana Martín, Domingo Javier, 2019. "The payout policy of politically connected firms: Tunnelling or reputation?," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    3. Tha’er Amjed Mahmoud Ababneh & Mehmet Aga, 2019. "The Impact of Sustainable Financial Data Governance, Political Connections, and Creative Accounting Practices on Organizational Outcomes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-16, October.

    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. Hsin-Yi Chi & Tzu-Ching Weng & Guang-Zheng Chen & Shu-Ping Chen, 2019. "Do Political Connections Affect the Conservative Financial Reporting of Family Firms?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-20, October.
    2. Habib, Ahsan & Ranasinghe, Dinithi & Muhammadi, Abdul Haris & Islam, Ainul, 2018. "Political connections, financial reporting and auditing: Survey of the empirical literature," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 37-51.
    3. Mohamed Khalil & Sandy Harianto & Yilmaz Guney, 2022. "Do political connections reduce earnings management?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 59(1), pages 273-310, July.
    4. George Batta & Ricardo Sucre Heredia & Marc Weidenmier, 2014. "Political Connections and Accounting Quality under High Expropriation Risk," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(4), pages 485-517, December.
    5. Liu, Xiang & Saidi, Reza & Bazaz, Mohammad, 2014. "Institutional incentives and earnings quality: The influence of government ownership in China," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 248-261.
    6. Cull, Robert & Li, Wei & Sun, Bo & Xu, Lixin Colin, 2015. "Government connections and financial constraints: Evidence from a large representative sample of Chinese firms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 271-294.
    7. Xu, Nianhang & Yuan, Qingbo & Jiang, Xuanyu & Chan, Kam C., 2015. "Founder's political connections, second generation involvement, and family firm performance: Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 243-259.
    8. Omrane Guedhami & Jeffrey A. Pittman & Walid Saffar, 2014. "Auditor Choice in Politically Connected Firms," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(1), pages 107-162, March.
    9. Habib, Ahsan & Muhammadi, Abdul Haris & Jiang, Haiyan, 2017. "Political connections, related party transactions, and auditor choice: Evidence from Indonesia," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 1-19.
    10. Joseph P.H. Fan & Feng Guan & Zengquan Li & Yong George Yang, 2014. "Relationship Networks and Earnings Informativeness: Evidence from Corruption Cases," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(7-8), pages 831-866, September.
    11. Madah Marzuki, Marziana & Abdul Wahab, Effiezal Aswadi, 2016. "Institutional factors and conditional conservatism in Malaysia: Does international financial reporting standards convergence matter?," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 191-209.
    12. Swanpitak, Tanapond & Pan, Xiaofei & Suardi, Sandy, 2020. "The value of family control during political uncertainty: Evidence from Thailand's constitutional change in 201411We are grateful for helpful comments and suggestions provided by Shu-Ching Chou, Wooch," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    13. Song, Siwen & Jun, Aelee & Ma, Shiguang, 2021. "Corruption exposure, political disconnection, and their impact on Chinese family firms," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(3).
    14. Filip, Andrei & Raffournier, Bernard, 2014. "Financial Crisis And Earnings Management: The European Evidence," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 455-478.
    15. Persakis, Anthony & Iatridis, George Emmanuel, 2015. "Earnings quality under financial crisis: A global empirical investigation," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 1-35.
    16. Armstrong, Christopher S. & Guay, Wayne R. & Weber, Joseph P., 2010. "The role of information and financial reporting in corporate governance and debt contracting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 179-234, December.
    17. 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), pages 58-76.
    18. 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.
    19. 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.
    20. Chkir, Imed & Gallali, Mohamed Imen & Toukabri, Manara, 2020. "Political connections and corporate debt: Evidence from two U.S. election campaigns," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 229-239.

    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:51:y:2019:i:3:p:316-332. 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.