IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/corfin/v25y2014icp107-121.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Corporate tax aggressiveness, outside directors, and debt policy: An empirical analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Richardson, Grant
  • Lanis, Roman
  • Leung, Sidney Chi-Moon

Abstract

This study examines the influence of corporate tax aggressiveness on corporate debt policy (the debt-substitution effect) and the influence of outside directors on both debt and the debt-substitution effect. Based on a sample of 6967 firm-year observations over the 2001–2010 period, we find that tax aggressiveness is negatively correlated with debt. We also observe a negative correlation between debt and the proportion of outside directors on the board, and find that outside directors magnify the debt-substitution effect. Finally, we obtain similar results in analysis based on firms' debt issuance decisions.

Suggested Citation

  • Richardson, Grant & Lanis, Roman & Leung, Sidney Chi-Moon, 2014. "Corporate tax aggressiveness, outside directors, and debt policy: An empirical analysis," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 107-121.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:25:y:2014:i:c:p:107-121
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2013.11.010
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092911991300117X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2013.11.010?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. Desai, Mihir A. & Dharmapala, Dhammika, 2006. "Corporate tax avoidance and high-powered incentives," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(1), pages 145-179, January.
    2. Chen, Shuping & Chen, Xia & Cheng, Qiang & Shevlin, Terry, 2010. "Are family firms more tax aggressive than non-family firms?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(1), pages 41-61, January.
    3. MacKie-Mason, Jeffrey K, 1990. "Do Taxes Affect Corporate Financing Decisions?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(5), pages 1471-1493, December.
    4. repec:bla:jfinan:v:43:y:1988:i:1:p:1-19 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Fama, Eugene F & Jensen, Michael C, 1983. "Separation of Ownership and Control," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(2), pages 301-325, June.
    6. Tim Adam & Vidhan K. Goyal, 2008. "The Investment Opportunity Set And Its Proxy Variables," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 31(1), pages 41-63, March.
    7. Xie, Biao & Davidson, Wallace III & DaDalt, Peter J., 2003. "Earnings management and corporate governance: the role of the board and the audit committee," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 295-316, June.
    8. DeAngelo, Harry & Masulis, Ronald W., 1980. "Optimal capital structure under corporate and personal taxation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 3-29, March.
    9. repec:bla:jfinan:v:43:y:1988:i:2:p:271-81 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Bradley, Michael & Jarrell, Gregg A & Kim, E Han, 1984. "On the Existence of an Optimal Capital Structure: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 39(3), pages 857-878, July.
    11. Stulz, ReneM., 1988. "Managerial control of voting rights : Financing policies and the market for corporate control," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1-2), pages 25-54, January.
    12. Harris, Milton & Raviv, Artur, 1991. "The Theory of Capital Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(1), pages 297-355, March.
    13. Murray Z. Frank & Vidhan K. Goyal, 2009. "Capital Structure Decisions: Which Factors Are Reliably Important?," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 38(1), pages 1-37, March.
    14. Grier, Paul & Zychowicz, Edward J., 1994. "Institutional investors, corporate discipline, and the role of debt," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 1-11, February.
    15. Sanford J. Grossman & Oliver D. Hart, 1982. "Corporate Financial Structure and Managerial Incentives," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of Information and Uncertainty, pages 107-140, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. John R. Graham, 2000. "How Big Are the Tax Benefits of Debt?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(5), pages 1901-1941, October.
    17. Soku Byoun, 2008. "How and When Do Firms Adjust Their Capital Structures toward Targets?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(6), pages 3069-3096, December.
    18. Berger, Philip G & Ofek, Eli & Yermack, David L, 1997. "Managerial Entrenchment and Capital Structure Decisions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(4), pages 1411-1438, September.
    19. Eugene F. Fama, 2002. "Testing Trade-Off and Pecking Order Predictions About Dividends and Debt," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 15(1), pages 1-33, March.
    20. Rosenstein, Stuart & Wyatt, Jeffrey G., 1990. "Outside directors, board independence, and shareholder wealth," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 175-191, August.
    21. Sonja Olhoft Rego & Ryan Wilson, 2012. "Equity Risk Incentives and Corporate Tax Aggressiveness," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(3), pages 775-810, June.
    22. Mitchell A. Petersen, 2009. "Estimating Standard Errors in Finance Panel Data Sets: Comparing Approaches," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 435-480, January.
    23. Myers, Stewart C., 1984. "Capital structure puzzle," Working papers 1548-84., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    24. Linck, James S. & Netter, Jeffry M. & Yang, Tina, 2008. "The determinants of board structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 308-328, February.
    25. Renée B. Adams & Daniel Ferreira, 2007. "A Theory of Friendly Boards," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(1), pages 217-250, February.
    26. Sanjeev Bhojraj & Partha Sengupta, 2003. "Effect of Corporate Governance on Bond Ratings and Yields: The Role of Institutional Investors and Outside Directors," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 76(3), pages 455-476, July.
    27. Anup Agrawal & Charles R. Knoeber, "undated". "Firm Performance and Mechanisms to Control Agency Problems between Managers and Shareholders (Revision of 29-94)," Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research Working Papers 08-96, Wharton School Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research.
    28. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    29. Myers, Stewart C, 1984. "The Capital Structure Puzzle," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 39(3), pages 575-592, July.
    30. Byrd, John W. & Hickman, Kent A., 1992. "Do outside directors monitor managers? *1: Evidence from tender offer bids," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 195-221, October.
    31. Harris, Milton & Raviv, Artur, 1990. "Capital Structure and the Informational Role of Debt," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(2), pages 321-349, June.
    32. Frank, Murray Z. & Goyal, Vidhan K., 2004. "The effect of market conditions on capital structure adjustment," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 47-55, March.
    33. Trezevant, Robert, 1992. "Debt Financing and Tax Status: Tests of the Substitution Effect and the Tax Exhaustion Hypothesis Using Firms' Responses to the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(4), pages 1557-1568, September.
    34. Rajan, Raghuram & Winton, Andrew, 1995. "Covenants and Collateral as Incentives to Monitor," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(4), pages 1113-1146, September.
    35. repec:bla:jfinan:v:43:y:1988:i:2:p:357-73 is not listed on IDEAS
    36. Eliezer M. Fich, 2005. "Are Some Outside Directors Better than Others? Evidence from Director Appointments by Fortune 1000 Firms," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 78(5), pages 1943-1972, September.
    37. Jarrad Harford & Kai Li & Xinlei Zhao, 2008. "Corporate boards and the leverage and debt maturity choices," International Journal of Corporate Governance, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 1(1), pages 3-27.
    38. Graham, John R. & Tucker, Alan L., 2006. "Tax shelters and corporate debt policy," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(3), pages 563-594, September.
    39. Stewart C. Myers, 1984. "Capital Structure Puzzle," NBER Working Papers 1393, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    40. Coles, Jeffrey L. & Daniel, Naveen D. & Naveen, Lalitha, 2008. "Boards: Does one size fit all," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 329-356, February.
    41. Mehran, Hamid, 1992. "Executive Incentive Plans, Corporate Control, and Capital Structure," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 27(4), pages 539-560, December.
    42. Graham, John R., 1996. "Debt and the marginal tax rate," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 41-73, May.
    43. Benjamin E. Hermalin & Michael S. Weisbach, 1988. "The Determinants of Board Composition," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 19(4), pages 589-606, Winter.
    44. Healy, Paul M., 1985. "The effect of bonus schemes on accounting decisions," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(1-3), pages 85-107, April.
    45. Anup Agrawal & Charles R. Knoeber, "undated". "Firm Performance and Mechanisms to Control Agency Problems between Managers and Shareholders (Revision of 29-94)," Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research Working Papers 8-96, Wharton School Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research.
    46. Chenchuramaiah T. Bathala & Kenneth P. Moon & Ramesh P. Rao, 1994. "Managerial Ownership, Debt Policy, and the Impact of Institutional Holdings: An Agency Perspective," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 23(3), Fall.
    47. Dahya, Jay & McConnell, John J., 2005. "Outside directors and corporate board decisions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 11(1-2), pages 37-60, March.
    48. 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.
    49. Agrawal, Anup & Knoeber, Charles R., 1996. "Firm Performance and Mechanisms to Control Agency Problems between Managers and Shareholders," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 31(3), pages 377-397, September.
    50. Harris, Milton & Raviv, Artur, 1988. "Corporate control contests and capital structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1-2), pages 55-86, 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. Roman Lanis & Grant Richardson & Brett Govendir & Gregory Pazmandy, 2021. "The effect of board of directors’ expertise and tax avoidance on corporate debt," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(3), pages 4475-4511, September.
    2. Brooks, Chris & Godfrey, Chris & Hillenbrand, Carola & Money, Kevin, 2016. "Do investors care about corporate taxes?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 218-248.
    3. Peter Vaz da Fonseca & Andrea Decourt Savelli & Michele Nascimento Juca, 2020. "A Systematic Review of the Influence of Taxation on Corporate Capital Structure," International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), vol. 0(2), pages 155-178.
    4. Chih-Liang Liu & Junmao Chiu, 2024. "External social networks and tax avoidance," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 62(4), pages 1459-1504, May.
    5. Guan Ping Zhu & He Fa Gui & Tao Peng & Chong Hui Jiang, 2023. "Corporate tax avoidance and corporate financialization: The moderating effect of managerial myopia," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(1), pages 459-472, January.
    6. Francis, Bill B. & Hasan, Iftekhar & Sun, Xian & Wu, Qiang, 2016. "CEO political preference and corporate tax sheltering," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 37-53.
    7. Peter Vaz da Fonseca & Michele Nascimento Juca & Wilson Toshiro Nakamura, 2020. "Debt Tax Benefits in a High Tax Emerging Market: Evidence from Brazil," International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), vol. 0(2), pages 35-52.
    8. Jin, Xiaoye, 2021. "Corporate tax aggressiveness and capital structure decisions: Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 94-111.
    9. Wei Huang & Tingting Ying & Yun Shen, 2018. "Executive cash compensation and tax aggressiveness of Chinese firms," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 1151-1180, November.
    10. Keasey, Kevin & Martinez, Beatriz & Pindado, Julio, 2015. "Young family firms: Financing decisions and the willingness to dilute control," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 47-63.
    11. McClure, Ross & Lanis, Roman & Wells, Peter & Govendir, Brett, 2018. "The impact of dividend imputation on corporate tax avoidance: The case of shareholder value," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 492-514.
    12. Kubick, Thomas R. & Lockhart, G. Brandon, 2017. "Corporate tax aggressiveness and the maturity structure of debt," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 50-57.

    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. Roman Lanis & Grant Richardson & Brett Govendir & Gregory Pazmandy, 2021. "The effect of board of directors’ expertise and tax avoidance on corporate debt," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(3), pages 4475-4511, September.
    2. Hussein Abedi Shamsabadi & Byung-Seong Min & Richard Chung, 2016. "Corporate governance and dividend strategy: lessons from Australia," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 12(5), pages 583-610, October.
    3. Wiwattanakantang, Yupana, 1999. "An empirical study on the determinants of the capital structure of Thai firms," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 7(3-4), pages 371-403, August.
    4. Mário Santos & António Moreira & Elisabete Vieira, 2014. "Ownership concentration, contestability, family firms, and capital structure," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 18(4), pages 1063-1107, November.
    5. 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.
    6. McClure, Ross & Lanis, Roman & Wells, Peter & Govendir, Brett, 2018. "The impact of dividend imputation on corporate tax avoidance: The case of shareholder value," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 492-514.
    7. Joliet, Robert & Muller, Aline, 2013. "Capital structure effects of international expansion," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 375-393.
    8. Aziz Jaafar & Lynn Hodgkinson & Mao-Feng Kao, 2019. "Ownership Structure, Board of Directors and Firm Performance: Evidence from Taiwan," Working Papers 19011, Bangor Business School, Prifysgol Bangor University (Cymru / Wales).
    9. Alves, Paulo & Couto, Eduardo Barbosa & Francisco, Paulo Morais, 2015. "Board of directors’ composition and capital structure," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 1-32.
    10. Jiraporn, Pornsit & Kim, Jang-Chul & Kim, Young Sang & Kitsabunnarat, Pattanaporn, 2012. "Capital structure and corporate governance quality: Evidence from the Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS)," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 208-221.
    11. Nguyen, Thao & Bai, Min & Hou, Yang & Vu, Manh-Chien, 2021. "Corporate governance and dynamics capital structure: evidence from Vietnam," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    12. Feld, Lars P. & Heckemeyer, Jost H. & Overesch, Michael, 2013. "Capital structure choice and company taxation: A meta-study," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 2850-2866.
    13. Mai, Nhat Chi, 2012. "Market timing, taxes and capital structure: evidence from Vietnam," OSF Preprints t3mvs, Center for Open Science.
    14. Alves, Paulo & Couto, Eduardo & Francisco, Paulo, 2014. "Board of directors’ composition and financing choices," MPRA Paper 52973, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2014.
    15. Hanlon, Michelle & Heitzman, Shane, 2010. "A review of tax research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 127-178, December.
    16. Duru, Augustine & Iyengar, Raghavan J. & Zampelli, Ernest M., 2012. "Performance choice, executive bonuses and corporate leverage," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 1286-1305.
    17. Pornsit Jiraporn & Pandej Chintrakarn & Yixin Liu, 2012. "Capital Structure, CEO Dominance, and Corporate Performance," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 42(3), pages 139-158, December.
    18. Rana El Bahsh & Ali Alattar & Aziz N. Yusuf, 2018. "Firm, Industry and Country Level Determinants of Capital Structure: Evidence from Jordan," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 8(2), pages 175-190.
    19. Antonczyk, Ron Christian & Salzmann, Astrid Juliane, 2014. "Overconfidence and optimism: The effect of national culture on capital structure," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 132-151.
    20. Rizov, Marian, 2008. "Corporate capital structure and how soft budget constraints may affect it," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 22(4), pages 648-684.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Corporate tax aggressiveness; Debt policy; Outside directors; Corporate governance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G3 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance
    • H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue

    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:corfin:v:25:y:2014:i:c:p:107-121. 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/jcorpfin .

    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.