IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finana/v82y2022ics1057521922001752.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The effect of borrowers' accounting conservatism on lenders' loan loss provisions: Evidence from China's banking industry

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, Xinyue
  • Zhong, Yuxiang
  • Li, Wanli

Abstract

This paper investigates how borrowers' accounting conservatism affects lenders' loan loss provisions in the Chinese banking context. We predict that when borrowers' financial statements are more conservative, lenders receive borrowers' bad news in a timelier manner and set aside more loan loss provisions. The empirical results confirm that borrowers' accounting conservatism is positively associated with lenders' loan loss provisions, as the former affects the latter via its impact on loan classification, and this positive association is more pronounced when information asymmetry is higher. In heterogeneity tests, we find that this positive association is stronger for non-state-owned, listed, and less prudent lenders and also varies across debt contract characteristics. Collectively, the results of this study offer insights into how lenders accrue loan losses when borrowers' financial reporting is more conservative.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Xinyue & Zhong, Yuxiang & Li, Wanli, 2022. "The effect of borrowers' accounting conservatism on lenders' loan loss provisions: Evidence from China's banking industry," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finana:v:82:y:2022:i:c:s1057521922001752
    DOI: 10.1016/j.irfa.2022.102214
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1057521922001752
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.irfa.2022.102214?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. Kee‐Hong Bae & Vidhan K. Goyal, 2009. "Creditor Rights, Enforcement, and Bank Loans," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(2), pages 823-860, April.
    2. Anwer S. Ahmed & Scott Duellman, 2013. "Managerial Overconfidence and Accounting Conservatism," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(1), pages 1-30, March.
    3. Berger, Allen N. & Scott Frame, W. & Ioannidou, Vasso, 2011. "Tests of ex ante versus ex post theories of collateral using private and public information," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(1), pages 85-97, April.
    4. Thomas Cooley & Ramon Marimon & Vincenzo Quadrini, 2004. "Aggregate Consequences of Limited Contract Enforceability," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(4), pages 817-847, August.
    5. Joseph D. Piotroski & T.J. Wong, 2012. "Institutions and Information Environment of Chinese Listed Firms," NBER Chapters, in: Capitalizing China, pages 201-242, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Sapienza, Paola, 2004. "The effects of government ownership on bank lending," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 357-384, May.
    7. Valeri V. Nikolaev, 2010. "Debt Covenants and Accounting Conservatism," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(1), pages 137-176, March.
    8. Philippe Aghion & Patrick Bolton, 1992. "An Incomplete Contracts Approach to Financial Contracting," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 59(3), pages 473-494.
    9. Berger, Allen N. & Espinosa-Vega, Marco A. & Frame, W. Scott & Miller, Nathan H., 2011. "Why do borrowers pledge collateral? New empirical evidence on the role of asymmetric information," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 55-70, January.
    10. Allen, Franklin & Qian, Jun & Qian, Meijun, 2005. "Law, finance, and economic growth in China," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 57-116, July.
    11. Beatty, Anne & Liao, Scott, 2014. "Financial accounting in the banking industry: A review of the empirical literature," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 339-383.
    12. Khan, Mozaffar & Watts, Ross L., 2009. "Estimation and empirical properties of a firm-year measure of accounting conservatism," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2-3), pages 132-150, December.
    13. Ahmed, Anwer S. & Takeda, Carolyn & Thomas, Shawn, 1999. "Bank loan loss provisions: a reexamination of capital management, earnings management and signaling effects," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 1-25, November.
    14. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    15. Jagadison K. Aier & Long Chen & Mikhail Pevzner, 2014. "Debtholders’ Demand for Conservatism: Evidence from Changes in Directors’ Fiduciary Duties," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(5), pages 993-1027, December.
    16. El Sood, Heba Abou, 2012. "Loan loss provisioning and income smoothing in US banks pre and post the financial crisis," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 64-72.
    17. Amir Sufi, 2007. "Information Asymmetry and Financing Arrangements: Evidence from Syndicated Loans," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(2), pages 629-668, April.
    18. Hanwen Chen & Jeff Zeyun Chen & Gerald J. Lobo & Yanyan Wang, 2010. "Association Between Borrower and Lender State Ownership and Accounting Conservatism," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(5), pages 973-1014, December.
    19. Basu, Sudipta & Vitanza, Justin & Wang, Wei, 2020. "Asymmetric loan loss provision models," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2).
    20. Basu, Sudipta, 1997. "The conservatism principle and the asymmetric timeliness of earnings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 3-37, December.
    21. Fonseca, Ana Rosa & González, Francisco, 2008. "Cross-country determinants of bank income smoothing by managing loan-loss provisions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 217-228, February.
    22. Jeffrey Ng & Walid Saffar & Janus Jian Zhang, 2020. "Policy uncertainty and loan loss provisions in the banking industry," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 726-777, June.
    23. Valeri V. Nikolaev, 2010. "Debt Covenants and Accounting Conservatism," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(1), pages 51-89, March.
    24. Jeong†Bon Kim & Liandong Zhang, 2016. "Accounting Conservatism and Stock Price Crash Risk: Firm†level Evidence," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33(1), pages 412-441, March.
    25. Michael Schwert, 2018. "Bank Capital and Lending Relationships," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 73(2), pages 787-830, April.
    26. Skała, Dorota, 2021. "Loan loss provisions and income smoothing – Do shareholders matter?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    27. Cyrus Aghamolla & Nan Li, 2018. "Debt Contract Enforcement and Conservatism: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(5), pages 1383-1416, December.
    28. Kim, Bong Hwan & Pevzner, Mikhail, 2010. "Conditional accounting conservatism and future negative surprises: An empirical investigation," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 311-329, July.
    29. Yuxiang Zhong & Wanli Li, 2017. "Accounting Conservatism: A Literature Review," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 27(2), pages 195-213, June.
    30. Chen, Jeff Zeyun & Lobo, Gerald J. & Wang, Yanyan & Yu, Lisheng, 2013. "Loan collateral and financial reporting conservatism: Chinese evidence," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 4989-5006.
    31. Boone, Audra L. & White, Joshua T., 2015. "The effect of institutional ownership on firm transparency and information production," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(3), pages 508-533.
    32. García Lara, Juan Manuel & García Osma, Beatriz & Penalva, Fernando, 2016. "Accounting conservatism and firm investment efficiency," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 221-238.
    33. Beaver, William H. & Engel, Ellen E., 1996. "Discretionary behavior with respect to allowances for loan losses and the behavior of security prices," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1-3), pages 177-206, October.
    34. Jun Qian & Philip E. Strahan, 2007. "How Laws and Institutions Shape Financial Contracts: The Case of Bank Loans," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(6), pages 2803-2834, December.
    35. Timothy W. Koch & Larry D. Wall, 2000. "Bank loan-loss accounting: a review of theoretical and empirical evidence," Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, vol. 85(Q2), pages 1-20.
    36. Zhang, Jieying, 2008. "The contracting benefits of accounting conservatism to lenders and borrowers," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 27-54, March.
    37. Simper, Richard & Dadoukis, Aristeidis & Bryce, Cormac, 2019. "European bank loan loss provisioning and technological innovative progress," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 119-130.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Chen, Jeff Zeyun & Lobo, Gerald J. & Wang, Yanyan & Yu, Lisheng, 2013. "Loan collateral and financial reporting conservatism: Chinese evidence," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 4989-5006.
    2. Dan Zhang & Shiguang Ma & Xiaofei Pan, 2023. "How do institutional investors influence accounting conservatism in China?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(S2), pages 2719-2754, June.
    3. Rui Wang, 2021. "The attention of long‐term institutional investors and timely loss recognition," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(9-10), pages 1596-1629, October.
    4. Ha, Joohyung, 2019. "Agency costs of free cash flow and conditional conservatism," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 1-1.
    5. Pan, Xiaofei, 2017. "Accounting conservatism, bank lending and firm investment: Evidence from a quasi-experiment of China's stimulus package," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 64-79.
    6. Tri Tri Nguyen & Chau Minh Duong & Nguyet Thi Minh Nguyen & Hung Quang Bui, 2020. "Accounting conservatism and banking expertise on board of directors," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 501-539, August.
    7. Anna Bergman Brown, 2016. "Institutional Differences and International Private Debt Markets: A Test Using Mandatory IFRS Adoption," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(3), pages 679-723, June.
    8. Khalifa, Mariem & Trabelsi, Samir & Matoussi, Hamadi, 2022. "Leverage, R&D expenditures, and accounting conservatism: Evidence from technology firms," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 285-304.
    9. Kravet, Todd D., 2014. "Accounting conservatism and managerial risk-taking: Corporate acquisitions," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 218-240.
    10. Hans B. Christensen & Valeri V. Nikolaev & Regina Wittenberg‐Moerman, 2016. "Accounting Information in Financial Contracting: The Incomplete Contract Theory Perspective," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 397-435, May.
    11. Yuying Xie, 2015. "Confusion over Accounting Conservatism: A Critical Review," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 25(2), pages 204-216, June.
    12. Sun, Zeyu & Yang, Ge & Bai, Haichen, 2023. "The spillover effect of customers' financial risk on suppliers' conservative reporting: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    13. García Lara, Juan Manuel & García Osma, Beatriz & Penalva, Fernando, 2016. "Accounting conservatism and firm investment efficiency," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 221-238.
    14. Noor Hashim & Weijia Li & John O'Hanlon, 2019. "Reflections on the development of the FASB’s and IASB’s expected-loss methods of accounting for credit losses," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(6), pages 682-725, September.
    15. Čičak Josip & Vašiček Davor, 2019. "Determining the Level of Accounting Conservatism through the Fuzzy Logic System," Business Systems Research, Sciendo, vol. 10(1), pages 88-101, April.
    16. Doan, Anh-Tuan & Lin, Kun-Li & Doong, Shuh-Chyi, 2020. "State-controlled banks and income smoothing. Do politics matter?," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    17. Anagnostopoulou, Seraina C. & Tsekrekos, Andrianos E. & Voulgaris, Georgios, 2021. "Accounting conservatism and corporate social responsibility," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(4).
    18. Paul Brockman & Tao Ma & Jianfang Ye, 2015. "CEO Compensation Risk and Timely Loss Recognition," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(1-2), pages 204-236, January.
    19. Chengru Hu & Wei Jiang, 2019. "Managerial risk incentives and accounting conservatism," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 52(3), pages 781-813, April.
    20. Martin, Xiumin & Roychowdhury, Sugata, 2015. "Do financial market developments influence accounting practices? Credit default swaps and borrowers׳ reporting conservatism," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 80-104.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Accounting conservatism; Information asymmetry; Information transfer; Loan loss provisions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

    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:finana:v:82:y:2022:i:c:s1057521922001752. 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/620166 .

    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.