IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jaecon/v59y2015i2p242-263.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Alternative information sources and information asymmetry reduction: Evidence from small business debt

Author

Listed:
  • Cassar, Gavin
  • Ittner, Christopher D.
  • Cavalluzzo, Ken S.

Abstract

We examine whether more sophisticated accounting methods (in the form of accrual accounting) interact with other information sources to reduce information asymmetries between small business borrowers and lenders, thereby lowering borrowers׳ probability of loan denial and cost of debt. We find that higher third party credit scores, but not the use of accrual accounting, decrease the likelihood of loan denial. However, firms using accrual accounting exhibit statistically lower interest rates after controlling for many factors associated with the cost of debt. Further, the interest rate benefits from accrual accounting are greatest when the borrower׳s credit score is low and/or the length of its banking relationship with the lender is short. This evidence indicates that accrual accounting can benefit small business borrowers, but that the information contained in third-party credit scores and obtained through ongoing banking relationships can substitute for the incremental information provided by accrual accounting.

Suggested Citation

  • Cassar, Gavin & Ittner, Christopher D. & Cavalluzzo, Ken S., 2015. "Alternative information sources and information asymmetry reduction: Evidence from small business debt," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(2), pages 242-263.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jaecon:v:59:y:2015:i:2:p:242-263
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jacceco.2014.08.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165410114000445
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jacceco.2014.08.003?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. Guenther, David A. & Maydew, Edward L. & Nutter, Sarah E., 1997. "Financial reporting, tax costs, and book-tax conformity," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 225-248, November.
    2. James J. Heckman, 1976. "The Common Structure of Statistical Models of Truncation, Sample Selection and Limited Dependent Variables and a Simple Estimator for Such Models," NBER Chapters, in: Annals of Economic and Social Measurement, Volume 5, number 4, pages 475-492, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Jalal Akhavein & W. Scott Frame & Lawrence J. White, 2005. "The Diffusion of Financial Innovations: An Examination of the Adoption of Small Business Credit Scoring by Large Banking Organizations," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 78(2), pages 577-596, March.
    4. Ongena, Steven & Smith, David C., 2001. "The duration of bank relationships," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 449-475, September.
    5. Jeong†Bon Kim & Dan A. Simunic & Michael T. Stein & CHEONG H. YI, 2011. "Voluntary Audits and the Cost of Debt Capital for Privately Held Firms: Korean Evidence," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(2), pages 585-615, June.
    6. Greenbaum, Stuart I. & Kanatas, George & Venezia, Itzhak, 1989. "Equilibrium loan pricing under the bank-client relationship," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 221-235, May.
    7. Martin Brown & Christian Zehnder, 2007. "Credit Reporting, Relationship Banking, and Loan Repayment," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 39(8), pages 1883-1918, December.
    8. Berger, Allen N & Frame, W Scott & Miller, Nathan H, 2005. "Credit Scoring and the Availability, Price, and Risk of Small Business Credit," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 37(2), pages 191-222, April.
    9. Larcker, David F. & Rusticus, Tjomme O., 2010. "On the use of instrumental variables in accounting research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 186-205, April.
    10. Berger, Allen N. & Udell, Gregory F., 2006. "A more complete conceptual framework for SME finance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(11), pages 2945-2966, November.
    11. Berger, Allen N & Udell, Gregory F, 1995. "Relationship Lending and Lines of Credit in Small Firm Finance," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 68(3), pages 351-381, July.
    12. Richardson, Scott A. & Sloan, Richard G. & Soliman, Mark T. & Tuna, Irem, 2005. "Accrual reliability, earnings persistence and stock prices," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 437-485, September.
    13. Dechow, Patricia M., 1994. "Accounting earnings and cash flows as measures of firm performance : The role of accounting accruals," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 3-42, July.
    14. Ken S. Cavalluzzo, 2002. "Competition, Small Business Financing, and Discrimination: Evidence from a New Survey," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 75(4), pages 641-680, October.
    15. 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.
    16. 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.
    17. Blackwell, DW & Noland, TR & Winters, DB, 1998. "The value of auditor assurance: Evidence from loan pricing," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(1), pages 57-70.
    18. Kallberg, Jarl G. & Udell, Gregory F., 2003. "The value of private sector business credit information sharing: The US case," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 449-469, March.
    19. Dye, Ra, 1985. "Strategic Accounting Choice And The Effects Of Alternative Financial-Reporting Requirements," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(2), pages 544-574.
    20. Tensie Steijvers & Wim Voordeckers, 2009. "Collateral And Credit Rationing: A Review Of Recent Empirical Studies As A Guide For Future Research," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(5), pages 924-946, December.
    21. Stock, James H & Wright, Jonathan H & Yogo, Motohiro, 2002. "A Survey of Weak Instruments and Weak Identification in Generalized Method of Moments," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 20(4), pages 518-529, October.
    22. Mitchell A. Petersen & Raghuram G. Rajan, 2002. "Does Distance Still Matter? The Information Revolution in Small Business Lending," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(6), pages 2533-2570, December.
    23. Danos, Paul & Holt, Doris L. & Imhoff, Eugene Jr, 1989. "The use of accounting information in bank lending decisions," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 235-246, April.
    24. Philip R. Beaulieu, 1994. "Commercial Lenders' Use of Accounting Information in Interaction with Source Credibility," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 10(2), pages 557-585, March.
    25. 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.
    26. Michael Minnis, 2011. "The Value of Financial Statement Verification in Debt Financing: Evidence from Private U.S. Firms," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(2), pages 457-506, May.
    27. Diamond, Douglas W, 1991. "Monitoring and Reputation: The Choice between Bank Loans and Directly Placed Debt," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(4), pages 689-721, August.
    28. Butler, Marty & Kraft, Arthur & Weiss, Ira S., 2007. "The effect of reporting frequency on the timeliness of earnings: The cases of voluntary and mandatory interim reports," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2-3), pages 181-217, July.
    29. Wenying Jiangli & Haluk Unal & Chiwon Yom, 2008. "Relationship Lending, Accounting Disclosure, and Credit Availability during the Asian Financial Crisis," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 40(1), pages 25-55, February.
    30. Sharpe, Steven A, 1990. "Asymmetric Information, Bank Lending, and Implicit Contracts: A Stylized Model of Customer Relationships," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(4), pages 1069-1087, September.
    31. Diamond, Douglas W, 1989. "Reputation Acquisition in Debt Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(4), pages 828-862, August.
    32. Frame, W Scott & Srinivasan, Aruna & Woosley, Lynn, 2001. "The Effect of Credit Scoring on Small-Business Lending," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 33(3), pages 813-825, August.
    33. Stiglitz, Joseph E & Weiss, Andrew, 1981. "Credit Rationing in Markets with Imperfect Information," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(3), pages 393-410, June.
    34. Parente, Paulo M.D.C. & Santos Silva, J.M.C., 2012. "A cautionary note on tests of overidentifying restrictions," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 115(2), pages 314-317.
    35. Ai, Chunrong & Norton, Edward C., 2003. "Interaction terms in logit and probit models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 123-129, July.
    36. Cole, Rebel A., 1998. "The importance of relationships to the availability of credit," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(6-8), pages 959-977, August.
    37. Boot, Arnoud W A & Thakor, Anjan V, 1994. "Moral Hazard and Secured Lending in an Infinitely Repeated Credit Market Game," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 35(4), pages 899-920, November.
    38. Petersen, Mitchell A & Rajan, Raghuram G, 1994. "The Benefits of Lending Relationships: Evidence from Small Business Data," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 49(1), pages 3-37, March.
    39. Peter Kennedy, 2003. "A Guide to Econometrics, 5th Edition," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 5, volume 1, number 026261183x, April.
    40. Divesh Sharma & Errol Iselin, 2003. "The decision usefulness of reported cash flow and accrual information in a behavioural field experiment," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(2), pages 123-135.
    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. Cerqueiro, Geraldo & Degryse, Hans & Ongena, Steven, 2011. "Rules versus discretion in loan rate setting," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 503-529, October.
    2. Gavin Cassar, 2011. "Discussion of The Value of Financial Statement Verification in Debt Financing: Evidence from Private U.S. Firms," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(2), pages 507-528, May.
    3. 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.
    4. Behr, Patrick & Sonnekalb, Simon, 2012. "The effect of information sharing between lenders on access to credit, cost of credit, and loan performance – Evidence from a credit registry introduction," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(11), pages 3017-3032.
    5. Kano, Masaji & Uchida, Hirofumi & Udell, Gregory F. & Watanabe, Wako, 2011. "Information verifiability, bank organization, bank competition and bank-borrower relationships," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 935-954, April.
    6. Manoj Athavale & Robert O. Edmister, 2004. "The Pricing of Sequential Bank Loans," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 39(2), pages 231-253, May.
    7. Cerqueiro, G.M. & Degryse, H.A. & Ongena, S., 2007. "Rules versus Discretion in Loan Rate Setting," Other publications TiSEM 840de6bc-3ce4-40cd-82df-8, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    8. Cerqueiro, G.M. & Degryse, H.A. & Ongena, S., 2007. "Rules versus Discretion in Loan Rate Setting," Other publications TiSEM 64250647-2852-4abe-9566-a, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    9. Simon Cornée, 2014. "Soft Information and Default Prediction in Cooperative and Social Banks," Journal of Entrepreneurial and Organizational Diversity, European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises, vol. 3(1), pages 89-103, June.
    10. Geoffroy Enjolras & Philippe Madiès, 2019. "The determinants of loan acceptance: a case study of French farms," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 39(1), pages 358-371.
    11. Durguner, Sena, 2017. "Do borrower-lender relationships still matter for small business loans?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 98-118.
    12. Tensie Steijvers & Wim Voordeckers & Koen Vanhoof, 2010. "Collateral, relationship lending and family firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 243-259, April.
    13. Sugato Chakravarty & Tansel Yilmazer, 2009. "A Multistage Model of Loans and the Role of Relationships," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 38(4), pages 781-816, December.
    14. Djedidi-Kooli, Salima, 2009. "L’accès au financement des PME en France : quel rôle joué par la structure du système bancaire ?," Economics Thesis from University Paris Dauphine, Paris Dauphine University, number 123456789/8354 edited by Etner, François.
    15. Michael Minnis, 2011. "The Value of Financial Statement Verification in Debt Financing: Evidence from Private U.S. Firms," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(2), pages 457-506, May.
    16. Ginés Hernández-Cánovas & Pedro Martínez-Solano, 2007. "Effect of the Number of Banking Relationships on Credit Availability: Evidence from Panel Data of Spanish Small Firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 37-53, January.
    17. Estefanía Palazuelos & Ángel Herrero Crespo & Javier Montoya Corte, 2018. "Accounting information quality and trust as determinants of credit granting to SMEs: the role of external audit," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 861-877, December.
    18. Uchida, Hirofumi & Udell, Gregory F. & Yamori, Nobuyoshi, 2012. "Loan officers and relationship lending to SMEs," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 97-122.
    19. Foroughfard, Rasoul & Rahmati, Mohammad, 2019. "The Effect of Relationship Lending on Loan Contract Terms," Journal of Money and Economy, Monetary and Banking Research Institute, Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran, vol. 14(2), pages 133-157, April.
    20. Hakimi, Abdelaziz & Hamdi, Helmi, 2013. "The duration of bank relationships and the performance of Tunisian firms," MPRA Paper 55754, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2014.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Accounting sophistication; Accrual accounting; Credit scores; Cost of capital; Relationship lending;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups
    • M40 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - General

    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:jaecon:v:59:y:2015:i:2:p:242-263. 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/jae .

    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.