IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jaecon/v64y2017i1p78-97.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Private lenders’ demand for audit

Author

Listed:
  • Baylis, Richard M.
  • Burnap, Peter
  • Clatworthy, Mark A.
  • Gad, Mahmoud A.
  • Pong, Christopher K.M.

Abstract

We study clauses in private lending agreements requiring auditors to assure lenders of borrowers’ compliance with financial covenants. Auditors are required under general purpose financial reporting to review covenant compliance. However, by informing lenders directly that they have no knowledge of default, auditors may increase their litigation risk. We find that auditor covenant compliance assurance clauses are significantly associated with more complex contractual adjustments to net income, the extent of reliance on accounting information in the contract, intangibility of borrowers’ assets, the number of lenders and loan maturity. We provide novel evidence of the audit market enhancing efficient contracting.

Suggested Citation

  • Baylis, Richard M. & Burnap, Peter & Clatworthy, Mark A. & Gad, Mahmoud A. & Pong, Christopher K.M., 2017. "Private lenders’ demand for audit," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 78-97.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jaecon:v:64:y:2017:i:1:p:78-97
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jacceco.2017.06.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165410117300332
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jacceco.2017.06.001?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. Graham, John R. & Li, Si & Qiu, Jiaping, 2008. "Corporate misreporting and bank loan contracting," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 44-61, July.
    2. Demerjian, Peter R., 2011. "Accounting standards and debt covenants: Has the “balance sheet approach” led to a decline in the use of balance sheet covenants?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 178-202.
    3. Sattar A. Mansi & William F. Maxwell & Darius P. Miller, 2004. "Does Auditor Quality and Tenure Matter to Investors? Evidence from the Bond Market," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(4), pages 755-793, September.
    4. Jing LI, 2013. "Accounting Conservatism and Debt Contracts: Efficient Liquidation and Covenant Renegotiation," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(3), pages 1082-1098, September.
    5. Sudip Datta & Mai Iskandar‐Datta & Kartik Raman, 2005. "Managerial Stock Ownership and the Maturity Structure of Corporate Debt," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(5), pages 2333-2350, October.
    6. Yun Lou & Florin P. Vasvari, 2013. "The Role of Reputable Auditors and Underwriters in the Design of Bond Contracts," Post-Print hal-00853668, HAL.
    7. 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.
    8. Asquith, Paul & Beatty, Anne & Weber, Joseph, 2005. "Performance pricing in bank debt contracts," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1-3), pages 101-128, December.
    9. Ningzhong Li, 2010. "Negotiated Measurement Rules in Debt Contracts," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(5), pages 1103-1144, December.
    10. Sudheer Chava & Michael R. Roberts, 2008. "How Does Financing Impact Investment? The Role of Debt Covenants," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(5), pages 2085-2121, October.
    11. 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.
    12. Lambert, Richard, 2010. "Discussion of "Implications for GAAP from an analysis of positive research in accounting"," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 287-295, December.
    13. Beatty, Anne & Liao, Scott & Weber, Joseph, 2012. "Evidence on the determinants and economic consequences of delegated monitoring," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 555-576.
    14. Dennis, Steven A. & Mullineaux, Donald J., 2000. "Syndicated Loans," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 404-426, October.
    15. Holthausen, Robert W. & Watts, Ross L., 2001. "The relevance of the value-relevance literature for financial accounting standard setting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 3-75, September.
    16. 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.
    17. El-Gazzar, Samir & Pastena, Victor, 1990. "Negotiated accounting rules in private financial contracts," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 381-396, March.
    18. Bolton, Patrick & Scharfstein, David S, 1996. "Optimal Debt Structure and the Number of Creditors," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(1), pages 1-25, February.
    19. Beatty, Anne & Weber, Joseph & Yu, Jeff Jiewei, 2008. "Conservatism and Debt," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(2-3), pages 154-174, August.
    20. Lin, Chen & Ma, Yue & Malatesta, Paul & Xuan, Yuhai, 2012. "Corporate ownership structure and bank loan syndicate structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(1), pages 1-22.
    21. Kothari, S.P. & Ramanna, Karthik & Skinner, Douglas J., 2010. "Implications for GAAP from an analysis of positive research in accounting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 246-286, December.
    22. Townsend, Robert M., 1979. "Optimal contracts and competitive markets with costly state verification," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 265-293, October.
    23. 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.
    24. Mary E. Barth & Ron Kasznik & Maureen F. McNichols, 2001. "Analyst Coverage and Intangible Assets," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 1-34, June.
    25. S.P. Kothari & Karthik Ramanna & Douglas J. Skinner, 2009. "Implications for GAAP from an Analysis of Positive Research in Accounting," Harvard Business School Working Papers 09-137, Harvard Business School, revised Sep 2010.
    26. 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.
    27. Sweeney, Amy Patricia, 1994. "Debt-covenant violations and managers' accounting responses," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 281-308, May.
    28. 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.
    29. Hans B. Christensen & Valeri V. Nikolaev, 2012. "Capital Versus Performance Covenants in Debt Contracts," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 75-116, March.
    30. Roberts, Michael R. & Sufi, Amir, 2009. "Renegotiation of financial contracts: Evidence from private credit agreements," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(2), pages 159-184, August.
    31. Clive Lennox & Petro Lisowsky & Jeffrey Pittman, 2013. "Tax Aggressiveness and Accounting Fraud," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(4), pages 739-778, September.
    32. Miguel A. Ferreira & Pedro Matos, 2012. "Universal Banks and Corporate Control: Evidence from the Global Syndicated Loan Market," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(9), pages 2703-2744.
    33. Nini, Greg & Smith, David C. & Sufi, Amir, 2009. "Creditor control rights and firm investment policy," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(3), pages 400-420, June.
    34. Ray Ball & Xi Li & Lakshmanan Shivakumar, 2015. "Contractibility and Transparency of Financial Statement Information Prepared Under IFRS: Evidence from Debt Contracts Around IFRS Adoption," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(5), pages 915-963, December.
    35. Ryan Ball & Robert M. Bushman & Florin P. Vasvari, 2008. "The Debt‐Contracting Value of Accounting Information and Loan Syndicate Structure," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(2), pages 247-287, May.
    36. Ningzhong Li, 2016. "Performance Measures in Earnings‐Based Financial Covenants in Debt Contracts," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 1149-1186, September.
    37. Michael R. Roberts & Amir Sufi, 2009. "Financial Contracting: A Survey of Empirical Research and Future Directions," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 1(1), pages 207-226, November.
    38. Esty, Benjamin C. & Megginson, William L., 2003. "Creditor Rights, Enforcement, and Debt Ownership Structure: Evidence from the Global Syndicated Loan Market," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(1), pages 37-60, March.
    39. Chen, Peter F. & He, Shaohua & Ma, Zhiming & Stice, Derrald, 2016. "The information role of audit opinions in debt contracting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 121-144.
    40. 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.
    41. Miller, Merton H, 1977. "Debt and Taxes," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(2), pages 261-275, May.
    42. Greg Nini & David C. Smith & Amir Sufi, 2012. "Creditor Control Rights, Corporate Governance, and Firm Value," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(6), pages 1713-1761.
    43. 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.
    44. Ross Watts, 2006. "What has the invisible hand achieved?," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(S1), pages 51-61.
    45. Ross L. Watts, 1977. "Corporate Financial Statements, A Product of the Market and Political Processes," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 2(1), pages 53-75, April.
    46. DeFond, Mark & Zhang, Jieying, 2014. "A review of archival auditing research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 275-326.
    47. Smith, Clifford Jr. & Warner, Jerold B., 1979. "On financial contracting : An analysis of bond covenants," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 117-161, June.
    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. Nicholas Hallman & John S. Howe & Wei Wang, 2023. "Analyst coverage and syndicated lending," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 1531-1569, September.
    2. Richard Frankel & Bong Hwan Kim & Tao Ma & Xiumin Martin, 2020. "Bank Monitoring and Financial Reporting Quality: The Case of Accounts‐Receivable‐Based Loans," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(4), pages 2120-2144, December.
    3. Aguir, Wael & Ater, Brandon & Anabila, Andrew A. & Sobngwi, Christian Kuiate, 2022. "The role of shared auditors in loan contracts," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 87-97.
    4. Uyar, Ali & Lodh, Suman & Nandy, Monomita & Kuzey, Cemil & Karaman, Abdullah S., 2023. "Tradeoff between corporate investment and CSR: The moderating effect of financial slack, workforce slack, and board gender diversity," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    5. López, Andrea Ruíz & Krumm, Alexandra & Schattenhofer, Lukas & Burandt, Thorsten & Montoya, Felipe Corral & Oberländer, Nora & Oei, Pao-Yu, 2020. "Solar PV generation in Colombia - A qualitative and quantitative approach to analyze the potential of solar energy market," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 148, pages 1266-1279.
    6. Jeffrey Pittman & Yuping Zhao, 2020. "Debt Covenant Restriction, Financial Misreporting, and Auditor Monitoring," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(4), pages 2145-2185, December.
    7. Carrizosa, Richard & Ryan, Stephen G., 2017. "Borrower private information covenants and loan contract monitoring," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 313-339.
    8. Asif M. Huq & Fredrik Hartwig & Niklas Rudholm, 2022. "Do audited firms have a lower cost of debt?," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(2), pages 153-175, June.
    9. Dan Dacian Cuzdriorean, 2018. "Auditing Research: A Review Of Recent Research Advances," Eurasian Journal of Economics and Finance, Eurasian Publications, vol. 6(4), pages 14-26.
    10. Chy, Mahfuz & De Franco, Gus & Su, Barbara, 2021. "The effect of auditor litigation risk on clients' access to bank debt: Evidence from a quasi-experiment," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1).
    11. Petya Platikanova & Kazbi Soonawalla, 2020. "Who monitors opaque borrowers? Debt specialisation, institutional ownership, and information opacity," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(2), pages 1867-1904, June.
    12. Ahrum Choi & Jeong-Bon Kim & Jay Junghun Lee & Jong Chool Park, 2024. "Market for corporate control and demand for auditing: evidence from international M&A laws," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 2753-2797, September.

    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. 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.
    2. Zhiming Ma & Derrald Stice & Christopher Williams, 2022. "What's my style? Supply‐side determinants of debt covenant inclusion," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(3-4), pages 461-490, March.
    3. Peter Demerjian & John Donovan & Melissa F. Lewis‐Western, 2020. "Income Smoothing and the Usefulness of Earnings for Monitoring in Debt Contracting," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(2), pages 857-884, June.
    4. 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.
    5. Freudenberg, Felix & Imbierowicz, Björn & Saunders, Anthony & Steffen, Sascha, 2017. "Covenant violations and dynamic loan contracting," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 540-565.
    6. Anne Beatty & Lin Cheng & Tzachi Zach, 2019. "Nonrecurring Items in Debt Contracts," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 36(1), pages 139-167, March.
    7. Takuma Kochiyama & Ryosuke Nakamura & Akinobu Shuto, 2021. "How do bank lenders use borrowers’ financial statements? Evidence from a survey of Japanese banks," CARF F-Series CARF-F-522, Center for Advanced Research in Finance, Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo.
    8. Scott D. Dyreng & Rahul Vashishtha & Joseph Weber, 2017. "Direct Evidence on the Informational Properties of Earnings in Loan Contracts," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(2), pages 371-406, May.
    9. Daniel Cohen & Bin Li & Ningzhong Li & Yun Lou, 2022. "Major government customers and loan contract terms," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 275-312, March.
    10. Amiraslani, Hami & Donovan, John & Phillips, Matthew A. & Wittenberg-Moerman, Regina, 2023. "Contracting in the Dark: The rise of public-side lenders in the syndicated loan market," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(1).
    11. Yiwei Dou, 2020. "The Debt-Contracting Value of Accounting Numbers and Financial Covenant Renegotiation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(3), pages 1124-1148, March.
    12. Barbara Su, 2023. "Banking practices and borrowing firms’ financial reporting quality: evidence from bank cross-selling," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 201-236, March.
    13. Peter R. Demerjian, 2017. "Uncertainty and debt covenants," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 1156-1197, September.
    14. Jeffrey Pittman & Yuping Zhao, 2020. "Debt Covenant Restriction, Financial Misreporting, and Auditor Monitoring," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(4), pages 2145-2185, December.
    15. Tan, Liang, 2013. "Creditor control rights, state of nature verification, and financial reporting conservatism," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 1-22.
    16. Peter R. Demerjian & John Donovan & Chad R. Larson, 2016. "Fair Value Accounting and Debt Contracting: Evidence from Adoption of SFAS 159," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 1041-1076, September.
    17. 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.
    18. Richard Barker & Anne McGeachin, 2015. "An Analysis of Concepts and Evidence on the Question of Whether IFRS Should be Conservative," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 51(2), pages 169-207, June.
    19. Zahn Bozanic & Maria Loumioti & Florin P. Vasvari, 2018. "Corporate Loan Securitization and the Standardization of Financial Covenants," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(1), pages 45-83, March.
    20. Björn Imbierowicz & Daniel Streitz, 2024. "Financial debt contracting and managerial agency problems," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 53(1), pages 99-118, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Auditing; Financial reporting; Debt contracts;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting
    • M49 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Other

    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:64:y:2017:i:1:p:78-97. 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.