IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijfss/v9y2021i2p27-d562439.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Accounting Comparability and Cash Holdings in Vietnam

Author

Listed:
  • Liem Thanh Nguyen

    (Faculty of Finance and Banking, University of Economics and Law, Ho Chi Minh City 700000, Vietnam
    Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City 700000, Vietnam)

  • Khuong Vinh Nguyen

    (Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City 700000, Vietnam
    Faculty of Accounting and Auditing, University of Economics and Law, Ho Chi Minh City 700000, Vietnam)

Abstract

The management of cash requires careful considerations to allow firms to benefit from proper resource allocations while mitigating agency issues. Accounting comparability can play an important role in tackling information asymmetry and agency cost, thus enabling managers to hoard more cash. This research aims to investigate the link between accounting comparability and cash holdings in an emerging market. Using a sample of listed firms in Vietnam from 2010 to 2019 and System Generalized Method of Moments, the study finds that comparability is positively associated with corporate cash holdings, confirming the value of the former as an effective governance mechanism. Additionally, we find a non-linear impact of comparability on cash holdings; in other words, comparability specifically enhances cash holdings for firms with high levels of comparability. We further document that cash holdings improve firm performance only for firms with high levels of comparability. Such evidence implies that only firms with high levels of financial statement comparability show commitment to tackle agency cost and information asymmetry.

Suggested Citation

  • Liem Thanh Nguyen & Khuong Vinh Nguyen, 2021. "Accounting Comparability and Cash Holdings in Vietnam," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-14, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijfss:v:9:y:2021:i:2:p:27-:d:562439
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7072/9/2/27/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7072/9/2/27/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gus De Franco & S.P. Kothari & Rodrigo S. Verdi, 2011. "The Benefits of Financial Statement Comparability," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(4), pages 895-931, September.
    2. repec:bla:jfinan:v:43:y:1988:i:3:p:567-91 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Thomas W. Bates & Kathleen M. Kahle & René M. Stulz, 2009. "Why Do U.S. Firms Hold So Much More Cash than They Used To?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(5), pages 1985-2021, October.
    4. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1997. "A Survey of Corporate Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 737-783, June.
    5. Ozkan, Aydin & Ozkan, Neslihan, 2004. "Corporate cash holdings: An empirical investigation of UK companies," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(9), pages 2103-2134, September.
    6. Holtz-Eakin, Douglas & Newey, Whitney & Rosen, Harvey S, 1988. "Estimating Vector Autoregressions with Panel Data," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 56(6), pages 1371-1395, November.
    7. Omesh Kini & Shehzad Mian & Michael Rebello & Anand Venkateswaran, 2009. "On the Structure of Analyst Research Portfolios and Forecast Accuracy," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(4), pages 867-909, September.
    8. Stewart C. Myers & Raghuram G. Rajan, 1998. "The Paradox of Liquidity," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(3), pages 733-771.
    9. 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.
    10. Ivalina Kalcheva & Karl V. Lins, 2007. "International Evidence on Cash Holdings and Expected Managerial Agency Problems," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 20(4), pages 1087-1112.
    11. Opler, Tim & Pinkowitz, Lee & Stulz, Rene & Williamson, Rohan, 1999. "The determinants and implications of corporate cash holdings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 3-46, April.
    12. Jones, Jj, 1991. "Earnings Management During Import Relief Investigations," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 193-228.
    13. David Roodman, 2009. "How to do xtabond2: An introduction to difference and system GMM in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 9(1), pages 86-136, March.
    14. Joseph H. Zhang, 2018. "Accounting Comparability, Audit Effort, and Audit Outcomes," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 35(1), pages 245-276, March.
    15. Michael Faulkender & Rong Wang, 2006. "Corporate Financial Policy and the Value of Cash," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(4), pages 1957-1990, August.
    16. Qian Sun & Kenneth Yung & Hamid Rahman, 2012. "Earnings quality and corporate cash holdings," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 52(2), pages 543-571, June.
    17. Habib, Ahsan & Monzur Hasan, Mostafa & Al-Hadi, Ahmed, 2017. "Financial statement comparability and corporate cash holdings," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 304-321.
    18. Chen, Anthony & Gong, James Jianxin, 2019. "Accounting comparability, financial reporting quality, and the pricing of accruals," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 1-1.
    19. Nguyen Thi Canh & Nguyen Thanh Liem & Phung Anh Thu & Nguyen Vinh Khuong, 2019. "The Impact of Innovation on the Firm Performance and Corporate Social Responsibility of Vietnamese Manufacturing Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-14, July.
    20. Pedro J. García‐Teruel & Pedro Martínez‐Solano, 2008. "On the Determinants of SME Cash Holdings: Evidence from Spain," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(1‐2), pages 127-149, January.
    21. Muncef Guizani, 2017. "The financial determinants of corporate cash holdings in an oil rich country: Evidence from Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," Borsa Istanbul Review, Research and Business Development Department, Borsa Istanbul, vol. 17(3), pages 133-143, September.
    22. Gunday, Gurhan & Ulusoy, Gunduz & Kilic, Kemal & Alpkan, Lutfihak, 2011. "Effects of innovation types on firm performance," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(2), pages 662-676, October.
    23. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    24. Wolfgang Drobetz & Matthias Grüninger, 2007. "Corporate cash holdings: Evidence from Switzerland," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 21(3), pages 293-324, September.
    25. Kim, Jeong-Bon & Li, Leye & Lu, Louise Yi & Yu, Yangxin, 2016. "Financial statement comparability and expected crash risk," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 294-312.
    26. Mohammadreza Mehrabanpour & Omid Faraji & Reza Sajadpour & Mohammad Alipour, 2020. "Financial statement comparability and cash holdings: the mediating role of disclosure quality and financing constraints," Journal of Financial Reporting and Accounting, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 18(3), pages 615-637, June.
    27. Leuz, Christian & Nanda, Dhananjay & Wysocki, Peter D., 2003. "Earnings management and investor protection: an international comparison," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 505-527, September.
    28. Pedro J. García-Teruel & Pedro Martínez-Solano, 2008. "On the Determinants of SME Cash Holdings: Evidence from Spain," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(1-2), pages 127-149.
    29. Jing-Zhi Huang & Ming Huang, 2012. "How Much of the Corporate-Treasury Yield Spread Is Due to Credit Risk?," The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 2(2), pages 153-202.
    30. Ciao‐Wei Chen & Daniel W. Collins & Todd D. Kravet & Richard D. Mergenthaler, 2018. "Financial Statement Comparability and the Efficiency of Acquisition Decisions," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 35(1), pages 164-202, March.
    31. Tim Opler & Lee Pinkowitz & René Stulz & Rohan Williamson, 2001. "Corporate Cash Holdings," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 14(1), pages 55-67, March.
    32. Jarrad Harford, 1999. "Corporate Cash Reserves and Acquisitions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(6), pages 1969-1997, December.
    33. Xuan Vinh Vo, 2018. "Foreign Ownership and Corporate Cash Holdings in Emerging Markets," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 18(2), pages 297-303, June.
    34. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    35. Jong‐Hag Choi & Sunhwa Choi & Linda A. Myers & David Ziebart, 2019. "Financial Statement Comparability and the Informativeness of Stock Prices About Future Earnings," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 36(1), pages 389-417, March.
    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. Stavros E. Arvanitis & Theodoros V. Stamatopoulos & Dimitris Terzakis, 2018. "Is There a Non-linear Relationship of Market Value with Cash and Ownership?," SPOUDAI Journal of Economics and Business, SPOUDAI Journal of Economics and Business, University of Piraeus, vol. 68(1), pages 3-25, January-M.
    2. Megginson, William L. & Ullah, Barkat & Wei, Zuobao, 2014. "State ownership, soft-budget constraints, and cash holdings: Evidence from China’s privatized firms," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 276-291.
    3. Habib, Ahsan & Monzur Hasan, Mostafa & Al-Hadi, Ahmed, 2017. "Financial statement comparability and corporate cash holdings," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 304-321.
    4. Maurizio Rocca & Raffaele Staglianò & Tiziana Rocca & Alfio Cariola & Ekaterina Skatova, 2019. "Cash holdings and SME performance in Europe: the role of firm-specific and macroeconomic moderators," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(4), pages 1051-1078, December.
    5. Jan Felix Weidemann, 2018. "A state-of-the-art review of corporate cash holding research," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 88(6), pages 765-797, August.
    6. Abdul Rashid & Maryam Ashfaq, 2017. "Financial Constraints And Corporate Cash Holdings: An Empirical Analysis Using Firm Level Data," Annals of Financial Economics (AFE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 12(02), pages 1-26, June.
    7. Yao, Youfu & Hong, Yun, 2023. "Can comment letters impact excess cash holdings? Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 900-922.
    8. Bigelli, Marco & Sánchez-Vidal, Javier, 2012. "Cash holdings in private firms," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 26-35.
    9. Efstathios Magerakis & Konstantinos Gkillas & Athanasios Tsagkanos & Costas Siriopoulos, 2020. "Firm Size Does Matter: New Evidence on the Determinants of Cash Holdings," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-35, July.
    10. Majeed, Muhammad Ansar & Yan, Chao, 2021. "Financial statement comparability, state ownership, and the cost of debt: Evidence from China," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    11. Ahrends, Meike & Drobetz, Wolfgang & Nomikos, Nikos K., 2018. "Corporate cash holdings in the shipping industry," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 107-124.
    12. Ernie Hendrawaty, 2019. "Value of Excess Cash Holdings of Financially Unconstrained Companies," Contemporary Economics, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw., vol. 13(3), September.
    13. Samuel Jebaraj Benjamin, 2019. "The Effect of Financial Constraints on Audit Fees," Capital Markets Review, Malaysian Finance Association, vol. 27(2), pages 59-87.
    14. Thakur, Bhanu Pratap Singh & Kannadhasan, M., 2019. "Corruption and cash holdings: Evidence from emerging market economies," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 1-17.
    15. Amess, Kevin & Banerji, Sanjay & Lampousis, Athanasios, 2015. "Corporate cash holdings: Causes and consequences," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 421-433.
    16. Issal Haj-Salem & Khaled Hussainey, 2021. "Risk Disclosure and Corporate Cash Holdings," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-15, July.
    17. Sun, Wenyi & Yin, Chao & Zeng, Yeqin, 2023. "Precautionary motive or private benefit motive for holding cash: Evidence from CEO ownership," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    18. Domenico Rocco Cambrea & Andrea Calabrò & Maurizio La Rocca & Francesco Paolone, 2022. "The impact of boards of directors’ characteristics on cash holdings in uncertain times," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 26(1), pages 189-221, March.
    19. Quader, Syed Manzur, 2023. "The interplay between uncertainty, managerial decision making, and firm value: Evidence from Bangladesh," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    20. Mohamed Arouri & Guillaume Pijourlet, 2017. "CSR Performance and the Value of Cash Holdings: International Evidence," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 140(2), pages 263-284, January.

    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:gam:jijfss:v:9:y:2021:i:2:p:27-:d:562439. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.