IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormnsc/v60y2014i9p2308-2323.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Financing and Investment Efficiency, Information Quality, and Accounting Biases

Author

Listed:
  • Lin Nan

    (Krannert School of Management, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907)

  • Xiaoyan Wen

    (Department of Accounting, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60607)

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the effect of accounting biases on firms' financing decisions and the role of accounting biases in endogenous information quality. We show that in industries with generally low-profit prospects, a downward-biased accounting system performs better than a neutral accounting system, and a more downward bias helps mitigate both investment and financing inefficiency; whereas for industries with generally high-profit prospects, an upward-biased accounting system is better than a neutral accounting system, and a more upward bias helps improve financing efficiency. In addition, we find that a more downward-biased accounting system motivates good firms to exert more effort to improve the information quality, which improves overall efficiency. This paper was accepted by Mary Barth, accounting .

Suggested Citation

  • Lin Nan & Xiaoyan Wen, 2014. "Financing and Investment Efficiency, Information Quality, and Accounting Biases," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(9), pages 2308-2323, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:60:y:2014:i:9:p:2308-2323
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2013.1864
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2013.1864
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/mnsc.2013.1864?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Patrick Bolton & Mathias Dewatripont, 2005. "Contract Theory," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262025760, April.
    2. Stewart C. Myers & Nicholas S. Majluf, 1984. "Corporate Financing and Investment Decisions When Firms Have InformationThat Investors Do Not Have," NBER Working Papers 1396, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Myers, Stewart C. & Majluf, Nicholas S., 1984. "Corporate financing and investment decisions when firms have information that investors do not have," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 187-221, June.
    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. Mark Bagnoli & Susan G. Watts, 2005. "Conservative Accounting Choices," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(5), pages 786-801, May.
    6. Sunil Dutta & Frank Gigler, 2002. "The Effect of Earnings Forecasts on Earnings Management," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(3), pages 631-655, June.
    7. Mailath George J. & Okuno-Fujiwara Masahiro & Postlewaite Andrew, 1993. "Belief-Based Refinements in Signalling Games," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 241-276, August.
    8. Göx, Robert F. & Wagenhofer, Alfred, 2009. "Optimal impairment rules," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 2-16, October.
    9. Pierre Jinghong Liang & Xiao‐Jun Zhang, 2006. "Accounting Treatment of Inherent versus Incentive Uncertainties and the Capital Structure of the Firm," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(1), pages 145-176, March.
    10. Qintao Fan & Xiao†Jun Zhang, 2012. "Accounting Conservatism, Aggregation, and Information Quality," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(1), pages 38-56, March.
    11. Frank Gigler & Chandra Kanodia & Haresh Sapra & Raghu Venugopalan, 2009. "Accounting Conservatism and the Efficiency of Debt Contracts," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3), pages 767-797, June.
    12. Qi Chen & Thomas Hemmer & Yun Zhang, 2007. "On the Relation between Conservatism in Accounting Standards and Incentives for Earnings Management," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(3), pages 541-565, 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. Xun Liu & Xiaoliang Yu & Simon Gao, 2019. "A quantitative study of financing efficiency of low‐carbon companies: A three‐stage data envelopment analysis," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 858-871, July.
    2. Zhang, Ruchuan & Gao, Weiyan & Chen, Shanshan & Zhou, Li & Li, Aijun, 2024. "Dose digital transformation contribute to improving financing efficiency? Evidence and implications for energy enterprises in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 300(C).
    3. Qi Chen & Zeqiong Huang & Xu Jiang & Gaoqing Zhang & Yun Zhang, 2021. "Asymmetric Reporting Timeliness and Informational Feedback," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(8), pages 5194-5208, August.
    4. Sebastian Kronenberger & Volker Laux, 2022. "Conservative Accounting, Audit Quality, and Litigation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(3), pages 2349-2362, March.
    5. Jialu Li & Meiying Yang & Xuan Zhao, 2019. "Quantifying and mitigating inefficiency in information acquisition under competition," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 27(4), pages 985-1007, December.
    6. Baojun Jiang & K. Sudhir & Tianxin Zou, 2021. "Effects of Cost‐Information Transparency on Intertemporal Price Discrimination," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(2), pages 390-401, February.
    7. Zhao, Lingxiao & Liu, Xiao & Tang, Yunpeng & Zhang, Wenjing, 2024. "Functional subsidies, selective subsidies and corporate investment efficiency: Evidence from China," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    8. Dordzhieva, Aysa & Laux, Volker & Zheng, Ronghuo, 2022. "Signaling private information via accounting system design," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(1).
    9. Lin Nan & Xiaoyan Wen, 2019. "Penalties, Manipulation, and Investment Efficiency," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(10), pages 4878-4900, October.
    10. Felix Zhiyu Feng & Wenyu Wang & Yufeng Wu & Gaoqing Zhang, 2023. "Ignorance Is Bliss: The Screening Effect of (Noisy) Information," Papers 2302.11128, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2024.
    11. Laux, Volker & Ray, Korok, 2020. "Effects of accounting conservatism on investment efficiency and innovation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1).
    12. Yin, Hongying & Jin, Xin & Quan, Xiaofeng & Yu, Junli, 2022. "Does social network improve corporate financing efficiency? Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    13. Judson Caskey & Volker Laux, 2017. "Corporate Governance, Accounting Conservatism, and Manipulation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(2), pages 424-437, February.
    14. Kuo‐Cheng Kuo & Wen‐Min Lu & Thanh Nhan Dinh, 2020. "Firm performance and ownership structure: Dynamic network data envelopment analysis approach," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(4), pages 608-623, June.
    15. Lu, Tong & Ruan, Lijun, 2024. "Coordination and Conservatism," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    16. Nan, Lin & Tang, Chao & Zhang, Gaoqing, 2024. "Whistleblowing bounties and informational effects," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1).
    17. Laux, Christian & Laux, Volker, 2024. "Accounting conservatism and managerial information acquisition," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(2).

    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. Dordzhieva, Aysa & Laux, Volker & Zheng, Ronghuo, 2022. "Signaling private information via accounting system design," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(1).
    2. Hui Chen & Bjorn N. Jorgensen, 2018. "Market Exit Through Divestment—The Effect of Accounting Bias on Competition," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(1), pages 164-177, January.
    3. 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.
    4. Judson Caskey & Volker Laux, 2017. "Corporate Governance, Accounting Conservatism, and Manipulation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(2), pages 424-437, February.
    5. Gao, Pingyang, 2013. "A measurement approach to conservatism and earnings management," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 251-268.
    6. Laux, Christian & Laux, Volker, 2024. "Accounting conservatism and managerial information acquisition," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(2).
    7. 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.
    8. Henry L. Friedman & John S. Hughes & Richard Saouma, 2016. "Implications of biased reporting: conservative and liberal accounting policies in oligopolies," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 251-279, March.
    9. Khalifa, Maha & Zouaoui, Haykel & Ben Othman, Hakim & Hussainey, Khaled, 2019. "Exploring the nonlinear effect of conditional conservatism on the cost of equity capital: Evidence from emerging markets," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 1-1.
    10. Jarko Fidrmuc & Philipp Schreiber & Martin Siddiqui, 2018. "Intangible Assets and the Determinants of a Single Bank Relation of German SMEs," European Journal of Business Science and Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Faculty of Business and Economics, vol. 4(1), pages 5-30.
    11. Michi Nishihara & Takashi Shibata, 2011. "The effects of costly exploration on optimal investment timing," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(3), pages 105-112, August.
    12. Glover, Jonathan & Xue, Hao, 2023. "Accounting conservatism and relational contracting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(1).
    13. Gao, Wenlian & Zhu, Feifei, 2015. "Information asymmetry and capital structure around the world," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 131-159.
    14. Leary, Mark T. & Roberts, Michael R., 2010. "The pecking order, debt capacity, and information asymmetry," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(3), pages 332-355, March.
    15. Marco Muscettola, 2014. "Probability of Efficiency: Statistical Implications That Lead Firms to Achieve a Minimal and Sufficient ¡°Return-On-Investment¡±," Journal of Management and Strategy, Journal of Management and Strategy, Sciedu Press, vol. 5(4), pages 26-36, November.
    16. 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).
    17. Jiang, Xu & Yang, Ming, 2017. "Properties of optimal accounting rules in a signaling game," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 499-512.
    18. Langberg, Nisan, 2008. "Optimal financing for growth firms," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 379-406, July.
    19. Araceli Mora & Martin Walker, 2015. "The implications of research on accounting conservatism for accounting standard setting," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(5), pages 620-650, August.
    20. Sudipta Basu & Yi Liang, 2019. "Director–Liability–Reduction Laws and Conditional Conservatism," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(4), pages 889-917, September.

    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:inm:ormnsc:v:60:y:2014:i:9:p:2308-2323. 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: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    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.