IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/jfr/afr111/v2y2013i1p97.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Relationship between Firms’ Characteristics in the Periods Prior to Bankruptcy Filing and Bankruptcy Outcome

Author

Listed:
  • Ena Rose-Green
  • Linda Lovata

Abstract

This study examines the association between firms’ characteristics in the years prior to bankruptcy filing and bankruptcy outcome for firms filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy petitions. Our results indicate that, up to three years prior to bankruptcy filing, the characteristics of firms that liquidate differ from those of firms that reorganize. Three years prior to bankruptcy, the firms that subsequently reorganize are larger and have higher leverage than the firms that subsequently liquidate. (This relationship remains constant for all three years studied.) Two years prior to bankruptcy filing, firms that eventually reorganize are more solvent and have higher levels of discretionary accruals than firms that eventually liquidate. In the year prior to filing, firms that subsequently liquidate are more likely to have positive discretionary accruals. These findings suggest that stakeholders can predict the eventual outcome of Chapter 11 filings long before the court ruling.

Suggested Citation

  • Ena Rose-Green & Linda Lovata, 2013. "The Relationship between Firms’ Characteristics in the Periods Prior to Bankruptcy Filing and Bankruptcy Outcome," Accounting and Finance Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 2(1), pages 1-97, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:jfr:afr111:v:2:y:2013:i:1:p:97
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.sciedupress.com/journal/index.php/afr/article/download/2297/1340
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.sciedupress.com/journal/index.php/afr/article/view/2297
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:bla:jfinan:v:53:y:1998:i:3:p:1149-1163 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Julian R. Franks & Walter N. Torous, 1989. "An Empirical Investigation of U.S. Firms in Reorganization," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 44(3), pages 747-769, July.
    3. Subramanyam, K. R., 1996. "The pricing of discretionary accruals," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1-3), pages 249-281, October.
    4. Daniel M. Bryan & Samuel L. Tiras & Clark M. Wheatley, 2002. "The Interaction of Solvency with Liquidity and its Association with Bankruptcy Emergence," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(7&8), pages 935-965.
    5. Tan, Hwee-Cheng & Jamal, Karim, 2006. "Effect of accounting discretion on ability of managers to smooth earnings," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 554-573.
    6. 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.
    7. Rebecca L. Rosner, 2003. "Earnings Manipulation in Failing Firms," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(2), pages 361-408, June.
    8. DeFond, Mark L. & Subramanyam, K. R., 1998. "Auditor changes and discretionary accruals," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 35-67, February.
    9. repec:bla:jfinan:v:44:y:1989:i:3:p:747-69 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Daniel M. Bryan & Samuel L. Tiras & Clark M. Wheatley, 2002. "The Interaction of Solvency with Liquidity and its Association with Bankruptcy Emergence," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(7‐8), pages 935-965.
    11. Bartov, Eli & Gul, Ferdinand A. & Tsui, J.S.L.Judy S. L., 2000. "Discretionary-accruals models and audit qualifications," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 421-452, December.
    12. 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.
    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. Jorge Farinha & Luis Filipe Viana, 2006. "Board structure and modified audit opinions: the case of the Portuguese Stock Exchange," CEF.UP Working Papers 0609, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    2. 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.
    3. Chad R. Larson & Richard Sloan & Jenny Zha Giedt, 2018. "Defining, measuring, and modeling accruals: a guide for researchers," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 827-871, September.
    4. Ferrer García, Cristina & Laínez Gadea, José Antonio, 2013. "Detectando diferencias en la medición de la calidad del resultado: evidencia empírica para empresas españolas || Detecting Differences on the Earnings Quality Measurement: Empirical Evidence on Spanis," Revista de Métodos Cuantitativos para la Economía y la Empresa = Journal of Quantitative Methods for Economics and Business Administration, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Quantitative Methods for Economics and Business Administration, vol. 16(1), pages 5-28, December.
    5. Juan García Lara & Beatriz Osma & Evi Neophytou, 2009. "Earnings quality in ex‐post failed firms," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(2), pages 119-138.
    6. Ahmed, Kamran & Godfrey, Jayne M. & Saleh, Norman M., 2008. "Market perceptions of discretionary accruals by debt renegotiating firms during economic downturn," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 114-138.
    7. Marra, Antonio & Mazzola, Pietro & Prencipe, Annalisa, 2011. "Board Monitoring and Earnings Management Pre- and Post-IFRS," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 205-230, June.
    8. Reguera Alvarado, Nuria & Laffarga Briones, Joaquina & de Fuentes Ruiz, Pilar, 2015. "Modelos de gestión de resultados: un estudio transnacional," Revista de Contabilidad - Spanish Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 11-19.
    9. Kamran & Attaullah Shah, 2014. "The Impact of Corporate Governance and Ownership Structure on Earnings Management Practices: Evidence from Listed Companies in Pakistan," Lahore Journal of Economics, Department of Economics, The Lahore School of Economics, vol. 19(2), pages 27-70, July-Dec.
    10. Abdullah Alsaadi, 2021. "Can Inclusion in Religious Index Membership Mitigate Earnings Management?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(2), pages 333-354, March.
    11. Charitou, Andreas & Lambertides, Neophytos & Trigeorgis, Lenos, 2007. "Managerial discretion in distressed firms," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 323-346.
    12. Karampinis, Nikolaos I. & Hevas, Dimosthenis L., 2013. "Effects of IFRS Adoption on Tax-induced Incentives for Financial Earnings Management: Evidence from Greece," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 218-247.
    13. Carcello, Joseph V. & Hollingsworth, Carl & Mastrolia, Stacy A., 2011. "The effect of PCAOB inspections on Big 4 audit quality," Research in Accounting Regulation, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 85-96.
    14. Klein, April, 2002. "Audit committee, board of director characteristics, and earnings management," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 375-400, August.
    15. Ashok Robin & Qiang Wu, 2015. "Firm growth and the pricing of discretionary accruals," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 561-590, October.
    16. Shaw, Kenneth W., 2003. "Corporate disclosure quality, earnings smoothing, and earnings' timeliness," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 56(12), pages 1043-1050, December.
    17. Araceli Mora Enguidanos & Juan Manuel García Lara & Beatriz García Osma & Ana Gisbert Clemente, 2004. "La Comparabilidad De La Información Contable En Europa: Efectos De La Manipulación Contable Sobre El Nivel De Conservadurismo," Working Papers. Serie EC 2004-14, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).
    18. Manu Gupta & Inder K. Khurana & Raynolde Pereira, 2008. "Legal Inforcement, Short Maturity Debt, and the Incentive to Manage Earnings," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 51(4), pages 619-639, November.
    19. Kothari, S.P. & Leone, Andrew J. & Wasley, Charles E., 2005. "Performance matched discretionary accrual measures," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 163-197, February.
    20. Tsipouridou, Maria & Spathis, Charalambos, 2012. "Earnings management and the role of auditors in an unusual IFRS context: The case of Greece," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 62-78.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - 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:jfr:afr111:v:2:y:2013:i:1:p: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: Sciedu Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cepflch.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.