IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/emffin/v18y2019i1p106-144.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do New Brooms Sweep Clean? Evidence that New CEOs Take a ‘Big Bath’ in the Banking Industry

Author

Listed:
  • Chung-Hua Shen
  • Chien-An Wang

Abstract

This study investigates whether significant changes exist in providing loan losses and loan charge-offs during turnovers of chief executive officers (CEOs). Providing loan losses is referred to as a ‘big bath in earnings’, and providing loan charge-offs is referred to as a ‘big bath in asset quality’. We classify CEO turnovers into three types, namely, forced and voluntary CEO turnovers in privately owned banks (POB), turnovers in government-owned banks (GOB) and turnovers as outcomes of mergers and acquisitions (M&As). Using findings based on the data of Taiwanese commercial banks, we demonstrate that the forcibly appointed CEOs exhibit big baths in earnings and asset quality, whereas the voluntarily appointed CEOs exhibit a big bath in earnings but not in asset quality. Compared with the CEO turnover in a POB, the appointed CEO in a GOB shows no big bath in either earnings or asset quality. Moreover, turnovers resulting from M&As do not induce big baths. JEL Classification: C23, G21, G28, M41, M48

Suggested Citation

  • Chung-Hua Shen & Chien-An Wang, 2019. "Do New Brooms Sweep Clean? Evidence that New CEOs Take a ‘Big Bath’ in the Banking Industry," Journal of Emerging Market Finance, Institute for Financial Management and Research, vol. 18(1), pages 106-144, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:emffin:v:18:y:2019:i:1:p:106-144
    DOI: 10.1177/0972652719831543
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0972652719831543
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0972652719831543?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. Cavallo, Michele & Majnoni, Giovanni, 2001. "Do Banks provision for bad loans in good times? empirical evidence and policy implications," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2619, The World Bank.
    2. Huizinga, Harry & Laeven, Luc, 2012. "Bank valuation and accounting discretion during a financial crisis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(3), pages 614-634.
    3. Laeven, Luc & Majnoni, Giovanni, 2003. "Loan loss provisioning and economic slowdowns: too much, too late?," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 178-197, April.
    4. Hazarika, Sonali & Karpoff, Jonathan M. & Nahata, Rajarishi, 2012. "Internal corporate governance, CEO turnover, and earnings management," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(1), pages 44-69.
    5. Shen, Chung-Hua & Lin, Chih-Yung, 2012. "Why government banks underperform: A political interference view," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 181-202.
    6. Kiridaran Kanagaretnam & Gerald J. Lobo & Dong†Hoon Yang, 2004. "Joint Tests of Signaling and Income Smoothing through Bank Loan Loss Provisions," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(4), pages 843-884, December.
    7. DeAngelo, Linda Elizabeth, 1988. "Managerial competition, information costs, and corporate governance : The use of accounting performance measures in proxy contests," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 3-36, January.
    8. Mark R. Huson & Robert Parrino & Laura T. Starks, 2001. "Internal Monitoring Mechanisms and CEO Turnover: A Long‐Term Perspective," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(6), pages 2265-2297, December.
    9. Wallace Davidson & Biao Xie & Weihong Xu & Yixi Ning, 2007. "The influence of executive age, career horizon and incentives on pre-turnover earnings management," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 11(1), pages 45-60, March.
    10. Fonseca, Ana Rosa & González, Francisco, 2008. "Cross-country determinants of bank income smoothing by managing loan-loss provisions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 217-228, February.
    11. Shen, Chung-Hua & Chih, Hsiang-Lin, 2005. "Investor protection, prospect theory, and earnings management: An international comparison of the banking industry," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(10), pages 2675-2697, October.
    12. Beatty, A & Chamberlain, Sl & Magliolo, J, 1995. "Managing Financial Reports Of Commercial-Banks - The Influence Of Taxes, Regulatory Capital, And Earnings," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 231-261.
    13. Peter Wells, 2002. "Earnings management surrounding CEO changes," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 42(2), pages 169-193, June.
    14. Low, Angie, 2009. "Managerial risk-taking behavior and equity-based compensation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(3), pages 470-490, June.
    15. Pourciau, Susan, 1993. "Earnings management and nonroutine executive changes," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1-3), pages 317-336, April.
    16. Brickley, James A. & Coles, Jeffrey L. & Terry, Rory L., 1994. "Outside directors and the adoption of poison pills," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 371-390, June.
    17. Ball, Ray & Kothari, S. P. & Robin, Ashok, 2000. "Corrigendum to "The effect of international institutional factors on properties of accounting earnings"; [Journal of Accounting and Economics 29 (2000) 1-51]," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 241-241, October.
    18. Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky, 2013. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 6, pages 99-127, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    19. Burgstahler, David & Dichev, Ilia, 1997. "Earnings management to avoid earnings decreases and losses," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 99-126, December.
    20. Kenneth M. Lehn & Mengxin Zhao, 2006. "CEO Turnover after Acquisitions: Are Bad Bidders Fired?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(4), pages 1759-1811, August.
    21. Dechow, Patricia M. & Sloan, Richard G., 1991. "Executive incentives and the horizon problem : An empirical investigation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 51-89, March.
    22. Chung-Hua Shen & Iftekhar Hasan & Chih-Yung Lin, 2014. "The Government’s Role in Government-owned Banks," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 45(3), pages 307-340, June.
    23. Murphy, Kevin J. & Zimmerman, Jerold L., 1993. "Financial performance surrounding CEO turnover," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1-3), pages 273-315, April.
    24. Jayne Godfrey & Paul Mather & Alan Ramsay, 2003. "Earnings and Impression Management in Financial Reports: The Case of CEO Changes," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 39(1), pages 95-123, February.
    25. Haggard, K. Stephen & Howe, John S. & Lynch, Andrew A., 2015. "Do baths muddy the waters or clear the air?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 105-117.
    26. Jong-Seo Choi & Young-Min Kwak & Chongwoo Choe, 2014. "Earnings Management Surrounding CEO Turnover: Evidence from Korea," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 50(1), pages 25-55, March.
    27. Degeorge, Francois & Patel, Jayendu & Zeckhauser, Richard, 1999. "Earnings Management to Exceed Thresholds," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 72(1), pages 1-33, January.
    28. Shrieves, Ronald E. & Dahl, Drew, 2003. "Discretionary accounting and the behavior of Japanese banks under financial duress," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(7), pages 1219-1243, July.
    29. Ahmed, Anwer S. & Takeda, Carolyn & Thomas, Shawn, 1999. "Bank loan loss provisions: a reexamination of capital management, earnings management and signaling effects," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 1-25, November.
    30. Ball, Ray & Kothari, S. P. & Robin, Ashok, 2000. "The effect of international institutional factors on properties of accounting earnings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-51, February.
    31. Mark Wilson & Liang Wui Wang, 2010. "Earnings management following chief executive officer changes: the effect of contemporaneous chairperson and chief financial officer appointments," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 50(2), pages 447-480, June.
    32. Bhattacharya, Utpal & Daouk, Hazem & Welker, Michael, 2003. "The World Price of Earnings Opacity," Working Papers 127185, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    33. Jeremy C. Stein, 2002. "Information Production and Capital Allocation: Decentralized versus Hierarchical Firms," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(5), pages 1891-1921, October.
    34. Bornemann, Sven & Kick, Thomas & Pfingsten, Andreas & Schertler, Andrea, 2015. "Earnings baths by CEOs during turnovers: empirical evidence from German savings banks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 188-201.
    35. Healy, Paul M., 1985. "The effect of bonus schemes on accounting decisions," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(1-3), pages 85-107, April.
    36. Martin Conyon & Annita Florou, 2002. "Top executive dismissal, ownership and corporate performance," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(4), pages 209-225.
    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. Masahiro Enomoto & Yusuke Fukaya, 2023. "Top Executive Turnover and Loan Loss Provisions: Evidence from Japanese Regional Banks," Discussion Paper Series DP2023-06, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University.

    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. Bornemann, Sven & Kick, Thomas & Pfingsten, Andreas & Schertler, Andrea, 2015. "Earnings baths by CEOs during turnovers: empirical evidence from German savings banks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 188-201.
    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. Bornemann, Sven & Pfingsten, Andreas & Kick, Thomas & Schertler, Andrea, 2014. "Earnings baths by bank CEOs during turnovers," Discussion Papers 05/2014, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    4. Balboa, Marina & López-Espinosa, Germán & Rubia, Antonio, 2013. "Nonlinear dynamics in discretionary accruals: An analysis of bank loan-loss provisions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 5186-5207.
    5. Dung Viet Tran & M. Kabir Hassan & Reza Houston, 2020. "Discretionary loan loss provision behavior in the US banking industry," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 605-645, August.
    6. Di Fabio, Costanza & Ramassa, Paola & Quagli, Alberto, 2021. "Income smoothing in European banks: The contrasting effects of monitoring mechanisms," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    7. Chung-Hua Shen & Yu-Li Huang, 2013. "Effects of earnings management on bank cost of debt," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 53(1), pages 265-300, March.
    8. Małgorzata Olszak & Mateusz Pipień & Iwona Kowalska & Sylwia Roszkowska, 2017. "What Drives Heterogeneity of Cyclicality of Loan-Loss Provisions in the EU?," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 51(1), pages 55-96, February.
    9. Jong-Seo Choi & Young-Min Kwak & Chongwoo Choe, 2014. "Earnings Management Surrounding CEO Turnover: Evidence from Korea," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 50(1), pages 25-55, March.
    10. Hervé Stolowy & Gaetan Breton, 2000. "A Framework for the Classification of Accounts Manipulations," Working Papers hal-00597249, HAL.
    11. Delis, Manthos D. & Hasan, Iftekhar & Iosifidi, Maria & Li, Lingxiang, 2018. "Accounting quality in banking: The role of regulatory interventions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 297-317.
    12. Ann Jorissen & David Otley, 2010. "The management of accounting numbers: Case study evidence from the ‘crash’ of an airline," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(1), pages 3-38.
    13. repec:zbw:bofitp:2014_019 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Frerich Buchholz & Kerstin Lopatta & Karen Maas, 2020. "The Deliberate Engagement of Narcissistic CEOs in Earnings Management," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(4), pages 663-686, December.
    15. Bouvatier, Vincent & Lepetit, Laetitia & Strobel, Frank, 2014. "Bank income smoothing, ownership concentration and the regulatory environment," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 253-270.
    16. Wu, Meng-Wen & Shen, Chung-Hua & Lu, Chin-Hwa, 2015. "Do more foreign strategic investors and more directors improve the earnings smoothing? The case of China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 3-16.
    17. Fang, Yiwei & Hasan, Iftekhar & Li, Lingxiang, 2014. "Banking reform, risk-taking, and earnings quality – Evidence from transition countries," BOFIT Discussion Papers 19/2014, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    18. Fang, Yiwei & Dbouk, Wassim & Hasan, Iftekhar & Li, Lingxiang, 2014. "Banking reform, risk-taking, and accounting quality : Evidence from post-Soviet transition states," BOFIT Discussion Papers 19/2014, Bank of Finland, Institute for Economies in Transition.
    19. Magnis, Chris & Iatridis, George Emmanuel, 2017. "The relation between auditor reputation, earnings and capital management in the banking sector: An international investigation," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(PA), pages 338-357.
    20. Malgorzata Olszak & Mateusz Pipien & Sylwia Roszkowska & Iwona Kowalska, 2014. "The effects of capital on bank lending in large EU banks – the role of procyclicality, income smoothing, regulations and supervision," Faculty of Management Working Paper Series 52014, University of Warsaw, Faculty of Management.
    21. Fonseca, Ana Rosa & González, Francisco, 2008. "Cross-country determinants of bank income smoothing by managing loan-loss provisions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 217-228, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    CEO turnover; earnings management; big bath; loan loss provision; charge-offs;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting
    • M48 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Government Policy and Regulation

    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:sae:emffin:v:18:y:2019:i:1:p:106-144. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ifmr.ac.in .

    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.