IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/annopr/v315y2022i2d10.1007_s10479-021-04159-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does relative (absolute) efficiency affect capital costs?

Author

Listed:
  • Dafydd Mali

    (University of Nottingham)

  • Hyoung-Joo Lim

    (Kyonggi University)

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the effect of relative/absolute firm efficiency on weighted average cost of capital (WACC). Using a sample of Korean listed firms, we find that WACC is negatively associated with relative firm efficiency (operational performance) suggesting that firms with higher (lower) relatively efficiency are expected to pay lower (higher) capital costs. When we repeat our analysis using absolute firm efficiency (ROA), we do not find a statistically significant relationship. Our results suggest relative efficiency which is estimated as output (sales) divided by the resources that are directly under the control of management is assessed by capital providers and impounded into a firm’s capital costs. Absolute efficiency (ROA) which is estimated as sales divided by total assets is not. Our results suggest that simple accounting ratios used in the accounting literature are not considered as informative to explain borrowing costs compared to relative efficiency that captures managerial operational performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Dafydd Mali & Hyoung-Joo Lim, 2022. "Does relative (absolute) efficiency affect capital costs?," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 315(2), pages 1037-1060, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:annopr:v:315:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1007_s10479-021-04159-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s10479-021-04159-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10479-021-04159-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10479-021-04159-0?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. Per Andersen & Niels Christian Petersen, 1993. "A Procedure for Ranking Efficient Units in Data Envelopment Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 39(10), pages 1261-1264, October.
    2. Jong-seo Choi & Hyoung-joo Lim & Dafydd Mali, 2017. "Mandatory Audit Firm Rotation and Big4 Effect on Audit Quality: Evidence from South Korea," Asian Academy of Management Journal of Accounting and Finance (AAMJAF), Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia, vol. 13(1), pages 1-40.
    3. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1997. "A Survey of Corporate Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 737-783, June.
    4. Skreta, Vasiliki & Veldkamp, Laura, 2009. "Ratings shopping and asset complexity: A theory of ratings inflation," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(5), pages 678-695, July.
    5. Bok Baik & Joon Chae & Sunhwa Choi & David B. Farber, 2013. "Changes in Operational Efficiency and Firm Performance: A Frontier Analysis Approach," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(3), pages 996-1026, September.
    6. Pastor, Lubos & Stambaugh, Robert F., 2003. "Liquidity Risk and Expected Stock Returns," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(3), pages 642-685, June.
    7. Hou, Kewei & van Dijk, Mathijs A. & Zhang, Yinglei, 2012. "The implied cost of capital: A new approach," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 504-526.
    8. Brian W. Jacobs & Richard Kraude & Sriram Narayanan, 2016. "Operational Productivity, Corporate Social Performance, Financial Performance, and Risk in Manufacturing Firms," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 25(12), pages 2065-2085, December.
    9. 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.
    10. William R. Gebhardt & Charles M. C. Lee & Bhaskaran Swaminathan, 2001. "Toward an Implied Cost of Capital," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 135-176, June.
    11. Antoine Faure‐Grimaud & Eloïc Peyrache & Lucía Quesada, 2009. "The ownership of ratings," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 40(2), pages 234-257, June.
    12. Mathis, Jérôme & McAndrews, James & Rochet, Jean-Charles, 2009. "Rating the raters: Are reputation concerns powerful enough to discipline rating agencies?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(5), pages 657-674, July.
    13. Peter Demerjian & Baruch Lev & Sarah McVay, 2012. "Quantifying Managerial Ability: A New Measure and Validity Tests," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(7), pages 1229-1248, July.
    14. John Lintner, 1965. "Security Prices, Risk, And Maximal Gains From Diversification," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 20(4), pages 587-615, December.
    15. Ila Alam & Robin Sickles, 1998. "The Relationship Between Stock Market Returns and Technical Efficiency Innovations: Evidence from the US Airline Industry," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 35-51, January.
    16. Cummins, J. David & Weiss, Mary A. & Xie, Xiaoying & Zi, Hongmin, 2010. "Economies of scope in financial services: A DEA efficiency analysis of the US insurance industry," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(7), pages 1525-1539, July.
    17. Abarbanell, JS & Bushee, BJ, 1997. "Fundamental analysis, future earnings, and stock prices," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(1), pages 1-24.
    18. Sebastián Lozano & Narges Soltani & Akram Dehnokhalaji, 2020. "A compromise programming approach for target setting in DEA," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 288(1), pages 363-390, May.
    19. Barth, Mary E. & Konchitchki, Yaniv & Landsman, Wayne R., 2013. "Cost of capital and earnings transparency," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 206-224.
    20. Bart Frijns & Dimitris Margaritis & Maria Psillaki, 2012. "Firm efficiency and stock returns," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 295-306, June.
    21. Fama, Eugene F & MacBeth, James D, 1973. "Risk, Return, and Equilibrium: Empirical Tests," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(3), pages 607-636, May-June.
    22. Safdar, Irfan, 2018. "The information content of aggregate profitability," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(5), pages 497-515.
    23. Francis, Jennifer & LaFond, Ryan & Olsson, Per & Schipper, Katherine, 2005. "The market pricing of accruals quality," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 295-327, June.
    24. Fama, Eugene F & French, Kenneth R, 1992. "The Cross-Section of Expected Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(2), pages 427-465, June.
    25. Demsetz, Harold, 1973. "Industry Structure, Market Rivalry, and Public Policy," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(1), pages 1-9, April.
    26. Yuri Yatsenko & Natali Hritonenko, 2016. "Asset replacement under improving operating and capital costs: a practical approach," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(10), pages 2922-2933, May.
    27. R. J. Chambers, 1960. "Measurement and Misrepresentation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 6(2), pages 141-148, January.
    28. Carhart, Mark M, 1997. "On Persistence in Mutual Fund Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 57-82, March.
    29. Tran, Duc Hung, 2014. "Multiple corporate governance attributes and the cost of capital – Evidence from Germany," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 179-197.
    30. Cook, Wade D. & Zhu, Joe, 2006. "Rank order data in DEA: A general framework," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 174(2), pages 1021-1038, October.
    31. Lev, B & Thiagarajan, Sr, 1993. "Fundamental Information Analysis," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(2), pages 190-215.
    32. Dafydd Mali & Hyoung‐joo Lim, 2018. "Conservative Reporting and the Incremental Effect of Mandatory Audit Firm Rotation Policy: A Comparative Analysis of Audit Partner Rotation vs Audit Firm Rotation in South Korea," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 28(3), pages 446-463, September.
    33. Dafydd Mali & Hyoung‐joo Lim, 2021. "Do Relatively More Efficient Firms Demand Additional Audit Effort (Hours)?," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 31(2), pages 108-127, June.
    34. William Greene & Dan Segal, 2004. "Profitability and Efficiency in the U.S. Life Insurance Industry," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 229-247, May.
    35. Dann, Larry Y. & DeAngelo, Harry, 1983. "Standstill agreements, privately negotiated stock repurchases, and the market for corporate control," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(1-4), pages 275-300, April.
    36. Jeffrey L. Callen & Mindy Morel & Christina Fader, 2005. "Productivity Measurement and the Relationship between Plant Performance and JIT Intensity," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(2), pages 271-309, June.
    37. Hyoung-joo Lim & Dafydd Mali, 2018. "Does market risk predict credit risk? An analysis of firm risk sensitivity, evidence from South Korea," Asia-Pacific Journal of Accounting & Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(1-2), pages 235-252, January.
    38. J. Tyler Leverty & Martin F. Grace, 2012. "Dupes or Incompetents? An Examination of Management's Impact on Firm Distress," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 79(3), pages 751-783, September.
    39. Ou, Jane A. & Penman, Stephen H., 1989. "Financial statement analysis and the prediction of stock returns," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 295-329, November.
    40. Kiran Verma, 1993. "Managerial Efficiency: A Study of Management Buyouts," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 10(1), pages 179-204, September.
    41. Göran Bergendahl, 1998. "DEA and benchmarks – an application to Nordic banks," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 82(0), pages 233-250, August.
    42. William F. Sharpe, 1964. "Capital Asset Prices: A Theory Of Market Equilibrium Under Conditions Of Risk," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 19(3), pages 425-442, September.
    43. T. Russell Crook & David J. Ketchen & James G. Combs & Samuel Y. Todd, 2008. "Strategic resources and performance: a meta‐analysis," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(11), pages 1141-1154, November.
    44. Black, Fischer & Scholes, Myron S, 1973. "The Pricing of Options and Corporate Liabilities," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(3), pages 637-654, May-June.
    45. Sanjeev Bhojraj & Partha Sengupta, 2003. "Effect of Corporate Governance on Bond Ratings and Yields: The Role of Institutional Investors and Outside Directors," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 76(3), pages 455-476, July.
    46. Nicholas Dopuch & Mahendra Gupta & Dan A. Simunic & Michael T. Stein, 2003. "Production Efficiency and the Pricing of Audit Services," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(1), pages 47-77, March.
    47. Ioannis Tsolas, 2015. "Firm credit risk evaluation: a series two-stage DEA modeling framework," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 233(1), pages 483-500, October.
    48. Eugene F. Fama & Kenneth R. French, 2016. "Dissecting Anomalies with a Five-Factor Model," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(1), pages 69-103.
    49. Eugene F. Fama & Kenneth R. French, 2004. "The Capital Asset Pricing Model: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 18(3), pages 25-46, Summer.
    50. Margaritis, Dimitris & Psillaki, Maria, 2010. "Capital structure, equity ownership and firm performance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 621-632, March.
    51. H. Sherman & Joe Zhu, 2006. "Benchmarking with quality-adjusted DEA (Q-DEA) to seek lower-cost high-quality service: Evidence from a U.S.bank application," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 145(1), pages 301-319, July.
    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. Hyoung-Joo Lim & Dafydd Mali, 2024. "Does Market Performance (Tobin’s Q) Have A Negative Effect On Credit Ratings? Evidence From South Korea," Asia-Pacific Financial Markets, Springer;Japanese Association of Financial Economics and Engineering, vol. 31(1), pages 53-80, March.
    2. Hyoung-Joo Lim & Dafydd Mali, 2024. "An analysis of the effect of audit effort (hours) on stock price volatility: evidence of increasing demand reducing uncertainty," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(3), pages 359-375, 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. Dafydd Mali & Hyoung‐joo Lim, 2021. "Do Relatively More Efficient Firms Demand Additional Audit Effort (Hours)?," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 31(2), pages 108-127, June.
    2. Bok Baik & Joon Chae & Sunhwa Choi & David B. Farber, 2013. "Changes in Operational Efficiency and Firm Performance: A Frontier Analysis Approach," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(3), pages 996-1026, September.
    3. Lu Zhang, 2017. "The Investment CAPM," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 23(4), pages 545-603, September.
    4. Richardson, Scott & Tuna, Irem & Wysocki, Peter, 2010. "Accounting anomalies and fundamental analysis: A review of recent research advances," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 410-454, December.
    5. Amit Goyal, 2012. "Empirical cross-sectional asset pricing: a survey," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 26(1), pages 3-38, March.
    6. Fernando Rubio, 2005. "Eficiencia De Mercado, Administracion De Carteras De Fondos Y Behavioural Finance," Finance 0503028, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 23 Jul 2005.
    7. Michael Hasler & Charles Martineau, 2023. "Explaining the Failure of the Unconditional CAPM with the Conditional CAPM," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(3), pages 1835-1855, March.
    8. Kaserer Christoph & Hanauer Matthias X., 2017. "25 Jahre Fama-French-Modell: Erklärungsgehalt, Anomalien und praktische Implikationen," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, De Gruyter, vol. 18(2), pages 98-116, June.
    9. Bartram, Söhnke M. & Grinblatt, Mark, 2018. "Agnostic fundamental analysis works," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(1), pages 125-147.
    10. Azevedo, Vitor, 2023. "Analysts’ underreaction and momentum strategies," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    11. Dionysia Dionysiou, 2015. "Choosing Among Alternative Long-Run Event-Study Techniques," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 158-198, February.
    12. Hyoung-Joo Lim & Dafydd Mali, 2024. "An analysis of the effect of audit effort (hours) on stock price volatility: evidence of increasing demand reducing uncertainty," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(3), pages 359-375, September.
    13. Turan G. Bali & Robert F. Engle & Yi Tang, 2017. "Dynamic Conditional Beta Is Alive and Well in the Cross Section of Daily Stock Returns," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(11), pages 3760-3779, November.
    14. Sati P. Bandyopadhyay & Alan Guoming Huang & Kevin Jialin Sun & Tony S. Wirjanto, 2017. "The return premiums to accruals quality," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 83-115, January.
    15. Jun, So Young & Kim, Dong Sung & Jung, Suk Yoon & Jun, Sang Gyung & Kim, Jong Woo, 2022. "Stock investment strategy combining earnings power index and machine learning," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    16. Joachim Freyberger & Andreas Neuhierl & Michael Weber, 2020. "Dissecting Characteristics Nonparametrically," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(5), pages 2326-2377.
    17. Harshit Mishra & Parama Barai, 2024. "Entropy Augmented Asset Pricing Model: Study on Indian Stock Market," Asia-Pacific Financial Markets, Springer;Japanese Association of Financial Economics and Engineering, vol. 31(1), pages 81-99, March.
    18. Committee, Nobel Prize, 2013. "Understanding Asset Prices," Nobel Prize in Economics documents 2013-1, Nobel Prize Committee.
    19. Kim, Soohun & Skoulakis, Georgios, 2018. "Ex-post risk premia estimation and asset pricing tests using large cross sections: The regression-calibration approach," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 204(2), pages 159-188.
    20. Lee-Seok Hwang & Woo-Jong Lee, 2013. "Stock Return Predictability of Residual-Income-Based Valuation: Risk or Mispricing?," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 49(2), pages 219-241, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Firm efficiency; DEA; Cost of capital; WACC; Risk;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A1 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics
    • G1 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets
    • G3 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance
    • M1 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration
    • M4 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting

    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:spr:annopr:v:315:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1007_s10479-021-04159-0. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.