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How do CEO incentives affect corporate tax planning and financial reporting of income taxes?

Author

Listed:
  • Kathleen Powers

    (University of Tennessee)

  • John R. Robinson

    (Texas A&M University)

  • Bridget Stomberg

    (University of Georgia)

Abstract

We examine how different accounting metrics used to evaluate CEO performance for annual bonuses affect the level of corporate tax planning as well as financial reporting for income taxes. We predict and find that firms using cash flow metrics report lower GAAP and cash effective tax rates (ETR) than firms using earnings metrics. We also find that firms using after-tax earnings metrics report lower GAAP ETRs but similar cash ETRs as firms using pre-tax earnings metrics. Further analyses show that firms using after-tax earnings metrics are more likely to designate foreign earnings as permanently reinvested and have lower discretionary reserves for tax uncertainty. Hence, it appears that both types of firms engage in similar levels of tax planning, but firms evaluating CEOs with after tax-earnings metrics incentivize different financial reporting choices.

Suggested Citation

  • Kathleen Powers & John R. Robinson & Bridget Stomberg, 2016. "How do CEO incentives affect corporate tax planning and financial reporting of income taxes?," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 672-710, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:reaccs:v:21:y:2016:i:2:d:10.1007_s11142-016-9350-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s11142-016-9350-6
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    Cited by:

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    2. Habib Saragih, Arfah & Ali, Syaiful & Suwardi, Eko & Utomo, Hargo, 2024. "Finding the missing pieces to an optimal corporate tax savings: Information technology governance and internal information quality," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    3. Lyu, Xiaoliang & Ma, Jiameng & Zhang, Xiaochen, 2023. "Social trust and corporate innovation: An informal institution perspective," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    4. Kovermann, Jost & Velte, Patrick, 2019. "The impact of corporate governance on corporate tax avoidance—A literature review," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 1-1.
    5. Fernández-Rodríguez, Elena & García-Fernández, Roberto & Martínez-Arias, Antonio, 2021. "Business and institutional determinants of Effective Tax Rate in emerging economies," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 692-702.
    6. Elena Fernández-Rodríguez & Roberto García-Fernández & Antonio Martínez-Arias, 2019. "Influence of Ownership Structure on the Determinants of Effective Tax Rates of Spanish Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-19, March.
    7. Yan, Chao & Wang, Jiaxin & Wang, Zhi & Chan, Kam C., 2023. "Is reverence for life reverence for rule? Awe culture and corporate tax avoidance in China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    8. Arfah Habib Saragih & Syaiful Ali, 2023. "Corporate tax risk: a literature review and future research directions," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 73(2), pages 527-577, June.
    9. C. S. Agnes Cheng & Jaehyeon Kim & Mooweon Rhee & Jian Zhou, 2022. "Time Orientation in Languages and Tax Avoidance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 180(2), pages 625-650, October.
    10. Lesia Tkachyk & Mariya Rubakha & Nataliia Ilkiv, 2020. "Optimization of Corporate Profit Taxation in the Context of Stimulating Their Investment Activity: The Case of Ukraine," Economic Studies journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 4, pages 28-51.
    11. Lisa De Simone & Jordan Nickerson & Jeri Seidman & Bridget Stomberg, 2020. "How Reliably Do Empirical Tests Identify Tax Avoidance?†," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(3), pages 1536-1561, September.
    12. Daniel Fonseca Costa & Brenda Melissa Fonseca & Lélis Pedro Andrade & Bruno César Melo Moreira, 2023. "Bibliometric and scientometric analysis of the scientific field in taxation," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 1-28, January.
    13. Kay Blaufus & Jakob Reineke & Ilko Trenn, 2023. "Perceived tax audit aggressiveness, tax control frameworks and tax planning: an empirical analysis," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 93(3), pages 509-557, April.
    14. Kelvin K. F. Law & Lillian F. Mills, 2017. "Military experience and corporate tax avoidance," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 141-184, March.
    15. Nirmala Devi Mohanadas, 2019. "A Theoretical Review on Corporate Tax Avoidance: Shareholder Approach versus Stakeholder Approach," GATR Journals jfbr160, Global Academy of Training and Research (GATR) Enterprise.
    16. Paulo Jorge Varela Lopes Dias & Pedro Miguel Gomes Reis, 2018. "The relationship between the effective tax rate and the nominal rate," Contaduría y Administración, Accounting and Management, vol. 63(2), pages 23-24, Junio.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Effective tax rate; Performance metrics; Executive compensation; After-tax compensation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting
    • M52 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Compensation and Compensation Methods and Their Effects

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