IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/reaccs/v29y2024i3d10.1007_s11142-023-09773-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Tax avoidance and firm value: does qualitative disclosure in the tax footnote matter?

Author

Listed:
  • Le Luo

    (Central University of Finance and Economics)

  • Mark Shuai Ma

    (University of Pittsburgh)

  • Thomas C. Omer

    (University of Nebraska–Lincoln)

  • Hong Xie

    (University of Kentucky)

Abstract

This study examines whether qualitative disclosure in tax footnotes affects the market valuation of tax avoidance activities. We predict that more disclosures in tax footnotes mitigate investors’ concerns over the agency risk of managers engaging in potentially illegal tax avoidance and improve the transparency of firm performance, thus increasing firm valuation. Consistent with the prediction, we find that the market valuation of tax avoidance increases when firms’ tax footnotes disclose more qualitative information related to their tax avoidance activities. We provide several tests to show mechanisms underlying our main findings and mitigate concerns about alternative explanations. Overall, our study suggests that the tax-related disclosures in tax footnotes are useful for investors assessing the value of tax avoidance.

Suggested Citation

  • Le Luo & Mark Shuai Ma & Thomas C. Omer & Hong Xie, 2024. "Tax avoidance and firm value: does qualitative disclosure in the tax footnote matter?," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 2927-2970, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:reaccs:v:29:y:2024:i:3:d:10.1007_s11142-023-09773-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s11142-023-09773-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11142-023-09773-w
    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/s11142-023-09773-w?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. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2014_003 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Mills, LF, 1998. "Book-tax differences and internal revenue service adjustments," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(2), pages 343-356.
    3. Lee Cronbach, 1951. "Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 16(3), pages 297-334, September.
    4. Tim Loughran & Bill Mcdonald, 2014. "Measuring Readability in Financial Disclosures," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(4), pages 1643-1671, August.
    5. Crocker, Keith J. & Slemrod, Joel, 2005. "Corporate tax evasion with agency costs," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(9-10), pages 1593-1610, September.
    6. Mihir A. Desai, 2005. "The Degradation of Reported Corporate Profits," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 19(4), pages 171-192, Fall.
    7. Dyreng, Scott D. & Hanlon, Michelle & Maydew, Edward L. & Thornock, Jacob R., 2017. "Changes in corporate effective tax rates over the past 25 years," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(3), pages 441-463.
    8. Karl A. Muller III & Edward J. Riedl, 2002. "External Monitoring of Property Appraisal Estimates and Information Asymmetry," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(3), pages 865-881, June.
    9. Mihir A Desai & Dhammika Dharmapala, 2009. "Corporate Tax Avoidance and Firm Value," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 91(3), pages 537-546, August.
    10. Scott D. Dyreng & Bradley P. Lindsey, 2009. "Using Financial Accounting Data to Examine the Effect of Foreign Operations Located in Tax Havens and Other Countries on U.S. Multinational Firms' Tax Rates," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(5), pages 1283-1316, December.
    11. Hasan, Iftekhar & Hoi, Chun Keung (Stan) & Wu, Qiang & Zhang, Hao, 2014. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder: The effect of corporate tax avoidance on the cost of bank loans," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(1), pages 109-130.
    12. Fang, Vivian W. & Noe, Thomas H. & Tice, Sheri, 2009. "Stock market liquidity and firm value," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(1), pages 150-169, October.
    13. Hirshleifer, David & Teoh, Siew Hong, 2003. "Limited attention, information disclosure, and financial reporting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1-3), pages 337-386, December.
    14. Scott D. Dyreng & Jeffrey L. Hoopes & Jaron H. Wilde, 2016. "Public Pressure and Corporate Tax Behavior," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 147-186, March.
    15. Li, Feng, 2008. "Annual report readability, current earnings, and earnings persistence," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(2-3), pages 221-247, August.
    16. Desai, Mihir A. & Dharmapala, Dhammika, 2006. "Corporate tax avoidance and high-powered incentives," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(1), pages 145-179, January.
    17. Orie E. Barron & Donal Byard & Charles Kile & Edward J. Riedl, 2002. "High‐Technology Intangibles and Analysts’ Forecasts," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(2), pages 289-312, May.
    18. Desai, Mihir A. & Dharmapala, Dhammika, 2009. "Earnings Management, Corporate Tax Shelters, and Book–Tax Alignment," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 62(1), pages 169-186, March.
    19. Samuel B. Bonsall & Kevin Koharki & Luke Watson, 2017. "Deciphering Tax Avoidance: Evidence from Credit Rating Disagreements," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 34(2), pages 818-848, June.
    20. Core, John E. & Guay, Wayne & Larcker, David F., 2008. "The power of the pen and executive compensation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 1-25, April.
    21. Amihud, Yakov, 2002. "Illiquidity and stock returns: cross-section and time-series effects," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 31-56, January.
    22. Platikanova, Petya & Mattei, Marco Maria, 2016. "Firm geographic dispersion and financial analysts’ forecasts," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 71-89.
    23. Correia, Maria M., 2014. "Political connections and SEC enforcement," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 241-262.
    24. Hope, Ole-Kristian & Ma, Mark (Shuai) & Thomas, Wayne B., 2013. "Tax avoidance and geographic earnings disclosure," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 170-189.
    25. Shawn, Thomas, 2002. "Firm diversification and asymmetric information: evidence from analysts’ forecasts and earnings announcements," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(3), pages 373-396, June.
    26. Travis Chow & Kenneth J. Klassen & Yanju Liu, 2016. "Targets' Tax Shelter Participation and Takeover Premiums," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33(4), pages 1440-1472, December.
    27. Kelvin K. F. Law & Lillian F. Mills, 2015. "Taxes and Financial Constraints: Evidence from Linguistic Cues," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(4), pages 777-819, September.
    28. Hanlon, Michelle & Slemrod, Joel, 2009. "What does tax aggressiveness signal? Evidence from stock price reactions to news about tax shelter involvement," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1-2), pages 126-141, February.
    29. Jing Liu & Doron Nissim & Jacob Thomas, 2002. "Equity Valuation Using Multiples," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(1), pages 135-172, March.
    30. McGill, Gary A. & Outslay, Edmund, 2004. "Lost in Translation: Detecting Tax Shelter Activity in Financial Statements," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 57(3), pages 739-756, September.
    31. Bradley S. Blaylock, 2016. "Is Tax Avoidance Associated with Economically Significant Rent Extraction among U.S. Firms?," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33(3), pages 1013-1043, September.
    32. Tzu‐Ting Chiu & Yuyan Guan & Jeong‐Bon Kim, 2018. "The Effect of Risk Factor Disclosures on the Pricing of Credit Default Swaps," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 35(4), pages 2191-2224, December.
    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. Chaudhry, Neeru, 2021. "Tax aggressiveness and idiosyncratic volatility," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    2. Chen, Jie & Mishra, Tapas & Song, Wei & Zhang, Qingjing & Zhang, Zhuang, 2024. "The impact of bank mergers on corporate tax aggressiveness," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    3. Lee, Ye Ji, 2021. "The effects of analysts’ tax expense forecast accuracy on corporate tax avoidance: An international analysis," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2).
    4. Yicheng Wang & Brian Wright, 2024. "Tax-strategy-related words, firm’s ability, and tax avoidance," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(4), pages 685-713, December.
    5. Hanlon, Michelle & Heitzman, Shane, 2010. "A review of tax research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 127-178, December.
    6. Müller, Raphael & Spengel, Christoph & Vay, Heiko, 2020. "On the determinants and effects of corporate tax transparency: Review of an emerging literature," ZEW Discussion Papers 20-063, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    7. Fangjun Wang & Shuolei Xu & Junqin Sun & Charles P. Cullinan, 2020. "Corporate Tax Avoidance: A Literature Review And Research Agenda," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(4), pages 793-811, September.
    8. 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.
    9. Francis, Bill B. & Hasan, Iftekhar & Sun, Xian & Wu, Qiang, 2016. "CEO political preference and corporate tax sheltering," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 37-53.
    10. Richardson, Grant & Taylor, Grantley & Obaydin, Ivan, 2020. "Does the use of tax haven subsidiaries by U.S. multinational corporations affect the cost of bank loans?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    11. Kim, Jeong-Bon & Li, Yinghua & Zhang, Liandong, 2011. "Corporate tax avoidance and stock price crash risk: Firm-level analysis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(3), pages 639-662, June.
    12. Lampenius, Niklas & Shevlin, Terry & Stenzel, Arthur, 2021. "Measuring corporate tax rate and tax base avoidance of U.S. Domestic and U.S. multinational firms," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(1).
    13. Devos, Erik & Rahman, Shofiqur, 2023. "Does labor unemployment insurance affect corporate tax aggressiveness?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    14. Dhawan, Anirudh & Ma, Liangbo & Kim, Maria H., 2020. "Effect of corporate tax avoidance activities on firm bankruptcy risk," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2).
    15. Allen, Arthur & Francis, Bill B. & Wu, Qiang & Zhao, Yijiang, 2016. "Analyst coverage and corporate tax aggressiveness," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 84-98.
    16. Jiménez-Angueira, Carlos E., 2018. "The effect of the interplay between corporate governance and external monitoring regimes on firms' tax avoidance," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 7-24.
    17. Wang, Changrong & Richardson, Grant & Cao, Yanming, 2024. "Long live the walking dead? Corporate tax avoidance and zombie firms in China," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(3).
    18. Onur Bayar & Fariz Huseynov & Sabuhi Sardarli, 2018. "Corporate Governance, Tax Avoidance, and Financial Constraints," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 47(3), pages 651-677, September.
    19. Mohammed Benlemlih & Jamil Jaballah & Sholom Schochet & Jonathan Peillex, 2023. "Corporate social responsibility and corporate tax avoidance: The channel effect of consumer awareness," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1-2), pages 31-60, January.
    20. Prianto Budi Saptono & Gustofan Mahmud & Intan Pratiwi & Dwi Purwanto & Ismail Khozen & Lambang Wiji Imantoro & Maria Eurelia Wayan, 2024. "Book-Tax Differences during the Crisis: Does Corporate Social Responsibility Matter?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-38, August.

    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:reaccs:v:29:y:2024:i:3:d:10.1007_s11142-023-09773-w. 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.