IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/acctbr/v46y2016i5p467-499.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How far does financial reporting allow us to judge whether M&A activity is successful?

Author

Listed:
  • Christina Dargenidou
  • Alan Gregory
  • Shan Hua

Abstract

Evidence from share price returns suggests that acquisitions destroy value. On the other hand, evidence from accounting measures of performance suggests that acquisitions give rise to synergies and therefore potentially create value. In this paper, we first revisit the UK evidence using an updated sample, and confirm that these findings still hold, and importantly hold in the period following the introduction of FRS10. We then reconcile the (apparently conflicting) findings from these market-based and accounting-based approaches. Using accounting measures of performance, we confirm the presence of synergies developed during acquisitions. Finally we show that post-acquisition abnormal returns are associated with news of synergistic benefits conveyed in the financial statements.

Suggested Citation

  • Christina Dargenidou & Alan Gregory & Shan Hua, 2016. "How far does financial reporting allow us to judge whether M&A activity is successful?," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(5), pages 467-499, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:acctbr:v:46:y:2016:i:5:p:467-499
    DOI: 10.1080/00014788.2016.1182702
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00014788.2016.1182702
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00014788.2016.1182702?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. Fama, Eugene F., 1998. "Market efficiency, long-term returns, and behavioral finance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 283-306, September.
    2. Powell, Ronan G. & Stark, Andrew W., 2005. "Does operating performance increase post-takeover for UK takeovers? A comparison of performance measures and benchmarks," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 11(1-2), pages 293-317, March.
    3. Alan Gregory & Cherif Guermat & Fawaz Al‐Shawawreh, 2010. "UK IPOs: Long Run Returns, Behavioural Timing and Pseudo Timing," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(5‐6), pages 612-647, June.
    4. Mitchell, Mark L. & Mulherin, J. Harold, 1996. "The impact of industry shocks on takeover and restructuring activity," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 193-229, June.
    5. Carline, Nicholas F. & Linn, Scott C. & Yadav, Pradeep K., 2009. "Operating performance changes associated with corporate mergers and the role of corporate governance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(10), pages 1829-1841, October.
    6. Sudi Sudarsanam & Ashraf A. Mahate, 2003. "Glamour Acquirers, Method of Payment and Post‐acquisition Performance: The UK Evidence," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1‐2), pages 299-342, January.
    7. Sara B. Moeller & Frederik P. Schlingemann & René M. Stulz, 2005. "Wealth Destruction on a Massive Scale? A Study of Acquiring‐Firm Returns in the Recent Merger Wave," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(2), pages 757-782, April.
    8. Alan Gregory, 2000. "Motives underlying the method of payment by UK acquirers: the influence of goodwill," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(3), pages 227-240.
    9. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W., 2003. "Stock market driven acquisitions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(3), pages 295-311, December.
    10. Heron, Randall & Lie, Erik, 2002. "Operating Performance and the Method of Payment in Takeovers," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 37(1), pages 137-155, March.
    11. Alan Gregory, 1997. "An Examination of the Long Run Performance of UK Acquiring Firms," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(7‐8), pages 971-1002, September.
    12. Kothari, S. P. & Warner, Jerold B., 1997. "Measuring long-horizon security price performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 301-339, March.
    13. Fu, Fangjian & Lin, Leming & Officer, Micah S., 2013. "Acquisitions driven by stock overvaluation: Are they good deals?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(1), pages 24-39.
    14. Divesh S. Sharma & Jonathan Ho, 2002. "The Impact of Acquisitions on Operating Performance: Some Australian Evidence," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1‐2), pages 155-200.
    15. Martynova, Marina & Renneboog, Luc, 2008. "A century of corporate takeovers: What have we learned and where do we stand?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(10), pages 2148-2177, October.
    16. Gregor Andrade & Mark Mitchell & Erik Stafford, 2001. "New Evidence and Perspectives on Mergers," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(2), pages 103-120, Spring.
    17. Linn, Scott C. & Switzer, Jeannette A., 2001. "Are cash acquisitions associated with better postcombination operating performance than stock acquisitions?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 1113-1138, June.
    18. Harford, Jarrad & Humphery-Jenner, Mark & Powell, Ronan, 2012. "The sources of value destruction in acquisitions by entrenched managers," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(2), pages 247-261.
    19. Xiao Gang Bi & Alan Gregory, 2011. "Stock Market Driven Acquisitions versus the Q Theory of Takeovers: The UK Evidence," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(5-6), pages 628-656, June.
    20. Roll, Richard, 1986. "The Hubris Hypothesis of Corporate Takeovers," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 59(2), pages 197-216, April.
    21. Franks, Julian R. & Harris, Robert S., 1989. "Shareholder wealth effects of corporate takeovers : The U.K. experience 1955-1985," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 225-249, August.
    22. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-838, May.
    23. Alan Gregory & Cherif Guermat & Fawaz Al-Shawawreh, 2010. "UK IPOs: Long Run Returns, Behavioural Timing and Pseudo Timing," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(5-6), pages 612-647.
    24. Barber, Brad M. & Lyon, John D., 1997. "Detecting long-run abnormal stock returns: The empirical power and specification of test statistics," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 341-372, March.
    25. Anju Seth & Kean P Song & Richardson Pettit, 2000. "Synergy, Managerialism or Hubris? An Empirical Examination of Motives for Foreign Acquisitions of U.S. Firms," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 31(3), pages 387-405, September.
    26. Barber, Brad M. & Lyon, John D., 1996. "Detecting abnormal operating performance: The empirical power and specification of test statistics," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 359-399, July.
    27. S. Manson & R. Powell & A. W. Stark & H. M. Thomas, 2000. "Identifying the Sources of Gains From Takeovers," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(4), pages 319-343, December.
    28. Alan Gregory, 1997. "An Examination of the Long Run Performance of UK Acquiring Firms," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(7&8), pages 971-1002.
    29. Divesh S. Sharma & Jonathan Ho, 2002. "The Impact of Acquisitions on Operating Performance: Some Australian Evidence," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1&2), pages 155-200.
    30. Sudi Sudarsanam & Ashraf A. Mahate -super-*, 2003. "Glamour Acquirers, Method of Payment and Post-acquisition Performance: The UK Evidence," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1-2), pages 299-342.
    31. James S. Ang & Shaojun Zhang, 2004. "An Evaluation of Testing Procedures for Long Horizon Event Studies," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 251-274, November.
    32. John D. Lyon & Brad M. Barber & Chih‐Ling Tsai, 1999. "Improved Methods for Tests of Long‐Run Abnormal Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(1), pages 165-201, February.
    33. Desai, Hemang & Jain, Prem C., 1999. "Firm performance and focus: long-run stock market performance following spinoffs," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 75-101, October.
    34. Antonia Botsari & Geoff Meeks, 2008. "Do Acquirers Manage Earnings Prior to a Share for Share Bid?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(5‐6), pages 633-670, June.
    35. Ghosh, Aloke, 2001. "Does operating performance really improve following corporate acquisitions?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 151-178, June.
    36. Healy, Paul M. & Palepu, Krishna G. & Ruback, Richard S., 1992. "Does corporate performance improve after mergers?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 135-175, April.
    37. Antonia Botsari & Geoff Meeks, 2008. "Do Acquirers Manage Earnings Prior to a Share for Share Bid?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(5-6), pages 633-670.
    38. Andrade, Gregor & Stafford, Erik, 2004. "Investigating the economic role of mergers," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 1-36, January.
    39. Jensen, Michael C, 1988. "Takeovers: Their Causes and Consequences," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 2(1), pages 21-48, Winter.
    40. Abdul-Magid Gadad & Andrew Stark & Hardy Thomas, 2009. "Divestitures: wealth transfers or real economic gains?," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(13), pages 1073-1081.
    41. Higson, Chris & Elliott, Jamie, 1998. "Post-takeover returns: The UK evidence," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 27-46, January.
    42. Ravenscraft, David J. & Scherer, F. M., 1989. "The profitability of mergers," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 101-116, March.
    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. Malikov, Kamran & Demirbag, Mehmet & Kuvandikov, Azimjon & Manson, Stuart, 2021. "Workforce reductions and post-merger operating performance: The role of corporate governance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 109-120.
    2. George Marian AEVOAE, 2018. "How Can We Create Value From Enterprise Concentrations? A Meta-Analysis Of The Scientific Literature On M&As In The European Union," EURINT, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 5, pages 63-87.

    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. Martynova, M. & Renneboog, L.D.R., 2005. "Takeover Waves : Triggers, Performance and Motives," Discussion Paper 2005-107, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    2. Martynova, Marina & Renneboog, Luc, 2008. "A century of corporate takeovers: What have we learned and where do we stand?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(10), pages 2148-2177, October.
    3. Martynova, M., 2006. "The market for corporate control and corporate governance regulation in Europe," Other publications TiSEM 8651e281-4914-41f2-ac14-1, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    4. Andrey Golubov & Dimitris Petmezas & Nickolaos G. Travlos, 2013. "Empirical mergers and acquisitions research: a review of methods, evidence and managerial implications," Chapters, in: Adrian R. Bell & Chris Brooks & Marcel Prokopczuk (ed.), Handbook of Research Methods and Applications in Empirical Finance, chapter 12, pages 287-313, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Paul Guest & Magnus Bild & Mikael Runsten, 2010. "The effect of takeovers on the fundamental value of acquirers," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(4), pages 333-352.
    6. Renneboog, Luc & Vansteenkiste, Cara, 2019. "Failure and success in mergers and acquisitions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 650-699.
    7. Bhabra, Harjeet S. & Huang, Jiayin, 2013. "An empirical investigation of mergers and acquisitions by Chinese listed companies, 1997–2007," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 186-207.
    8. Neha Kalra & Shaveta Gupta & Rajesh Bagga, 2013. "A Wave of Mergers and Acquisitions: Are Indian Banks Going Up a Blind Alley?," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 14(2), pages 263-282, June.
    9. Perafán-Peña, Héctor Fabio & Gill-de-Albornoz, Belén & Giner, Begoña, 2022. "Earnings management of target firms and deal premiums: The role of industry relatedness," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(2).
    10. Antonios Antoniou & Philippe Arbour & Huainan Zhao, 2008. "How Much Is Too Much: Are Merger Premiums Too High?," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 14(2), pages 268-287, March.
    11. Dutta, Shantanu & Saadi, Samir & Zhu, PengCheng, 2013. "Does payment method matter in cross-border acquisitions?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 91-107.
    12. Sorin Daniliuc & Chris Bilson & Greg Shailer, 2014. "The Interaction of Post-Acquisition Integration and Acquisition Focus in Relation to Long-Run Performance," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 14(4), pages 587-612, December.
    13. Shantanu Dutta & Vinod Kumar, 2009. "Mergers and Acquisitions (M&AS) by R&D Intensive Firms," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 2(1), pages 1-37, December.
    14. Ervin L. Black & Thomas A. Carnes & Tomas Jandik & B. Charlene Henderson, 2007. "The Relevance of Target Accounting Quality to the Long‐Term Success of Cross‐Border Mergers," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1‐2), pages 139-168, January.
    15. Sean Cleary & Ashrafee Hossain, 2020. "POSTCRISIS M&As AND THE IMPACT OF FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 43(2), pages 407-454, May.
    16. Powell, Ronan G. & Stark, Andrew W., 2005. "Does operating performance increase post-takeover for UK takeovers? A comparison of performance measures and benchmarks," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 11(1-2), pages 293-317, March.
    17. Kanungo, Rama Prasad, 2021. "Uncertainty of M&As under asymmetric estimation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 774-793.
    18. Bouzgarrou, Houssam & Navatte, Patrick, 2013. "Ownership structure and acquirers performance: Family vs. non-family firms," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 123-134.
    19. Ervin L. Black & Thomas A. Carnes & Tomas Jandik & B. Charlene Henderson, 2007. "The Relevance of Target Accounting Quality to the Long‐Term Success of Cross‐Border Mergers," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1‐2), pages 139-168, January.
    20. Martynova, M. & Renneboog, L.D.R., 2006. "The Performance of the European Market for Corporate Control : Evidence from the 5th Takeover Wave," Discussion Paper 2006-118, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.

    More about this item

    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:taf:acctbr:v:46:y:2016:i:5:p:467-499. 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RABR20 .

    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.