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Hedge Fund Intervention and Accounting Conservatism

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  • C.S. Agnes Cheng
  • Henry He Huang
  • Yinghua Li

Abstract

Hedge fund intervention has been associated with many positive corporate changes and is an important vehicle for informed shareholder monitoring. Effective monitoring has also been positively associated with accounting conservatism. Building upon these prior results, we predict an increase in accounting conservatism after hedge fund intervention. We use a large sample of hedge fund activist events and identify control firms with similar likelihoods of being targeted using the propensity score matching method to apply difference†in†difference tests. We find that when hedge fund activists have relatively large ownership and sufficient time to exert their monitoring power, target firms experience significant increases in conditional conservatism. CFO turnovers, upward/lateral auditor switches, and improvements in audit committee independence after intervention are accompanied by greater increases in conditional conservatism. Finally, we find greater increases in conditional conservatism when there is a lack of monitoring by dedicated institutional investors before the intervention. Our study suggests that hedge fund activists improve accounting monitoring tools and thus adds important new evidence on the effectiveness of shareholder monitoring on accounting practices.

Suggested Citation

  • C.S. Agnes Cheng & Henry He Huang & Yinghua Li, 2015. "Hedge Fund Intervention and Accounting Conservatism," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(1), pages 392-421, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:coacre:v:32:y:2015:i:1:p:392-421
    DOI: 10.1111/1911-3846.12076
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    Cited by:

    1. Ha, Joohyung, 2019. "Agency costs of free cash flow and conditional conservatism," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 1-1.
    2. Jonghyuk Bae & Natalya Khimich & Sungsoo Kim & Emanuel Zur, 2023. "Can Green Investments Increase Your Green? Evidence from Social Hedge Fund Activists," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 187(4), pages 781-801, November.
    3. Feng Guo & Chenxi Lin & Adi Masli & Michael S. Wilkins, 2021. "Auditor Responses to Shareholder Activism," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(1), pages 63-95, March.
    4. Lucian A. Bebchuk & Alon Brav & Wei Jiang & Thomas Keusch, 2019. "Dancing With Activists," NBER Working Papers 26171, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Jing Chen & Michael J. Jung, 2016. "Activist hedge funds and firm disclosure," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(1), pages 52-63, April.
    6. Swanson, Edward P. & Young, Glen M. & Yust, Christopher G., 2022. "Are all activists created equal? The effect of interventions by hedge funds and other private activists on long-term shareholder value," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    7. Chen, Huimin (Amy) & Francis, Bill B. & Shen, Yinjie (Victor) & Wu, Qiang, 2024. "The impact of hedge fund activism on audit pricing," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(2).
    8. Keusch, Thomas, 2021. "Shareholder Activists and Frictions in the CEO Labor Market," LawFin Working Paper Series 19, Goethe University, Center for Advanced Studies on the Foundations of Law and Finance (LawFin).
    9. Inder K. Khurana & Yinghua Li & Wei Wang, 2018. "The Effects of Hedge Fund Interventions on Strategic Firm Behavior," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(9), pages 4094-4117, September.
    10. Mohamed Khalil & Aydin Ozkanc & Yilmaz Yildiz, 2020. "Foreign institutional ownership and demand for accounting conservatism: evidence from an emerging market," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 55(1), pages 1-27, July.
    11. Bebchuk, Lucian A. & Brav, Alon & Jiang, Wei & Keusch, Thomas, 2020. "Dancing with activists," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(1), pages 1-41.

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