IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/beexfi/v29y2021ics2214635021000034.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Goodwill impairment and CEO overconfidence

Author

Listed:
  • Killins, Robert
  • Ngo, Thanh
  • Wang, Hongxia

Abstract

We examine how CEO overconfidence affects goodwill impairments after the adoption of SFAS 142 in US firms. Consistent with the nature of the cognitive position of overconfident CEOs, we find that both the likelihood and the magnitude of goodwill impairment recognition decrease when CEO overconfidence is elevated, providing evidence that SFAS142 is not applied consistently across firms. Overconfident CEOs are reluctant to book goodwill impairment losses. The results are robust with various model specifications, proxies for CEO overconfidence, and subsamples, suggesting that biased and less transparent financial reporting on goodwill impairment in firms with overconfident CEOs is an unintended consequence of SFAS142.

Suggested Citation

  • Killins, Robert & Ngo, Thanh & Wang, Hongxia, 2021. "Goodwill impairment and CEO overconfidence," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:beexfi:v:29:y:2021:i:c:s2214635021000034
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbef.2021.100459
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214635021000034
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbef.2021.100459?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anwer S. Ahmed & Scott Duellman, 2013. "Managerial Overconfidence and Accounting Conservatism," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(1), pages 1-30, March.
    2. Christian Schumacher & Steffen Keck & Wenjie Tang, 2020. "Biased interpretation of performance feedback: The role of CEO overconfidence," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(6), pages 1139-1165, June.
    3. Malmendier, Ulrike & Tate, Geoffrey, 2008. "Who makes acquisitions? CEO overconfidence and the market's reaction," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 20-43, July.
    4. Ulrike Malmendier & Geoffrey Tate, 2005. "CEO Overconfidence and Corporate Investment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(6), pages 2661-2700, December.
    5. Deshmukh, Sanjay & Goel, Anand M. & Howe, Keith M., 2013. "CEO overconfidence and dividend policy," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 440-463.
    6. Ferris, Stephen P. & Jayaraman, Narayanan & Sabherwal, Sanjiv, 2013. "CEO Overconfidence and International Merger and Acquisition Activity," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 48(1), pages 137-164, February.
    7. Chen, Anlin & Lu, Cheng-Shou, 2015. "The effect of managerial overconfidence on the market timing ability and post-buyback performance of open market repurchases," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 234-251.
    8. Pei-Gi Shu & Yin-Hua Yeh & Tsui-Lin Chiang & Jui-Yi Hung, 2013. "Managerial Overconfidence and Share Repurchases," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 13(1), pages 39-65, March.
    9. Ionela Andreicovici & Anne Jeny & Daphne Lui, 2020. "Disclosure Transparency and Disagreement Among Economic Agents: The Case of Goodwill Impairment," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(1), pages 1-26, January.
    10. Keryn G. Chalmers & Jayne M. Godfrey & John C. Webster, 2011. "Does a goodwill impairment regime better reflect the underlying economic attributes of goodwill?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 51(3), pages 634-660, September.
    11. David Hirshleifer & Angie Low & Siew Hong Teoh, 2012. "Are Overconfident CEOs Better Innovators?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(4), pages 1457-1498, August.
    12. Sun, Li, 2016. "Managerial ability and goodwill impairment," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 42-51.
    13. Ping-Sheng Koh & David M. Reeb & Wanli Zhao, 2018. "CEO Confidence and Unreported R&D," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(12), pages 5725-5747, December.
    14. Begoña Giner & Francisca Pardo, 2015. "How Ethical are Managers’ Goodwill Impairment Decisions in Spanish-Listed Firms?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(1), pages 21-40, November.
    15. Guoli Chen & Craig Crossland & Shuqing Luo, 2015. "Making the same mistake all over again: CEO overconfidence and corporate resistance to corrective feedback," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(10), pages 1513-1535, October.
    16. Tien-Shih Hsieh & Jean C. Bedard & Karla M. Johnstone, 2014. "CEO Overconfidence and Earnings Management During Shifting Regulatory Regimes," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(9-10), pages 1243-1268, November.
    17. Sheng-Syan Chen & Keng-Yu Ho & Po-Hsin Ho, 2014. "CEO Overconfidence and Long-Term Performance Following R&D Increases," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 43(2), pages 245-269, June.
    18. James A. Chyz & Fabio B. Gaertner & Asad Kausar & Luke Watson, 2019. "Overconfidence and Corporate Tax Policy," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 1114-1145, September.
    19. Masters-Stout, Brenda & Costigan, Michael L. & Lovata, Linda M., 2008. "Goodwill impairments and chief executive officer tenure," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 19(8), pages 1370-1383.
    20. Phua, Kenny & Tham, T. Mandy & Wei, Chishen, 2018. "Are overconfident CEOs better leaders? Evidence from stakeholder commitments," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(3), pages 519-545.
    21. Douglas R. Ayres & Terry L. Neal & Lauren C. Reid & Jonathan E. Shipman, 2019. "Auditing Goodwill in the Post‐Amortization Era: Challenges for Auditors," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 36(1), pages 82-107, March.
    22. Paul Hribar & Holly Yang, 2016. "CEO Overconfidence and Management Forecasting," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33(1), pages 204-227, March.
    23. Pornsit Jiraporn & Napatsorn Jiraporn & Adisak Boeprasert & Kiyoung Chang, 2014. "Does Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Improve Credit Ratings? Evidence from Geographic Identification," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 43(3), pages 505-531, September.
    24. Ho, Po-Hsin & Huang, Chia-Wei & Lin, Chih-Yung & Yen, Ju-Fang, 2016. "CEO overconfidence and financial crisis: Evidence from bank lending and leverage," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(1), pages 194-209.
    25. Humphery-Jenner, Mark & Lisic, Ling Lei & Nanda, Vikram & Silveri, Sabatino Dino, 2016. "Executive overconfidence and compensation structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(3), pages 533-558.
    26. Jijun Niu, 2010. "The Effect of Overconfidence on the Sensitivity of CEO Wealth to Equity Risk," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 38(1), pages 23-39, August.
    27. Anne Beatty & Joseph Weber, 2006. "Accounting Discretion in Fair Value Estimates: An Examination of SFAS 142 Goodwill Impairments," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(2), pages 257-288, May.
    28. Mei-Chen Lin & Po-Hsin Ho & Hsiang-Lin Chih, 2019. "Effects of managerial overconfidence on analyst recommendations," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 53(1), pages 73-99, July.
    29. Hilary, Gilles & Hsu, Charles, 2011. "Endogenous overconfidence in managerial forecasts," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 300-313, April.
    30. Ulrike Malmendier & Geoffrey Tate, 2015. "Behavioral CEOs: The Role of Managerial Overconfidence," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 29(4), pages 37-60, Fall.
    31. Suman Banerjee & Mark Humphery-Jenner & Vikram Nanda, 2015. "Restraining Overconfident CEOs through Improved Governance: Evidence from the Sarbanes-Oxley Act," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(10), pages 2812-2858.
    32. Kevin K. Li & Richard G. Sloan, 2017. "Has goodwill accounting gone bad?," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 964-1003, June.
    33. Schrand, Catherine M. & Zechman, Sarah L.C., 2012. "Executive overconfidence and the slippery slope to financial misreporting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 311-329.
    34. Andreou, Panayiotis C. & Doukas, John A. & Koursaros, Demetris & Louca, Christodoulos, 2019. "Valuation effects of overconfident CEOs on corporate diversification and refocusing decisions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 182-204.
    35. McCarthy, Scott & Oliver, Barry & Song, Sizhe, 2017. "Corporate social responsibility and CEO confidence," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 280-291.
    36. Alberto Galasso & Timothy S. Simcoe, 2011. "CEO Overconfidence and Innovation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(8), pages 1469-1484, August.
    37. Sanaz Aghazadeh & Lili Sun & Qian Wang & Rong Yang, 2018. "Investors’ perception of CEO overconfidence: evidence from the cost of equity capital," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 1129-1150, November.
    38. Chia-Hsien Tang & Yen-Hsien Lee & Ming-Chih Lee & Ya-Ling Huang, 2020. "CEO Characteristics Enhancing the Impact of CEO Overconfidence on Firm Value After Mergers and Acquisitions — A Case Study in China," Review of Pacific Basin Financial Markets and Policies (RPBFMP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(01), pages 1-19, March.
    39. Andreou, Panayiotis C. & Cooper, Ilan & de Olalla Lopez, Ignacio Garcia & Louca, Christodoulos, 2018. "Managerial overconfidence and the buyback anomaly," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 142-156.
    40. Lai, Yi-Hsun & Tai, Vivian W., 2019. "Managerial overconfidence and directors' and officers' liability insurance," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    41. Yingmei Cheng & David Peterson & Karen Sherrill, 2017. "Admitting mistakes pays: the long term impact of goodwill impairment write-offs on stock prices," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 41(2), pages 311-329, April.
    42. Andrei Filip & Thomas Jeanjean & Luc Paugam, 2015. "Using Real Activities to Avoid Goodwill Impairment Losses: Evidence and Effect on Future Performance," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(3-4), pages 515-554, April.
    43. Douglas R. Ayres & John L. Campbell & James A. Chyz & Jonathan E. Shipman, 2019. "Do financial analysts compel firms to make accounting decisions? Evidence from goodwill impairments," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 1214-1251, December.
    44. Campbell, T. Colin & Gallmeyer, Michael & Johnson, Shane A. & Rutherford, Jessica & Stanley, Brooke W., 2011. "CEO optimism and forced turnover," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(3), pages 695-712, September.
    45. Kati Pajunen & Jani Saastamoinen, 2013. "Do auditors perceive that there exists earnings management in goodwill accounting under IFRS?: Finnish evidence," Managerial Auditing Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 28(3), pages 245-260, March.
    46. Chen, Yenn-Ru & Ho, Keng-Yu & Yeh, Chia-Wei, 2020. "CEO overconfidence and corporate cash holdings," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    47. Jeong†Bon Kim & Zheng Wang & Liandong Zhang, 2016. "CEO Overconfidence and Stock Price Crash Risk," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33(4), pages 1720-1749, December.
    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. Wunhong Su & Chunlin Wang & Zhong‐qin Su, 2024. "Association between foreign background of executives and firm goodwill impairment risk," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 76(1), pages 223-250, January.
    2. Gurdgiev, Constantin & Ni, Qiuxin, 2023. "Board diversity: Moderating effects of CEO overconfidence on firm financing decisions," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    3. Lai, Shaojie & Liu, Shiang & Wang, Qing Sophie, 2023. "Déjà Vu: CEO overconfidence and bank mortgage lending in the post-financial crisis period," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    4. Sumiyana Sumiyana & Ainun Na’im & Albertus H. L. Nugroho & Firdaus Kurniawan, 2023. "Multiple measurements of CEOs’ overconfidence and future earnings management: evidence from Asia-Pacific developing countries," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.

    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. Jennifer Kunz & Lara Sonnenholzner, 2023. "Managerial overconfidence: promoter of or obstacle to organizational resilience?," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 67-128, January.
    2. Johannes Brunzel, 2021. "Overconfidence and narcissism among the upper echelons: a systematic literature review," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 71(3), pages 585-623, July.
    3. Lu, Jing & Ho, Keng-Yu & Ho, Po-Hsin & Ko, Kuan-Cheng, 2023. "CEO overconfidence, lottery preference and the cross-section of stock returns," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    4. Tuck Siong Chung & Angie Low & Roland T. Rust, 2023. "Executive confidence and myopic marketing management," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(5), pages 1118-1142, September.
    5. Jieqi Guan & Brian M. Lam & Ching Chi Lam & Ming Liu, 2022. "CEO overconfidence and the level of short-selling activity," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 685-708, February.
    6. Theophilus Lartey & Albert Danso, 2022. "CEO overconfidence and debt covenant violations," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 45(1), pages 162-199, March.
    7. Lai, Shaojie & Li, Xiaorong & Chan, Kam C., 2021. "CEO overconfidence and labor investment efficiency," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    8. Caleb Rawson, 2022. "Manager perception and proprietary investment disclosure," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 27(4), pages 1493-1525, December.
    9. Bai, Min & Li, Shihe & Xu, Limin & Yu, Chia-Feng (Jeffrey), 2022. "How do overconfident CEOs respond to regulation fair disclosure? Evidence from financial report readability," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    10. Lin, Chih-Yung & Chen, Yehning & Ho, Po-Hsin & Yen, Ju-Fang, 2020. "CEO overconfidence and bank loan contracting," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    11. Fang, Yiwei & Hasan, Iftekhar & Lin, Chih-Yung & Sun, Jiong, 2022. "The impact of overconfident customers on supplier firm risks," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 115-133.
    12. Helen X. H. Bao & Steven Haotong Li, 2016. "Overconfidence And Real Estate Research: A Survey Of The Literature," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 61(04), pages 1-24, September.
    13. Chen, Sheng-Syan & Lin, Chih-Yen & Tsai, Yun-Ching, 2018. "New product strategies and firm performance: CEO optimism," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 37-53.
    14. Lu Qiao & Emmanuel Adegbite & Tam Huy Nguyen, 2024. "CFO overconfidence and conditional accounting conservatism," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 62(1), pages 1-37, January.
    15. Chen, Sheng-Syan & Peng, Shu-Cing & Yeh, Chia-Wei, 2023. "Does import competition from China discipline overconfident CEOs in U.S. firms?," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 277-297.
    16. Jean‐Baptiste Tondji, 2022. "Overconfidence and welfare in a differentiated duopoly," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(3), pages 751-767, April.
    17. Kaplan, Steven N. & Sørensen, Morten & Zakolyukina, Anastasia A., 2022. "What is CEO overconfidence? Evidence from executive assessments," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(2), pages 409-425.
    18. Tseng, Chih-Yang & Demirkan, Sebahattin, 2021. "Joint effect of CEO overconfidence and corporate social responsibility discretion on cost of equity capital," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1).
    19. Sanaz Aghazadeh & Lili Sun & Qian Wang & Rong Yang, 2018. "Investors’ perception of CEO overconfidence: evidence from the cost of equity capital," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 1129-1150, November.
    20. Lin Li & Wilson H. S. Tong, 2022. "Who shall succeed? An examination of manager overconfidence and CEO selection," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(9-10), pages 1736-1783, October.

    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:eee:beexfi:v:29:y:2021:i:c:s2214635021000034. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-behavioral-and-experimental-finance .

    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.