IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/corfin/v72y2022ics0929119921002479.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can a not-for-profit minority institutional shareholder make a big difference in corporate governance? A quasi-natural experiment

Author

Listed:
  • Ge, Wenxia
  • Ouyang, Caiyue
  • Shi, Zhenyang
  • Chen, Zhanliao

Abstract

In this study, we examine the effectiveness of the China Securities Investor Services Center (CSISC), a new minority shareholder protection mechanism promoted by the China Securities Regulatory Commission, in constraining earnings management. Employing a difference-in-differences analysis for a sample of Chinese listed companies during 2015–2017, we find that CSISC shareholding reduces earnings management. We also find that this effect exists in firms with weaker internal or external corporate governance mechanisms and in firms without political connections. The additional analyses show that the difference in earnings management between the treatment firms (i.e., CSISC-holding firms) and control firms is diminishing after the CSISC shareholding pilot program was promoted nationwide, and that CSISC shareholding also constrains controlling shareholders' tunneling. Our findings have important policy implications for emerging markets that attempt to improve minority shareholder protection.

Suggested Citation

  • Ge, Wenxia & Ouyang, Caiyue & Shi, Zhenyang & Chen, Zhanliao, 2022. "Can a not-for-profit minority institutional shareholder make a big difference in corporate governance? A quasi-natural experiment," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:72:y:2022:i:c:s0929119921002479
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2021.102125
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0929119921002479
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2021.102125?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. Zhiyuan Liao & Weijian Zhang & Xiaohui Tao, 2020. "The Impact of Political Connection on Earnings Management in China’s Private Enterprises," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 13(6), pages 128-128, June.
    2. Fan, Joseph P.H. & Wong, T.J. & Zhang, Tianyu, 2007. "Politically connected CEOs, corporate governance, and Post-IPO performance of China's newly partially privatized firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 330-357, May.
    3. Allen, Franklin & Qian, Jun & Qian, Meijun, 2005. "Law, finance, and economic growth in China," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 57-116, July.
    4. Koh, Ping-Sheng, 2007. "Institutional investor type, earnings management and benchmark beaters," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 267-299.
    5. Radhakrishnan Gopalan & Sudarshan Jayaraman, 2012. "Private Control Benefits and Earnings Management: Evidence from Insider Controlled Firms," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 117-157, March.
    6. Wang, Lihong, 2015. "Protection or expropriation: Politically connected independent directors in China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 92-106.
    7. Kenny Z. Lin & Lillian F. Mills & Fang Zhang & Yongbo Li, 2018. "Do Political Connections Weaken Tax Enforcement Effectiveness?," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 35(4), pages 1941-1972, December.
    8. Berkman, Henk & Cole, Rebel A. & Fu, Lawrence J., 2010. "Political Connections and Minority-Shareholder Protection: Evidence from Securities-Market Regulation in China," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 45(6), pages 1391-1417, December.
    9. repec:cup:jfinqa:v:46:y:2011:i:06:p:1865-1891_00 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Qingchuan Hou & Qinglu Jin & Rong Yang & Hongqi Yuan & Guochang Zhang, 2015. "Performance Commitments of Controlling Shareholders and Earnings Management," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(3), pages 1099-1127, September.
    11. Haidar, Jamal Ibrahim, 2009. "Investor protections and economic growth," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 103(1), pages 1-4, April.
    12. McConnell, John J. & Servaes, Henri, 1990. "Additional evidence on equity ownership and corporate value," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 595-612, October.
    13. Alexander Dyck & Adair Morse & Luigi Zingales, 2010. "Who Blows the Whistle on Corporate Fraud?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(6), pages 2213-2253, December.
    14. Li, Hongbin & Zhou, Li-An, 2005. "Political turnover and economic performance: the incentive role of personnel control in China," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(9-10), pages 1743-1762, September.
    15. Jiang, Guohua & Rao, Pingui & Yue, Heng, 2015. "Tunneling through Non-Operational Fund Occupancy: An investigation based on officially identified activities," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 295-311.
    16. Hanwen Chen & Jeff Zeyun Chen & Gerald J. Lobo & Yanyan Wang, 2011. "Effects of Audit Quality on Earnings Management and Cost of Equity Capital: Evidence from China," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(3), pages 892-925, September.
    17. Miguel Duro & Jonas Heese & Gaizka Ormazabal, 2019. "The effect of enforcement transparency: Evidence from SEC comment-letter reviews," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 780-823, September.
    18. Joseph D. Piotroski & T.J. Wong, 2012. "Institutions and Information Environment of Chinese Listed Firms," NBER Chapters, in: Capitalizing China, pages 201-242, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Liu, Qiao & Lu, Zhou (Joe), 2007. "Corporate governance and earnings management in the Chinese listed companies: A tunneling perspective," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 13(5), pages 881-906, December.
    20. Rashid Ameer & Rashidah Abdul Rahman, 2009. "The Impact of Minority Shareholder Watchdog Group Activism on the Targeted Firms' Performance in Malaysia," Asian Academy of Management Journal of Accounting and Finance (AAMJAF), Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia, vol. 5(1), pages 67-92.
    21. Elizabeth Blankespoor & Ed Dehaan & John Wertz & Christina Zhu, 2019. "Why Do Individual Investors Disregard Accounting Information? The Roles of Information Awareness and Acquisition Costs," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(1), pages 53-84, March.
    22. Yu, Frank & Yu, Xiaoyun, 2011. "Corporate Lobbying and Fraud Detection," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(6), pages 1865-1891, December.
    23. Jiang, Guohua & Lee, Charles M.C. & Yue, Heng, 2010. "Tunneling through intercorporate loans: The China experience," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 1-20, October.
    24. Jeong†Bon Kim & Cheong H. Yi, 2006. "Ownership Structure, Business Group Affiliation, Listing Status, and Earnings Management: Evidence from Korea," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(2), pages 427-464, June.
    25. Manry, David & Stangeland, David, 2003. "The United Shareholders Association Shareholder 1000 and firm performance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 353-375, June.
    26. Nan Jia & Jing Shi & Yongxiang Wang, 2013. "Coinsurance Within Business Groups: Evidence from Related Party Transactions in an Emerging Market," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(10), pages 2295-2313, October.
    27. Wei Xiong & Jialin Yu, 2011. "The Chinese Warrants Bubble," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(6), pages 2723-2753, October.
    28. Healy, Paul M. & Palepu, Krishna G., 2001. "Information asymmetry, corporate disclosure, and the capital markets: A review of the empirical disclosure literature," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 405-440, September.
    29. DeFond, Mark & Hung, Mingyi & Trezevant, Robert, 2007. "Investor protection and the information content of annual earnings announcements: International evidence," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 37-67, March.
    30. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1986. "Large Shareholders and Corporate Control," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(3), pages 461-488, June.
    31. Cornaggia, Jess & Mao, Yifei & Tian, Xuan & Wolfe, Brian, 2015. "Does banking competition affect innovation?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 189-209.
    32. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    33. Hasung Jang & Joongi Kim, 2002. "Nascent Stages of Corporate Governance in an Emerging Market: regulatory change, shareholder activism and Samsung Electronics," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(2), pages 94-105, April.
    34. Leuz, Christian & Nanda, Dhananjay & Wysocki, Peter D., 2003. "Earnings management and investor protection: an international comparison," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 505-527, September.
    35. Chen, Xiao & Lee, Chi-Wen Jevons & Li, Jing, 2008. "Government assisted earnings management in China," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 262-274.
    36. Cheng, Shijun, 2008. "Board size and the variability of corporate performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 157-176, January.
    37. Kothari, S.P. & Leone, Andrew J. & Wasley, Charles E., 2005. "Performance matched discretionary accrual measures," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 163-197, February.
    38. Ayers, Benjamin C. & Ramalingegowda, Santhosh & Eric Yeung, P., 2011. "Hometown advantage: The effects of monitoring institution location on financial reporting discretion," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 41-61, June.
    39. Jennifer Francis & Allen H. Huang & Shivaram Rajgopal & Amy Y. Zang, 2008. "CEO Reputation and Earnings Quality," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(1), pages 109-147, March.
    40. Wei Xiong & Jialin Yu, 2011. "The Chinese Warrants Bubble," Working Papers 1398, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Econometric Research Program..
    41. Xie, Biao & Davidson, Wallace III & DaDalt, Peter J., 2003. "Earnings management and corporate governance: the role of the board and the audit committee," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 295-316, June.
    42. Chung, Richard & Firth, Michael & Kim, Jeong-Bon, 2002. "Institutional monitoring and opportunistic earnings management," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 29-48, January.
    43. Barber, Brad M. & Odean, Terrance, 2013. "The Behavior of Individual Investors," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1533-1570, Elsevier.
    44. Yair Listokin, 2010. "If you Give Shareholders Power, do they Use it? An Empirical Analysis," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 166(1), pages 38-53, March.
    45. Joseph P. H. Fan & T. J. Wong, 2005. "Do External Auditors Perform a Corporate Governance Role in Emerging Markets? Evidence from East Asia," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(1), pages 35-72, March.
    46. Matthew Gentzkow, 2006. "Television and Voter Turnout," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 121(3), pages 931-972.
    47. Li, Pei & Lu, Yi & Wang, Jin, 2016. "Does flattening government improve economic performance? Evidence from China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 18-37.
    48. Yu, Fang (Frank), 2008. "Analyst coverage and earnings management," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 245-271, May.
    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. Hu, Yi & Jin, Shuchang & Gu, Qiankun & Tang, Ziling, 2022. "Can a not-for-profit minority institutional shareholder impede stock price crash risk: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PA).
    2. Chen, Shen & Chen, Yuran & Zhang, Di & Wang, Jinmei, 2023. "Can minority investor activism promote corporate risk-taking? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    3. Lu, Qiaoshan & Xiang, Cheng & Li, Bingxiang & Feng, Lixuan, 2023. "Non-controlling shareholders' governance participation and corporate misconduct: Evidence from voting in general meetings," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).

    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. Jiang, Fuxiu & Ma, Yunbiao & Wang, Xue, 2020. "Multiple blockholders and earnings management," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    2. Trinh, Quoc Dat & Haddad, Christian & Salameh, Elie, 2023. "Financial institutional blockholders and earnings quality: Do blockholders contestability and countries' institutions matter?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    3. Amon Chizema & Wei Jiang & Jing-Ming Kuo & Xiaoqi Song, 2020. "Mutual funds, tunneling and firm performance: evidence from China," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 55(1), pages 355-387, July.
    4. Fuxiu Jiang & Kenneth A Kim, 2020. "Corporate Governance in China: A Survey [The role of boards of directors in corporate governance: a conceptual framework and survey]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 24(4), pages 733-772.
    5. Michael Firth & Chen Lin & Sonia Man-lai Wong & Xiaofeng Zhao, 2019. "Hello, is anybody there? Corporate accessibility for outside shareholders as a signal of agency problems," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 1317-1358, December.
    6. Daeheon Choi & Chune Young Chung & Young-Eun Kim & Ye Jun Kim & Paul Moon Sub Choi, 2020. "Sustainable Corporate Ownership Structures and Earnings Management in the Vietnamese Stock Market," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-32, July.
    7. Attig, Najah & Chen, Ruiyuan & El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane & Kwok, Chuck & Pittman, Jeffrey, 2020. "Are insiders equal? Evidence from earnings management in closely held East Asian firms," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    8. Xingqiang Du & Wei Jian & Shaojuan Lai & Yingjie Du & Hongmei Pei, 2015. "Does Religion Mitigate Earnings Management? Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 131(3), pages 699-749, October.
    9. Ole‐Kristian Hope & Heng Yue & Qinlin Zhong, 2020. "China's Anti‐Corruption Campaign and Financial Reporting Quality†," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(2), pages 1015-1043, June.
    10. Jiandong Chen & Douglas Cumming & Wenxuan Hou & Edward Lee, 2016. "Does the External Monitoring Effect of Financial Analysts Deter Corporate Fraud in China?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 134(4), pages 727-742, April.
    11. Huang, Haijie & Lee, Edward & Lyu, Changjiang & Zhao, Yiyi, 2020. "Bequest motive, information transparency, and family firm value: A natural experiment," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    12. Allen, Franklin & Qian, Jun & Qian, Meijun, 2018. "A Review of China’s Institutions," CEPR Discussion Papers 13269, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Jiang, Fuxiu & Ma, Yunbiao & Shi, Beibei, 2017. "Stock liquidity and dividend payouts," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 295-314.
    14. Zhang, Yuyang & Uchida, Konari & Bu, Hua, 2013. "How do accounting standards and insiders' incentives affect earnings management? Evidence from China," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 16(C), pages 78-99.
    15. Emmanuel Iatridis, George, 2018. "Accounting discretion and executive cash compensation: An empirical investigation of corporate governance, credit ratings and firm value," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 29-49.
    16. Wilson, Mark & Wang, Kun Tracy & Wu, Yue & Lau, Archie, 2022. "Institutional investors and earnings management associated with controlling shareholders' promises: Evidence from the split share structure reform in China," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(3).
    17. Sun, Kunpeng & Wang, Dan & Xiao, Xing, 2022. "Another victory of retail investors: Social media's monitoring role on firms' earnings management," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    18. Lin, Yongjia Rebecca & Fu, Xiaoqing Maggie, 2017. "Does institutional ownership influence firm performance? Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 17-57.
    19. Yves Mard & Sylvain Marsat, 2011. "Gestion des résultats comptables et structure de l'actionnariat : le cas français," Post-Print hal-00650550, HAL.
    20. Andrew M. Bauer & Junxiong Fang & Jeffrey Pittman & Yinqi Zhang & Yuping Zhao, 2020. "How Aggressive Tax Planning Facilitates the Diversion of Corporate Resources: Evidence from Path Analysis†," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(3), pages 1882-1913, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    China Securities Investor Services Center; Corporate governance; Earnings management; Minority shareholder protection; Public enforcement;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G38 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting

    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:eee:corfin:v:72:y:2022:i:c:s0929119921002479. 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: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jcorpfin .

    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.