IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finana/v14y2005i5p493-507.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Security analysis, agency costs, and UK firm characteristics

Author

Listed:
  • Doukas, John A.
  • McKnight, Phillip J.
  • Pantzalis, Christos

Abstract

This paper assesses the monitoring power of security analysts from the manager-shareholder conflict perspective. Using a sample of UK firms tracked by security analysts, our evidence supports the view that security analysis acts as a monitoring mechanism in reducing agency costs. We also find that security analysts are more effective in reducing agency costs for smaller and more focused firms rather than larger and more diversified firms suggesting that for larger and more complex firms security analysis is less effective. The UK findings suggest that the monitoring role of security analysts is not restricted to the U.S. capital market environment.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Doukas, John A. & McKnight, Phillip J. & Pantzalis, Christos, 2005. "Security analysis, agency costs, and UK firm characteristics," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 14(5), pages 493-507.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:finana:v:14:y:2005:i:5:p:493-507
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1057-5219(04)00114-0
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Harrison Hong & Terence Lim & Jeremy C. Stein, 2000. "Bad News Travels Slowly: Size, Analyst Coverage, and the Profitability of Momentum Strategies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 265-295, February.
    2. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W., 1989. "Management entrenchment : The case of manager-specific investments," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 123-139, November.
    3. Womack, Kent L, 1996. "Do Brokerage Analysts' Recommendations Have Investment Value?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(1), pages 137-167, March.
    4. Yakov Amihud & Baruch Lev, 1981. "Risk Reduction as a Managerial Motive for Conglomerate Mergers," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 12(2), pages 605-617, Autumn.
    5. Kenneth Lehn & Annette Poulsen, 1989. "Free Cash Flow and Stockholder Gains in Going Private Transactions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 44(3), pages 771-787, July.
    6. 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.
    7. Lamont, Owen, 1997. "Cash Flow and Investment: Evidence from Internal Capital Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 83-109, March.
    8. Stulz, ReneM., 1990. "Managerial discretion and optimal financing policies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 3-27, July.
    9. Raghuram Rajan & Henri Servaes & Luigi Zingales, 2000. "The Cost of Diversity: The Diversification Discount and Inefficient Investment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 35-80, February.
    10. James S. Ang & Rebel A. Cole & James Wuh Lin, 2000. "Agency Costs and Ownership Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 81-106, February.
    11. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    12. Hyun-Han Shin & René M. Stulz, 1998. "Are Internal capital Markets Efficient?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 113(2), pages 531-552.
    13. 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.
    14. Burton G. Malkiel, 1981. "Risk and Return: A New Look," NBER Working Papers 0700, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Bhushan, Ravi, 1989. "Firm characteristics and analyst following," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(2-3), pages 255-274, July.
    16. Pound, John, 1988. "Proxy contests and the efficiency of shareholder oversight," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1-2), pages 237-265, January.
    17. La Porta, Rafael, 1996. "Expectations and the Cross-Section of Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(5), pages 1715-1742, December.
    18. Jensen, Michael C & Murphy, Kevin J, 1990. "Performance Pay and Top-Management Incentives," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(2), pages 225-264, April.
    19. Lundstrum, Leonard L, 2003. "Firm Value, Information Problems and the Internal Capital Market," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 141-156, September.
    20. Denis, David J & Denis, Diane K & Sarin, Atulya, 1997. "Agency Problems, Equity Ownership, and Corporate Diversification," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 135-160, March.
    21. Edwin J. Elton & Martin J. Gruber & Mustafa Gultekin, 1981. "Expectations and Share Prices," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(9), pages 975-987, September.
    22. Brennan, Michael J & Hughes, Patricia J, 1991. "Stock Prices and the Supply of Information," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(5), pages 1665-1691, December.
    23. Chung, Kee H. & Jo, Hoje, 1996. "The Impact of Security Analysts' Monitoring and Marketing Functions on the Market Value of Firms," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 31(4), pages 493-512, December.
    24. Fama, Eugene F, 1980. "Agency Problems and the Theory of the Firm," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 88(2), pages 288-307, April.
    25. Burton G. Malkiel, 1982. "Risk and Return: A New Look," NBER Chapters, in: The Changing Roles of Debt and Equity in Financing U.S. Capital Formation, pages 27-46, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    26. Lehn, Kenneth & Poulsen, Annette, 1989. " Free Cash Flow and Stockholder Gains in Going Private Transactions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 44(3), pages 771-787, July.
    27. J. G. Cragg & Burton G. Malkiel, 1968. "The Consensus And Accuracy Of Some Predictions Of The Growth Of Corporate Earnings," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 23(1), pages 67-84, March.
    28. Moyer, R. Charles & Chatfield, Robert E. & Sisneros, Phillip M., 1989. "Security Analyst Monitoring Activity: Agency Costs and Information Demands," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 24(4), pages 503-512, December.
    29. Nohel, Tom & Tarhan, Vefa, 1998. "Share repurchases and firm performance:: new evidence on the agency costs of free cash flow," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 187-222, August.
    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. Namazi, Mohammad & Shokrolahi, Ahmad & Sadeghzadeh Maharluie, Mohammad, 2016. "Detecting and ranking cash flow risk factors via artificial neural networks technique," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(5), pages 1801-1806.
    2. Henry, Darren, 2010. "Agency costs, ownership structure and corporate governance compliance: A private contracting perspective," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 24-46, January.
    3. Fu, Yishu, 2019. "The value of corporate governance: Evidence from the Chinese anti-corruption campaign," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 461-476.
    4. Rama Prasad Kanungo, 2004. "Security Analysts and Market Reaction:Caveat for Monitoring," Finance 0411039, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Belghitar, Yacine & Clark, Ephraim, 2015. "Managerial risk incentives and investment related agency costs," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 191-197.
    6. Encarna Guillamón-Saorín & Carlos M. P. Sousa, 2014. "Voluntary Disclosure of Press Releases and the Importance of Timing: A Comparative Study of the UK and Spain," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 71-106, February.
    7. Iatridis, George & Valahi, Styliani, 2010. "Voluntary IAS 1 accounting disclosures prior to official IAS adoption: An empirical investigation of UK firms," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 1-14, January.
    8. Davies, J.R. & Hillier, David & McColgan, Patrick, 2005. "Ownership structure, managerial behavior and corporate value," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 645-660, September.
    9. Chrisostomos Florackis & Aydin Ozkan, 2006. "What Reduces the Impact of Managerial Entrenchment on Agency Costs? Evidence for UK Firms," Discussion Papers 06/03, Department of Economics, University of York.
    10. Hayam Wahba, 2010. "How do institutional shareholders manipulate corporate environmental strategy to protect their equity value? A study of the adoption of ISO 14001 by Egyptian firms," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(8), pages 495-511, December.
    11. Michael Firth & Peter M Y Fung & Oliver M Rui, 2008. "Ownership, governance mechanisms, and agency costs in China’s listed firms," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(2), pages 90-101, July.
    12. Chrisostomos Florackis & Aydin Ozkan, 2009. "The Impact of Managerial Entrenchment on Agency Costs: An Empirical Investigation Using UK Panel Data," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 15(3), pages 497-528, June.
    13. Iatridis, George & Kadorinis, George, 2009. "Earnings management and firm financial motives: A financial investigation of UK listed firms," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 164-173, September.
    14. Pieter de Jong & Lakshmi Goel, 2016. "The influence of security analysts on CEO pay cuts," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 13(1), pages 26-52, February.
    15. Rossi, Fabrizio & Barth, James R. & Cebula, Richard J., 2018. "Do shareholder coalitions affect agency costs? Evidence from Italian-listed companies," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 181-200.
    16. Anh Huu Nguyen & Duong Thuy Doan & Linh Ha Nguyen, 2020. "Corporate Governance and Agency Cost: Empirical Evidence from Vietnam," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-15, May.
    17. Xu Cheng & Dongmin Kong & Xinwei Zheng & Qi Tang, 2022. "Do foreign investors crowd out sell‐side analysts? Evidence from China," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 57(4), pages 815-834, November.
    18. Iatridis, George, 2010. "International Financial Reporting Standards and the quality of financial statement information," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 193-204, June.
    19. Omar Al Farooque, 2021. "Agency-Linked Risk Management with Ownership and Board Sub-Committee Governance: Evidence from an OECD Economy," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-16, October.
    20. Pavlopoulos, Athanasios & Magnis, Chris & Iatridis, George Emmanuel, 2017. "Integrated reporting: Is it the last piece of the accounting disclosure puzzle?," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 23-46.
    21. Hassan, Omaima A.G. & Skinner, Frank S., 2016. "Analyst coverage: Does the listing location really matter?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 227-236.

    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. Doukas, John A. & Pantzalis, Christos, 2003. "Geographic diversification and agency costs of debt of multinational firms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 59-92, January.
    2. Chen, Chiung-Jung & Yu, Chwo-Ming Joseph, 2012. "Managerial ownership, diversification, and firm performance: Evidence from an emerging market," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 518-534.
    3. Jandik, Tomas & Makjija, Anil K., 2004. "Can Diversification Create Value? Evidence from the Electric Utility Industry," Working Paper Series 2005-7, Ohio State University, Charles A. Dice Center for Research in Financial Economics.
    4. Stein, Jeremy C., 2003. "Agency, information and corporate investment," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 2, pages 111-165, Elsevier.
    5. Ferris, Stephen P. & Sen, Nilanjan & Lim, Chee Yeow & Yeo, Gillian H. H., 2002. "Corporate focus versus diversification: the role of growth opportunities and cashflow," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 231-252, July.
    6. Stefan Erdorf & Thomas Hartmann-Wendels & Nicolas Heinrichs & Michael Matz, 2013. "Corporate diversification and firm value: a survey of recent literature," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 27(2), pages 187-215, June.
    7. McKnight, Phillip J. & Weir, Charlie, 2009. "Agency costs, corporate governance mechanisms and ownership structure in large UK publicly quoted companies: A panel data analysis," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 139-158, May.
    8. Iatridis, George, 2010. "International Financial Reporting Standards and the quality of financial statement information," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 193-204, June.
    9. Erik Devos & Seow Ong & Andrew Spieler, 2007. "Analyst Activity and Firm Value: Evidence from the REIT Sector," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 35(3), pages 333-356, October.
    10. Martin, John D. & Sayrak, Akin, 2003. "Corporate diversification and shareholder value: a survey of recent literature," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 37-57, January.
    11. Chou, Shu-Ching & Shih, Chia-Jung, 2020. "Like father, like son? Diversification decision and related performance of family firm successors – Evidence from Taiwan," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 209-220.
    12. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1997. "A Survey of Corporate Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 737-783, June.
    13. Canarella, Giorgio & Miller, Stephen M., 2022. "Firm size, corporate debt, R&D activity, and agency costs: Exploring dynamic and non-linear effects," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 25(C).
    14. Nilakshi Borah & Liu Pan & Jung Chul Park & Nan Shao, 2018. "Does corporate diversification reduce value in high technology firms?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 683-718, October.
    15. Zinnia Mitra Bose & Indrani Chakraborty, 2022. "Effects of diversification on firm performance: an analysis of Indian firms," Indian Economic Review, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 469-511, December.
    16. Wang, Yolanda Yulong, 2023. "Corporate diversification, investment efficiency and the business cycle11This work is supported by Shenzhen Humanities & Social Sciences Key Research Bases," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    17. Richard Borghesi & Joel Houston & Andy Naranjo, 2007. "Value, Survival, and the Evolution of Firm Organizational Structure," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 36(3), pages 5-31, September.
    18. Villalonga, Belen, 2000. "Does Diversification Cause the “Diversification Discount”?," University of California at Los Angeles, Anderson Graduate School of Management qt40v212gm, Anderson Graduate School of Management, UCLA.
    19. Mary J. Benner & Todd Zenger, 2016. "The Lemons Problem in Markets for Strategy," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 1(2), pages 71-89, June.
    20. Kim, Byungmo & Lee, Inmoo, 2003. "Agency problems and performance of Korean companies during the Asian financial crisis: Chaebol vs. non-chaebol firms," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 327-348, July.

    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:eee:finana:v:14:y:2005:i:5:p:493-507. 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/inca/620166 .

    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.