IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/intfin/v75y2021ics1042443121001475.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Blockholders and real earnings management-the emerging markets context

Author

Listed:
  • Amin, Qazi Awais
  • Cumming, Douglas

Abstract

We investigate the unexplored role of large controlling shareholders (blockholders) in constraining real earnings management (REM). We examine the mechanisms through which blockholders engage with the managers to manipulate corporate earnings. We also investigate the extent to which country-level institutional and regulatory arrangements influence the blockholders ability to mitigate REM. We show that powerful family blockholders develop a coalition to manipulate the board strategic decision making in their favour which leads to a higher level of REM. Our evidence shows that the higher quality institutional and regulatory arrangements endogenously determine the better corporate financial reporting which effectively mitigates the REM.

Suggested Citation

  • Amin, Qazi Awais & Cumming, Douglas, 2021. "Blockholders and real earnings management-the emerging markets context," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:intfin:v:75:y:2021:i:c:s1042443121001475
    DOI: 10.1016/j.intfin.2021.101434
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1042443121001475
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.intfin.2021.101434?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. Amrita Dhillon & Silvia Rossetto, 2015. "Ownership Structure, Voting, and Risk," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(2), pages 521-560.
    2. Cronqvist, Henrik & Nilsson, Mattias, 2003. "Agency Costs of Controlling Minority Shareholders," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(4), pages 695-719, December.
    3. Najah Attig & Sadok El Ghoul & Omrane Guedhami, 2009. "Do Multiple Large Shareholders Play A Corporate Governance Role? Evidence From East Asia," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 32(4), pages 395-422, December.
    4. Volpin, Paolo F., 2002. "Governance with poor investor protection: evidence from top executive turnover in Italy," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 61-90, April.
    5. Ngobo, Paul Valentin & Fouda, Maurice, 2012. "Is ‘Good’ governance good for business? A cross-national analysis of firms in African countries," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 435-449.
    6. Amin, Qazi Awais & Liu, Jia, 2020. "Shareholders' control rights, family ownership and the firm's leverage decisions," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    7. Song, Kyojik (Roy) & Lee, Youngjoo, 2012. "Long-Term Effects of a Financial Crisis: Evidence from Cash Holdings of East Asian Firms," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 47(3), pages 617-641, June.
    8. Yuan Ding & Hua Zhang & Junxi Zhang, 2007. "Private vs State Ownership and Earnings Management: evidence from Chinese listed companies," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(2), pages 223-238, March.
    9. Pappas, Kostas & Walsh, Eamonn & Xu, Alice Liang, 2019. "Real earnings management and loan contract terms," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(4), pages 373-401.
    10. Douglas Cumming & Igor Filatotchev & April Knill & David Mitchell Reeb & Lemma Senbet, 2017. "Law, finance, and the international mobility of corporate governance," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 48(2), pages 123-147, February.
    11. Garel, Alexandre & Martin-Flores, Jose M. & Petit-Romec, Arthur & Scott, Ayesha, 2021. "Institutional investor distraction and earnings management," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    12. Steven Balsam & Eli Bartov & Carol Marquardt, 2002. "Accruals Management, Investor Sophistication, and Equity Valuation: Evidence from 10–Q Filings," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(4), pages 987-1012, September.
    13. Chi, Ching Wen & Hung, Ken & Cheng, Hui Wen & Tien Lieu, Pang, 2015. "Family firms and earnings management in Taiwan: Influence of corporate governance," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 88-98.
    14. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez‐De‐Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2006. "What Works in Securities Laws?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(1), pages 1-32, February.
    15. Jacoby, Gady & Liu, Mingzhi & Wang, Yefeng & Wu, Zhenyu & Zhang, Ying, 2019. "Corporate governance, external control, and environmental information transparency: Evidence from emerging markets," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 269-283.
    16. Adeeb Abdulwahab Alhebri & Shaker Dahan Al-Duais, 2020. "Family businesses restrict accrual and real earnings management: Case study in Saudi Arabia," Cogent Business & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(1), pages 1806669-180, January.
    17. Maury, Benjamin & Pajuste, Anete, 2005. "Multiple large shareholders and firm value," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(7), pages 1813-1834, July.
    18. Gutiérrez, Luis H. & Pombo, Carlos, 2009. "Corporate ownership and control contestability in emerging markets: The case of Colombia," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 112-139.
    19. Alexandre Garel & Jose Martin-Flores & Arthur Petit-Romec & Ayesha Scott, 2021. "Institutional investor distraction and earnings management," Post-Print hal-03096196, HAL.
    20. El Diri, Malek & Lambrinoudakis, Costas & Alhadab, Mohammad, 2020. "Corporate governance and earnings management in concentrated markets," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 291-306.
    21. Ann-Kristin Achleitner & Nina G�nther & Christoph Kaserer & Gianfranco Siciliano, 2014. "Real Earnings Management and Accrual-based Earnings Management in Family Firms," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(3), pages 431-461, September.
    22. Jerry Sun & George Lan & Guoping Liu, 2014. "Independent audit committee characteristics and real earnings management," Managerial Auditing Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 29(2), pages 153-172, February.
    23. Roychowdhury, Sugata, 2006. "Earnings management through real activities manipulation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 335-370, December.
    24. Mike W. Peng & Yi Jiang, 2010. "Institutions Behind Family Ownership and Control in Large Firms," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(2), pages 253-273, March.
    25. Konijn, Sander J.J. & Kräussl, Roman & Lucas, Andre, 2011. "Blockholder dispersion and firm value," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 1330-1339.
    26. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez‐De‐Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 1999. "Corporate Ownership Around the World," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(2), pages 471-517, April.
    27. Faccio, Mara & Lang, Larry H. P., 2002. "The ultimate ownership of Western European corporations," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 365-395, September.
    28. Heitor V. Almeida & Daniel Wolfenzon, 2006. "A Theory of Pyramidal Ownership and Family Business Groups," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(6), pages 2637-2680, December.
    29. Nguyen, Tuan & Locke, Stuart & Reddy, Krishna, 2015. "Does boardroom gender diversity matter? Evidence from a transitional economy," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 184-202.
    30. Cornett, Marcia Millon & Marcus, Alan J. & Tehranian, Hassan, 2008. "Corporate governance and pay-for-performance: The impact of earnings management," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 357-373, February.
    31. Nagar, Venky & Petroni, Kathy & Wolfenzon, Daniel, 2011. "Governance Problems in Closely Held Corporations," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(4), pages 943-966, August.
    32. Benjamin E. Hermalin & Michael S. Weisbach, 1991. "The Effects of Board Composition and Direct Incentives on Firm Performance," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 20(4), Winter.
    33. Claessens, Stijn & Djankov, Simeon & Lang, Larry H. P., 2000. "The separation of ownership and control in East Asian Corporations," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1-2), pages 81-112.
    34. Dechun Wang, 2006. "Founding Family Ownership and Earnings Quality," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(3), pages 619-656, June.
    35. Graham, John R. & Harvey, Campbell R. & Rajgopal, Shiva, 2005. "The economic implications of corporate financial reporting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1-3), pages 3-73, December.
    36. Jun Qian & Philip E. Strahan, 2007. "How Laws and Institutions Shape Financial Contracts: The Case of Bank Loans," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(6), pages 2803-2834, December.
    37. Chang Liu & Chune Young Chung & Hong Kee Sul & Kainan Wang, 2018. "Does hometown advantage matter? The case of institutional blockholder monitoring on earnings management in Korea," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(2), pages 196-221, February.
    38. Luc Laeven & Ross Levine, 2008. "Complex Ownership Structures and Corporate Valuations," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(2), pages 579-604, April.
    39. Kee‐Hong Bae & Vidhan K. Goyal, 2009. "Creditor Rights, Enforcement, and Bank Loans," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(2), pages 823-860, April.
    40. Bergstresser, Daniel & Philippon, Thomas, 2006. "CEO incentives and earnings management," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(3), pages 511-529, June.
    41. La Porta, Rafael & Lopez-de-Silanes, Florencio & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert, 2000. "Investor protection and corporate governance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1-2), pages 3-27.
    42. Shayan-Nia, Mojtaba & Sinnadurai, Philip & Mohd-Sanusi, Zuraidah & Hermawan, Ancella-NIa Anitawati, 2017. "How efficient ownership structure monitors income manipulation? Evidence of real earnings management among Malaysian firms," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 54-66.
    43. Shamsul Nahar Abdullah & Ku Nor Izah Ku Ismail, 2016. "Women directors, family ownership and earnings management in Malaysia," Asian Review of Accounting, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 24(4), pages 525-550, December.
    44. Kuo, Jing-Ming & Ning, Lutao & Song, Xiaoqi, 2014. "The Real and Accrual-based Earnings Management Behaviors: Evidence from the Split Share Structure Reform in China," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 101-136.
    45. Sabri Boubaker, 2007. "Ownership-Control Discrepancy and Firm Value: Evidence from France," Multinational Finance Journal, Multinational Finance Journal, vol. 11(3-4), pages 211-252, September.
    46. Jeffrey Zwiebel, 1995. "Block Investment and Partial Benefits of Corporate Control," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 62(2), pages 161-185.
    47. Wenjing Li & Jeff Ng & Albert Tsang & Oktay Urcan, 2019. "Country-level institutions and management earnings forecasts," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 50(1), pages 48-82, February.
    48. Jing Huang, 2018. "Foreign earnings management of US multinational companies: The role of decision rights," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(5), pages 552-574, July.
    49. Malikov, Kamran & Manson, Stuart & Coakley, Jerry, 2018. "Earnings management using classification shifting of revenues," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 291-305.
    50. Fan, Joseph P. H. & Wong, T. J., 2002. "Corporate ownership structure and the informativeness of accounting earnings in East Asia," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 401-425, August.
    51. Kun Wang & Greg Shailer, 2015. "Ownership Concentration And Firm Performance In Emerging Markets: A Meta-Analysis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 199-229, April.
    52. Qazi Awais Amin & Stuart Sean Farquhar, 2021. "The relationship between corporate governance and firm financial performance: an empirical investigation of an emerging market," International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 15(2), pages 215-232.
    53. Belén Villalonga & Raphael Amit, 2010. "Family Control of Firms and Industries," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 39(3), pages 863-904, September.
    54. El-Helaly, Moataz & Georgiou, Ifigenia & Lowe, Alan D., 2018. "The interplay between related party transactions and earnings management: The role of audit quality," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 47-60.
    55. Wintoki, M. Babajide & Linck, James S. & Netter, Jeffry M., 2012. "Endogeneity and the dynamics of internal corporate governance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(3), pages 581-606.
    56. Claessens, Stijn & Yurtoglu, B. Burcin, 2013. "Corporate governance in emerging markets: A survey," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 15(C), pages 1-33.
    57. repec:elg:eebook:14347 is not listed on IDEAS
    58. Ball, Ray & Robin, Ashok & Wu, Joanna Shuang, 2003. "Incentives versus standards: properties of accounting income in four East Asian countries," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1-3), pages 235-270, December.
    59. Basu, Nilanjan & Paeglis, Imants & Toffanin, Melissa, 2017. "Reading between the blocks," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 294-317.
    60. Jiang, Fuxiu & Ma, Yunbiao & Wang, Xue, 2020. "Multiple blockholders and earnings management," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    61. Kałdoński, Michał & Jewartowski, Tomasz, 2020. "Do firms using real earnings management care about taxes? Evidence from a high book-tax conformity country," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).
    62. Thanh, Su Dinh & Canh, Nguyen Phuc & Ha, Nguyen Tran Thai, 2020. "Debt structure and earnings management: A non-linear analysis from an emerging economy," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).
    63. Ahmed Ebrahim, 2007. "Earnings management and board activity: an additional evidence," Review of Accounting and Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 6(1), pages 42-58, February.
    64. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    65. Eng, Li Li & Fang, Hanqing & Tian, Xi & Yu, T. Robert & Zhang, Hongxian, 2019. "Financial crisis and real earnings management in family firms: A comparison between China and the United States," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 184-201.
    66. Kim, Hugh & Liao, Rose C. & Wang, Yan, 2015. "Active block investors and corporate governance around the world," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 181-194.
    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. 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).
    2. Danlei Feng & Mingzhao Hu & Lingdi Zhao & Sha Liu, 2022. "The Impact of Firm Heterogeneity and External Factor Change on Innovation: Evidence from the Vehicle Industry Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-15, May.
    3. Han, Wei & Wu, Di, 2023. "Internationalization and earnings management: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    4. Amin, Qazi Awais & Cumming, Douglas, 2023. "The politician as a CEO, corporate governance and firm value," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 87(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. Sabri Boubaker & Hind Sami, 2011. "Multiple large shareholders and earnings informativeness," Review of Accounting and Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 10(3), pages 246-266, August.
    2. 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).
    3. Julio Pindado & Ignacio Requejo & Chabela la Torre, 2015. "Does Family Control Shape Corporate Capital Structure? An Empirical Analysis of Eurozone Firms," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(7-8), pages 965-1006, September.
    4. Sabri Boubaker & Pascal Nguyen & Wael Rouatbi, 2016. "Multiple Large Shareholders and Corporate Risk†taking: Evidence from French Family Firms," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 22(4), pages 697-745, September.
    5. 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).
    6. 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.
    7. Sabri Boubaker & Riadh Manita & Wael Rouatbi, 2021. "Large shareholders, control contestability and firm productive efficiency," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 296(1), pages 591-614, January.
    8. Mário Santos & António Moreira & Elisabete Vieira, 2014. "Ownership concentration, contestability, family firms, and capital structure," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 18(4), pages 1063-1107, November.
    9. Zeineb Barka & Taher Hamza, 2020. "The effect of large controlling shareholders on equity prices in France: monitoring or entrenchment?," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 24(3), pages 769-798, September.
    10. El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane & Wang, He & Kwok, Chuck C.Y., 2016. "Family control and corporate social responsibility," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 131-146.
    11. Jiang, Fuxiu & Ma, Yunbiao & Wang, Xue, 2020. "Multiple blockholders and earnings management," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    12. Ioannis Dokas & Christos Leontidis & Nicolaos Eriotis & Konstantinos Hazakis, 2021. "Earnings Management. An overview of the relative literature," Bulletin of Applied Economics, Risk Market Journals, vol. 8(2), pages 25-55.
    13. Di Cai & Jin-hui Luo & Di-fang Wan, 2012. "Family CEOs: Do they benefit firm performance in China?," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 923-947, December.
    14. Khosa,Amrinder & Ahmed,Kamran & Henry,Darren, 2019. "Ownership Structure, Related Party Transactions, and Firm Valuation," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108492195.
    15. Pombo, Carlos & Taborda, Rodrigo, 2017. "Stock liquidity and second blockholder as drivers of corporate value: Evidence from Latin America," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 214-234.
    16. Jiang, Fuxiu & Cai, Wenjing & Wang, Xue & Zhu, Bing, 2018. "Multiple large shareholders and corporate investment: Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 66-83.
    17. Ben-Nasr, Hamdi & Boubaker, Sabri & Rouatbi, Wael, 2015. "Ownership structure, control contestability, and corporate debt maturity," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 265-285.
    18. Martínez-García, Irma & Basco, Rodrigo & Gómez-Ansón, Silvia, 2021. "Dancing with giants: Contextualizing state and family ownership effects on firm performance in the Gulf Cooperation Council," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 12(4).
    19. Eng, Li Li & Fang, Hanqing & Tian, Xi & Yu, T. Robert & Zhang, Hongxian, 2019. "Financial crisis and real earnings management in family firms: A comparison between China and the United States," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 184-201.
    20. Boubaker, Sabri & Nguyen, Pascal & Rouatbi, Wael, 2012. "Large shareholders and firm risk-taking behavior," MPRA Paper 39005, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    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:intfin:v:75:y:2021:i:c:s1042443121001475. 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/intfin .

    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.