IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/rafpps/v9y2010i3p212-243.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does the disclosure of corporate governance structures affect firms' earnings quality?

Author

Listed:
  • Jui‐Chin Chang
  • Huey‐Lian Sun

Abstract

Purpose - The Sarbanes‐Oxley Act (SOX) mandated a variety of corporate governance mechanisms to improve the transparency of financial reporting quality. This paper's aim is to investigate whether SOX's recently mandated disclosure of corporate governance structures affects the market's perception of earnings informativeness and firms' earnings management. Design/methodology/approach - Since the first compliant disclosure of the Act would be found in firms' 2002‐2003 financial reports, the authors retrieve the post‐SOX data (pre‐SOX data) from the 2002 to 2003 (2001‐2002) period. Further, the study adopts Andersonet al.'s model to test the relations between earnings informativeness, audit committee independence, and other corporate governance variables. A similar mode is used by Chang and Sun in their study of cross‐listed foreign firms. To measure the discretionary accruals, the authors adopt Kothariet al.'s model and use the two‐digit SIC code in the cross‐sectional regression. Findings - It is found that the market valuation of earnings surprises is significantly higher for firms which disclose stronger corporate governance functions. It is also found that the effectiveness of corporate governance in monitoring earnings management is improved after the mandated disclosure. Originality/value - The empirical evidence shows that the quality of accounting earnings is increased after the SOX's mandated disclosure, which strengthens the link between financial reporting and corporate governance functions.

Suggested Citation

  • Jui‐Chin Chang & Huey‐Lian Sun, 2010. "Does the disclosure of corporate governance structures affect firms' earnings quality?," Review of Accounting and Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 9(3), pages 212-243, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:rafpps:v:9:y:2010:i:3:p:212-243
    DOI: 10.1108/14757701011068048
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/14757701011068048/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/14757701011068048/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/14757701011068048?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. Patricia M. Dechow & Richard G. Sloan & Amy P. Sweeney, 1996. "Causes and Consequences of Earnings Manipulation: An Analysis of Firms Subject to Enforcement Actions by the SEC," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(1), pages 1-36, March.
    2. Akhigbe, Aigbe & Martin, Anna D., 2006. "Valuation impact of Sarbanes-Oxley: Evidence from disclosure and governance within the financial services industry," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 989-1006, March.
    3. Jones, Jj, 1991. "Earnings Management During Import Relief Investigations," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 193-228.
    4. Brown, Lawrence D. & Caylor, Marcus L., 2006. "Corporate governance and firm valuation," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 409-434.
    5. Steven Petra, 2007. "The Effects of Corporate Governance on the Informativeness of Earnings," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 129-152, February.
    6. Roberta Romano, 2004. "The Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Making of Quack Corporate Governance," Yale School of Management Working Papers amz2653, Yale School of Management, revised 01 Jul 2005.
    7. 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.
    8. 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.
    9. Klein, April, 2002. "Audit committee, board of director characteristics, and earnings management," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 375-400, August.
    10. Teoh, Siew Hong & Welch, Ivo & Wong, T. J., 1998. "Earnings management and the underperformance of seasoned equity offerings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 63-99, October.
    11. Aiyesha Dey, 2008. "Corporate Governance and Agency Conflicts," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(5), pages 1143-1181, 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. Redhwan Ahmed al-Dhamari & Ku Nor Izah Ku Ismail, 2013. "Governance Structure, Ownership Structure and Earnings Predictability: Malaysian Evidence," Asian Academy of Management Journal of Accounting and Finance (AAMJAF), Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia, vol. 9(1), pages 1-23.
    2. Humeyra Adiguzel, 2013. "Corporate Governance, Family Ownership and Earnings Management: Emerging Market Evidence," Accounting and Finance Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 2(4), pages 1-17, November.
    3. Jannik Gerwanski & Othar Kordsachia & Patrick Velte, 2019. "Determinants of materiality disclosure quality in integrated reporting: Empirical evidence from an international setting," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 750-770, July.
    4. Modibbo Abubakar, 2016. "Effect Of Audit Quality And Corporate Governance On Real Activities Manipulation In Nigerian Banks," Proceedings of Economics and Finance Conferences 4206739, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences.
    5. Farzad Karimi & Masoud Foladi & Nasim Shirazi, 2014. "The Effect of Surplus Free Cash Flow on the Relationship between the Board Structure and Earnings Quality of Companies Listed on Tehran Stock Exchange," International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, vol. 4(3), pages 28-35, July.
    6. Inten Meutia & Devia Septyani & Mohamad Adam, 2021. "The Effect of Income Smoothing and CSR Disclosureon Market Performance," International Journal of Business and Economic Sciences Applied Research (IJBESAR), International Hellenic University (IHU), Kavala Campus, Greece (formerly Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology - EMaTTech), vol. 14(1), pages 58-68, June.
    7. Akbas Halil Emre, 2016. "The Relationship Between Board Characteristics and Environmental Disclosure: Evidence from Turkish Listed Companies," South East European Journal of Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 11(2), pages 7-19, December.
    8. Mujeeb Saif Mohsen Al-Absy & Ku Nor Izah Ku Ismail & Sitraselvi Chandren, 2018. "Accounting expertise in the audit committee and earnings management," Business and Economic Horizons (BEH), Prague Development Center, vol. 14(3), pages 451-476, June.
    9. Abdelsalam, Omneya & Dimitropoulos, Panagiotis & Elnahass, Marwa & Leventis, Stergios, 2016. "Earnings management behaviors under different monitoring mechanisms: The case of Islamic and conventional banks," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 132(S), pages 155-173.
    10. Lopin Kuo & Chin‐Chen Yeh & Hui‐Cheng Yu, 2012. "Disclosure of Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management: Evidence from China," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(5), pages 273-287, September.
    11. Redhwan Al‐Dhamari & Abdulsalam Saad Alquhaif & Bakr Ali Al‐Gamrh, 2022. "Modelling the impact of audit/remuneration committee overlap on debtholders' perceptions of accounting information quality: The role of CEO power," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(3), pages 2898-2920, July.
    12. Masoud Taherinia & Ehsan Zeynivand, 2016. "The Study of the Effect of Corporate Governance on Profit Management of the Accepted Companies in Tehran Stock Exchange," Modern Applied Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 10(12), pages 1-48, 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. Chang, Jui Chin & Sun, Heuy Lian, 2009. "Crossed-listed foreign firms' earnings informativeness, earnings management and disclosures of corporate governance information under SOX," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 1-32, March.
    2. Dechow, Patricia & Ge, Weili & Schrand, Catherine, 2010. "Understanding earnings quality: A review of the proxies, their determinants and their consequences," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 344-401, December.
    3. Jiang, Fuxiu & Ma, Yunbiao & Wang, Xue, 2020. "Multiple blockholders and earnings management," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    4. Fung, Simon Y.K. & Goodwin, John, 2013. "Short-term debt maturity, monitoring and accruals-based earnings management," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 67-82.
    5. Martínez-Ferrero, Jennifer & Prado-Lorenzo, José Manuel & Fernández-Fernández, José Miguel, 2013. "Responsabilidad social corporativa vs. responsabilidad contable," Revista de Contabilidad - Spanish Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 32-45.
    6. Jorge Farinha & Luis Filipe Viana, 2006. "Board structure and modified audit opinions: the case of the Portuguese Stock Exchange," CEF.UP Working Papers 0609, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    7. Tri Tri Nguyen & Chau Minh Duong & Sunitha Narendran, 2021. "CEO profile and earnings quality," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 987-1025, April.
    8. Ali Meftah Gerged & Khaldoon Albitar & Lara Al‐Haddad, 2023. "Corporate environmental disclosure and earnings management—The moderating role of corporate governance structures," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(3), pages 2789-2810, July.
    9. Chanchal Chatterjee, 2020. "Board Quality and Earnings Management: Evidence from India," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 21(5), pages 1302-1324, October.
    10. Al-Hadi, Ahmed & Taylor, Grantley & Hossain, Mahmud, 2015. "Disaggregation, auditor conservatism and implied cost of equity capital: An international evidence from the GCC," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 66-98.
    11. Hazarika, Sonali & Karpoff, Jonathan M. & Nahata, Rajarishi, 2012. "Internal corporate governance, CEO turnover, and earnings management," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(1), pages 44-69.
    12. Abdullah Alsaadi, 2021. "Can Inclusion in Religious Index Membership Mitigate Earnings Management?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(2), pages 333-354, March.
    13. Justin Y. Jin, 2013. "Investor Attention and Earnings Management around the World," Accounting Perspectives, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(2), pages 165-187, June.
    14. Bok Baik & Kwanghee Cho & Wooseok Choi & Jun-Koo Kang, 2015. "The Role of Institutional Environments in Cross-Border Mergers: A Perspective from Bidders’ Earnings Management Behavior," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 55(5), pages 615-646, October.
    15. Filip, Andrei & Raffournier, Bernard, 2014. "Financial Crisis And Earnings Management: The European Evidence," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 455-478.
    16. 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.
    17. Stockmans, Annelies & Lybaert, Nadine & Voordeckers, Wim, 2013. "The conditional nature of board characteristics in constraining earnings management in private family firms," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 84-92.
    18. Qaiser Rafique Yasser & Abdullah Al Mamun & Marcus Rodrigs, 2017. "Director Training and Financial Disclosure: Asian Insights," Contemporary Economics, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw., vol. 11(2), June.
    19. Elnahas, Ahmed M. & Kabir Hassan, M. & Ismail, Ghada M., 2017. "Religion and mergers and acquisitions contracting: The case of earnout agreements," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 221-246.
    20. Cormier, Denis & Houle, Sylvain & Ledoux, Marie-Josée, 2013. "The incidence of earnings management on information asymmetry in an uncertain environment: Some Canadian evidence," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 26-38.

    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:eme:rafpps:v:9:y:2010:i:3:p:212-243. 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: Emerald Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.