IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/igg/jrcm00/v9y2020i1p1-19.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

CEO Bonus Pay and Firm Credit Risk

Author

Listed:
  • Hsin-Hui Chiu

    (California State University, Northridge, Los Angeles, USA)

  • Eva Wagner

    (Johannes Kepler University Linz, Linz, Austria)

Abstract

This article examines the association between the bonus component of managerial compensation and the impacts on a firm's credit risk using data from the U.S. The empirical findings suggest that bonus compensation could potentially play a role in mitigating the agency costs of debt and restraining the CEO's risk-taking behavior, as bonus pay is significantly associated with lower credit risk in a broad sample across various industries. Cash compensation including salary and bonuses, however, have different impacts on credit risk. Bonus compensation does not add to credit risk as suggested in the financial press, but firms should differentiate impacts of bonus and salary pay on firm risk when designing executives' compensation package.

Suggested Citation

  • Hsin-Hui Chiu & Eva Wagner, 2020. "CEO Bonus Pay and Firm Credit Risk," International Journal of Risk and Contingency Management (IJRCM), IGI Global, vol. 9(1), pages 1-19, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:igg:jrcm00:v:9:y:2020:i:1:p:1-19
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://services.igi-global.com/resolvedoi/resolve.aspx?doi=10.4018/IJRCM.2020010101
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stulz, René M., 1984. "Optimal Hedging Policies," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(2), pages 127-140, June.
    2. Antje Berndt & Rohan Douglas & Darrell Duffie & Mark Ferguson, "undated". "Measuring Default Risk Premia from Default Swap Rates and EDFs," GSIA Working Papers 2006-E31, Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business.
    3. Patrick Bolton & Hamid Mehran & Joel Shapiro, 2015. "Executive Compensation and Risk Taking," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 19(6), pages 2139-2181.
    4. Francis A. Longstaff & Sanjay Mithal & Eric Neis, 2005. "Corporate Yield Spreads: Default Risk or Liquidity? New Evidence from the Credit Default Swap Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(5), pages 2213-2253, October.
    5. Das, Sanjiv R. & Hanouna, Paul & Sarin, Atulya, 2009. "Accounting-based versus market-based cross-sectional models of CDS spreads," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 719-730, April.
    6. Himmelberg, Charles P. & Hubbard, R. Glenn & Palia, Darius, 1999. "Understanding the determinants of managerial ownership and the link between ownership and performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 353-384, September.
    7. Duru, Augustine & Iyengar, Raghavan J. & Zampelli, Ernest M., 2012. "Performance choice, executive bonuses and corporate leverage," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 1286-1305.
    8. Anderson, Ronald C. & Mansi, Sattar A. & Reeb, David M., 2003. "Founding family ownership and the agency cost of debt," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 263-285, May.
    9. Berger, Philip G & Ofek, Eli & Yermack, David L, 1997. "Managerial Entrenchment and Capital Structure Decisions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(4), pages 1411-1438, September.
    10. Reeb, David M. & Mansi, Sattar A. & Allee, John M., 2001. "Firm Internationalization and the Cost of Debt Financing: Evidence from Non-Provisional Publicly Traded Debt," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 36(3), pages 395-414, September.
    11. O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), 1999. "Handbook of Labor Economics," Handbook of Labor Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 3, number 3.
    12. Erkens, David H. & Hung, Mingyi & Matos, Pedro, 2012. "Corporate governance in the 2007–2008 financial crisis: Evidence from financial institutions worldwide," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 389-411.
    13. George Benston & Jocelyn Evan, 2006. "Performance compensation contracts and CEOs’ incentive to shift risk to debtholders: An empirical analysis," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 30(1), pages 70-92, March.
    14. Merton, Robert C, 1974. "On the Pricing of Corporate Debt: The Risk Structure of Interest Rates," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 29(2), pages 449-470, May.
    15. Low, Angie, 2009. "Managerial risk-taking behavior and equity-based compensation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(3), pages 470-490, June.
    16. Acharya, Viral V. & Johnson, Timothy C., 2007. "Insider trading in credit derivatives," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 110-141, April.
    17. Emma L. Schultz & David T. Tan & Kathleen D. Walsh, 2017. "Corporate governance and the probability of default," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 57, pages 235-253, April.
    18. 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.
    19. Ali Lazrak & Murray Carlson, 2010. "Leverage Choice and Credit Spreads when Managers Risk Shift," Post-Print hal-00585953, HAL.
    20. Jeffery D Amato & Eli M Remolona, 2003. "The credit spread puzzle," BIS Quarterly Review, Bank for International Settlements, December.
    21. Coles, Jeffrey L. & Daniel, Naveen D. & Naveen, Lalitha, 2006. "Managerial incentives and risk-taking," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(2), pages 431-468, February.
    22. Tufano, Peter, 1996. "Who Manages Risk? An Empirical Examination of Risk Management Practices in the Gold Mining Industry," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(4), pages 1097-1137, September.
    23. Murphy, Kevin J., 1999. "Executive compensation," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 38, pages 2485-2563, Elsevier.
    24. Maximilian von Ehrlich & Doina Radulescu, 2017. "The taxation of bonuses and its effect on executive compensation and risk‐taking: Evidence from the UK experience," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 712-731, September.
    25. Duru, Augustine & Mansi, Sattar A. & Reeb, David M., 2005. "Earnings-based bonus plans and the agency costs of debt," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 431-447.
    26. Murray Carlson & Ali Lazrak, 2010. "Leverage Choice and Credit Spreads when Managers Risk Shift," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(6), pages 2323-2362, December.
    27. Fabozzi, Frank J. & Cheng, Xiaolin & Chen, Ren-Raw, 2007. "Exploring the components of credit risk in credit default swaps," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 10-18, March.
    28. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pb:p:2485-2563 is not listed on IDEAS
    29. Nan Hu & Ling Liu & Lu Zhu, 2018. "Credit default swap spreads and annual report readability," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 50(2), pages 591-621, February.
    30. Uhde, André, 2016. "Risk-taking incentives through excess variable compensation: Evidence from European banks," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 12-28.
    31. Michele Fabrizi & Christine Mallin & Giovanna Michelon, 2014. "The Role of CEO’s Personal Incentives in Driving Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 124(2), pages 311-326, October.
    32. Lin Guo & Abu Jalal & Shahriar Khaksari, 2015. "Bank executive compensation structure, risk taking and the financial crisis," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 609-639, October.
    33. Haibin Zhu, 2006. "An Empirical Comparison of Credit Spreads between the Bond Market and the Credit Default Swap Market," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 29(3), pages 211-235, June.
    34. Kabir, Rezaul & Li, Hao & Veld-Merkoulova, Yulia V., 2013. "Executive compensation and the cost of debt," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 2893-2907.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Augustin, Patrick & Subrahmanyam, Marti G. & Tang, Dragon Yongjun & Wang, Sarah Qian, 2014. "Credit Default Swaps: A Survey," Foundations and Trends(R) in Finance, now publishers, vol. 9(1-2), pages 1-196, December.
    2. Patricia Boyallian & Pablo Ruiz-Verdú, 2018. "Leverage, CEO Risk-Taking Incentives, and Bank Failure during the 2007–10 Financial Crisis [Endogenous matching and the empirical determinants of contract form]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 22(5), pages 1763-1805.
    3. Chakraborty, Atreya & Gao, Lucia Silva & Sheikh, Shahbaz, 2019. "Managerial risk taking incentives, corporate social responsibility and firm risk," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 58-72.
    4. Annaert, Jan & De Ceuster, Marc & Van Roy, Patrick & Vespro, Cristina, 2013. "What determines Euro area bank CDS spreads?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 444-461.
    5. Cassell, Cory A. & Huang, Shawn X. & Manuel Sanchez, Juan & Stuart, Michael D., 2012. "Seeking safety: The relation between CEO inside debt holdings and the riskiness of firm investment and financial policies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(3), pages 588-610.
    6. Chava, Sudheer & Purnanandam, Amiyatosh, 2010. "CEOs versus CFOs: Incentives and corporate policies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 263-278, August.
    7. Yang, Shanxiang & Liu, Zhechen & Wang, Xinjie, 2020. "News sentiment, credit spreads, and information asymmetry," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    8. Jean Canil & Bruce Rosser, 2015. "Evidence on exercise pricing in CEO option grants in two countries," Annals of Finance, Springer, vol. 11(3), pages 383-410, November.
    9. Samaniego-Medina, Reyes & Trujillo-Ponce, Antonio & Parrado-Martínez, Purificación & di Pietro, Filippo, 2016. "Determinants of bank CDS spreads in Europe," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 1-15.
    10. Niklas Kreilkamp & Sascha Matanovic & Maximilian Schmidt & Arnt Wöhrmann, 2023. "How executive incentive design affects risk-taking: a literature review," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 17(7), pages 2349-2374, October.
    11. Hu, Nan & Liang, Peng & Liu, Ling & Zhu, Lu, 2022. "The bullwhip effect and credit default swap market: A study based on firm-specific bullwhip effect measure," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    12. Liu, Jinyu & Zhong, Rui, 2017. "Political uncertainty and a firm's credit risk: Evidence from the international CDS market," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 53-66.
    13. Kabir, Md Nurul & Miah, Mohammad Dulal & Ali, Searat & Sharma, Parmendra, 2020. "Institutional and foreign ownership vis-à-vis default risk: Evidence from Japanese firms," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 469-493.
    14. Huang, Xin & Zhou, Hao & Zhu, Haibin, 2009. "A framework for assessing the systemic risk of major financial institutions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(11), pages 2036-2049, November.
    15. Castro, Paula & Keasey, Kevin & Amor-Tapia, Borja & Tascon, Maria T. & Vallascas, Francesco, 2020. "Does debt concentration depend on the risk-taking incentives in CEO compensation?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    16. Cottrell, Simon & Yu, Xiao & Delpachitra, Sarath & Ma, Yihong, 2021. "What determines wholesale funding costs of the global systemically important banks?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    17. Imes, Matthew & Anderson, Ronald, 2021. "Executive risk-taking and the agency cost of debt," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 78-94.
    18. Duru, Augustine & Iyengar, Raghavan J. & Zampelli, Ernest M., 2012. "Performance choice, executive bonuses and corporate leverage," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 1286-1305.
    19. Tanseli Savaser & Elif Şişli-Ciamarra, 2017. "Managerial Performance Incentives and Firm Risk during Economic Expansions and Recessions," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 21(2), pages 911-944.
    20. Roshanthi Dias, 2017. "The role of managerial risk-taking in the ‘rise and fall’ of the CDS market," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 57, pages 117-145, April.

    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:igg:jrcm00:v:9:y:2020:i:1:p:1-19. 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: Journal Editor (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.igi-global.com .

    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.