IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/acctfi/v53y2013i1p137-162.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impact of product market competition on earnings quality

Author

Listed:
  • Peter Cheng
  • Paul Man
  • Cheong H. Yi

Abstract

type="main" xml:lang="en"> The objective of this paper is to examine the impact of product market competition on earnings quality. Based on a sample from the US manufacturing sector for the period 1996–2005, we find consistent evidence showing a positive relation between product market competition and earnings quality. Additional tests also confirm a positive relation between product market competition and the precision of public and private information held by investors and analysts. We also provide evidence that firms competing in concentrated and heterogeneous industries are associated with a number of earnings attributes and information quality not shared by those competing in concentrated but homogeneous industries. These findings are consistent with the intuition that firms enjoying a monopolistic advantage tend to avoid the attention of their competitors and politicians by creating a more opaque information environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Cheng & Paul Man & Cheong H. Yi, 2013. "The impact of product market competition on earnings quality," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 53(1), pages 137-162, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:acctfi:v:53:y:2013:i:1:p:137-162
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/j.1467-629X.2011.00457.x
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    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. Caves, Richard E, 1980. "Industrial Organization, Corporate Strategy and Structure," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 18(1), pages 64-92, March.
    2. Grossman, Sanford J, 1981. "The Informational Role of Warranties and Private Disclosure about Product Quality," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 24(3), pages 461-483, December.
    3. Joe S. Bain, 1951. "Relation of Profit Rate to Industry Concentration: American Manufacturing, 1936–1940," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 65(3), pages 293-324.
    4. Rajesh K. Aggarwal & Andrew A. Samwick, 1999. "Executive Compensation, Strategic Competition, and Relative Performance Evaluation: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(6), pages 1999-2043, December.
    5. Jones, Jj, 1991. "Earnings Management During Import Relief Investigations," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 193-228.
    6. Hall, Bronwyn H., 1992. "Investment and Research and Development at the Firm Level: Does the Source of Financing Matter?," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt5j59j6x3, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    7. Carol A. Marquardt & Christine I. Wiedman, 2004. "The Effect of Earnings Management on the Value Relevance of Accounting Information," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3‐4), pages 297-332, April.
    8. Paul R. Milgrom, 1981. "Good News and Bad News: Representation Theorems and Applications," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 12(2), pages 380-391, Autumn.
    9. Bengt Holmstrom, 1982. "Moral Hazard in Teams," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 13(2), pages 324-340, Autumn.
    10. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-838, May.
    11. Khan, Mozaffar & Watts, Ross L., 2009. "Estimation and empirical properties of a firm-year measure of accounting conservatism," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2-3), pages 132-150, December.
    12. Subramanyam, K. R., 1996. "The pricing of discretionary accruals," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1-3), pages 249-281, October.
    13. Philippe Aghion & Nick Bloom & Richard Blundell & Rachel Griffith & Peter Howitt, 2005. "Competition and Innovation: an Inverted-U Relationship," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(2), pages 701-728.
    14. Cristina Gaio & Clara Raposo, 2011. "Earnings quality and firm valuation: international evidence," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 51(2), pages 467-499, June.
    15. Ashiq Ali & Sandy Klasa & Eric Yeung, 2009. "The Limitations of Industry Concentration Measures Constructed with Compustat Data: Implications for Finance Research," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(10), pages 3839-3871, October.
    16. Verrecchia, Robert E., 1983. "Discretionary disclosure," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 179-194, April.
    17. Grossman, S J & Hart, O D, 1980. "Disclosure Laws and Takeover Bids," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 35(2), pages 323-334, May.
    18. Barry J. Nalebuff & Joseph E. Stiglitz, 1983. "Prices and Incentives: Towards a General Theory of Compensation and Competition," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 14(1), pages 21-43, Spring.
    19. Peter MacKay & Gordon M. Phillips, 2005. "How Does Industry Affect Firm Financial Structure?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 18(4), pages 1433-1466.
    20. 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.
    21. Mary E. Barth & Ron Kasznik & Maureen F. McNichols, 2001. "Analyst Coverage and Intangible Assets," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 1-34, June.
    22. Francis, Jennifer & LaFond, Ryan & Olsson, Per & Schipper, Katherine, 2005. "The market pricing of accruals quality," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 295-327, June.
    23. Robert Jacobsen, 1988. "The persistence of abnormal returns," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(5), pages 415-430, September.
    24. Kewei Hou & David T. Robinson, 2006. "Industry Concentration and Average Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(4), pages 1927-1956, August.
    25. Campello, Murillo, 2006. "Debt financing: Does it boost or hurt firm performance in product markets?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 135-172, October.
    26. Kormendi, Roger & Lipe, Robert, 1987. "Earnings Innovations, Earnings Persistence, and Stock Returns," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 60(3), pages 323-345, July.
    27. Carol A. Marquardt & Christine I. Wiedman, 2004. "The Effect of Earnings Management on the Value Relevance of Accounting Information," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3-4), pages 297-332.
    28. Miller, Merton H & Rock, Kevin, 1985. "Dividend Policy under Asymmetric Information," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 40(4), pages 1031-1051, September.
    29. Harris, MS, 1998. "The association between competition and managers' business segment reporting decisions," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(1), pages 111-128.
    30. Hagerman, Robert L. & Zmijewski, Mark E., 1979. "Some economic determinants of accounting policy choice," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(2), pages 141-161, August.
    31. Darrough, Masako N. & Stoughton, Neal M., 1990. "Financial disclosure policy in an entry game," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1-3), pages 219-243, January.
    32. Louis K. C. Chan & Josef Lakonishok & Theodore Sougiannis, 2001. "The Stock Market Valuation of Research and Development Expenditures," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(6), pages 2431-2456, December.
    33. Basu, Sudipta, 1997. "The conservatism principle and the asymmetric timeliness of earnings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 3-37, December.
    34. Core, John E. & Guay, Wayne R. & Verdi, Rodrigo, 2008. "Is accruals quality a priced risk factor?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 2-22, September.
    35. Warfield, Terry D. & Wild, John J. & Wild, Kenneth L., 1995. "Managerial ownership, accounting choices, and informativeness of earnings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 61-91, July.
    36. Ray Ball & Lakshmanan Shivakumar, 2008. "How Much New Information Is There in Earnings?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(5), pages 975-1016, December.
    37. Haushalter, David & Klasa, Sandy & Maxwell, William F., 2007. "The influence of product market dynamics on a firm's cash holdings and hedging behavior," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(3), pages 797-825, June.
    38. Porter, Michael E, 1979. "The Structure within Industries and Companies' Performance," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 61(2), pages 214-227, 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. Jonnergård, Karin & von Koch, Christopher & Nilsson, Ola, 2020. "Information environment – An exploration and clarification of the concept based on prior literature," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    2. Lee, Ji Hye & Byun, Hee Sub & Park, Kyung Suh, 2019. "How does product market competition affect corporate takeover in an emerging economy?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 26-45.
    3. Jaehong Lee, 2021. "CEO Overconfidence and Voluntary Disclosure of Greenhouse Gas Emissions: With a Focus on the Role of Corporate Governance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-19, May.
    4. Joel HELLIER, 2023. "Increasing skill premium and education decisions: Higher intra-skilled inequality and lower inter-skill mobility," Working Papers 643, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    5. Zon-Yau Lee & Mei-Tai Chu & Shiuann-Shuoh Chen & Chih-Hung Tsai, 2018. "Identifying Comprehensive Key Criteria of Sustainable Development for Traditional Manufacturing in Taiwan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-19, September.
    6. Jing Wang & Wei Li & Arno Forst, 2021. "Product market competition, stock price informativeness, and IFRS adoption: evidence from Europe," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 1537-1559, May.
    7. Liu, Chengcheng & Li, Qing & Lin, Yu-En, 2023. "Corporate transparency and firm value: Does market competition play an external governance role?," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1).
    8. Mansooreh Mohebi & Yahya Kamyabi, 2014. "Product Market Structure and Earnings Quality: Evidence Tehran Stock Exchange," Asian Economic and Financial Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 4(8), pages 1079-1090, August.
    9. 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.
    10. Pallab Kumar Biswas & Dinithi Ranasinghe & Eric K. M. Tan, 2023. "Impact of product market competition on real activity manipulation: Moderating role of managerial ability," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(1), pages 247-275, March.
    11. Joël Hellier, 2022. "Asymmetric Globalization and Top Performers Income," Working Papers REM 2022/0242, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, REM, Universidade de Lisboa.
    12. Babar, Md. & Habib, Ahsan, 2021. "Product market competition in accounting, finance, and corporate governance: A review of the literature," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    13. Atawnah, Nader & Zaman, Rashid & Liu, Jia & Atawna, Thaer & Maghyereh, Aktham, 2023. "Does foreign competition affect corporate debt maturity structure? Evidence from import penetration," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    14. Joel Hellier, 2023. "Asymmetric Globalization, Top Performers’ Income and Inequality," Working Papers 634, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    15. Martin Glaum, 2020. "Financial Reporting in Non-listed Family Firms: Insights from Interviews with CFOs," Schmalenbach Business Review, Springer;Schmalenbach-Gesellschaft, vol. 72(2), pages 225-270, April.
    16. Marco Maria Mattei & Petya Platikanova, 2017. "Do product market threats affect analyst forecast precision?," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 1628-1665, December.
    17. Almeida, José Elias Feres de & Dalmácio, Flávia Zóboli, 2015. "The Effects of Corporate Governance and Product Market Competition on Analysts' Forecasts: Evidence from the Brazilian Capital Market," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 316-339.
    18. Ferrer García, Cristina & Laínez Gadea, José Antonio, 2013. "Detectando diferencias en la medición de la calidad del resultado: evidencia empírica para empresas españolas || Detecting Differences on the Earnings Quality Measurement: Empirical Evidence on Spanis," Revista de Métodos Cuantitativos para la Economía y la Empresa = Journal of Quantitative Methods for Economics and Business Administration, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Quantitative Methods for Economics and Business Administration, vol. 16(1), pages 5-28, December.
    19. Tinaikar, Surjit & Xu, Bo, 2023. "Does competition exacerbate investment inefficiencies? Evidence from Japanese firms," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 35-53.
    20. Noh, Minyoung & Cho, Moon Kyung, 2022. "Cultural tightness and accounting conservatism," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1).
    21. Jangho Gil, 2024. "The relationship between market competition and accrual earnings management: A cross-country study," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 14(3), pages 841-879, September.
    22. Safdar, Irfan, 2016. "Industry competition and fundamental analysis," Journal of Accounting Literature, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 36-54.
    23. Joel HELLIER, 2021. "Globalization and Inequality in Advanced Economies: A Provisional Assessment," Working Papers 575, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    24. Kazunori Miwa, 2021. "An Experimental Study on Information Acquisition and Disclosure in a Cournot Duopoly Market," Discussion Papers in Economics and Business 13-01-Rev, Osaka University, Graduate School of Economics.
    25. Gongxing Guo & Quan Lin, 2017. "Consumers Become More or Less Ethnocentric? A Meta-Analysis on Level of Consumer Ethnocentrism," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(2), pages 145-145, January.

    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. Beyer, Anne & Cohen, Daniel A. & Lys, Thomas Z. & Walther, Beverly R., 2010. "The financial reporting environment: Review of the recent literature," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 296-343, December.
    2. Ali, Ashiq & Klasa, Sandy & Yeung, Eric, 2014. "Industry concentration and corporate disclosure policy," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 240-264.
    3. Callen, Jeffrey L. & Fang, Xiaohua & Zhang, Wenjun, 2020. "Protection of proprietary information and financial reporting opacity: Evidence from a natural experiment," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    4. Si Li & Xintong Zhan, 2019. "Product Market Threats and Stock Crash Risk," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(9), pages 4011-4031, September.
    5. 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.
    6. Mouselli, Sulaiman & Jaafar, Aziz & Hussainey, Khaled, 2012. "Accruals quality vis-à-vis disclosure quality: Substitutes or complements?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 36-46.
    7. Fargher, Neil & Wee, Marvin, 2019. "The impact of Ball and Brown (1968) on generations of research," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 55-72.
    8. Xiong, Yan & Jiang, Xu, 2022. "Economic consequences of managerial compensation contract disclosure," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2).
    9. Ashok Robin & Qiang Wu, 2015. "Firm growth and the pricing of discretionary accruals," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 561-590, October.
    10. Stephan Hollander & Maarten Pronk & Erik Roelofsen, 2010. "Does Silence Speak? An Empirical Analysis of Disclosure Choices During Conference Calls," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(3), pages 531-563, June.
    11. Belén Blanco & Juan M. Garcia Lara & Josep A. Tribó Giné, 2009. "The Complementarity Between Segment Disclosure and Earnings Quality, and its Effect on Cost Capital," Working Papers 1005, Departament Empresa, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, revised Feb 2010.
    12. Christian Leuz & Peter D. Wysocki, 2016. "The Economics of Disclosure and Financial Reporting Regulation: Evidence and Suggestions for Future Research," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 525-622, May.
    13. Babar, Md. & Habib, Ahsan, 2021. "Product market competition in accounting, finance, and corporate governance: A review of the literature," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    14. Young Jun Cho, 2015. "Segment Disclosure Transparency and Internal Capital Market Efficiency: Evidence from SFAS No. 131," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(4), pages 669-723, September.
    15. Dedman, Elisabeth & Lennox, Clive, 2009. "Perceived competition, profitability and the withholding of information about sales and the cost of sales," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2-3), pages 210-230, December.
    16. repec:cte:idrepe:id-10-06 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Daniel Aobdia, 2018. "Employee mobility, noncompete agreements, product-market competition, and company disclosure," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 296-346, March.
    18. MuiChing Chan & John Watson, 2011. "Voluntary Disclosure of Segment Information in a Regulated Environment: Australian Evidence," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 1(1), pages 37-53, June.
    19. Gago Rodríguez, Susana, 2010. "Evolutionary model of existing competition and voluntary disclosure," IC3JM - Estudios = Working Papers id-10-06, Instituto Mixto Carlos III - Juan March de Ciencias Sociales (IC3JM).
    20. Ying Zhou, 2022. "Proprietary Costs and Corporate Lobbying Against Changes in Mandatory Disclosure," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(11), pages 8483-8505, November.
    21. Boone, Jeff P. & Khurana, Inder K. & Raman, K.K., 2009. "Litigation reform, accounting discretion, and the cost of equity," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 80-94.

    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:bla:acctfi:v:53:y:2013:i:1:p:137-162. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaanzea.html .

    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.