IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ausecp/v61y2022i4p825-847.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The tone from above: Does tunnelling by ultimate owners impinge on the relations between managerial compensation and earnings management?

Author

Listed:
  • Wenzhou Li
  • Liang Chen
  • Pengfei Sheng

Abstract

This study aims to explore the impact of tunnelling by ultimate owners on the relation between managerial compensation and earnings management. Using a sample of the Chinese listed firms from 2009 to 2019, we find that tunnelling by ultimate owners leads to adjustments in pay‐performance sensitivity and impinges on the magnitude of earnings management. In private‐dominated firms, tunnelling by ultimate owners reduces pay‐performance sensitivity, and the decreased pay‐performance incentives do not motivate managers to inflate corporate profits by manipulating earnings information. Moreover, owing to managers' resistances, tunnelling does not generate more severe problems in the quality of earnings information. In state‐dominated firms, due to government regulation, tunnelling by ultimate owners does not induce significant adjustments in pay‐performance sensitivity. However, due to the strong motivation of managers delighting their superiors in the administrative hierarchy by adjusting financial reporting, the quality of earnings information of state‐dominated firms may be worse. Our results suggest that in firms with concentrated ownership structures‐irrespective of the nature of ownership, both the formulation and implementation of managerial compensation incentive programmes, and the magnitude of earnings management, are equilibrium results of a dynamic game between ultimate owners and managers.

Suggested Citation

  • Wenzhou Li & Liang Chen & Pengfei Sheng, 2022. "The tone from above: Does tunnelling by ultimate owners impinge on the relations between managerial compensation and earnings management?," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(4), pages 825-847, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ausecp:v:61:y:2022:i:4:p:825-847
    DOI: 10.1111/1467-8454.12270
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8454.12270
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1467-8454.12270?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrei Shleifer, 1998. "State versus Private Ownership," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(4), pages 133-150, Fall.
    2. Louis, Henock, 2004. "Earnings management and the market performance of acquiring firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 121-148, October.
    3. Dupor, Bill & Li, Jingchao & Li, Rong, 2019. "Sticky wages, private consumption, and Fiscal multipliers," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    4. Pevzner, Mikhail & Xie, Fei & Xin, Xiangang, 2015. "When firms talk, do investors listen? The role of trust in stock market reactions to corporate earnings announcements," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(1), pages 190-223.
    5. 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.
    6. Firth, Michael & Fung, Peter M.Y. & Rui, Oliver M., 2006. "Corporate performance and CEO compensation in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 693-714, September.
    7. Grinstein, Yaniv & Hribar, Paul, 2004. "CEO compensation and incentives: Evidence from M&A bonuses," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 119-143, July.
    8. Yingyi Qian, 1996. "Enterprise reform in China: agency problems and political control," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 4(2), pages 427-447, October.
    9. Robert Jones & Yan Wu, 2010. "Executive compensation, earnings management and shareholder litigation," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 1-20, July.
    10. Albuquerque, Ana M. & De Franco, Gus & Verdi, Rodrigo S., 2013. "Peer choice in CEO compensation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(1), pages 160-181.
    11. HOLMSTROM, Bengt, 1979. "Moral hazard and observability," LIDAM Reprints CORE 379, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    12. Bena, Jan & Ortiz-Molina, Hernán, 2013. "Pyramidal ownership and the creation of new firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(3), pages 798-821.
    13. Jackson, Scott B. & Lopez, Thomas J. & Reitenga, Austin L., 2008. "Accounting fundamentals and CEO bonus compensation," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 374-393.
    14. David Veenman & Allan Hodgson & Bart Van Praag & Wei Zhang, 2011. "Decomposing Executive Stock Option Exercises: Relative Information and Incentives to Manage Earnings," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(5-6), pages 536-573, June.
    15. Bianco, Magda & Nicodano, Giovanna, 2006. "Pyramidal groups and debt," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 937-961, May.
    16. Eric Maskin & Yingyi Qian & Chenggang Xu, 2000. "Incentives, Information, and Organizational Form," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 67(2), pages 359-378.
    17. Wang, Kun & Xiao, Xing, 2011. "Controlling shareholders' tunneling and executive compensation: Evidence from China," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 89-100, January.
    18. Harris, Oneil & Karl, J. Bradley & Lawrence, Ericka, 2019. "CEO compensation and earnings management: Does gender really matters?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 1-14.
    19. 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.
    20. Johnson, Simon & Boone, Peter & Breach, Alasdair & Friedman, Eric, 2000. "Corporate governance in the Asian financial crisis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1-2), pages 141-186.
    21. 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.
    22. Wang, Bin & Zheng, Yu, 2020. "A model of tournament incentives with corruption," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 182-197.
    23. Conyon, Martin J. & He, Lerong, 2011. "Executive compensation and corporate governance in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 1158-1175, September.
    24. Liu, Qiao & Lu, Zhou (Joe), 2007. "Corporate governance and earnings management in the Chinese listed companies: A tunneling perspective," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 13(5), pages 881-906, December.
    25. Loyola, Gino & Portilla, Yolanda, 2020. "Managerial compensation as a double-edged sword: Optimal incentives under misreporting," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 994-1017.
    26. Huang, Wei & Zhu, Tao, 2015. "Foreign institutional investors and corporate governance in emerging markets: Evidence of a split-share structure reform in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 312-326.
    27. Jiang, Guohua & Lee, Charles M.C. & Yue, Heng, 2010. "Tunneling through intercorporate loans: The China experience," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 1-20, October.
    28. Mike Burkart & Denis Gromb & Fausto Panunzi, 1997. "Large Shareholders, Monitoring, and the Value of the Firm," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(3), pages 693-728.
    29. David D. Li, 1998. "Changing Incentives of the Chinese Bureaucracy," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 130, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    30. 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.
    31. 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.
    32. Nguyen Anh Huu & Nguyen Linh Ha & Doan Duong Thuy, 2020. "Ownership Structure and Earnings Management: Empirical Evidence from Vietnam Real Estate Sector," Real Estate Management and Valuation, Sciendo, vol. 28(2), pages 37-51, June.
    33. Mara Faccio, 2006. "Politically Connected Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(1), pages 369-386, March.
    34. Li, David D, 1998. "Changing Incentives of the Chinese Bureaucracy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(2), pages 393-397, May.
    35. Laux, Volker, 2012. "Stock option vesting conditions, CEO turnover, and myopic investment," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(3), pages 513-526.
    36. Farooqi, Javeria & Harris, Oneil & Ngo, Thanh, 2014. "Corporate diversification, real activities manipulation, and firm value," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 130-151.
    37. Bengt Holmstrom, 1979. "Moral Hazard and Observability," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 10(1), pages 74-91, Spring.
    38. Bardhan, Pranab, 2020. "The Chinese governance system: Its strengths and weaknesses in a comparative development perspective," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    39. Buchuk, David & Larrain, Borja & Muñoz, Francisco & Urzúa I., Francisco, 2014. "The internal capital markets of business groups: Evidence from intra-group loans," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(2), pages 190-212.
    40. Fried, Jesse M. & Kamar, Ehud & Yafeh, Yishay, 2020. "The effect of minority veto rights on controller pay tunneling," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(3), pages 777-788.
    41. Michael S. Weisbach, 2007. "Optimal Executive Compensation versus Managerial Power: A Review of Lucian Bebchuk and Jesse Fried's Pay without Performance: The Unfulfilled Promise of Executive Compensation," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 45(2), pages 419-428, June.
    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. Chen, Shenglan & Lin, Bingxuan & Lu, Rui & Zhang, Ting, 2015. "Controlling shareholders’ incentives and executive pay-for-performance sensitivity: Evidence from the split share structure reform in China," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 147-160.
    2. Liang, Hao & Renneboog, Luc & Sun, Sunny Li, 2015. "The political determinants of executive compensation: Evidence from an emerging economy," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 69-91.
    3. Alhashel, Bader S. & Albader, Sulaiman H., 2020. "How do sovereign wealth funds pay their portfolio companies’ executives? Evidence from Kuwait," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 303-322.
    4. Wang, Qiong & Qiu, Muqing, 2023. "Strength in numbers: Minority shareholders' participation and executives' pay-performance sensitivity," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    5. Ljungqvist, Alexander & Chen, Donghua & Lu, Haitian & Jiang, Dequan & Zhou, Mingming, 2015. "State Capitalism vs. Private Enterprise," CEPR Discussion Papers 10423, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Cheng, Xu & Kong, Dongmin & Kong, Gaowen, 2022. "Foreign institutional investors and executive compensation incentives: Evidence from China," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    7. Liang, Hao & Renneboog, Luc & Li Sun, Sunny, 2015. "The political determinants of executive compensation : Evidence from an emerging economy," Other publications TiSEM 9b8bdc5e-6425-47f5-91d7-f, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    8. Cai, Guilong & Xie, Sujuan & Xu, Yue & Zeng, Yamin & Zhang, Junsheng, 2019. "Ultimate parent's board reform and controlling shareholder entrenchment: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 389-403.
    9. Liang, Quanxi & Li, Donghui & Gao, Wenlian, 2020. "Ultimate ownership, crash risk, and split share structure reform in China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    10. Miaowei Peng & Xue Tan, 2023. "Does controlling persons’ foreign residency rights influence executive compensation?," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 17(7), pages 2375-2416, October.
    11. Goergen, Marc & Manjon, Miguel C. & Renneboog, Luc, 2008. "Recent developments in German corporate governance," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 175-193, September.
    12. Ding, Mingfa, 2014. "Political Connections and Stock Liquidity: Political Network, Hierarchy and Intervention," Knut Wicksell Working Paper Series 2014/7, Lund University, Knut Wicksell Centre for Financial Studies.
    13. Chen, Shenglan & Lin, Bingxuan & Lu, Rui & Ma, Hui, 2016. "Pay for accounting performance and R&D investment: Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 142-153.
    14. Jun Chen & Wang Dong & Jamie Tong & Feida Zhang, 2018. "Corporate Philanthropy and Tunneling: Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(1), pages 135-157, June.
    15. Ronald W. Masulis & Peter K. Pham & Jason Zein, 2020. "Family Business Group Expansion Through IPOs: The Role of Internal Capital Markets in Financing Growth While Preserving Control," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(11), pages 5191-5215, November.
    16. Espinosa-Méndez, Christian & Jara-Bertín, Mauricio & Maquieira, Carlos, 2018. "The influence of family and pyramidal ownership on corporate diversification in Chile," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 158-168.
    17. Evžen Kočenda & Jan Hanousek, 2012. "State ownership and control in the Czech Republic," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 157-191, August.
    18. Jiang, Fuxiu & Ma, Yunbiao & Wang, Xue, 2020. "Multiple blockholders and earnings management," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    19. Joyce C. Wang & Jingtao Yi & Xiuping Zhang & Mike W. Peng, 2022. "Pyramidal Ownership and SOE Innovation," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(7), pages 1839-1868, November.
    20. Mike Burkart & Samuel Lee, 2008. "One Share - One Vote: the Theory," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 12(1), pages 1-49.

    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:ausecp:v:61:y:2022:i:4:p:825-847. 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: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0004-900X .

    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.