IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/bracre/v57y2025i3s0890838924002956.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impact of asset specificity on corporate tax avoidance: Do financial constraints and product market power matter?

Author

Listed:
  • Cumming, Douglas
  • Nguyen, My

Abstract

Our findings reveal that asset specificity significantly enhances corporate tax avoidance, with firms exhibiting lower cash effective tax rates. Firms with higher asset specificity also engage in more aggressive tax avoidance strategies, including tax dodging and long-term tax planning. Additionally, our analysis indicates that the positive impact of asset specificity on tax avoidance is less pronounced in firms with lower ESG performance but is more pronounced in those facing negative demand shocks or operating during periods of economic policy uncertainty. We also find that financial constraints and product market power mediate the relationship between asset specificity and tax avoidance, with financial constraints serving as the dominant economic channel. These findings offer new insights into the factors driving corporate tax avoidance and highlight the complex interplay between asset specificity, financial constraints, product market power, and tax planning strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Cumming, Douglas & Nguyen, My, 2025. "The impact of asset specificity on corporate tax avoidance: Do financial constraints and product market power matter?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 57(3).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:bracre:v:57:y:2025:i:3:s0890838924002956
    DOI: 10.1016/j.bar.2024.101515
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890838924002956
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.bar.2024.101515?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

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chen, Shuping & Chen, Xia & Cheng, Qiang & Shevlin, Terry, 2010. "Are family firms more tax aggressive than non-family firms?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(1), pages 41-61, January.
    2. repec:bla:jfinan:v:43:y:1988:i:3:p:567-91 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Chen, Haosi & Maslar, David A. & Serfling, Matthew, 2020. "Asset redeployability and the choice between bank debt and public debt," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    4. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1992. "Liquidation Values and Debt Capacity: A Market Equilibrium Approach," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(4), pages 1343-1366, September.
    5. Dyreng, Scott D. & Lindsey, Bradley P. & Thornock, Jacob R., 2013. "Exploring the role Delaware plays as a domestic tax haven," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(3), pages 751-772.
    6. Bradley, Michael & Jarrell, Gregg A & Kim, E Han, 1984. "On the Existence of an Optimal Capital Structure: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 39(3), pages 857-878, July.
    7. Shai Bernstein & Emanuele Colonnelli & Benjamin Iverson, 2019. "Asset Allocation in Bankruptcy," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 74(1), pages 5-53, February.
    8. Don Herrmann & Tatsuo Inoue & Wayne B. Thomas, 2003. "The Sale of Assets to Manage Earnings in Japan," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(1), pages 89-108, March.
    9. Officer, Micah S., 2007. "The price of corporate liquidity: Acquisition discounts for unlisted targets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(3), pages 571-598, March.
    10. Heitor Almeida & Murillo Campello, 2007. "Financial Constraints, Asset Tangibility, and Corporate Investment," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 20(5), pages 1429-1460, 2007 12.
    11. Ben S. Bernanke & Mark Gertler, 1995. "Inside the Black Box: The Credit Channel of Monetary Policy Transmission," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 27-48, Fall.
    12. David Altig & Lawrence Christiano & Martin Eichenbaum & Jesper Linde, 2011. "Firm-Specific Capital, Nominal Rigidities and the Business Cycle," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 14(2), pages 225-247, April.
    13. Duan, Tinghua & Ding, Rong & Hou, Wenxuan & Zhang, John Ziyang, 2018. "The burden of attention: CEO publicity and tax avoidance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 90-101.
    14. Gopalan, Radhakrishnan & Kadan, Ohad & Pevzner, Mikhail, 2012. "Asset Liquidity and Stock Liquidity," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 47(2), pages 333-364, April.
    15. Jarrad Harford & Sandy Klasa & William F. Maxwell, 2014. "Refinancing Risk and Cash Holdings," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(3), pages 975-1012, June.
    16. Pindyck, Robert S, 1991. "Irreversibility, Uncertainty, and Investment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 29(3), pages 1110-1148, September.
    17. Scott R. Baker & Nicholas Bloom & Steven J. Davis, 2016. "Measuring Economic Policy Uncertainty," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(4), pages 1593-1636.
    18. Allison Koester & Terry Shevlin & Daniel Wangerin, 2017. "The Role of Managerial Ability in Corporate Tax Avoidance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(10), pages 3285-3310, October.
    19. Scott D. Dyreng & Jeffrey L. Hoopes & Jaron H. Wilde, 2016. "Public Pressure and Corporate Tax Behavior," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 147-186, March.
    20. Lui, Steven S. & Wong, Yin-yee & Liu, Weiping, 2009. "Asset specificity roles in interfirm cooperation: Reducing opportunistic behavior or increasing cooperative behavior?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 62(11), pages 1214-1219, November.
    21. Guiseppe Bertola & Ricardo J. Caballero, 1994. "Irreversibility and Aggregate Investment," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 61(2), pages 223-246.
    22. Campello, Murillo & Graham, John R. & Harvey, Campbell R., 2010. "The real effects of financial constraints: Evidence from a financial crisis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(3), pages 470-487, September.
    23. Lindenberg, Eric B & Ross, Stephen A, 1981. "Tobin's q Ratio and Industrial Organization," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 54(1), pages 1-32, January.
    24. Armstrong, Christopher S. & Blouin, Jennifer L. & Jagolinzer, Alan D. & Larcker, David F., 2015. "Corporate governance, incentives, and tax avoidance," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 1-17.
    25. Campello, Murillo & Giambona, Erasmo, 2013. "Real Assets and Capital Structure," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 48(5), pages 1333-1370, October.
    26. Zimmerman, Jerold L., 1983. "Taxes and firm size," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 119-149, April.
    27. Mostafa Monzur Hasan & Ahsan Habib & Nurul Alam, 2021. "Asset Redeployability and Corporate Tax Avoidance," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 57(2), pages 183-219, June.
    28. Sonja Olhoft Rego, 2003. "Tax†Avoidance Activities of U.S. Multinational Corporations," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(4), pages 805-833, December.
    29. Michael Faulkender & Rong Wang, 2006. "Corporate Financial Policy and the Value of Cash," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(4), pages 1957-1990, August.
    30. Ervin L. Black & Keith F. Sellers & Tracy S. Manly, 1998. "Earnings Management Using Asset Sales: An International Study of Countries Allowing Noncurrent Asset Revaluation," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(9‐10), pages 1287-1317, November.
    31. Opler, Tim C & Titman, Sheridan, 1994. "Financial Distress and Corporate Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 49(3), pages 1015-1040, July.
    32. Kelvin K. F. Law & Lillian F. Mills, 2015. "Taxes and Financial Constraints: Evidence from Linguistic Cues," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(4), pages 777-819, September.
    33. David Altig & Lawrence Christiano & Martin Eichenbaum & Jesper Linde, 2011. "Firm-Specific Capital, Nominal Rigidities and the Business Cycle," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 14(2), pages 225-247, April.
    34. Hyunseob Kim & Howard Kung, 2017. "The Asset Redeployability Channel: How Uncertainty Affects Corporate Investment," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(1), pages 245-280.
    35. Iftekhar Hasan & Chun‐Keung (Stan) Hoi & Qiang Wu & Hao Zhang, 2017. "Does Social Capital Matter in Corporate Decisions? Evidence from Corporate Tax Avoidance," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(3), pages 629-668, June.
    36. Murray Z. Frank & Vidhan K. Goyal, 2009. "Capital Structure Decisions: Which Factors Are Reliably Important?," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 38(1), pages 1-37, March.
    37. Andrew M. Bauer & Junxiong Fang & Jeffrey Pittman & Yinqi Zhang & Yuping Zhao, 2020. "How Aggressive Tax Planning Facilitates the Diversion of Corporate Resources: Evidence from Path Analysis†," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(3), pages 1882-1913, September.
    38. Alessandro Gavazza, 2011. "The Role of Trading Frictions in Real Asset Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(4), pages 1106-1143, June.
    39. Paul J. Irvine & Jeffrey Pontiff, 2009. "Idiosyncratic Return Volatility, Cash Flows, and Product Market Competition," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(3), pages 1149-1177.
    40. Hansrudi Lenz, 2020. "Aggressive Tax Avoidance by Managers of Multinational Companies as a Violation of Their Moral Duty to Obey the Law: A Kantian Rationale," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 165(4), pages 681-697, September.
    41. Joel Peress, 2010. "Product Market Competition, Insider Trading, and Stock Market Efficiency," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(1), pages 1-43, February.
    42. Qingyuan Li & Li Xu, 2018. "Asset specificity and conditional accounting conservatism," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(7-8), pages 839-870, July.
    43. Andrew B. Abel & Janice C. Eberly, 1996. "Optimal Investment with Costly Reversibility," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 63(4), pages 581-593.
    44. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2017_021 is not listed on IDEAS
    45. Valerie A. Ramey & Matthew D. Shapiro, 2001. "Displaced Capital: A Study of Aerospace Plant Closings," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 109(5), pages 958-992, October.
    46. Efraim Benmelech, 2009. "Asset Salability and Debt Maturity: Evidence from Nineteenth-Century American Railroads," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(4), pages 1545-1584, April.
    47. Eugene F. Fama, 2002. "Testing Trade-Off and Pecking Order Predictions About Dividends and Debt," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 15(1), pages 1-33, March.
    48. Nicholas Bloom, 2009. "The Impact of Uncertainty Shocks," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 77(3), pages 623-685, May.
    49. Sonja Olhoft Rego & Ryan Wilson, 2012. "Equity Risk Incentives and Corporate Tax Aggressiveness," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(3), pages 775-810, June.
    50. Jacob, J, 1996. "Taxes and transfer pricing: Income shifting and the volume of intrafirm transfers," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(2), pages 301-312.
    51. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:4:p:1777-1804 is not listed on IDEAS
    52. Cen, Ling & Maydew, Edward L. & Zhang, Liandong & Zuo, Luo, 2017. "Customer–supplier relationships and corporate tax avoidance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(2), pages 377-394.
    53. My Nguyen & Justin Hung Nguyen, 2020. "Economic policy uncertainty and firm tax avoidance," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(4), pages 3935-3978, December.
    54. Toni M. Whited & Guojun Wu, 2006. "Financial Constraints Risk," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 19(2), pages 531-559.
    55. Edward I. Altman, 1968. "Financial Ratios, Discriminant Analysis And The Prediction Of Corporate Bankruptcy," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 23(4), pages 589-609, September.
    56. 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.
    57. Hanlon, Michelle & Heitzman, Shane, 2010. "A review of tax research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 127-178, December.
    58. Iftekhar Hasan & Chun‐Keung (Stan) Hoi & Qiang Wu & Hao Zhang, 2017. "Does Social Capital Matter in Corporate Decisions? Evidence from Corporate Tax Avoidance," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(3), pages 629-668, June.
    59. Vojislav Maksimovic & Gordon Phillips, 2001. "The Market for Corporate Assets: Who Engages in Mergers and Asset Sales and Are There Efficiency Gains?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(6), pages 2019-2065, December.
    60. Paul J. Irvine & Jeffrey Pontiff, 2009. "Idiosyncratic Return Volatility, Cash Flows, and Product Market Competition," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(3), pages 1149-1177, March.
    61. Rashid Zaman & Nader Atawnah & Muhammad Nadeem & Stephen Bahadar & Irfan Haider Shakri, 2022. "Do liquid assets lure managers? Evidence from corporate misconduct," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(7-8), pages 1425-1453, July.
    62. Ervin L. Black & Keith F. Sellers & Tracy S. Manly, 1998. "Earnings Management Using Asset Sales: An International Study of Countries Allowing Noncurrent Asset Revaluation," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(9-10), pages 1287-1317.
    63. Lee Pinkowitz & Rohan Williamson, 2007. "What is the Market Value of a Dollar of Corporate Cash?," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 19(3), pages 74-81, June.
    64. John R. Graham, 2000. "How Big Are the Tax Benefits of Debt?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(5), pages 1901-1941, October.
    65. Kogan, Leonid, 2001. "An equilibrium model of irreversible investment," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 201-245, November.
    66. Kraus, Alan & Litzenberger, Robert H, 1973. "A State-Preference Model of Optimal Financial Leverage," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 28(4), pages 911-922, September.
    67. Harford, Jarrad, 2005. "What drives merger waves?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(3), pages 529-560, September.
    68. Badertscher, Brad A. & Katz, Sharon P. & Rego, Sonja O., 2013. "The separation of ownership and control and corporate tax avoidance," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 228-250.
    69. Hite, Gailen L. & Owers, James E. & Rogers, Ronald C., 1987. "The market for interfirm asset sales : Partial sell-offs and total liquidations," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 229-252, June.
    70. Ortiz-Molina, Hernán & Phillips, Gordon M., 2014. "Real Asset Illiquidity and the Cost of Capital," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 49(1), pages 1-32, February.
    71. Gerard Hoberg & Gordon Phillips & Nagpurnanand Prabhala, 2014. "Product Market Threats, Payouts, and Financial Flexibility," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(1), pages 293-324, February.
    72. Armstrong, Christopher S. & Blouin, Jennifer L. & Jagolinzer, Alan D. & Larcker, David F., 2015. "Corporate Governance, Incentives, and Tax Avoidance," Research Papers 2134, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    73. A. P. Lerner, 1934. "The Concept of Monopoly and the Measurement of Monopoly Power," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 1(3), pages 157-175.
    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. Mostafa Monzur Hasan & Ahsan Habib & Nurul Alam, 2021. "Asset Redeployability and Corporate Tax Avoidance," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 57(2), pages 183-219, June.
    2. My Nguyen & Justin Hung Nguyen, 2020. "Economic policy uncertainty and firm tax avoidance," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(4), pages 3935-3978, December.
    3. Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Lobo, Gerald J. & Qiu, Buhui, 2021. "Organizational capital, corporate tax avoidance, and firm value," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    4. Amir Kermani & Yueran Ma, 2020. "Asset Specificity of Non-Financial Firms," NBER Working Papers 27642, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Usman, Adam, 2022. "Cash holdings and real asset liquidity," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    6. Mahmud Hossain & Gerald J. Lobo & Santanu Mitra, 2023. "Firm-level political risk and corporate tax avoidance," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 60(1), pages 295-327, January.
    7. Rashid Zaman & Nader Atawnah & Muhammad Nadeem & Stephen Bahadar & Irfan Haider Shakri, 2022. "Do liquid assets lure managers? Evidence from corporate misconduct," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(7-8), pages 1425-1453, July.
    8. 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).
    9. Mansoor Afzali & Timmy Thor, 2025. "Corporate culture and tax planning," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 64(2), pages 861-898, February.
    10. Kovermann, Jost & Velte, Patrick, 2019. "The impact of corporate governance on corporate tax avoidance—A literature review," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 1-1.
    11. Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Alam, Nurul, 2022. "Asset redeployability and trade credit," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    12. Nguyen, Justin Hung, 2022. "How do labor adjustment costs affect corporate tax planning? Evidence from labor skills," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    13. Qingyuan Li & Edward L. Maydew & Richard H. Willis & Li Xu, 2022. "Corporate tax behavior and political uncertainty: Evidence from national elections around the world," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(9-10), pages 1605-1641, October.
    14. Chaudhry, Neeru, 2021. "Tax aggressiveness and idiosyncratic volatility," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    15. Christofer Adrian & Mukesh Garg & Anh Viet Pham & Soon-Yeow Phang & Cameron Truong, 2023. "Do Natural Disasters Affect Corporate Tax Avoidance? The Case of Drought," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 186(1), pages 105-135, August.
    16. Ke Na & Wenjia Yan, 2022. "Languages and corporate tax avoidance," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 148-184, March.
    17. Baghdadi, Ghasan & Podolski, Edward J. & Veeraraghavan, Madhu, 2022. "CEO risk-seeking and corporate tax avoidance: Evidence from pilot CEOs," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    18. Do, Trung K., 2024. "Asset redeployability and green innovation," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    19. Ouyang, Puman & Zhong, Ligang, 2023. "Asset redeployability and dividend payout policy," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 91-105.
    20. Hernán Ortiz-Molina & Gordon M. Phillips, 2010. "Asset Liquidity and the Cost of Capital," NBER Working Papers 15992, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G31 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Capital Budgeting; Fixed Investment and Inventory Studies
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

    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:eee:bracre:v:57:y:2025:i:3:s0890838924002956. 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: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/the-british-accounting-review .

    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.