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Property rights, R&D spillovers, and corporate accounting transparency in China

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  • Fan, Joseph P.H.
  • Gillan, Stuart L.
  • Yu, Xin

Abstract

We explore how property rights protections across different regions in China affect the flow of proprietary information and managers' incentives to disclose details of financial and operating performance. Our focus on research and development spillovers as a proxy for information leakages to competitors allows an examination of whether or not opacity (low transparency) is employed as a mechanism to attenuate such leakages. We find that when the threat of proprietary information leakage is high, information reported by firms is opaque. This relation appears in regions suffering from weak intellectual property rights protections, but not in those with stronger property rights protections. After taking into account the incentive to protect sensitive information, we also document that firm value is no longer related to accounting transparency. Our focus on accounting opacity to protect proprietary information differs from the agency cost explanation of most prior work. Thus we provide evidence of a cost of enhanced disclosure along with new insights on specific channels through which institutional factors influence the costs and benefits of firm disclosure policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Fan, Joseph P.H. & Gillan, Stuart L. & Yu, Xin, 2013. "Property rights, R&D spillovers, and corporate accounting transparency in China," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 15(C), pages 34-56.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ememar:v:15:y:2013:i:c:p:34-56
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ememar.2012.03.001
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    2. Wu, Zhenshu, 2023. "Essays in corporate finance and ESG," Other publications TiSEM fe6f9604-d0c5-46f3-9492-f, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    3. Jonathan A. Batten & Xuan Vinh Vo, 2016. "Bank risk shifting and diversification in an emerging market," Risk Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 18(4), pages 217-235, December.
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    6. Kang, Helen & Gray, Sidney J., 2019. "Country-specific risks and geographic disclosure aggregation: Voluntary disclosure behaviour by British multinationals," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 259-276.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Opacity; Cost of transparency; Institutional environment; Emerging markets; China;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G3 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance
    • M4 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting

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