IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/pacfin/v80y2023ics0927538x23001166.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

CEO remuneration, financial distress and firm life cycle

Author

Listed:
  • Chatterjee, Bikram
  • Jia, Jing
  • Nguyen, Mai
  • Taylor, Grantley
  • Duong, Lien

Abstract

This study investigates the association between CEO remuneration and firms' state of financial distress and whether that relationship varies systematically across firms' life cycle stages. Using a sample of 6508 firm-year observations over the 2004–2021 period, we find that a firm's state of financial distress is negatively related to CEO remuneration. We also find that this relationship holds in the mature and old stages of a firm life cycle, but not in the young phase. Our findings are consistent with the predictions of resource-based and efficient contracting theories, and are robust to endogeneity tests. Overall, our results show that CEO remuneration is a significant determinant of corporate financial distress.

Suggested Citation

  • Chatterjee, Bikram & Jia, Jing & Nguyen, Mai & Taylor, Grantley & Duong, Lien, 2023. "CEO remuneration, financial distress and firm life cycle," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pacfin:v:80:y:2023:i:c:s0927538x23001166
    DOI: 10.1016/j.pacfin.2023.102050
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927538X23001166
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.pacfin.2023.102050?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 search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ahsan Habib & Mabel D' Costa & Hedy Jiaying Huang & Md. Borhan Uddin Bhuiyan & Li Sun, 2020. "Determinants and consequences of financial distress: review of the empirical literature," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(S1), pages 1023-1075, April.
    2. Hainmueller, Jens, 2012. "Entropy Balancing for Causal Effects: A Multivariate Reweighting Method to Produce Balanced Samples in Observational Studies," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(1), pages 25-46, January.
    3. Shane Magee, 2013. "The effect of foreign currency hedging on the probability of financial distress," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 53(4), pages 1107-1127, December.
    4. Rachel Merhebi & Kerry Pattenden & Peter L. Swan & Xianming Zhou, 2006. "Australian chief executive officer remuneration: pay and performance," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 46(3), pages 481-497, September.
    5. Hoi, Chun Keung(Stan) & Wu, Qiang & Zhang, Hao, 2019. "Does social capital mitigate agency problems? Evidence from Chief Executive Officer (CEO) compensation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(2), pages 498-519.
    6. Scott J. Callan & Janet M. Thomas, 2014. "Relating CEO Compensation to Social Performance and Financial Performance: Does the Measure of Compensation Matter?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(4), pages 202-227, July.
    7. 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.
    8. Duong, Lien & Evans, John, 2015. "CFO compensation: Evidence from Australia," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 35(PA), pages 425-443.
    9. DeAngelo, Harry & DeAngelo, Linda & Stulz, Rene M., 2006. "Dividend policy and the earned/contributed capital mix: a test of the life-cycle theory," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(2), pages 227-254, August.
    10. Jia, Jing & Li, Zhongtian, 2022. "Risk management committees and readability of risk management disclosure," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(3).
    11. Matthew Grosse & Stephen Kean & Tom Scott & Tom Smith, 2017. "Shareholder say on pay and CEO compensation: three strikes and the board is out," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 57(3), pages 701-725, September.
    12. David S. Jenkins & Gregory D. Kane & Uma Velury, 2004. "The Impact of the Corporate Life‐Cycle on the Value‐Relevance of Disaggregated Earnings Components," Review of Accounting and Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 3(4), pages 5-20, April.
    13. Woo-Jin Chang & Rachel M. Hayes & Stephen A. Hillegeist, 2016. "Financial Distress Risk and New CEO Compensation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(2), pages 479-501, February.
    14. Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Habib, Ahsan, 2017. "Corporate life cycle, organizational financial resources and corporate social responsibility," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 20-36.
    15. Bradley Hendricks & Travis Howell & Christopher Bingham, 2019. "How much do top management teams matter in founder‐led firms?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(6), pages 959-986, June.
    16. R Kahn & Toni M Whited, 2018. "Identification Is Not Causality, and Vice Versa," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 7(1), pages 1-21.
    17. 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.
    18. Owen, Sian & Yawson, Alfred, 2010. "Corporate life cycle and M&A activity," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 427-440, February.
    19. Mueller, Dennis C, 1972. "A Life Cycle Theory of the Firm," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 199-219, July.
    20. Duong, Lien & Evans, John, 2016. "Gender differences in compensation and earnings management: Evidence from Australian CFOs," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 40(PA), pages 17-35.
    21. Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Hossain, Mahmud & Cheung, Adrian (Wai-Kong) & Habib, Ahsan, 2015. "Corporate life cycle and cost of equity capital," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 46-60.
    22. Armstrong, Christopher & Kepler, John D. & Samuels, Delphine & Taylor, Daniel, 2022. "Causality redux: The evolution of empirical methods in accounting research and the growth of quasi-experiments," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(2).
    23. Ahsan Habib & Mostafa Monzur Hasan, 2017. "Firm life cycle, corporate risk-taking and investor sentiment," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 57(2), pages 465-497, June.
    24. Hoa Luong & Lien Duong & John Evans, 2022. "CEO pay disparity, takeover premiums and bidder performance in Australia: efficient contracting or managerial power?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(1), pages 143-179, March.
    25. Martin Bugeja & Raymond da Silva Rosa & Lien Duong & H.Y Izan, 2012. "CEO Compensation from M&As in Australia," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(9-10), pages 1298-1329, November.
    26. Shumway, Tyler, 2001. "Forecasting Bankruptcy More Accurately: A Simple Hazard Model," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 74(1), pages 101-124, January.
    27. Iacus, Stefano M. & King, Gary & Porro, Giuseppe, 2012. "Causal Inference without Balance Checking: Coarsened Exact Matching," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(1), pages 1-24, January.
    28. Constance E. Helfat & Margaret A. Peteraf, 2003. "The dynamic resource‐based view: capability lifecycles," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(10), pages 997-1010, October.
    29. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    30. Dai, Yunhao & Rau, P. Raghavendra & Stouraitis, Aris & Tan, Weiqiang, 2020. "An ill wind? Terrorist attacks and CEO compensation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(2), pages 379-398.
    31. Chalmers, Keryn & Koh, Ping-Sheng & Stapledon, Geof, 2006. "The determinants of CEO compensation: Rent extraction or labour demand?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 259-275.
    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. ElBannan, Mona A., 2021. "On the prediction of financial distress in emerging markets: What matters more? Empirical evidence from Arab spring countries," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    2. Habib, Ahsan & Hasan, Mostafa Monzur, 2019. "Corporate life cycle research in accounting, finance and corporate governance: A survey, and directions for future research," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 188-201.
    3. Ahsan Habib & Mabel D' Costa & Hedy Jiaying Huang & Md. Borhan Uddin Bhuiyan & Li Sun, 2020. "Determinants and consequences of financial distress: review of the empirical literature," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(S1), pages 1023-1075, April.
    4. Kathleen Bakarich & Jiaxin Liu & Joseph Weintrop, 2021. "At what life-cycle stage does the auditors’ going concern report add value?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 1129-1157, April.
    5. Minhas Akbar & Ahsan Akbar & Petra Maresova & Minghui Yang & Hafiz Muhammad Arshad, 2020. "Unraveling the Bankruptcy Risk‒Return Paradox across the Corporate Life Cycle," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-19, April.
    6. Jing Jia & Zhongtian Li, 2022. "Corporate Environmental Performance and Financial Distress: Evidence from Australia," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 32(2), pages 188-200, June.
    7. Muhammad Ramzan & Wee‐Yeap Lau, 2023. "Impact of asset preferences on firm performance over its life cycle: Is agency theory or neo‐classical theory more relevant?," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(1), pages 595-607, January.
    8. James Borthwick & Aelee Jun & Shiguang Ma, 2020. "Changing board behaviour: The role of the ‘Two Strikes’ rule in improving the efficacy of Australian Say‐on‐Pay," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(S1), pages 827-876, April.
    9. Alqahtani, Jubran & Duong, Lien & Taylor, Grantley & Eulaiwi, Baban, 2022. "Outside directors, firm life cycle, corporate financial decisions and firm performance," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    10. Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Cheung, Adrian (Wai-Kong), 2018. "Organization capital and firm life cycle," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 556-578.
    11. Mostafa Monzur Hasan & Ahmed Al-Hadi & Grantley Taylor & Grant Richardson, 2017. "Does a Firm’s Life Cycle Explain Its Propensity to Engage in Corporate Tax Avoidance?," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(3), pages 469-501, July.
    12. Bakarich, Kathleen M. & Hossain, Mahmud & Hossain, Mahmud & Weintrop, Joseph, 2019. "Different time, different tone: Company life cycle," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 69-86.
    13. Bilal Ahmed & Minhas Akbar & Tanazza Sabahat & Saqib Ali & Ammar Hussain & Ahsan Akbar & Xie Hongming, 2020. "Does Firm Life Cycle Impact Corporate Investment Efficiency?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-13, December.
    14. Desrousseaux, Luc, 2023. "Are activist hedge funds good business advisors?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    15. Ahsan Akbar & Minhas Akbar & Wenjin Tang & Muhammad Azeem Qureshi, 2019. "Is Bankruptcy Risk Tied to Corporate Life-Cycle? Evidence from Pakistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-22, January.
    16. Chen, Kuan-Hau & Su, Xuan-Qi & Lin, Li-Feng & Shih, Yi-Cheng, 2021. "Profitability of moving-average technical analysis over the firm life cycle: Evidence from Taiwan," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    17. Mostafa Monzur Hasan & Adrian (Wai‐Kong) Cheung & Lidia Tunas & Hung Wan Kot, 2021. "Firm life cycle and trade credit," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 56(4), pages 743-771, November.
    18. Shoukat Ali & Ramiz ur Rehman & Wang Yuan & Muhammad Ishfaq Ahmad & Rizwan Ali, 2022. "Does foreign institutional ownership mediate the nexus between board diversity and the risk of financial distress? A case of an emerging economy of China," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 12(3), pages 553-581, September.
    19. Inder K. Khurana & Hoyoun Kyung, 2021. "Internal control material weakness and CEO recruitment," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(9-10), pages 1940-1987, October.
    20. Biswas, Pallab Kumar & Habib, Ahsan & Ranasinghe, Dinithi, 2022. "Firm life cycle and financial statement comparability," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).

    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:pacfin:v:80:y:2023:i:c:s0927538x23001166. 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: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/pacfin .

    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.