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Does Book-Tax Conformity Deter Opportunistic Book and Tax Reporting? An International Analysis

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  • Tanya Y.H. Tang

Abstract

This paper examines whether book-tax conformity (i.e. reducing the gap between financial and taxable incomes) can restrain managers from opportunistically reporting financial profits and taxable income. Empirical work on this relation so far is limited and provides contradictory results. Using publicly available financial statements from 1994 to 2007 for 16,739 firms across 32 countries, I construct a new proxy for mandatory conformity and document that high book-tax conformity is associated with lower levels of earnings management and tax avoidance. These results persist even after controlling for firm characteristics and institutional factors, such as legal enforcement, investor protection, legal systems, capital market development, and the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Additional tests reveal that the deterrent effect of conformity on earnings management is more pronounced in code-law countries but does not differ between IFRS and non-IFRS adopters, and between developed and developing capital markets.

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  • Tanya Y.H. Tang, 2015. "Does Book-Tax Conformity Deter Opportunistic Book and Tax Reporting? An International Analysis," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(3), pages 441-469, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:euract:v:24:y:2015:i:3:p:441-469
    DOI: 10.1080/09638180.2014.932297
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    2. Frey, Lisa & Engelhard, Lisa, 2017. "Review on tax research in accounting: Is the information given by U.S. GAAP income taxes also provided by IFRS?," Passauer Diskussionspapiere, Betriebswirtschaftliche Reihe B-28-17, University of Passau, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    3. Enas Abdullah Hassan, 2020. "The Economic Consequence Of International Financial Reporting Standards Adoption: Evidence From Corporate Tax Avoidance In Gulf States," Accounting & Taxation, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 12(1), pages 45-65.
    4. Wei Huang & Tingting Ying & Yun Shen, 2018. "Executive cash compensation and tax aggressiveness of Chinese firms," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 1151-1180, November.
    5. Chih-Wen Mao & Wen-Chieh Wu, 2019. "Does the government-mandated adoption of international financial reporting standards reduce income tax revenue?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 26(1), pages 145-166, February.
    6. Eichfelder, Sebastian & Jacob, Martin & Kalbitz, Nadine & Wentland, Kelly, 2020. "Tax-induced earnings management and book-tax conformity: International evidence from unconsolidated accounts," arqus Discussion Papers in Quantitative Tax Research 252, arqus - Arbeitskreis Quantitative Steuerlehre.
    7. Fernández-Rodríguez, Elena & García-Fernández, Roberto & Martínez-Arias, Antonio, 2021. "Business and institutional determinants of Effective Tax Rate in emerging economies," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 692-702.
    8. Sundvik, Dennis, 2017. "Book-tax conformity and earnings management in response to tax rate cuts," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 31-42.
    9. Sílvio Hiroshi Nakao & Sidney J. Gray, 2018. "The Impact of IFRS in Brazil: The Legacy of Mandatory Book‐tax Conformity," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 28(4), pages 482-495, December.

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