IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/coacre/v17y2000i2p263-302.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Income Smoothing and Discretionary R&D Expenditures of Japanese Firms

Author

Listed:
  • VIVEK MANDE
  • RICHARD G. FILE
  • WIKIL KWAK

Abstract

During the recent recession (1991 to present), Japanese firms decreased their spending on R&D for the first time since World War II. The decreases have raised concerns that Japanese managers may be making suboptimal allocations to R&D. We test whether Japanese managers adjust R&D based on short†term performance. Our results show that Japanese firms in several industries adjust their R&D budgets to smooth profits. Interestingly, adjustments to R&D are larger in expansion years. These results, similar to those documented with U.S. managers, point to myopic decision making by Japanese managers.

Suggested Citation

  • Vivek Mande & Richard G. File & Wikil Kwak, 2000. "Income Smoothing and Discretionary R&D Expenditures of Japanese Firms," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(2), pages 263-302, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:coacre:v:17:y:2000:i:2:p:263-302
    DOI: 10.1506/QXBV-UY71-A6W1-FWT4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1506/QXBV-UY71-A6W1-FWT4
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1506/QXBV-UY71-A6W1-FWT4?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. David Hirshleifer, 1993. "Managerial Reputation and Corporate Investment Decisions," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 22(2), Summer.
    2. Kasanen, Eero & Kinnunen, Juha & Niskanen, Jyrki, 1996. "Dividend-based earnings management: Empirical evidence from Finland," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1-3), pages 283-312, October.
    3. Kaplan, Steven N, 1994. "Top Executive Rewards and Firm Performance: A Comparison of Japan and the United States," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(3), pages 510-546, June.
    4. Aldrich, Howard E. & Sasaki, Toshihiro, 1995. "R&D consortia in the United States and Japan," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 301-316, March.
    5. Kato, Takao & Rockel, Mark, 1992. "Experiences, credentials, and compensation in the Japanese and U.S. managerial labor markets: Evidence from new micro data," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 30-51, March.
    6. Hamao, Yasushi, 1991. "A Standard Data Base for the Analysis of Japanese Security Markets," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64(1), pages 87-102, January.
    7. Aboody, D & Lev, B, 1998. "The value relevance of intangibles: The case of software capitalization," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36, pages 161-191.
    8. Masahiko Aoki, 2013. "Toward an Economic Model of the Japanese Firm," Chapters, in: Comparative Institutional Analysis, chapter 18, pages 315-341, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    10. Chan, Su Han & Martin, John D. & Kensinger, John W., 1990. "Corporate research and development expenditures and share value," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 255-276, August.
    11. Cooper, Jean C. & Selto, Frank H., 1991. "An experimental examination of the effects of SFAS No. 2 on R&D investment decisions," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 227-242.
    12. Rayburn, J, 1986. "The Association Of Operating Cash Flow And Accruals With Security Returns," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24, pages 112-133.
    13. Xu, Peng, 1997. "Executive Salaries as Tournament Prizes and Executive Bonuses as Managerial Incentives in Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 319-346, September.
    14. Clinch, G, 1991. "Employee Compensation And Firms Research-And-Development Activity," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 59-78.
    15. Steven N. Kaplan, 1997. "Corporate Governance And Corporate Performance: A Comparison Of Germany, Japan, And The U.S," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 9(4), pages 86-93, January.
    16. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-838, May.
    17. Brown, Lawrence D. & Hagerman, Robert L. & Griffin, Paul A. & Zmijewski, Mark E., 1987. "An evaluation of alternative proxies for the market's assessment of unexpected earnings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 159-193, July.
    18. Mande, Vivek, 1996. "A comparison of U.S. and Japanese analysts' forecasts of earnings and sales," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 143-160.
    19. Abe, Yukiko, 1997. "Chief Executive Turnover and Firm Performance in Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 2-26, March.
    20. McConnell, John J. & Muscarella, Chris J., 1985. "Corporate capital expenditure decisions and the market value of the firm," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 399-422, September.
    21. Jacobson, Robert & Aaker, David, 1993. "Myopic management behavior with efficient, but imperfect, financial markets : A comparison of information asymmetries in the U.S. and Japan," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 383-405, October.
    22. Lev, Baruch & Sougiannis, Theodore, 1996. "The capitalization, amortization, and value-relevance of R&D," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 107-138, February.
    23. Finger, Ca, 1994. "The Ability Of Earnings To Predict Future Earnings And Cash Flow," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 210-223.
    24. Kirsten M. Ely & Vivek Mande, 1996. "The Interdependent Use of Earnings and Dividends in Financial Analysts' Earnings Forecasts," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(2), pages 435-456, September.
    25. Bhagat, Sanjai & Welch, Ivo, 1995. "Corporate research & development investments international comparisons," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2-3), pages 443-470, April.
    26. Elliott, J & Richardson, G & Dyckman, T & Dukes, R, 1984. "The Impact Of Sfas No-2 On Firm Expenditures On Research And Development - Replications And Extensions," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 85-102.
    27. Prowse, Stephen D, 1992. "The Structure of Corporate Ownership in Japan," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(3), pages 1121-1140, July.
    28. Mansfield, Edwin, 1988. "Industrial R&D in Japan and the United States: A Comparative Study," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(2), pages 223-228, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Keishi Fujiyama & Makoto Kuroki, 2017. "Strategic Management Forecasts and Accounting Choices: A Case of Employee Downsizing in Japan," Discussion Paper Series DP2017-06, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University, revised Sep 2017.
    2. repec:hur:ijaraf:v:4:y:2014:i:2:p:85-97 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Dinh, Tami & Schultze, Wolfgang, 2022. "Accounting for R&D on the income statement? Evidence on non-discretionary vs. discretionary R&D capitalization under IFRS in Germany," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    4. Zhaoyan Gu & Keiichi Kubota & Hitoshi Takehara, 2017. "How do Normative and Compliant CSR Affect the Earnings Quality of Japanese Firms?," The Japanese Accounting Review, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University, vol. 7, pages 1-21, December.
    5. Yuan Ding & Hervé Stolowy & Michel Tenenhaus, 2004. "Les déterminants de la stratégie de « capitalisation » des frais de recherche et développement en France," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 7(4), pages 87-106, December.
    6. Jeong‐Bon Kim & Jeff J. Wang & Eliza Xia Zhang, 2021. "Does real earnings smoothing reduce investors’ perceived risk?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(9-10), pages 1560-1595, October.
    7. Thomas H. Beechy, 2009. "The Many Challenges of Pension Accounting," Accounting Perspectives, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 8(2), pages 91-111, May.
    8. Ali Ostadhashemi & Muhammad Esmaeil Fadaei Nejad, 2019. "To study moderating role of ownership structure on R&D expenditure policies on accounting performance and market value," International Journal of Financial Engineering (IJFE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 6(01), pages 1-18, March.
    9. Dirk E. Black & Spencer R. Pierce & Wayne B. Thomas, 2022. "A Test of Income Smoothing Using Pseudo Fiscal Years," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(7), pages 5533-5555, July.
    10. Yasar Bayraktar & Asiye Tutuncu, 2020. "The Effect of R&D Expenditures on Earnings Management: A Research on Bist-All Shares," Istanbul Business Research, Istanbul University Business School, vol. 49(2), pages 301-315, November.
    11. Rihab Guidara & Younes Boujelbene, 2014. "R&D-Based Earnings Management and Accounting Performance Motivation," International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, vol. 4(2), pages 81-93, April.
    12. Yosr Hrichi & Feten Arfaoui, 2023. "Research and development capitalization, fair value, and earnings management: A study of French listed companies," Journal of Accounting and Management Information Systems, Faculty of Accounting and Management Information Systems, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, vol. 22(3), pages 569-586, September.
    13. Markarian, Garen & Pozza, Lorenzo & Prencipe, Annalisa, 2008. "Capitalization of R&D costs and earnings management: Evidence from Italian listed companies," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 246-267, September.

    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. Heinrich, Ralph P., 1999. "Complementarities in Corporate Governance - A Survey of the Literature with Special Emphasis on Japan," Kiel Working Papers 947, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    2. Kothari, S. P., 2001. "Capital markets research in accounting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 105-231, September.
    3. Mitsudome, Toshiaki & Weintrop, Joseph & Hwang, Lee-Seok, 2008. "The relation between changes in CEO compensation and firm performance: A Japanese/American comparison," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 605-619, December.
    4. Minjung Kang & Sangil Kim & Moon-Kyung Cho, 2019. "The Effect of R&D and the Control–Ownership Wedge on Firm Value: Evidence from Korean Chaebol Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-20, May.
    5. Kato, Takao, 1997. "Chief executive compensation and corporate groups in Japan: New evidence from micro data," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 455-467, July.
    6. Ivan E. Brick & Oded Palmon & Dilip K. Patro, 2007. "Stock Price Response to Calls of Convertible Bonds: Still a Puzzle?," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 36(2), pages 1-21, July.
    7. Ahn, Sanghoon & Bhattacharya, Utpal & Jung, Taehun & Nam, Giseok, 2009. "Do Japanese CEOs matter?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 628-650, November.
    8. Peter Wright & Mark Kroll, 2002. "Executive Discretion and Corporate Performance as Determinants of CEO Compensation, Contingent on External Monitoring Activities," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 6(3), pages 189-214, September.
    9. Hideaki Sakawa & Naoki Watanabel, 2008. "Relationship between Managerial Compensation and Business Performance in Japan: New Evidence Using Micro Data," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 22(4), pages 431-455, December.
    10. Tami Dinh Thi & Wolfgang Schultze, 2011. "Capitalizing research & development and ‘other information’: the incremental information content of accruals versus cash flows," Metrika: International Journal for Theoretical and Applied Statistics, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 241-278, November.
    11. Mehdi Nehkili & Evelyne Poincelot, 2000. "La fonction R&D et la latitude managériale: une analyse théorique," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 3(1), pages 5-28, March.
    12. Chung-Ki Min & Sun Young Whang, 2001. "The Impact of Ownership Structure on Earnings Usefulness: Japanese Evidence," International Area Studies Review, Center for International Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, vol. 4(1), pages 109-124, March.
    13. Sinclair Davidson & Robert Brooks, 2004. "R&D, Agency Costs and Capital Structure: International Evidence," Econometric Society 2004 Australasian Meetings 59, Econometric Society.
    14. Chan, Konan & Lin, Yueh-hsiang & Wang, Yanzhi, 2015. "The information content of R&D reductions," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 131-155.
    15. Cheung, Joseph K. & Kim, Jeong-Bon & Lee, Jason, 1999. "The Impact of Institutional Characteristics on Return-Earnings Associations in Japan," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 571-596, 010.
    16. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1997. "A Survey of Corporate Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 737-783, June.
    17. Kato, Takao & Kubo, Katsuyuki, 2006. "CEO compensation and firm performance in Japan: Evidence from new panel data on individual CEO pay," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 1-19, March.
    18. Bange, Mary M. & De Bondt, Werner F. M., 1998. "R&D budgets and corporate earnings targets," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 153-184, June.
    19. Katsuyuki Kubo & Takuji Saito, 2008. "The Relationship Between Financial Incentives For Company Presidents And Firm Performance In Japan," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 59(4), pages 401-418, December.
    20. repec:bla:finmgt:v:36:y:2007:i:2:p:1-21:2 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Hung-Chao Yu & Wen-Ying Wang & Chingfu Chang, 2015. "The stock market valuation of intellectual capital in the IT industry," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 279-304, August.

    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:wly:coacre:v:17:y:2000:i:2:p:263-302. 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: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1911-3846 .

    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.