Asian Review of Accounting

Andrade, Douglas; Viana, Dante; Ponte, Vera; Domingos, Sylvia

2023 Asian Review of Accounting

doi: 10.1108/ara-06-2022-0154

This study analyzes earnings management among Brazilian public firms during the 2016 Presidential Impeachment.Design/methodology/approachThe sample comprises, as a treatment group, 721 firm-quarter observations relating to Brazilian listed firms. It also considers a control group of listed firms from Mexico, which were not affected by the exogenous shock analyzed (i.e. the 2016 Presidential Impeachment in Brazil). The firms' quarterly financial data cover the period between 2013 and 2018.FindingsConsidering several proxies related to earnings management by accruals, the main findings suggest a negative relationship between the 2016 impeachment event and the level of discretionary accruals, suggesting that Brazilian firms tended to reduce their earnings management levels during the impeachment process. The results are robust whether the control group is considered or not.Originality/valueThis study brings new empirical evidence to the literature on accounting information quality about the role of the economic and political environment in earnings management, especially in weak institution countries characterized by institutional voids and higher levels of corruption.

Latif, Shahid; Izani Mohd Salleh, Safrul; Abd. Ghani, Mazuri; Ahmad, Bilal

2023 Asian Review of Accounting

doi: 10.1108/ara-05-2022-0123

This qualitative inquiry sheds light on using management accounting systems to address economic sustainability concerns in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of Pakistan. Building on the dynamic capabilities (DC) theory, this research endeavors to address the recent calls on management accounting and economic sustainability in the context of SMEs.Design/methodology/approachQualitative research design was adopted in which 13 semistructured interviews were conducted with SME owners of Pakistan. The transcribed interviews were coded and thematic analysis was performed via NVIVO-12 to generate themes.FindingsBased on the DC theory, the findings revealed that SME owners in Pakistan use management accounting systems to ensure economic sustainability. The authors found that DC are a co-created phenomenon and refer to them as collective DC. Furthermore, the authors found the theme of accounting literacy which played a critical role in the exhibition of DC in a collective manner.Originality/valueThis is one of the earliest studies on management accounting systems that examine economic sustainability in Pakistani SMEs. This research provides novel insights into the use of management accounting systems in Pakistan from the perspective of DC. In Pakistani SMEs, dynamic capacities are co-created and contingent on accounting literacy.

Asthana, Sharad; Kalelkar, Rachana

2023 Asian Review of Accounting

doi: 10.1108/ara-04-2022-0100

This paper's purpose was to examine the impact of geomagnetic activity (GMA) on the timing and valuation of earnings information disclosed by firms every quarter.Design/methodology/approachThe authors start the analyses with a sample of 112,669 client firms from 1989 to 2018. To analyze the impact of GMA on the earnings response coefficient (ERC), the authors use the three-day cumulative abnormal returns and cumulative abnormal returns for the extended post-earnings announcement window [2, 75] as the dependent variables. The authors interact unexpected earnings (UE) with the C9 Index, an index commonly used to measure GMA and study how GMA affects the pricing of new public information. To examine the effect of GMA on the timing of disclosure of earnings news, the authors regress a variant of the GMA index on the propensity to disclose bad earnings news.FindingsThe authors find significantly lower earnings response coefficients during periods of high GMA. This effect is permanent and stock prices do not correctly incorporate the implications of earnings information over time. The authors also show that managerial behavior is affected by GMA as well and the managers are more (less) likely to release bad (good) news during periods of higher activity. Finally, the authors also find that in situations where stakeholders are likely to rely on modern technology that depends minimally on humans, the adverse impact of GMA on the pricing of earnings information is mitigated.Originality/valueThe literature on the effect of GMA on the capital market is very limited and focuses primarily on stock returns, while the behavioral finance literature focuses on circumstances like weather, temperature and sporting outcome to study how the investors' mood affects their capital market behavior. The authors add to both the literature by investigating how GMA influences investors' and managers' behaviors in the capital market.

Tantawy, Soad Moussa; Moussa, Tantawy

2023 Asian Review of Accounting

doi: 10.1108/ara-07-2022-0161

This paper aims to examine how different types of corporate political connections (PCs) affect auditor choice decisions (and, therefore, audit quality) and audit opinions following the 2013 Egyptian uprising.Design/methodology/approachThis paper utilizes a unique hand-collected dataset on the type of PCs of Egyptian listed companies from 2014 to 2019. Several analyses are employed to test the hypotheses, including logit regression, probit regression and generalized linear mixed models (GLMM). A number of additional analyses are conducted to ensure the robustness of the results, including the instrumental variables (IVs) probit models and propensity score matching (PSM).FindingsThe results show that firms' choice of auditor and audit opinion is heavily influenced by firms' PCs. Companies with PCs through boards of directors and major shareholders hire Big 4 audit firms to enhance corporate legitimacy; however, government-linked companies usually retain non-Big 4 audit firms to avoid increased transparency and to conceal improper activities, including tunneling and rent-seeking. Further, the results indicate that companies with PCs through boards of directors or major shareholders are more likely to receive favorable audit opinions, whereas government-owned businesses are less likely to receive such opinions.Research limitations/implicationsThis study provides additional evidence to policymakers that binding regulations and guidelines are necessary to oversee politically connected firms (PCFs) and to enhance governance and investor protection.Originality/valueThis study provides the first empirical evidence on how corporate PCs influence the choice of auditors and the opinions of audit firms in Egypt. This paper also sheds light on the impact of different types of corporate PCs on the choice of auditors and audit opinions.

Dalwai, Tamanna; Habib, Ahmed Mohamed; Mohammadi, Syeeda Shafiya; Hussainey, Khaled

2023 Asian Review of Accounting

doi: 10.1108/ara-06-2022-0151

This study investigates the impact of managerial ability and auditor report readability on the cost of debt and corporate liquidity in Omani-listed industrial companies.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses data from the S&P Capital IQ database and audited annual reports published on Muscat Securities Market. The sample consists of 35 firms (175 firm-year observations) from 2015 to 2019. Managerial ability is measured using the data envelopment analysis proposed by Demerjian et al. (2012a, b). Auditor report readability is measured as a log of the auditor report digital file size proposed by Loughran and McDonald (2014).FindingsThis study finds that a company's managerial ability reduces the cost of debt lending support to upper echelons and agency theory. Highly able managers of industrial companies are associated with increased corporate liquidity consistent with the precautionary motive of holding cash. In addition, less-readable auditor reports contribute to higher debt costs and reduce corporate liquidity.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, few studies have explored the influence of managerial ability and auditor reporting readability on firms' financial policy. For industrial-sector firms, this study demonstrates the managerial ability and readability of auditor readability as significant determinants of the cost of debt and corporate liquidity, especially during periods of uncertainty. Thus, the findings can be generalized to other non-financial sector firms in the country and the Middle East.

Shaat, Iman; Aldamen, Husam; Kercher, Kim; Duncan, Keith

2023 Asian Review of Accounting

doi: 10.1108/ara-09-2022-0206

The paper examines the relationship between board effectiveness and audit fees for state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Furthermore, given the unique nature of SOEs, the paper assesses country-level influences, such as economic freedom, political democracy and protection of minority shareholders, which can impact board effectiveness and audit fees.Design/methodology/approachA combination of two-stage and ordinary least squares regression is used to examine the board characteristics-audit fee relationship for SOEs in a multinational setting during the period from 2016 to 2018.FindingsThe results indicate that board characteristics that represent a high level of effectiveness are associated with higher audit fees in SOEs. Furthermore, the findings suggest SOE's operating in countries evidencing medium levels of democracy and economic freedom and medium to high levels of protection of minority shareholders may be motivated to reduce agency conflicts by promoting accountability and transparency, thereby demanding increasing levels of corporate governance, monitoring and audit quality, thereby increasing audit fees.Practical implicationsThe results provide further support for the OECD (2015) guidelines promoting the use of high-quality external audits in SOEs.Originality/valueAs a result of the scarceness of research in this area, the current study extends the literature by examining the role of corporate governance and audit fees in SOEs, while examining the influence of economic freedom, political democracy and protection of minority shareholders.

Hossain, Dewan Mahboob; Alam, Md. Saiful

2023 Asian Review of Accounting

doi: 10.1108/ara-09-2022-0208

The main objective of this article is to explore the discourses on social inequality in the annual reports of Bangladeshi NGOs.Design/methodology/approachTo fulfil this objective, a discourse analysis was conducted on the latest annual reports of ten renowned NGOs in Bangladesh. The findings were interpreted from the impression management perspective.FindingsIt was found that the NGOs of Bangladesh are highlighting several social inequality issues such as poverty, gender inequality, inequality related to getting healthcare, legal and education facilities, etc. in their annual reports. Several impression management tactics were applied in the narratives of the annual reports. The NGOs portrayed themselves as “problem solvers” who are the saviors of distressed people.Practical implicationsThis study will facilitate improving the understanding of NGO communication. Policymakers will be able to understand the disclosures of NGOs and consider the necessity to provide guidance that may lead to better information dissemination through reports.Originality/valueThis study will contribute to the limited literature on NGO disclosures from the context of developing economies. In the context of NGO, this research is methodologically novel as it applies discourse analysis and interprets the findings through the lens of impression management.