Banking Reform, Risk-Taking, and Accounting Quality: Evidence from Post-Soviet Transition States
Yiwei Fang, Wassim Dbouk, Iftekhar Hasan, Lingxiang Li
Journal of International Accounting Research,
No. 1,
2022
Abstract
The drastic banking reform within Central and Eastern Europe following the collapse of the Soviet Union provides an ideal quasi-experimental design to examine the causal effects of institutional development on accounting quality (AQ). We find that banking reform spurs significant improvement in predictive power of earnings and reductions in earnings smoothing, earnings-inflating discretionary provisions, and avoidance of reporting losses. These effects hold under alternative model specifications and after considering concurrent institutional developments. In contrast, corporate reform shows no such effects, refuting the alternative explanation that unobserved factors affect both reform speed in general and the quality of financial reporting. We further identify four specific reformative actions that are integral to the drastic banking reform process where prudential regulation contributes the most to the observed AQ improvement. It supports the conjecture that banking reform improves AQ by reducing banks' risk-taking behaviors and, as a result, their motive behind accounting manipulation.
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The Effect of Foreign Institutional Ownership on Corporate Tax Avoidance: International Evidence
Iftekhar Hasan, Incheol Kim, Haimeng Teng, Qiang Wu
Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation,
March
2022
Abstract
We find that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) reduce their investee firms’ tax avoidance. We provide evidence that the effect is driven by the institutional distance between FIIs’ home countries/regions and host countries/regions. Specifically, we find that the effect is driven by the influence of FIIs from countries/regions with high-quality institutions (i.e., common law, high government effectiveness, and high regulatory quality) on investee firms located in countries/regions with low-quality institutions. Furthermore, we show that the effect is concentrated on FIIs with little experience in the investee countries/regions or FIIs with stronger monitoring incentives. Finally, we find that FIIs are more likely to vote against management if the firm has a higher level of tax avoidance.
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23.02.2022 • 4/2022
Einladung zur Konferenz „Wirtschaft nach Corona – Was tun für den Ausstieg aus dem Krisenmodus?“ am 1. März 2022
Zwei Jahre nach Ausbruch der Pandemie wird eine veränderte Normalität greifbar. Mit welchen Risiken, aber auch mit welchen Chancen Politik und Unternehmen jetzt zu tun haben, diskutiert eine Online-Konferenz am Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung Halle (IWH). Zur Eröffnung spricht die FDP-Politikerin Katja Hessel, parlamentarische Staatssekretärin beim Bundesminister der Finanzen.
Oliver Holtemöller
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09.02.2022 • 3/2022
IWH-Insolvenztrend: Insolvenzzahlen im Januar im Jahresvergleich nochmals gefallen
Nachdem die Anzahl der Insolvenzen von Personen- und Kapitalgesellschaften in den vergangenen Monaten kontinuierlich gestiegen war, zeigt sich im Januar ein Rückgang. Auch die Zahl der betroffenen Jobs ist leicht zurückgegangen. Für die nächsten Monate ist nicht mit einer Insolvenzwelle zu rechnen.
Steffen Müller
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The Diplomacy Discount in Global Syndicated Loans
Gene Ambrocio, Xian Gu, Iftekhar Hasan, Panagiotis Politsidis
Journal of International Money and Finance,
February
2022
Abstract
This paper investigates whether state-to-state political ties with the United States affect the pricing of global syndicated loans. We find that a one-standard-deviation improvement in state political ties between the U.S. and the government of a borrower’s home country is associated with a 14.7 basis points lower loan spread, shaving off about 11.8 million USD in interest payments over the duration of the average loan for borrowers. Results also show that the effect of political ties is stronger for narrower and more concentrated loan syndicates, when lead arrangers are U.S. banks, during periods in which the U.S. is engaged in armed conflicts, when the U.S. president belongs to the Republican Party, and for borrowers with better balance sheets and prior lending relationships. Notably, not all firms benefit equally, as cross-listed firms and firms in countries with strong institutional quality and ability to attract institutional investors are much less affected by political ties.
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26.01.2022 • 2/2022
Investment, output gap, and public finances in the medium term: Implications of the Second Supplementary Budget 2021
With the Second Supplementary Budget 2021, the German government plans to allocate a reserve of 60 billion euros to the Energy and Climate Fund. This additional spending is also meant to reduce the macroeconomic follow-up costs of the pandemic. According to the IWH’s medium-term projection, the expenditure is expected to increase output by about 0.5% at the peak of its impact in 2024. “While this macroeconomic effect is welcome, the additional investment will by no means compensate for the lack of investment activity since the beginning of the pandemic,” says Oliver Holtemöller, head of the Department Macroeconomics and vice president at Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH). Moreover, the supplementary budget is likely to reduce confidence in the reliability of the debt brake.
Oliver Holtemöller
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12.01.2022 • 1/2022
IWH-Insolvenztrend: Keine Insolvenzwelle trotz Omikron
Nach historischen Tiefstständen ist die Anzahl der Insolvenzen von Personen- und Kapitalgesellschaften in den vergangenen Monaten leicht gestiegen. Dieser Trend hat sich im Dezember fortgesetzt, und auch die Zahl der betroffenen Jobs ist gestiegen. Für die nächsten beiden Monate ist trotz erwarteter Omikronwelle nicht mit einer Insolvenzwelle zu rechnen.
Steffen Müller
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15.12.2021 • 30/2021
Gutachten bescheinigt Projektionen der Bundesregierung insgesamt gute Qualität
Die Projektgruppe Gemeinschaftsdiagnose hat untersucht, wie treffsicher die ökonomischen Vorhersagen der Bundesregierung in den vergangenen vier Jahren waren. Demnach schätzte der Bund die Entwicklung des Bruttoinlandsprodukts im Durchschnitt zu optimistisch ein, die der Staatseinnahmen zu vorsichtig. Allerdings haben die Prognosen laut Gutachten keine systematische Schwäche. Der Hauptgrund für Fehler liegt in der Corona-Pandemie.
Oliver Holtemöller
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14.12.2021 • 29/2021
German economy not yet immune to COVID 19 ‒ outlook clouded again
The current pandemic wave and supply bottlenecks cause the German economy to stagnate in winter. When infection rates go down in spring, private consumption will increase significantly. In addition, supply restrictions will be gradually reduced. As a result, the economy will regain momentum. The Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH) forecasts that German gross domestic product will increase by 3.5% (East Germany: 2.7%) in 2022, after 2.7% (East Germany: 2.1%) in the current year. Inflation is expected to decline only slowly.
Oliver Holtemöller
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07.12.2021 • 28/2021
IWH-Insolvenztrend: Leichter Anstieg der Insolvenzzahlen setzt sich fort
Nach historischen Tiefstständen ist die Anzahl der Insolvenzen von Personen- und Kapitalgesellschaften in den vergangenen Monaten leicht gestiegen. Dieser Trend hat sich im November fortgesetzt. Die Zahl der betroffenen Jobs verharrt jedoch auf niedrigem Niveau. Das Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung Halle (IWH) liefert mit dem IWH-Insolvenztrend ein monatliches Update zum bundesweiten Insolvenzgeschehen.
Steffen Müller
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