Effects of Corporate Ownership Structure on Earnings Conservatism
Abstract
This paper investigates the incremental effects of corporate ownership structure on earnings conservatism, examining data of Chinese listed companies. We employ the concept of conditional conservatism to define earnings conservatism and adopt empirical models developed by Basu (1997) and Ball and Shivakumar (2005) to measure the degree of earnings conservatism. Our empirical results show that the earnings of companies with higher non-tradable shares have lower earnings conservatism. Consistent with prior studies, this point demonstrates that the companies with state and concentrated ownership structures are more likely to depend on private communication to reduce information asymmetry and to resolve agency problems internally, thereby creating a low demand for earnings conservatism. The results of this study contribute to our understanding of how companies’ ownership structures affect the properties of earnings in emerging markets and post-Communist markets.
Keywords: earnings conservatism, non-tradable shares, ownership structure, post-Communist studies, split-share structure, state ownership
JEL Classifications: M40, M41, M49
Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the Publisher. The Editors reserve the right to edit or otherwise alter all contributions, but authors will receive proofs for approval before publication.
Copyrights for articles published in MTI journals are retained by the authors, with first publication rights granted to the journal. The journal/publisher is not responsible for subsequent uses of the work. It is the author's responsibility to bring an infringement action if so desired by the author.
