Ownership Structure and Earnings Quality of Listed Financial Firms in Nigeria

The study determined the effect of ownership structure on earnings quality of listed financial firms in Nigeria.The study employed secondary data.The study population comprised all the 16 listed financial firms on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.Purposive sampling technique was adopted to select top 10 banks whose shares are consistently traded on the stock market.Data for ownership structure and earnings quality were sourced from the audited financial statements of the selected firms and the Nigerian Stock Exchange Factbook over a period of 10 years(2009-2018).Collected data were analyzed using pooled ordinary least square,fixed effect and random effect estimation techniques.The result from the study showed that institutional ownership(t=4.3,p˂0.05)had a positive and statistically significant relationship with earnings quality while ownership concentration(t=-2.5,p˂0.05)had a negative and significant relationship with earnings quality.The study recommended that the institutional ownership which shows a positive relationship with earnings quality enables improved earnings of the sampled listed banks.More institutional participation should be allowed in the Nigerian listed banks as it was proved that they have the power to monitor the affairs of managers as this will have a positive impact on earnings.Concentration ownership gives managers incentives to manage earnings to achieve short term opportunistic interest;therefore it should not be encouraged.

Institutional Investors, Earnings Quality and Asset Liquidity： Evidence from China＇s Stock Market

This paper investigates how institutional holding and earnings quality influence the liquidity of assets. Contrary to findings in developed markets, we document several novel results in China＇s stock market： （1） institutional holding negatively affects assets＇ liquidity, （2） earnings quality is negatively related with liquidity. Since earnings quality captures asymmetric information, low earnings quality induces high divergence in investor opinions and thus boosts market trading, and （3） interestingly, the effect of earnings quality on liquidity is greater if institutional investors＇ holding is at a high level. Overall, our findings cast doubt on the conventional wisdom that institutional investors and earnings quality improve market liquidity. The results are robust to different measures and alternative model specifications.

Earnings Management in State-Owned Enterprises in a Period of Macroeconomic Instability

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether and to what extend Greek state-owned enterprises engage in earnings management techniques during 2012-2016.Most prior studies on earnings management have used data from large economies with relative stable macroeconomic contexts(e.g.,USA).Our knowledge about earnings management in smaller economies is rather limited.To fill this void,we conducted our study in Greece and focused on the abovementioned period,which is very interesting given that Greece experienced a substantial political and macroeconomic instability(e.g.,four elections,one referendum,capital controls,and two memorandums).Two different models(i.e.,The Earnings Distribution Model and the Modified Jones Model)are used to provide answers to the research questions.The sample is composed of 50 state-owned enterprises.The results show that Greek state-owned enterprises did not adopt any earnings management techniques during the examined period.These results are rather robust given that they come from two different models.According to the literature,macroeconomic and political instability provide incentives to managers to use earnings management techniques.Interestingly though,our results suggest that this is not the case for a smaller economy.The findings of this study will allow investors,auditors,and users of the financial statements to make better decisions when studying companies that are experiencing those difficulties.The adoption of two different methods and the similar results is an indication of more robust and valid findings.

Evaluation of the Effects of Corporate Governance on Financial Reporting Quality

Corporate governance is designed to stimulate the investment environment and to create a stable financial situation in the capital markets by increasing the level of reliability,transparency,and accountability at the firm level.This study aims to examine whether corporate governance leads to higher quality financial reporting.This research has been performed using companies listed on Borsastanbul(BIST).For this purpose,two samples from the publicly held companies on BIST,which are included in the Corporate Governance Index and which are not included in this index,have been formed.Thus,we examined whether there is any difference between the financial reporting quality of the companies listed in Borsastanbul Corporate Governance Index and the financial reporting quality of the enterprises that are not included in this index.Since the quality of financial reporting is a multi-dimensional concept,it can be evaluated by different measurement methods focusing on different dimensions in the literature.One of these approaches used to measure the quality of financial reporting is the quality of earnings.The evaluation of the financial reporting quality of the enterprises included in the BIST Corporate Governance Index and the enterprises not included in the index were evaluated through different methods to compare two different samples in the context of the earnings quality approach.Panel data analysis was used to evaluate the financial reporting quality of the two samples by means of earnings quality methods.The data related to the models used in the assessment of financial reporting quality were obtained from the Public Disclosure Platform(KAP)and Equity RT database.The research covers 72 enterprises,36 of which are in the Corporate Governance Index and 36 of which are not in the Corporate Governance Index.

Voluntary Disclosure of Auditors＇ Report on Internal Control： Firm Characteristics and Economic Consequences

Using propensity score matching （PSM） and the difference-in- difference （DID） approach, this paper explores the characteristics of listed Chinese firms that voluntarily disclose auditors＇ reports on internal control and the economic consequences. Using a sample of non-financial firms listed on the main boards of the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange between 2006 and 2010, we find that firms are more likely to voluntarily disclose their auditors＇ reports on internal control if they have higher state ownership, lower managerial ownership, sanction records, audit committees, non-Big Four auditors as their auditors of annual financial reports, unqualified auditors＇ opinions on financial reports, less board independence, after controlling for firm size, liabilities, performance, and history. Moreover, as compared to a control group that exhibits similar characteristics, firms that voluntarily disclose auditors＇ reports on internal control are associated with positive earnings quality and negative cost of equity capital.