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Article
Publication date: 26 September 2020

Zhigang Li, Yuan-Teng Hsu and Xiang Gao

This paper aims to investigate the dynamics of repurchase-based earnings management vis-à-vis other real activities manipulations during the 2007–2008 financial crisis.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the dynamics of repurchase-based earnings management vis-à-vis other real activities manipulations during the 2007–2008 financial crisis.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper adopts a Probit model to regress alternate real earnings management (REM) methods on a dummy variable indicating whether a firm falls in the crisis event window or not, during our 15-year sample period. This paper also detects switches made by suspected firms from repurchasing to other REM tools such as reducing discretionary expenditures.

Findings

This paper provides solid evidence indicating that firms suspected of earnings management have the tendency to decrease accretive share repurchases after the onset of the crisis. Conversely, the above pattern is neither observed in non-suspect firms nor over non-crisis periods. A further investigation documents that firms that switch REM during crisis can be characterized by less cash holding, smaller size, more severe liquidity shortage and/or tighter financial constraint.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the literature on understanding the respective and interactive implications of both share repurchases and global financial crisis on firms’ REM activities.

Details

Pacific Accounting Review, vol. 32 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0114-0582

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 November 2018

Ahmet C. Kurt

Accelerated share repurchases (ASRs) represent an important recent innovation in repurchase methods. Although executives often mention signaling undervaluation as a motivation for…

Abstract

Purpose

Accelerated share repurchases (ASRs) represent an important recent innovation in repurchase methods. Although executives often mention signaling undervaluation as a motivation for ASRs, managing earnings per share (EPS) has been argued as a key alternative motivation in the financial press. This paper aims to investigate whether ASRs are driven by managerial opportunism (i.e. managing EPS) or managerial optimism (i.e. signaling undervaluation) and whether stock market participants see through these motives.

Design/methodology/approach

The sample consists of 293 ASRs conducted between 2004 and 2011. Firms suspected of using ASRs to manage EPS (EPS-suspect firms) were identified by examining actual reported EPS, as-if EPS (i.e. EPS that would have been reported in the absence of an ASR), and analysts’ consensus EPS forecasts. A logistic regression of EPS-suspect versus non-EPS-suspect ASR transactions was performed. Analysts’ reactions to ASR announcements and investors’ reactions to post-ASR earnings announcements were examined. Changes in post-ASR operating performance were also analyzed.

Findings

Twenty-nine per cent of ASR firms (EPS-suspect firms) would have missed the consensus EPS forecasts had they not implemented the repurchase. Managerial incentives – securing bonuses and maintaining reputation by avoiding EPS misses – appear to lie behind this opportunistic use of ASRs. Upward revision observed in analysts’ EPS forecasts upon the announcement of ASRs is short-lived, indirectly facilitating firms’ use of ASRs to meet or beat consensus forecasts. Investors, however, are not fooled by managers’ use of ASRs as an earnings management device. Unlike EPS-suspect firms, non-EPS-suspect firms exhibit positive abnormal operating performance during the post-ASR period, suggesting that these firms use ASRs as a signaling device rather than as an earnings management device.

Practical implications

ASRs can be used by managers to signal better future performance to investors. However, managers who intend to do so should carefully consider the timing of an ASR. Initiating an ASR when the company is facing the risk of missing analysts’ EPS forecasts may be interpreted as the ASR being motivated by EPS management concerns rather than signaling, diminishing the credibility of a positive signal intended to be conveyed through the ASR. Further, when considering payout policy and executive compensation decisions, corporate boards need to be cognizant of managers’ incentives for undertaking ASRs. The use of ASRs opportunistically to boost EPS is prevalent, and this action is followed by poor performance.

Originality/value

A number of novel results are documented using tests that are methodologically distinct from those used in related previous research. Notably, this is the first study to distinguish between EPS-suspect and non-EPS-suspect ASR firms and examine the determinants as well as consequences of using ASRs as an earnings management versus signaling device. One out of every four ASR firms are EPS-suspects. Analysts react to ASR announcements by only temporarily increasing their short-term EPS forecasts. Investors see through managers’ use of ASRs as an earnings management device. While ASRs are prone to managerial opportunism, a large number of firms use ASRs to communicate favorable information about their future operating performance to investors.

Details

Review of Accounting and Finance, vol. 17 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1475-7702

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Article
Publication date: 6 May 2014

Ken C. Yook and Partha Gangopadhyay

The wealth effect of accelerated stock repurchase (ASR) documented by previous studies is not as large as the authors would have expected. The authors believe that there are…

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Abstract

Purpose

The wealth effect of accelerated stock repurchase (ASR) documented by previous studies is not as large as the authors would have expected. The authors believe that there are potentially important sampling problems in the previous studies, which make the results less reliable. Identifying a number of factors that can possibly affect the announcement-period returns, the purpose of this paper is to reexamine the wealth effect of ASRs.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper identifies a number of factors that can possibly affect the announcement-period returns to ASRs which include: whether an ASR announcement in the press is the initiation date or the completion date of the ASR; the size of the ASR program; whether an ASR is part of an open market repurchase (OMR) program; the frequency of ASR announcements by a firm; whether other corporate news is announced simultaneously with an ASR. The paper partitions the ASR sample into three groups, and then examines the wealth effect of these groups.

Findings

The empirical results show that the market reacts differently to the announcement of ASR in these three groups. The three-day announcement-period CAR (t=−1, +1) is 3.59 percent for the high-wealth-effect group, 2.01 percent for the medium-wealth-effect group, and 1.48 percent for the low-wealth-effect group. The paper also identifies the size of the ASR program, whether the ASR is announced simultaneously with an OMR or not, and the frequency of ASR announcements are the most important determinants of the announcement-period abnormal returns.

Originality/value

These findings suggest that the weaker wealth effects of ASRs that have been documented in previous studies are due to sampling related issues.

Details

Managerial Finance, vol. 40 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4358

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 25 October 2021

Roland Pérez

The purpose of this chapter is to study corporate strategies and their evolution over the last few decades (1970–2020). The strategic issues are examined through the lens of the…

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to study corporate strategies and their evolution over the last few decades (1970–2020). The strategic issues are examined through the lens of the following activities: portfolio scope (diversification versus specialisation), structuring (integration versus outsourcing) and financing, debt-related policies (leverage) and equity (dilution versus relution). The financialisation of corporate strategies is evident at various levels (specialisation, outsourcing, leverage, relution) to the detriment of the other stakeholders concerned. It weakens the latter and calls for stronger regulation of the financial markets (particularly share buyback operations).

Details

Rethinking Finance in the Face of New Challenges
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80117-788-7

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 August 2018

Henri Akono

This paper aims to examine whether high equity incentives motivate executives to avoid issuing convertible debt and/or to design convertible debt issues as anti-dilutive to…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine whether high equity incentives motivate executives to avoid issuing convertible debt and/or to design convertible debt issues as anti-dilutive to earnings-per-share (EPS).

Design/methodology/approach

Tests are conducted using the Heckman two-step probit model to control for potential self-selection bias between firms that issue straight debt and those that issue convertible debt. Further, analyses are conducted separately and jointly for the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to assess the differential impact of CEOs’ and CFOs’ equity incentives on convertible debt issuance and design decisions.

Findings

Firms are more likely to design convertible debt issues as anti-dilutive to EPS when CFOs have high levels of equity incentives, but only when the firm stock price is sensitive to diluted EPS. High CEOs’ equity incentives have limited impact of convertible debt issuance and design decisions.

Research limitations/implications

The main limitation of this study is the generalizability of the findings and implications of this study due to the smaller sample size of convertible debt issues.

Originality/value

Prior research has shown that bonus incentives influence CEOs with disincentive for EPS dilution and motivate them to make anti-dilutive financing decisions. Further, there is evidence that high equity incentives motivate CEOs to manage earnings to boost short-term prices. This study extends prior literature by showing that high equity incentives provide executives with disincentive for EPS dilution and motivate CFOs to design convertible debt issues as anti-dilutive to EPS possibly to avoid reduced stock prices. Further, this study shows that CFOs have greater influence over convertible debt design choices than CEOs do.

Details

Review of Accounting and Finance, vol. 17 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1475-7702

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Article
Publication date: 1 June 2003

Michael Nwogugu

Corporate accountability and quality of corporate disclosure have impacted on many companies and banks, particularly those grown through mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and…

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Abstract

Corporate accountability and quality of corporate disclosure have impacted on many companies and banks, particularly those grown through mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and companies have had to restate their financial statements. The growth of service and technology companies (particularly by M&A) presents numerous public policy, legal, regulatory and accounting issues. Some of these companies have substantial intangible assets and the accounting for M&A and investments can be manipulated to affect reported assets and earnings. The exchange of securities and conflicts of interest in such transactions can affect financial statements – all of these factors can distort strategic planning, legal analysis, performance analysis and credit analysis. Fraudulent conveyance has typically not been considered in detail in many real life transactions (processed by law firms, the SEC, accounting firms and banks), even though it is the major means of unfair and illegal wealth transfer and fraud in corporate transactions. This paper highlights some of these issues, and illustrates the role and benefits of proper legal analysis in corporate transactions, and the convergence of corporate financial analysis and legal analysis and tax/accounting analysis.

Details

Managerial Auditing Journal, vol. 18 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0268-6902

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 July 2021

Kyung Soon Kim and Yun W. Park

Existing studies show that firms may have an incentive to use share repurchases opportunistically, thereby taking advantage of market participants’ confirmation bias that share

Abstract

Purpose

Existing studies show that firms may have an incentive to use share repurchases opportunistically, thereby taking advantage of market participants’ confirmation bias that share repurchase is a signal of undervaluation. This study aims to investigate whether signaling costs and accounting transparency can serve as tools to identify opportunistic share repurchases.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors measure signaling costs by using two share repurchase methods (direct and indirect share repurchase) with different share repurchase costs, and measure accounting transparency using the history of earnings timeliness. The authors further measure long-term performance following share repurchases using operating performance and stock returns. Lastly, the authors compare the long-term performances between the groups defined by share repurchase method and earnings timeliness level.

Findings

The authors find that indirect share repurchase firms with a history of poor earnings timeliness experience unfavorable long-term performance, while other share repurchase firms do not. This finding reinforces the view that some share repurchases may be driven by managerial opportunism. In particular, when firms with a history of poor earnings-reporting behavior choose a low-cost repurchase method, their share repurchases may be motivated by managerial opportunism.

Originality/value

The findings suggest that past earnings timeliness and the signaling costs of a repurchase together are useful predictors of false signaling. Moreover, they suggest that investors can – at least in part – predict opportunistic share repurchases by using signaling costs and accounting transparency.

Article
Publication date: 4 September 2020

Andrejs čirjevskis

This paper aims to operationalize and to test the ARCTIC (A – Advantage, R – Relatedness, C – Complexity of Competence, T – Time of Integration, I – Implementation Plan, C …

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to operationalize and to test the ARCTIC (A – Advantage, R – Relatedness, C – Complexity of Competence, T – Time of Integration, I – Implementation Plan, C – Cultural Fit) framework to assess the prerequisites of competence-based synergy in the acquisition process. The current research provides new analyses of recent acquisitions in the global beauty industry where the ARCTIC framework was satisfied and where the ARCTIC model was NOT satisfied by decisive factors to get the acquisition's synergies. It allows readers to contrast two case studies and grasp how the framework works in greater detail.

Design/methodology/approach

The current research relies on an extensive archival search that included financial statements, annual reports, internal documents, industry publications and CEO statements to get at a micro-level understanding. This boosts research data and the operationalization of the ARCTIC framework.

Findings

The research identified four steps for investigating whether core competence transfer in an acquisition process would be a source of competence-based synergies. The incorporation of real options into the synergy valuation measures market value-added arising from M&A deals.

Originality/value

The current paper contributes to theoretical and practical issues of global M&As as part of the existing literature of international business and strategic management. The impact on reciprocal synergies of agency problems, external interaction between CEOs in M&A deals, corporate governance systems and an executive compensation theory are promising areas of future research.

Objetivo

El presente artículo pretende poner en práctica y a prueba el esquema ARCTIC a fin de evaluar los requisitos previos de la sinergia basada en las competencias en el proceso de adquisición. Este estudio ofrece nuevos análisis de las recientes adquisiciones acontecidas en el sector de la belleza a nivel mundial en las que se siguió el esquema ARCTIC y en las que NO se siguió por factores decisivos para conseguir las sinergias de la adquisición. Permite a los lectores contrastar dos casos prácticos y comprender con mayor detalle cómo funciona el esquema.

Diseño/metodología/enfoque del estudio

Para el estudio actual se ha llevado a cabo una amplia búsqueda de archivos entre los que se incluyen balances financieros, informes anuales, documentación interna, publicaciones del sector y declaraciones del director general para obtener una comprensión pormenorizada. De este modo, se potencian los datos de la investigación y la puesta en práctica del esquema ARCTIC.

Conclusiones

En el estudio se han identificado cuatro pasos que determinan si la transferencia de competencias básicas en un proceso de adquisición sería el origen de sinergias basadas en las competencias. La incorporación de opciones reales en la evaluación de las sinergias mide el valor añadido del mercado derivado de las operaciones de fusión y adquisición.

Originalidad/valor

Este artículo contribuye a los aspectos teóricos y prácticos de las fusiones y las adquisiciones mundiales como parte de la bibliografía existente sobre comercio internacional y gestión estratégica. El impacto de las sinergias recíprocas de problemas del agente-principal, las interacciones externas entre directores generales en acuerdos de fusiones y adquisiciones, los sistemas de gobernanza empresarial y una teoría de la compensación ejecutiva son campos prometedores para futuras investigaciones.

Details

Academia Revista Latinoamericana de Administración, vol. 34 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1012-8255

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Article
Publication date: 1 May 2005

Randy MacDonald

To provide a template for creating shareholder value through successful mergers and acquisitions (M&A) practices.

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Abstract

Purpose

To provide a template for creating shareholder value through successful mergers and acquisitions (M&A) practices.

Design/methodology/approach

Taking as an example the merger between Ameritrade Holding Corporation and Datek Online Holdings Corp. in 2002, this paper provides a template for clearly and transparently communicating with shareholders and potential shareholders the value creation so the company can get credit for its M&A success in its stock price.

Findings

Outlining a template can create consistency, discipline and transparency around the creation of shareholder value during M&As.

Originality/Value

Other publications have documented reasons why M&As fail including: companies overpaying, the integration failing to overcome cultural conflicts, poor integration processes being used, resource constraints, etc. This article doesn't cover that. This article walks through a simple template for companies to follow when measuring shareholder value creation from a M&A.

Originality/value

It is more than just the fact that most M&As fail to realize the promised value. To be successful, deal makers must have a simple, transparent and disciplined approach to measuring the shareholder value creation. This paper offers guidelines for this approach.

Details

Strategic Direction, vol. 21 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0258-0543

Keywords

Case study
Publication date: 20 January 2017

David P. Stowell and Christopher D. Grogan

January 27, 2005, was an extraordinary day for Gillette's James Kilts, the show-stopping turnaround expert known as the “Razor Boss of Boston.” Kilts, along with Proctor & Gamble…

Abstract

January 27, 2005, was an extraordinary day for Gillette's James Kilts, the show-stopping turnaround expert known as the “Razor Boss of Boston.” Kilts, along with Proctor & Gamble chairman Alan Lafley, had just orchestrated a $57 billion acquisition of Gillette by P&G. The creation of the world's largest consumer products company would end Kilts's four-year tenure as CEO of Gillette and bring to a close Gillette's 104-year history as an independent corporate titan in the Boston area. The deal also capped a series of courtships between Gillette and other companies that had waxed and waned at various points throughout Kilts's stewardship of Gillette. But almost immediately after the transaction was announced, P&G and Gillette drew criticism from the media and the state of Massachusetts concerning the terms of the sale. Would this merger actually benefit shareholders, or was it principally a wealth creation vehicle for Kilts?

To understand the factors that persuaded shareholders of both P&G and Gillette to merge their companies, the valuation metrics involved in determining the merger consideration, compensation packages for key managers, and the politics (internal, local government, and regulatory) that impact major mergers.

Details

Kellogg School of Management Cases, vol. no.
Type: Case Study
ISSN: 2474-6568
Published by: Kellogg School of Management

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