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1 – 10 of over 1000Abbas Hajipour, Ali Shams Nateri and Alireza Sadr Momtaz
This study aimed to use a scanner as a low-cost method for measuring the opacity of textile fabric. Textile fabrics must have specific ranges of opacity according to their…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aimed to use a scanner as a low-cost method for measuring the opacity of textile fabric. Textile fabrics must have specific ranges of opacity according to their uses for shirting, curtaining, etc. In this way, opacity is an important property in the textile industry. Conventionally, textile opacity is estimated using a spectrophotometer, which is an expensive method.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study a scanner was used as a low-cost method for measuring the opacity of textile fabric. The opacity was estimated by using red, green and blue (RGB) parameters of images of fabric against white and black background.
Findings
The accuracy of opacity estimation was improved by converting RGB into several color spaces. The best opacity estimation was obtained by using the XYZ color space. In addition, using a regression method, the best estimation was obtained by using a fourth-order polynomial regression with the LSLM color space.
Originality/value
The opacity of fabric has been measured by spectrophotometer, but in this study, the opacity of fabric was measured by scanner as a low cost device and also with novel and simple method. This method achieved acceptable accuracy for opacity estimation. The obtained result is comparable with spectrophotometer results.
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Ahmed Riahi‐Belkaoui and Fouad K. AlNajjar
The purpose of this paper is to identify and test the determinates of earnings opacity internationally. The determinates are hypothesized to be the elements of social…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify and test the determinates of earnings opacity internationally. The determinates are hypothesized to be the elements of social, economic and accounting order in each of the 34 countries of the study.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 34 countries’ data was collected and data estimation and several statistical and correlations were performed.
Findings
Earnings opacity internationally is negatively related to the levels of economic freedom and quality of life, and positively related to rule of law, economic growth and level of corruption. Further, the findings are surprising that the level of disclosure, the number of auditors per 100,000 inhabitants and the adoption of international accounting standards (as elements of the accounting order) are not significantly related to earnings opacity internationally. It is the social and economic climate rather than the technical accounting climate that is at the core of the lack of accounting quality in general and earnings opacity in particular.
Originality/value
Elements of accounting order do not seem to affect earnings opacity as much as social and economic characteristics. It is the economic and the social context rather than the technical that explicates better the level of accounting quality in general and the level of earnings opacity in particular in a given country. Earnings opacity is higher as a result of higher rule of law, economic growth and level of corruption, and lower as result of higher level of economic freedom and quality of life.
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This paper examines how accounting quality, as measured by earnings opacity, affects the stock market wealth effect, which in turn is shown to be linked to economic…
Abstract
This paper examines how accounting quality, as measured by earnings opacity, affects the stock market wealth effect, which in turn is shown to be linked to economic growth. Stock market wealth effect is negatively affected by earnings opacity. The data also indicate that the exogenous component of the stock market wealth effect — the component defined by earnings opacity‐ is positively associated with economic growth. The direct effect of earnings opacity on economic growth is, as expected negative, but insignificant.
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Wing Him Yeung and Camillo Lento
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between corporate governance and earnings opacity in China.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between corporate governance and earnings opacity in China.
Design/methodology/approach
Two corporate governance mechanisms form the basis of the analysis: 1) the board of directors and 2) the external audit function. OLS regression analysis is employed on a large sample from 2000 to 2014 with 20,235 firm-year observations.
Findings
Corporate governance is found to be associated with reduced levels of earnings opacity for Chinese listed companies. Furthermore, the association between corporate governance and reduced levels of earnings opacity strengthened after the implementation of various key reforms.
Practical implications
Chinese regulators are advised to proceed with caution as not all Western approaches to corporate governance are transferrable to the Chinese setting.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature by analyzing broad latent constructs of corporate governance in addition to individual observable dimensions in order to reveal that various key reforms have been successful in strengthening the link between governance and reporting quality for Chinese listed companies.
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Output per worker varies significantly from one country to another. Why? Our analysis shows that differences in earnings opacity are important sources of this variation…
Abstract
Output per worker varies significantly from one country to another. Why? Our analysis shows that differences in earnings opacity are important sources of this variation. Earnings opacity is a measure that reflects how little information there is in a firm's earnings number about its true, but unobservable, economic performance. According to our results, a high‐productivity country has the accounting quality associated with low earnings opacity. Results further suggest that the quality of accounting in general, and low earnings opacity in particular helps a country by stimulating the accumulation of human and physical capital and by raising its total factor productivity.
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Lassaâd Mbarek and Dorra Mezzez Hmaied
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the informational opacity of Tunisian banks versus non‐banking firms taking into account information environment changes.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the informational opacity of Tunisian banks versus non‐banking firms taking into account information environment changes.
Design/methodology/approach
This research uses the synchronicity of stock returns as a proxy of informational opacity. It also examines bank crash risk relying on the skewness of residual returns. Finally, the study addresses the effects of mandatory disclosure requirements on firm opacity and market volatility.
Findings
The results suggest that bank stock prices incorporate less specific information than non‐banks. Moreover, banks are more likely to experience stock price crashes. However, the authors find a significant decrease of informational opacity for both banking and non‐banking firms since 2006 which supports substantial improvements in the corporate disclosure environment.
Practical implications
The findings are interesting for regulators. Banks with high stock returns synchronicity and negative residual returns skewness are more opaque and are significantly exposed to crash risk. Consequently, they deserve greater regulatory scrutiny. Thus, the opacity measures derived from the asset pricing model could be a useful tool for monitoring disclosure policies in the banking sector.
Originality/value
The paper extends the empirical literature on the determinants of bank stock returns synchronicity and skewness for an emerging economy, Tunisia. The information environment offers an empirical opportunity to examine the dynamics of opacity as well as the desirability of mandatory disclosure requirements in the banking system.
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Samuel Mongrut, Manuel Tello Marín, Maria del Carmen Torres Postigo and Darcy Fuenzalida O’Shee
This paper aims to identify what are the moderating factors affecting the relationship between firms’ adoption of international financial and reporting standards (IFRS…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to identify what are the moderating factors affecting the relationship between firms’ adoption of international financial and reporting standards (IFRS) and the firm’s opacity.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses the meta-analysis methodology from Hunter et al. (1982) to find if the mere IFRS adoption reduces firm’s opacity and a meta-regression from Stanley and Jarrell (1989) to identify the moderating factors that may influence this relationship.
Findings
Contrary to previous studies, this study finds a low, negative and nonsignificant correlation between IFRS adoption and firms’ opacity, but this relationship depends on the geographical region. Using 34 results from 28 studies from different continents published between 2005 and 2018 this study finds that IFRS adoption reduces opacity in countries with common law (COML) and with more authorities’ oversight and power to enforce the rules.
Originality/value
This study finds two institutional commonalities between different previous studies that intend to assess the impact of the IFRS adoption upon firms’ opacity: the legal system and the authorities’ oversight power.
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Ronaldo Trogo de Almeida, Wilson Luiz Rotatori Corrêa, Helder Ferreira de Mendonça and José Simão Filho
This paper relates to the literature on central bank (CB) transparency and inflation uncertainty. Considering that opacity is a possible source for inflation uncertainty…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper relates to the literature on central bank (CB) transparency and inflation uncertainty. Considering that opacity is a possible source for inflation uncertainty the purpose of this paper is to test the hypothesis that increase in the dispersion of the degree of CB opacity generates higher levels of inflation uncertainty.
Design/methodology/approach
In a first step, the authors present a theoretical model that shows how increase in the dispersion of the degree of CB opacity creates higher levels of inflation uncertainty. In a second step, the authors test the assumption that increase in the dispersion of the degree of CB opacity generates higher levels of inflation uncertainty in the Brazilian economy.
Findings
The findings denote that CB transparency is an important tool for guiding public expectations and thus contributes to avoiding the uncertainty caused by CB preferences.
Originality/value
This paper extends the theoretical model presented by de Mendonça and Simão Filho (2007) by the theoretical link between the forecast error and opacity. Furthermore, because the theoretical underpinning relies on the CB guiding inflation expectations, the authors construct an uncertainty measure based on survey of forecasts where such expectations can be inferred through the variability in the forecast error.
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Yuanhui Li, Ying Luo, Jiali Wang and Check-Teck Foo
This paper aims to investigate the economic consequence of the tax reductive strategy on stock price. The authors’ theory, empirically reinforced, suggests managerial tax…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the economic consequence of the tax reductive strategy on stock price. The authors’ theory, empirically reinforced, suggests managerial tax aggressiveness endangers the corporation through a heightened risk in stock price crashing. Information opacity worsens the situation by reinforcing the relationship. Policymakers should emphasize two aspects: market openness and tighter institutional monitoring. The evidence shown in this paper demonstrates that these two weaken the tax aggressiveness impact on risk of a crashing stock price.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample in this paper consists of 9,702 observations from listed firms from 2008 to 2013 in China. The tax rate is manually collected and all the other original data used in this study are sourced from Wind and China Capital Market and Accounting Research databases. Both logistic regression and ordinary least squares regression methods are used to test the hypothesis in this paper.
Findings
One key insight is in tax aggressiveness to be strongly correlated with a greater risk of future stock price crashing. The authors also found information opacity to exert a positive moderating effect. That is, the higher the information opacity, the stronger and more positive the correlation between tax aggression and stock price crash risk. However, the market process and an institutional investor have opposite, negative impacts. An open market environment reduces their correlativeness. Similarly, stronger institutional vigilance leads to an attenuation of such a co-relationship.
Practical implications
The findings of this paper have wide policy implications for management and control by authorities of listed corporations. Aggressiveness in management of corporate taxes accentuates the risks borne by stockholders. If so, internally within the corporation, such aggression shown by management, if not proscribed, could be subject to scrutiny, possibly by an independent committee. Externally, this may be countered by the authority in emphasizing three key factors: openness in information sharing, the market environment and tighter institutional monitoring.
Originality/value
This study provides a consequential theory of aggressive management of tax, rigorously analyzed and strongly, empirically supported. Overall, aggressiveness in tax management is related with assumption of higher risks in the crashing of stock price. The relationship is enhanced through information opacity, but reduced via market environment and institutional monitoring.
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The paper explores the impact of the quality of accounting in a given country, as measured by an index of earnings opacity, on the country's level of corruption. The…
Abstract
The paper explores the impact of the quality of accounting in a given country, as measured by an index of earnings opacity, on the country's level of corruption. The results of a regression of corruption on earnings opacity for a sample of 34 countries show significant relationships between the level of corruption and the level of earnings opacity after controlling for economic development, human development, size of government and economic freedom.