This study aims to apply unit root test to investigate the behavior of Chinese firms toward their leverage policy. The study is based on two influential and competing theories of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to apply unit root test to investigate the behavior of Chinese firms toward their leverage policy. The study is based on two influential and competing theories of capital structure.
Design/methodology/approach
This study applies unit root test to investigate the behavior of Chinese firms toward their leverage policy. The study is based on two influential and competing theories of capital structure. Trade off theory advocates that firms have a target level of leverage ratio and that firms try to achieve that optimal leverage ratio, whereas pecking order theory argues that firms have no target level of leverage and that they follow a specific pattern of leverage. For this purpose, this study applies a Fisher type unit root test to 12,808 firm level observations. The data are unbalanced and cover a period from 1991 to 2014.
Findings
The results reveal the presence of a stationary behavior across short-term, long-term and total leverage policies. For short-term leverage policy, 21 per cent firms show stationary behavior, while for long-term, 20 per cent show a targeting behavior; for the total leverage policy 17 per cent of firms are found to follow a tradeoff model. To make the findings more interesting sample was further classified into profit and loss making firms. The study finds that loss making firms do not follow a target level of leverage in China. Furthermore, unit root is applied to all firms before and after crises-2008. It is revealed that stationary behavior is more prevalent before crises-2008.
Originality/value
This study is highly important from the point of view that it quantifies firms into distinct categories of following specific model of capital structure. To the best of the author’s knowledge, the findings of this study add to current research knowledge about Chinese firms with respect to adjustment behavior toward a target capital structure.
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Ajid ur Rehman, Asad Yaqub, Tanveer Ahsan and Zia-ur-Rehman Rao
This study aims to investigate earnings management practice of classification shifting of revenues in Chinese-listed firms.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate earnings management practice of classification shifting of revenues in Chinese-listed firms.
Design/methodology/approach
The study employs a dataset of 2,920 A-listed firms from Chinese stock exchanges of Shanghai and Shenzhen for the period of 2003–2019. We apply both univariate and panel regression analysis by using fixed effect estimation with robust standard errors.
Findings
Our findings reveal that firms misclassify revenues by taking advantage of the flexibility provided by applicable financial reporting standards. The empirical evidence obtained through regression analysis suggest that managers reclassify non-operating revenues as operating revenue to alter the economic reality while seeking the advantage of financial reports users’ vulnerability for valuing the upper half of income statement items more as compared to lower part. The results further indicate that international financial reporting standards adoption inhibits the earnings management practices using classification shifting of revenues. It is also concluded that firms, which are suffering losses or having low growth, are more persistently involved in misclassification of revenues.
Originality/value
The study is unique from the point of view that it investigates earnings management from the prospective of revenue’s classification in an emerging market characterized by various market imperfections such as lower investor protection and higher information asymmetry.
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Ajid Ur Rehman, Tanveer Ahmad, Shahzad Hussain and Shoaib Hassan
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how corporate cash holdings changes across firm life cycle and how firms undergo heterogeneous dynamic cash adjustment as they advance…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how corporate cash holdings changes across firm life cycle and how firms undergo heterogeneous dynamic cash adjustment as they advance from one stage to the next stage.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses an extensive data set of 2,994 Chinese A-listed firms. The authors use generalized method of moments (GMM) and Fisher Panel unit root testing to investigate the targeting behavior of Chinese firms.
Findings
The uni-variate investigation reveals that firms in the growth stage exhibits the highest cash levels and firms in the decline stage report the lowest cash levels. As growth firms have high investment needs, they may require raising external capital to meet investment needs. To avoid the costly external financing, firms in growth stage tend to hold more cash. The GMM estimation reveals that along all the phases of firm life cycle there are evidences of trade-off behavior of corporate cash holdings. The authors report that adjustment rate increases as firms enters into the growth stage.
Practical implications
The findings provide both theoretical and practical insight to align cash policies with the available strategic choices along firm life cycle in an emerging market characterized by market imperfections.
Originality/value
The study is unique from the context that it is applying robust methodology to one of rarely investigated area in corporate cash policy. The peculiar Chinese study setting characterized by higher information asymmetry, high cost of external financing and heterogeneous access to financing sources provide theoretical and empirical underpinnings to investigate and gain insight about how corporate cash policy can be aligned with strategic choices available across different stages of life cycle.
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Ghulam Ayehsa Siddiqua, Ajid ur Rehman and Shahzad Hussain
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the asymmetric adjustment of cash holdings in Pakistani firms for above and below target firms.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the asymmetric adjustment of cash holdings in Pakistani firms for above and below target firms.
Design/methodology/approach
The study employs generalized method of moments (GMM) to investigate the adjustment of cash holdings.
Findings
The study found that the firms which hold cash above the optimal level of cash holdings have higher speed of adjustment than the firms which hold cash below the optimal level. Financially constrained (FC) firms also adjust their cash holdings faster than financially unconstrained (FUC) firms but high speed of downward adjustment does not remain persistent after financial constraints are controlled. Findings of this study reveal this asymmetric adjustment in above and below target firms and extend these results in FC and FUC Pakistani listed firms, respectively.
Research limitations/implications
The conclusion of this study has been derived under certain limitations. There is a vast space to extend this study in different dimensions. Firms operating in capital-intensive industries may provide different results for financial constraints because their policy designing would be quite different from other firms.
Originality/value
This study contributes to cash holdings research in Pakistan by exploring the adjustment behavior of cash holdings across Pakistani non-financial firms using econometric modeling. Downward adjustment rate is supposed to be higher than upward adjustment rate and this rate is tested using dynamic panel data model. Similarly, it is inferred that this relationship holds for above target firms even after including the financial constraints in the presented model.
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Umair Bin Yousaf, Irfan Ullah, Man Wang, Li Junyan and Ajid Ur Rehman
This study aims to examine the relationship between board capital and firm performance in the Chinese tourism industry.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the relationship between board capital and firm performance in the Chinese tourism industry.
Design/methodology/approach
The study’s sample includes firms from the Chinese hotel, air transportation/travel and catering industries. This study explores the governance environment in tourism industries. This study estimates three dimensions of the board, including education, expertise and directors interlock. These dimensions are further grouped as human capital (i.e. education and expertise), social capital (interlocks) and board capital (sum of social and human capital). Ordinary least square regressions with multiple robustness tests are used to investigate the effect of board capital on firm value in Chinese listed tourism firms during 2005–2018.
Findings
This study finds that board capital positively impacts firm performance in its dimensions of human and social capital. This study also highlights the two important ownership contexts, namely, institutional investors and state-ownership, that shape the board capital-firm performance association in the Chinese tourism industry.
Practical implications
The findings suggest that board capital plays a significant role in corporate decisions. The results illustrate that higher board capital improves both governance mechanisms and resource provision roles of the board, resulting in higher firm value. The results further offer implications for managers and shareholders of tourism firms when electing directors as shareholders’ representatives.
Originality/value
The study has two important contributions. First, it extends the prior literature of firm value by considering the board’s human and social dimensions in the tourism sector. Second, contrary to prior research on board, this study takes three facets of board capital, education, expertise and interlocks that improve governance mechanisms and bring new resources in the shape of skills, knowledge and expertise.
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Syed Waqar Akbar, Ajid Ur Rehman and Muhammad Shahzad Ijaz
This paper aims to examine the impact of corruption on bank stability and bank profitability separately for Islamic banks as well as conventional banks. Moreover, it also…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the impact of corruption on bank stability and bank profitability separately for Islamic banks as well as conventional banks. Moreover, it also investigates whether the existence of Islamicity and corruption in the environment can moderate the Islamic banks-stability and Islamic banks-profitability relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
Sample of the study consists 136 banks comprising 70 Islamic and 66 conventional banks over the period 2015–2021 from nine countries with dual banking systems. Panel data fixed effect estimator with year effects is used to estimate the results.
Findings
Results of the study show that Islamicity is positively and corruption is negatively related to bank stability as well as bank profitability. Further, it is found that the effect of corruption is significantly different between Islamic and conventional banks, wherein conventional banks are more adversely affected than Islamic banks. However, an insignificant difference between Islamic and conventional banks is observed in the case of Islamicity.
Practical implications
The study provides theoretical and practical implications. On theoretical side, the study presents Islamicity as more reliable measure of religiosity based on Islamic values that can help in control of corruption by moderating corruption-bank stability nexus especially in dual banking economies which have high share of Muslim population. On practical side, the study recommends policy and operational measures for mitigating corruption aiming bank stability.
Originality/value
The results of this study contribute to the corruption-finance, religion-finance and dual banking literature. This study suggests that regulators and bank management must consider corruption and Islamicity while formulating their policies for better bank performance/stability.
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Sabeeh Ullah, Muhammad Haroon, Shahzad Hussain and Ajid Ur Rehman
Islamic label of an organization attracts Muslims for investment. There is a rising concern with a huge profile of corporate governance related to the Islamic rules (principles)…
Abstract
Purpose
Islamic label of an organization attracts Muslims for investment. There is a rising concern with a huge profile of corporate governance related to the Islamic rules (principles). In this context, this study aims to examine the effect of Islamic labelling on corporate governance in the Pakistani setting.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a panel data set comprising 120 non-financial Shariah-compliant and non-Shariah-compliant Islamic firms listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange over the period 2013–2020. For analysis, this study used static panel data estimation techniques. Moreover, for robustness check, this study also applied the system generalized method of movements procedure.
Findings
The findings deduced from empirical estimations reveal that Islamic labelling is positively associated with corporate governance. Overall, results indicate that Islamic labelling promotes corporate governance practices in Pakistan.
Originality/value
It is of utmost importance in terms of both theoretical and empirical context that Pakistan is a Muslim country having a 96.5% Muslim population, and it is evident that Muslims are allowed to execute their business under the guidance of Shariah principles. This study is unique because most of the previous literature provides empirical support related to the impact of corporate governance on capital structure, profitability and firm performance in conventional and Islamic firms. Practically, there is scarce literature on this issue.