Anne Beatty

The importance of accounting changes in debt contracts: the cost of flexibility in covenant calculations

In this paper we examine how the exclusion of voluntary and mandatory accounting changes from the calculation of covenant compliance affects the interest rate charged on the loan. After controlling for self-selection bias and other factors known to affect loan spreads, we find that the rate charged is 84 basis points lower when voluntary accounting changes are excluded and 71 basis points lower when mandatory accounting changes are excluded. Our results suggest that borrowers are willing to pay substantially higher interest rates to retain accounting flexibility that may help them avoid covenant violations and to avoid duplicate record keeping costs.

Do Delays in Expected Loss Recognition Affect Banks' Willingness to Lend?

Banks can decrease their future capital inadequacy concerns by reducing lending. The capital crunch theory predicts that lending is particularly sensitive to regulatory capital constraints during recessions, when regulatory capital declines and external-financing frictions increase. Regulators and policy makers argue that the current loan loss provisioning rules magnify this pro-cyclicality. Exploiting variation in the delay in expected loss recognition under the current incurred loss model, we find that reductions in lending during recessionary relative to expansionary periods are lower for banks that delay less. We also find that smaller delays reduce the recessionary capital crunch effect. These results hold across management quality partitions.

An Empirical Analysis of the Economic Implications of Fair Value Accounting for Investment Securities

This paper analyzes security returns of bank holding companies and insurance companies during periods surrounding the adoption of SFAS 115. We find that bank share prices were negatively affected by the examined events but find little share price reaction for insurance companies. Our evidence suggests that banks were adversely affected by the standard because of problems with the standards market value accounting approach. Cross-sectional analysis of event period returns shows that banks that more frequently traded their investments and banks with longer maturing investments were the most negatively impacted by the standard. Further support of these cross-sectional results is provided by an analysis of actual investment behavior in the 1993-1994 period.

The cash flow and informational effects of employee stock ownership plans

Abstract The tax, employee benefit, capital structure, and corporate control effects of ESOPs are examined by estimating the stock market reaction to ESOP announcements. This is the first empirical examination of the relationship between computed firm-specific tax savings and firm value, and therefore provides evidence that helps resolve the theoretical dispute over ESOP tax savings. The results show that investors expect ESOPs to increase cash flows through tax savings, and to reduce the likelihood of takeover for companies subject to takeover attempts when ESOPs are announced.

Motives for forming research & development financing organizations☆

Abstract We study the decision to fund R&D through a separate financing organization (an ‘RDFO’) that takes the form of either a limited partnership or a corporation. The RDFO offers tax and financial reporting benefits. As a form of external funding, it also creates moral hazard and adverse selection problems (information costs). Using convertible debt as a comparative form of external funding, we find that debt-related (but not equity-related) financial reporting benefits affect the decision to form RDFOs, the evidence is mixed on whether taxes influence the formation decision, and the information costs of RDFOs restrict their use.

The Spillover Effect of Fraudulent Financial Reporting on Peer Firms’ Investments

We investigate how high-profile accounting frauds affect peer firms’ investment. We document that peers react to the fraudulent reports by increasing investment during fraud periods. We show that this finding is not driven by frauds that have a higher ex ante likelihood of detection or by an association between fraud and investment booms. In addition, we find that peers’ investments increase in fraudulent earnings overstatements, and in industries with higher investor sentiment, lower cost of capital and higher private benefits of control. We also find evidence consistent with equity analysts potentially facilitating the spillover effect.

Assessing the use of derivatives as part of a risk-management strategy

Abstract Guay (1998, Journal of Accounting and Economics, this issue) addresses potential endogeneity biases in cross-sectional studies of derivative use by examining derivative initiations. When derivatives are only part of a risk-management strategy, tests comparing derivative users versus non-users may be biased. One solution to this difficult problem is to examine an exogenous change in derivative use. Guay (1998) identifies a recent reduction in transactions costs as a potential exogenous shock to derivative use. However, if cost reductions cannot explain derivative initiations, then his analysis may not eliminate the biases in previous research. Studies isolating alternative exogenous changes in firms’ risk management strategies may provide further insights.

An Empirical Analysis of Model Misspecification in Studies of Valuation of Financial Statement Disclosures

A number of studies have examined the correlation between financial statement disclosures and share prices to assess the informativeness of these disclosures. There are several potential econometric problems with analyses of this type, and the interpretations of the results depend critically on the type of econometric problem. For example, the results of these studies should not be used to answer accounting policy questions unless the effect of an omitted variable bias is likely to be minimal. Given potential interpretation problems, we argue that analysis of model misspecification should be performed to isolate the form of misspecification. The contribution of this paper is to suggest a series of tests to perform this task. We use these tests to assess the importance of misspecification in adaptations of Barths (1994) investment securities valuation model and Beaver et al.s (1989) model of loan loss valuation. We find compelling evidence of the importance of misspecification apart from measurement error (e.g., omitted variables) in the model of investment securities valuation, but find only weak evidence of any misspecification other than measurement error in the loan loss valuation model.

The Impact of State Taxation of U.S. Government Obligations on the Structure of Banks' Investment and Financing Portfolios

This paper reports on an examination of the effects of dfferential state taxation of U.S. Government obligations (hereinafter, USOs) on how banks structure their investment and financing portfolios. Twenty-seven states tax banks on their USOs holdings or the income from them and twenty-three states and the District of Columbia do not. We find that banks in states which do not tax these investments hold significantly greater amounts of these assets and, as these assets are the least risky assets banks hold, we also find that banks in non-taxed states hold a less risky mix of assets than banks in taxed states. Consistent with compensating for their riskier asset mix, we also find that banks in states that tax USOs hold a higher ratio of capital to assets. This result is consistent with effective bank regulation in that banks in all states are found to evidence similar overall risk, as measured by the ratio of their capital to risk-weighted assets. Finally, the effects shown in this paper are economically significant. We find that banks operating in untaxed states hold, on average, 125% of the amount of USOs held by banks in taxed states and pay state income taxes, on average, at only 16% of the rate of banks in taxed states.

Pay for Praise: Do Rating Agencies Get Paid More When They Provide Higher Ratings? An Examination of the Consequences of the Recalibration of Municipal Debt

_____________________________________________________________________________ We ask whether credit rating agencies receive higher fees and gain greater market share when they provide more favorable ratings. We investigate this issue using Fitch and Moody’s 2010 recalibration of their rating scales, which increased ratings in the absence of any underlying change in issuer credit quality. Consistent with concerns raised by critics of the issuer pay model, we find that compared to S&P, the governmental entities rated by Moody’s and Fitch received better ratings, were charged higher fees, and issued bonds with lower yields after the recalibration event. This recalibration also led to increases in Fitch and Moody’s market share. Overall the results are consistent with concerns that issuers will pay more for higher ratings. ______________________________________________________________________________