Aziz Jaafar

Country Effects and Sector Effects on the Harmonization of Accounting Policy Choice

This study assesses the extent of accounting harmony in Europe prior to the recent switch to IFRS, by presuming that accounting is harmonized when ‘all firms operating in similar circumstances adopt the same accounting treatment for similar transactions regardless of their domicile’. The policies studied concern inventory, depreciation and goodwill, and the odds of using alternative accounting methods are predicted by logistic regression. The empirical results suggest that, while international exposure and firm size are significant factors, country effects are considerably greater than sector effects, which is inconsistent with harmonized accounting.

Ownership Concentration, Board Characteristics and Performance: Evidence from Jordan

In this paper, we examine the effects of ownership concentration and board characteristics on the performance of listed firms domiciled in Jordan, one of the main emerging markets in the Middle East. Employing 2SLS regressions on a sample of 103 firms listed on the Amman Stock Exchange for financial years 2002-05, the empirical results suggest that ownership concentration, multiple directorships and board size are each positive and significant in determining firm performance. Although our results contradict the findings of some developed market studies, they are broadly consistent with recent evidence from emerging markets. Hence, it supports our argument and echoes some of prior researchers’ contention that the reforms of corporate governance principles in emerging markets must go beyond adopting the best practice in developed markets and take into account the country and firm-specific characteristics.

Mispricing and risk of R&D investment in European firms

We study whether R&D-intensive firms earn superior stock returns compared to matched size and book-to-market portfolios across several financial markets in Europe. Mispricing can arise if investors are not able to correctly estimate the long-term benefits of R&D investment or whether R&D firms are more risky than others. The results confirm that more innovative firms can earn future excess returns. Stocks listed on continental Europe markets and operating in high-tech sectors are more prone to undervaluation. This can be caused in the first case by information asymmetries that are more severe in bank-based countries. No evidence is found for a different risk pattern of R&D-intensive stocks.

Corporate governance, accruals quality and stock returns: evidence from the UK

Purpose – This paper aims to identify the most significant governance provision in enhancing the financial information quality of UK listed firms. In addition, it investigates the influence of this governance provision in explaining stock returns of 20 UK industry portfolios. Design/methodology/approach – To identify the main governance provision in enhancing the accruals quality, the paper runs regressions of accruals quality variable on the total governance variable, on the governance provisions individually, and on the governance provisions taken together with and without integrating control variables. Next, Asset Pricing tests are employed to examine the capacity of the audit provision, as proved the most influential governance provision on accruals quality, to explain stock returns. The quantitative approach used in the paper enables to investigate the relationship between corporate governance, accruals quality, and stock returns. Findings – Results indicate that audit provision is the most important...

Short selling and exchange-traded funds returns: evidence from the London Stock Exchange

ABSTRACT An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a security that tracks a basket of stocks. An ETF investor gains immediate exposure to the basket, by taking either a long or short position on this instrument. Both hedgers and speculators can short ETFs, making the informational content of increases in ETF short interest difficult to interpret. Using high-frequency (daily) short-interest data for ETFs traded on the London Stock Exchange between June 2006 and April 2010, we examine the price impact on ETFs of increases in short interest. Contrary to most of the previous empirical evidence for individual stocks, we find that large increases in ETF short interest are associated with subsequent over-performance relative to a benchmark index and this pattern is most pronounced during pre-financial crisis period.

Regulation, Bonding and the Quality of Financial Statements

In this study, we show that the exposure of European firms across European capital markets is associated with significant constraints in financial reporting discretion. By exploiting the variation in the regulatory environment in this setting, we are able to demonstrate that incentives for reducing financial reporting discretion stem from a form of legal bonding within Europe, in the sense of the exposure to at least one capital market with better regulation than the firm’s origin. Furthermore, we provide evidence for the presence of reputational bonding in cases where the firm is exposed to capital markets with weaker regulation than the regulation in its home jurisdiction. We corroborate the evidence on reputational bonding by extending this investigation to circumstances that are likely to trigger managers’ engagement with more transparency even in the absence of strong legal regulations, such as stock exchange consolidation and geographical proximity.