Mauricio A. Jara Bertín

Auditoría y discrecionalidad contable en la gran empresa no financiera española

RESUMEN En el presente trabajo se analiza la incidencia de algunos aspectos de la función de auditoría sobre la calidad de la información contable suministrada por la empresa. Partiendo de una muestra de 137 empresas que cotizaron en las Bolsas españolas durante los años 2002 y 2003, nuestro estudio se puede estructurar en dos vertientes: las características de la comisión de auditoría y la relación de la empresa con los auditores externos. Nuestros resultados evidencian una estrecha y beneficiosa relación entre la fiabilidad de la información contable y tanto el tamaño como la independencia de la comisión de auditoría. Asimismo, se observa que el prestigio de la empresa auditora mejora la calidad de los estados financieros y que existe una combinación de efecto experiencia y efecto connivencia en relación con la duración del contrato con el auditor.

The effect of mandatory IFRS adoption on accounting conservatism of reported earnings. Evidence from Chilean firms

Purpose The authors aim to analyze whether the adoption of IFRS accounting standards in Chilean capital markets affects the earnings conservatism of the firms that adopt them. Design/methodology/approach Using a conditional earnings conservatism model, the authors compare the conservatism of the firms by periods of using or not using IFRS standards for a sample of 95 listed Chilean firms between 1999 and 2010. Findings The authors’ results show that conditional earnings conservatism is more pronounced under IFRS standards and suggest that the use of IFRS improves the relevance and reliability of the reported accounting information. Originality/value The authors provide new evidence from a Latin‐American emerging market and they shed some light on the potential effect of IFRS implementation for several Latin‐American countries that are in the on‐going process of convergence.

Firm Size as Determinant of the Nonlinear Relationship Between Bank Debt and Growth Opportunities: The Case of Chilean Public Firms

We analyze the extent to which firm size determines the relationship between growth opportunities and bank debt in the Chilean corporate sector. Using generalized method of moments (GMM) system estimator techniques in an unbalanced panel data of quoted firms, we provide evidence of a U-shaped relationship between growth opportunities and bank debt, which has a different behavior depending on the firms size. Smaller firms seek private debt sooner than larger firms do when growth opportunities increase. This finding is supported by the institutional characteristics of the Chilean financial system, the higher confidence of small firms in bank debt, and the bank-based orientation of the Chilean financial markets.

Earnings management and the contest to the control: an international analysis of family-owned firms

In this paper, we focus on the conflict of interests among shareholders as a possible determinant of earnings management. Using a sample of 3559 listed firms from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Italy between 2008 and 2013, we analyse how the distribution of power among shareholders affects earnings management in family-owned firms. We find that the contest to the dominant family shareholder is relevant: namely, the more challenge to the control of dominant shareholders, the less earnings management in family firms. This contest is more important in civil law countries in which the shareholders rights are less protected. We also find that the nature of the blockholders can be relevant: consistent with the view that non-family shareholders are under more public scrutiny and have more difficulty to agree with the largest family shareholder to extract private benefits, our results suggest that a second or third non-family shareholder can reduce or alleviate earnings management.