• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.9-17
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• 2020

This study examines the effect of financial reporting opacity and audit quality on stock price crash risk using listed firms in Japan. This study is the first research to examine the effect of financial reporting opacity on crash risk using a Japanese listed company. Furthermore, the effect of audit quality on crash risk is verified. High level auditors can mitigate crash risk by playing a role as a corporate governance device mechanism to reduce agency costs. We use a logistic regression and linear regression model to test whether financial reporting opacity and audit quality affect crash risk using listed firms in the Japanese stock exchange market during the fiscal years 2015 January through 2017 February. The results of this study suggest that the financial reporting opacity variable shows a positive relationship with CRASH, which states that a firm with more opaque financial reporting increases crash risk. The results suggest also that the firms audited by Big4 auditors experience less crash risk, implying that the audit quality in Japan can be one of the factors mitigating firm's crash risk. This study provides implications for financial reporting and audit quality to external stakeholders who wants to avoid losses.

• The Journal of Small Business Innovation
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.59-84
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• 2016

Using an international setting, this study investigates the relation between cash holdings and financial reporting quality, measured by accruals quality. Empirical results show that the balance of cash holdings is positively related to the opacity of financial reporting in non-U.S. international markets. The relation becomes stronger as the strength of investor protection increases, implying that precautionary motives, instead of agency motives, drive the increase of cash holdings of opaque firms. In addition, the positive relation is stronger for discretionary accruals quality. The decomposition of the aspects of investor protection shows that public enforcement through regulation authorities is the main driver of the positive relation between cash holdings and the opacity of financial reporting.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.51-58
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• 2020

The study aims to investigate the relationship between hedging with derivatives and subsequent firm-level stock price crash risk. Our sample consists of KOSPI- and KOSDAQ-listed companies from 2004 to 2014. The total firm-year observation is 4,886. We find that hedging with derivatives is related to greater possibilities of crash risk. The results suggest that the complexity of economic and financial reporting for derivatives may aggravate the company's information opacity, ultimately increasing the crash risk. We contribute to the growing body of literature on hedging with derivatives. Academics and practitioners have debated on whether or not hedging enhances transparency or rather makes the information environment more opaque. Theoretical research on the role of corporate hedging on information environment shows that hedging enhances earnings informativeness. Meanwhile, pieces of anecdotal and empirical evidence show that the economic and financial reporting complexity of derivatives can harm information transparency. Our results shed light on the question of whether and how hedging with derivatives affects information environment by examining the relationship between hedging with derivatives and crash risk. Furthermore, our findings provide useful insights for policymakers and practitioners. Specifically, our results raise a need for a more transparent disclosure on corporate hedging activities with derivatives.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.43-49
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• 2021

Purpose: This study attempted to examine the risk of stock price plunge according to the firm's management strategy. Prospector firms value innovation and have high uncertainties due to rapid growth. There is a possibility of lowering the quality of financial reporting in order to meet market expectations while withstanding the uncertainty of the results. In addition, managers of prospector firms enter into compensation contracts based on stock prices, thus creating an incentive to withhold negative information disclosure to the market. Prospector firms' information opacity and delays in disclosure of negative information are likely to cause a sharp decline in share prices in the future. Research design, data and methodology: This study performed logistic analysis of KOSPI listed firms from 2014 to 2017. The independent variable is the strategic index, and is calculated by considering the six characteristics (R&D investment, efficiency, growth potential, marketing, organizational stability, capital intensity) of the firm. The higher the total score, the more it is a firm that takes a prospector strategy, and the lower the total score, the more it is a firm that pursues a defender strategy. In the case of the dependent variable, a value of 1 was assigned when there was a week that experienced a sharp decline in stock prices, and 0 when it was not. Results: It was found that the more firms adopting the prospector strategy, the higher the risk of a sharp decline in the stock price. This is interpreted as the reason that firms pursuing a prospector strategy do not disclose negative information by being conscious of market investors while carrying out venture projects. In other words, compensation contracts based on uncertainty in the outcome of prospector firms and stock prices increase the opacity of information and are likely to cause a sharp decline in share prices. Conclusions: This study's analysis of the impact of management strategy on the stock price plunge suggests that investors need to consider the strategy that firms take in allocating resources. Firms need to be cautious in examining the impact of a particular strategy on the capital markets and implementing that strategy.