Political Connections and Related-Party Transactions: Evidence from Iranian Firms
الموضوعات :Ali Jaafar Nodeh 1 , Mehdi Safari Gerayli 2
1 - Department of Accounting, Bandargaz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bandargaz, Iran.
2 - Department of Accounting, Bandargaz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bandargaz, Iran.
الکلمات المفتاحية: opportunistic behavior, political connections, related-party transactions,
ملخص المقالة :
The present study aims to investigate the association between political connections and related-party transactions for the firms listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). Sample includes the 485 firm-year observations from companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange during the years 2013 to 2017 and research hypothesis was tested using multivariate regression model based on panel data.We find that political connections are negatively associated with related-party transactions. In other words, politically connected firms are less inclined to exercise opportunistic behaviours by related-party transactions in comparison to other firms. Moreover, additional analysis reveals that the negative relationship between political connections and related-party transactions is more pronounced in larger firms.Our findings not only extend the extant theoretical literature concerning the stock political economy in developing countries including emerging capital market of Iran, but also help investors, managers, capital market regulators, policy makers and accounting standard setters to make informed decisions.
[1] Barton, J., Simko, P. J., The balance sheet as an earnings management constraint, The Accounting Review, 2002, 77, P. 1–27. Doi:10.2308/accr.2002.77.s-1.1
[2] Berkman, H., Cole, R. A., Fu, L. J., Expropriation through loan guarantees to related parties: Evidence from China, Journal of Banking & Finance, 2009, 33, P. 141–156. Doi:10.1016/j.jbankfin.2007 .11.001.
[3] Borisova, G., Brockman, P., Salas, J. M., Zagorchev, A., Government ownership and corporate governance: Evidence from the EU. Journal of Banking & Finance, 2012, 36, P. 2917-2934. Doi:10 .1016/j.jbankfin.2012.01.008.
[4] Boubakri, N., Cosset, J. C., Saffar, W., The impact of political connections on firms' operating performance and financing decisions, Journal of Financial Research, 2012, 35(3), P.397–423.
[5] Boubakri, N., Guedhami, O., Mishra, D., Saffar, W., Political connections and the cost of equity capital, Journal of Corporate Finance, 2012, 18 (3), P. 541– 559. Doi:10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2012.02.005
[6] Chen, C. J. P., Y. Ding,C. Kim., Political connection, legal enforcement and analysts' forecast characteristics. Working paper, City University of Hong Kong, 2012.
[7] Chen, S., Wang, K.,Li, X., Product market competition, ultimate controlling structure and Related- Party transactions, China Journal of Accounting Research, 2012, 5, P. 293–306. Doi:10.1016/j. cjar.2012.11.001
[8] Cheung, Y. -L., Jing, L., Lu, T., Rau, P. R., Stouraitis, A., Tunneling and propping up: An analysis of Related- Partytransactions by Chinese listed companies, Pacific Basin Finance Journal, 2009, 17, P. 372–393. Doi:10.1016/j.pacfin.2008.10.001
[9] Darabi, R., Davoodkhani, M., The impact of related-party transactions on firm value. Financial Auditing and Accounting Studies, 2015, 7(28), P. 131-152, (in Persian).
[10] Faccio, M., Differences between politically-connected and nonconnected firms: A cross-country analysis, Financial Management, 2010, P. 905–927. Doi:10.1111/j.1755-053X.2010.01099.x
[11] Faccio, M., Politically connected firms, American Economic Review, 2006, 96(1), P. 369-386.
[12] Frye, T., Shleifer, A., The invisible hand and the grabbing hand, American Economic Review,1997, 87(2), P. 354–358.
[13] Gordon, E. A., Henry, E., Related-Party transactions and earning management, 2005, Working paper. Doi:10.2139/ssrn.612234
[14] Gujarati, D.N., Basic Econometrics, 5th edition, 2009, New York: Mc Graw-Hill.
[15] Habib, A., Muhammadi,A.H., Jiang,H., Political Connections and Related- Party Transactions: Evidence from Indonesia, The International Journal of Accounting, 2017, 52( 1), P.45-63.
[16] Hassan, T., Hassan, M. K., Mohamad, S., Political patronage and firm performance: Further evidence from Malaysia, Thunderbird International Business Review, 2012, 54(3), P. 373–393. Doi:10.1002/tie.21468
[17] Heydari, M., Didar, H., Ghaderi, B., An investigation into the relationship between political costs hypotheses and corporate growth opportunity: A Structural equation modeling approach, Empirical Studies in Financial Accounting, 2016, 12(47), P. 141-157, (in Persian). Doi:10.22054/qjma.2015.2541
[18] Izadikhah, M., Saen, RF., Roostaee, R., How to assess sustainability of suppliers in the presence of volume discount and negative data in data envelopment analysis?, Annals of Operations Research, 2018, 269 (1-2), 241-267, Doi: 10.1016/j.eswa.2014.08.019
[19] Jian, M., & Wong, T. J., Propping through Related- Party transactions, Review of Accounting Studies, 2010, 15, P. 70–105.
[20] Johnson, S., Porta, R. L., Lopez-de-Silanes, F., Schleifer, A., Tunneling, American Economic Review, 2000, 90(2), P. 22–27.
[21] Khabazkar Foomani, M., Sarlak, A, Investigating the relationship among information asymmetry, dividend policy and ownership structure. Advances in Mathematical Finance and Applications, 2018, 3(2), P. 69-80. Doi: 10.22034/amfa.2018.540832
[22] Khanna, T., Palepu, K., Is group affiliation profitable in emerging markets? An analysis of diversified Indian business groups, The Journal of Finance, 2000, 55(2), P. 867–891.
[23] Kole, S. R., Mulherin, J. H., The Government as a Shareholder: A Case from the United States, The Journal of Law & Economics,1997, 40(1), P. 1-22.
[24] Li, H., Meng, L., Wang, Q., Zhou, L., Political connections, financing and firm performance: Evidence from Chinese private firms, Journal of Development Economics, 2008, 87, P. 283-299. Doi:10.1016/j.jdeveco.2007.03.001
[25] Liu, J. M., Liu, X., The empirical research on the relationship between Related- Partytransactions and internal corporate governance of listed companies, China Soft Science, 2007, 1, P. 79–89.
[26] Minjung K., Ho-Young Lee, Myung-Gun Lee and Jong Ch., The Association between Related-Party Transactions and Control-Ownership Wedge: Evidence from Korea, Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, 2014, 29, P. 272-296. Doi:10.1016/j.pacfin.2014.04.006
[27] Niessen S. Ruenzi., Political Connectedness and Firm Performance: Evidence from Germany, CFR-Working Paper, 2012, 7(15). Doi:10.1111/j.1468-0475.2009.00482.x
[28] Nikoomaram, H., Banimahd, B., Rahnamayroodposhti, F., Kiaei, A., Connections-oriented economy, political connections and accruals quality, Journal of Accounting Knowledge, 2014, 13(12), P. 1-13, (in Persian).
[29] Qian, M., Pan, H., Yeung, B., Expropriation of minority interest shareholders in politically-connected firms, Working paper, 2011, NUS Business School.
[30] Rezaei, F., Afroozi, L., The association between debt cost and corporate governance in politically-connected firms, Accounting Studies, 2015, 4(16), P. 85-112, (in Persian). Doi:10.22051/ijar.2015.2138
[31] Salehi, A., Baharipour, A., Mohammadi, S., The Impact of Institutional Ownership on the Relationship between Tax and Capital Structure, Advances in Mathematical Finance and Applications, 2016, 1(2), P.57-67. Doi: 10.22034/amfa.2016.527820
[32] Sarlak, N., Akbari, M., The relationship between related-party transactions and earnings management, Journal of Accounting and Auditing Review, 2014, 20(4), P. 77-92, (in Persian).
[33] Skinner, D. J., Sloan, R. G., Earnings surprises, growth expectations, and stock returns or don't let an earnings torpedo sink your portfolio, Review of Accounting Studies, 2002, 7, P. 289–312. Doi:10.1023/A:1020294523516
[34] Song, Y., Lina, W., Yan, Z., Impacts of Political Connections on Earnings Quality of Chinese Private Listed Companies, Advances in Education and Management Communications in Computer and Information Science, 2011, 211, P. 85-92.
[35] Tehrani, R., Ardakani, R., Effect of Business Groups Affiliation on Cash Holdings and Return on Equity, Advances in Mathematical Finance and Applications, 2017, 2(4), P. 1-9. Doi:10.22034/amfa.2017.536262
[36] Wang, J., Yuan, H., The impact of Related-Party sales by listed Chinese firms on earnings informativeness and earnings forecasts, International Journal of Business, 2012, 17(3), p. 258–275.
[37] Wong, R. M. K., Kim, J. B., Lo, A. W. Y., Are Related-Party Sales Value- Adding or Value-Destroying? Journal of International Financial Management & Accounting, 2016, 26, P. 1-38. Doi:10. 1111/jifm.12023
[38] Wu, W., Wu, C., Rui, O. M., Ownership and the value of political connections: Evidence from China. European Financial Management, 2012, 18(4), P. 695–729. Doi:10.1111/j.1468-036X.2010.00547.x