Listing approach, political favours and earnings quality: Evidence from Chinese family firms

Abstract

The listing approach taken by Chinese family firms relates to the political favours that a family firm can obtain from local government, which could have a significant impact on corporate financial reporting behaviour. Using a sample of Chinese family firms over the period from 2003 to 2008, we find that family firms going public through initial public offerings (IPOs) obtain more bank loans, more subsidies and lower tax rates than firms going public through a takeover. Further investigation of the relation between listing approach and the quality of financial reporting shows that the earnings quality is systematically worse for family firms going public through IPOs than those going public through a takeover. Subsample regressions reveal that, in IPO firms, the magnitude of political favours obtained is negatively related to the quality of financial reporting.