Institutions and Corporate Tax Evasion: A Review of the Literature and a Methodological Approach

Abstract

We first review the recent research published in the Journal of International Accounting Research (JIAR) on the influence of international institutions on accounting practices. We follow this with a discussion of the literature by studying the influence of institutions on tax avoidance and tax evasion. We then propose a new methodological approach that draws on the theory of institutional hierarchy proposed by Williamson (2000) and examine the relative importance of three broad types of institutions (informal, formal, and media) in curtailing perceived tax evasion activities. We contribute to the international accounting literature by summarizing the recent research that addresses tax avoidance and tax evasion and by providing preliminary evidence on how employing an institutional hierarchy approach can address the interdependencies between commonly used institutional factors.