We examine how the corporate tax system, through its treatment of loan losses, affects bank financial reporting. Exploiting cross-country and intertemporal variation in income tax rates and loan loss provision deductibility, we find that loan loss provisions are increasing in the tax rate for countries that permit general provision tax deductibility. When general provisions are deductible, a 1 percentage point rate increase leads to a provision increase of 4.9% of the sample average. This effect is driven by the tax system's encouragement of timelier loan loss recognition, suggesting that corporate taxation is an important determinant of bank financial reporting transparency.

We examine the role of IPOs as a source of financing by comparing firms from countries with different degrees of stock market development. Focusing on acquisition investments, our results suggest that firms operating in economies with a more developed stock market extract more benefits from the financing role of IPOs than firms from countries with a less developed stock market. Controlling for the importance of bank financing does not alter our main findings. IPO firms from market-focused countries also experience a relatively larger increase in size and in profitability in the post-IPO period. Our results indicate that the purpose of IPO financing varies with the financial system in general and with the degree of stock market development in particular.