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Journal of Corporate Finance Vol. 84 2024

Overlapping institutional ownership along the supply chain and earnings management of supplier firms

Lei Gao1; Jianlei Han2; Jeong‐Bon Kim3; Zheyao Pan2

1 George Mason University · 2 Macquarie University · 3 Simon Fraser University

Abstract

We explore the impact of overlapping institutional ownership (OIO) within supply chains on the earnings management practices of supplier firms. Utilizing a dataset of U.S. publicly traded supplier firms from 1988 to 2016, we discover that suppliers with institutional ownership overlapping with their major customers exhibit reduced levels of discretionary accruals. This finding implies that such overlap discourages suppliers from engaging in upward earnings management through the manipulation of discretionary accruals. We also find that OIO curtails accrual-based earnings management by enhancing the relationship between supply chain partners and bolstering external monitoring. Additionally, we find that OIO also mitigates the extent of real earnings management undertaken by the supplier firm. These findings remain robust after addressing potential endogeneity concerns. Our results underscore the significant role of OIO within supply chains in curbing both accrual-based and real earnings management by supplier firms.

DOI
10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2023.102520
Volume
84
Pages
102520
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib crossref openalex

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