Financial Credibility, Ownership, and Financing Constraints in Private Firms

49 Pages Posted: 8 Sep 2008 Last revised: 19 Mar 2011

See all articles by Ole-Kristian Hope

Ole-Kristian Hope

University of Toronto - Rotman School of Management

Wayne B. Thomas

University of Oklahoma

Dushyantkumar Vyas

University of Toronto - Rotman School of Management; University of Toronto at Mississauga

Date Written: March 18, 2011

Abstract

As shown in the international business literature, the ability of controlling owners to extract private benefits is greater in countries with weaker legal institutions. In these countries, providing credible financial information could play an especially important role in reducing information asymmetry between private firms and external providers of finance. For our sample of firms across 68 countries, we find that firms with greater financial reporting credibility (i.e., annual financial statements reviewed by an external auditor) experience significantly lower perceived problems in gaining access to external finance. Further, the impact of financial credibility in reducing financing constraints in the presence of a controlling owner is more pronounced in countries with weaker creditor rights. Given the predominance of private firms around the world, their economic significance, and the fact that an increasing number of private firms now operate in multinational environments with different institutional features, we contribute to the literature on the role of financial information, firm characteristics, and country-level institutions for an important and interesting group of firms.

Keywords: Financing constraints, financial credibility, ownership concentration, private companies, international, institutional environment, auditing

JEL Classification: G15, F23, F30, G30, G32, M41, M43, M47, M49

Suggested Citation

Hope, Ole-Kristian and Thomas, Wayne B. and Vyas, Dushyantkumar, Financial Credibility, Ownership, and Financing Constraints in Private Firms (March 18, 2011). AAA 2009 Financial Accounting and Reporting Section (FARS) Paper, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1264730 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1264730

Ole-Kristian Hope (Contact Author)

University of Toronto - Rotman School of Management ( email )

105 St. George Street
Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E6 M5S1S4
Canada

HOME PAGE: http://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/FacultyAndResearch/Faculty/FacultyBios/Hope.aspx

Wayne B. Thomas

University of Oklahoma ( email )

Michael F. Price College of Business,
307 W Brooks, Rm 212B
Norman, OK 73019
United States
405-325-5789 (Phone)
405-325-7348 (Fax)

Dushyantkumar Vyas

University of Toronto - Rotman School of Management ( email )

105 St. George Street
Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E6 M5S1S4
Canada

University of Toronto at Mississauga ( email )

3359 Mississauga Rd N.
3205 William Davis Building
Mississauga, Ontario L5L 1C6
Canada

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