La gestion des bénéfices et la performance boursière : cas des entreprises acquéreuses canadiennes

Il ressort clairement des études sur les fusions et acquisitions que ce sont les actionnaires des entreprises absorbées qui sortent gagnants, à cause surtout des primes de contrôle de plus en plus élevées qui leur sont versées. Du côté des entreprises acquéreuses, il semble que la performance soit négative ou, au mieux, neutre. La plupart des études démontrent que la contre-performance est surtout associée aux fusions ou acquisitions financées par échange d'actions. Ce phénomène demeure une énigme, car aucune explication valable n'a été avancée jusqu'à maintenant. Nous examinons la possibilité de gestion à la hausse des bénéfices durant la période précédant l'annonce d'une fusion ou acquisition financée par échange d'actions, dans le but de faire augmenter la valeur des actions. Nous mesurons également l'impact des manipulations comptables sur la performance boursière post-acquisition. Nos résultats, basés sur des fusions et acquisitions canadiennes entre 1990 et 2000 démontrent que : 1) l'ampleur de la gestion à la hausse des bénéfices des entreprises acquéreuses lors d'une fusion ou acquisition financée par échange d'actions est deux fois plus élevée que celle effectuée lors d'une transaction payée en espèces ; 2) la gestion à la hausse des bénéfices est associée à des rendements anormaux à long terme négatifs des actions pouvant persister jusqu'à trois ans après la transaction. Notre étude permet d'enrichir les connaissances sur la présence de la gestion des bénéfices dans le contexte spécifique des fusions et acquisitions ainsi que de ses conséquences. Les normalisateurs pourront ainsi orienter leurs efforts, le cas échéant, afin d'améliorer le processus de communication de l'information comptable.Gestion des bénéfices; fusions et acquisitions; performance boursière; données canadiennes

Gap between country culture and regulation on diversity

There is an extensive debate concerning the application of gender quotas on corporate boards around the world. Since Norway legislated quotas of female directors in 2003, many countries have incorporated some form of legislation about board gender diversity, either as good practice to follow or by imposing mandatory quotas. This debate, which is particularly intense in Europe, is also on the agenda of countries like Nigeria, India, and Malaysia. Based on institutional theory, this study outlines and compares countries that have introduced board gender diversity legislation. Results show common denominators and gaps between countries related to cultural, welfare and regulations, which can be helpful to the regulators

Green or Greed? An Alternative Look at CEO Compensation and Corporate Environmental Commitment

This study relies on environmental stewardship, a stakeholder-enlarged view of stewardship theory, and institutional theory to analyze the relationship between CEO compensation and firms’ environmental commitment in a worldwide sample of 520 large listed firms. Our findings show that environment friendly firms pay their CEOs less total compensation and rely less on incentive-based compensation than environment careless firms. This negative relationship is stronger in institutional contexts where national environmental regulations are weaker. Our findings have important theoretical meaning and practical implications. Results show that CEOs do not necessarily act opportunistically; rather some of them may be willing to act as stewards of the natural environment and accept a lower, less incentive-based compensation from environment friendly firms. This study also provides evidence of the important influence of the institutional context in setting-up CEO compensation as the relationship is stronger when national environmental regulations are weaker. Our findings question the universal validity of agency theory in explaining CEO compensation. Compensation based on pecuniary incentives might be less indicated to motivate CEOs who feel rewarded by playing a stewardship role for environment friendly firms. When designing compensation for CEOs, compensation committees and external compensation advisors should consider psychological and institutional factors that might affect CEO motivation

Le lien entre la performance sociale des entreprises et la gestion des résultats comptables

L'objectif de ce papier est d'explorer le comportement du gestionnaire en matière de gestion des résultats comptables dans les entreprises canadiennes socialement performantes. En se basant sur la théorie instrumentale des parties prenantes et la littérature relative au lien présumé entre la PFE et la GRC, nous supposons l'existence d'une relation négative entre le niveau de PSE et la GRC. Nous supposons également que les composantes de PSE liées au gouvernement d'entreprises, l'environnement et les employés permettent de limiter le comportement discrétionnaire du gestionnaire. Nous testons empiriquement nos assertions théoriques en utilisant la base de données canadienne d'investissement social pour les années 2004 et 2005. Les résultats montrent que le niveau global de la PSE a un effet significativement négatif sur la direction aussi bien que sur l'ampleur des accruals discrétionnaires, suggérant ainsi que les gestionnaires des entreprises socialement performantes sont moins susceptibles de s'adonner à des pratiques de GRC à la hausse et sont moins agressifs dans la détermination des accruals discrétionnaires. En examinant l'impact de certaines composantes de la PSE sur le comportement des accruals discrétionnaires, il s'est avéré que les employés constituent la partie prenante la plus puissante en matière de contrôle du comportement discrétionnaire du gestionnaire. Toutefois, les dimensions « environnement » et « gouvernement d'entreprises » n'ont pas un effet significatif sur la GRC.Gestion des résultats comptables; performance sociale des entreprises; performance financière.

Cuotas en los consejos, mimetismo y choque cultural

Las cuotas de género en los consejos se han extendido a países con culturas muy diferentes. Nuestro estudio muestra que la adopción de cuotas parece estar impulsada por un efecto mimético, donde los países buscan lograr la legitimidad que otros países han adquirido con su adopción, más que aspirar a una mayor eficiencia en sus consejos. La efectividad de las cuotas de género depende en gran medida del entorno cultural de cada país, y muchos países tienen una cultura muy arraigada que imposibilita que grandes cambios sean conseguidos de forma rápida, especialmente en relación a la igualdad de género

Appointing Women to Boards: Is There a Cultural Bias?

Companies that are serious about corporate governance and business ethics are turning their attention to gender diversity at the most senior levels of business (Institute of Business Ethics, Business Ethics Briefing 21:1, 2011). Board gender diversity has been the subject of several studies carried out by international organizations such as Catalyst (Increasing gender diversity on boards: Current index of formal approaches, 2012), the World Economic Forum (Hausmann et al., The global gender gap report, 2010), and the European Board Diversity Analysis (Is it getting easier to find women on European boards? 2010). They all lead to reports confirming the overall relatively low proportion of women on boards and the slow pace at which more women are being appointed. Furthermore, the proportion of women on corporate boards varies much across countries. Based on institutional theory, this study hypothesizes and tests whether this variation can be attributed to differences in cultural settings across countries. Our analysis of the representation of women on boards for 32 countries during 2010 reveals that two cultural characteristics are indeed associated with the observed differences. We use the cultural dimensions proposed by Hofstede (Culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related values, 1980) to measure this construct. Results show that countries which have the greatest tolerance for inequalities in the distribution of power and those that tend to value the role of men generally exhibit lower representations of women on boards

Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570

La finance corporative comme objet d’étude dans la littérature scientifique sur la PME

Cette étude vise à déterminer les caractéristiques des objets de recherche en finance corporative des PME. La recherche porte sur 108 articles publiés durant les 10 dernières années dans six revues scientifiques de renom dans le domaine de l’entrepreneuriat et de la gestion des PME : Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, International Small Business Journal, Journal of Business Venturing, Journal of Small Business Management, Revue internationale PME et Small Business Economics. Tous les objets de recherche ont été identifiés à partir du texte intégral des articles recueillis et classés a posteriori dans l’une ou l’autre des catégories suivantes : le capital de risque, la création d’entreprises, les conditions de financement, l’entre-preneurship, l’évaluation, la gestion financière, l’objectif financier, la performance financière, la recherche, la structure de capital et la structure organisationnelle. Ces objets de recherche ont aussi été analysés en fonction des recommandations de Pettit et Singer (1985) sur ce que devraient être les voies de recherche à emprunter en finance corporative des PME ; les écarts entre les pistes de recherche suggérées et les objets effectivement étudiés sont analysés et discutés. Les résultats font notamment ressortir la grande diversité des auteurs, une forte concentration autour d’un nombre restreint d’objets de recherche et un manque d’intérêt pour certaines autres voies de recherche jugées, par ailleurs, importantes pour le développement des connaissances en finance des PME.The purpose of this study is to determine the characteristics of the topics of study in SME’s corporate finance. This research is based on 108 papers published in the last 10 years in six prestigious scientific journals in the field of entrepreneurship and SME management: Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, International Small Business Journal, Journal of Business Venturing, Journal of Small Business Management, Revue internationale PME and Small Business Economics. The integral text of the retained articles is the basis to identify its topic of research which is classified a posteriori in one of the following categories : venture capital, business start-up, financing conditions, entrepreneurship, valuation, financial management, financial objective, financial performance, research, capital structure and organi-zational structure. These topics of research are also analyzed relative to Pettit and Singer’s (1985) recommendations as to what should be the research avenues to be followed in SME’s corporate finance ; the gaps between the suggested research paths and the topics that were effectively studied are analyzed and discussed. The results show clearly the great diversity of authors, a strong concentration around a small number of research topics and a lack of interest for other avenues of research that are otherwise considered important for the development of knowledge in SME’s finance.Este estudio tiene como objetivo determinar las características de los tópicos de investigación en finanzas corporativa de las PyMEs. La investigación se basa en 108 artículos publicados, durante los últimos 10 años, en 6 revistas científicas reconocidas en el tópico del empresariado y de la administración de las PyMEs : Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, International Small Business Journal, Journal of Business Venturing, Journal of Small Business Management, Revue internationale PME y Small Business Economics. Todos los tópicos de estudios son identi-ficados a partir del texto integral de los articulos recogidos y clasificados a posteriori en una u otra de las categorías siguientes : capital de riesgo, creación de empresas, condiciones de financiamiento, espíritu empresarial, evaluación, administración financiera, objetivo financiero, rendimiento financiera, investigación, estructura de capital y estructura organizacional. Estos tópicos de investigación son también analizados en función de las recomendaciones de Pettit et Singer (1985) sobre lo que tendrían que ser las vías de investigación basadas en las finanzas corporativas de las PyMEs ; las brechas entre las pistas de investigación sugeridas y los tópicos efectivamente estudiados son analizadas y discutidas. Los resultos hacen resaltar la grande diversidad de los autores, una fuerte concentración alrededor de un numero pequeño de tópicos de investigación y una falta de interés por ciertas otras vías de investigación juzgadas, por otro lado importantes para el desarrollo de los conocimientos en finanzas de las PyMEs.Diese Untersuchung hat sich zum Ziel gesetzt, die charakteristischen Merkmale von Finanzgenossenschaften bei kleinen und mittleren Unternehmungen zu bestimmen. Die Untersuchung basiert auf 108 publizierten Artikeln, die während den letzten 10 Jahren in sechs renommierten, wissenschaftlichen Zeitschriften im Bereich des Unternehmertums und der Führung von kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen veröffentlicht wurden: Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, International Small Business Journal, Journal of Business Venturing, Journal of Small Business Management, Revue internationale PME und Small Business Economics.Alle Untersuchungsobjekte wurden unverkürzt aufgenommen und in folgende Kategorien klassiert: Risikokapital, Unternehmungsgründung, Finanzierungsbeding-ungen, Unternehmertum, Bewertung, Finanzielle Führung, Finanzielle Leistung, Forschung, Kapitalstruktur und organisationelle Struktur. Im weiteren wurden in Anlehnung an Pettit et Singer (1995) die Untersuchungsobjekte analysiert. Die Unterschiede zwischen den vorerst wahrgenommenen Forschungswegen und den effektiv studierten Untersuchungsobjekten wurden aufgezeigt und diskutiert

Sell-offs, internal capital markets, and long run performance: Canadian evidence

Purpose – The paper's aim is to analyze excess returns generated by Canadian sell-offs and their links to changes in firms' internal capital allocation efficiency to test the efficiency of internal capital markets after assets divestitures. Design/methodology/approach – This study investigates the relationship between the level of the excess returns subsequent to sell-offs and changes in the capital allocated through internal capital markets. The authors measure excess returns by calculating buy-and-hold abnormal (BHAR) returns up to three years after divestitures and test whether changes in value are related to changes in investment efficiency. The paper uses the relative value added by allocation (RVA) as developed by Rajan et al. to measure the variation in allocational efficiency of the internal capital market. Findings – The study reveals that on average assets divestitures enable Canadian firms to keep up with the performance of their peers of the same industrial sector during the long-run post divestiture period. A closer look at the results shows that the variation of long-run post divestitures performance among Canadian firms is significantly and positively linked to changes in the allocational efficiency of the internal capital markets. These results suggest that dismantling some parts of the internal capital market does lead to improvements in firm value in the long run. Research limitations/implications – The sample is limited to a group of firms that sell off a portion of their assets. Further research could be conducted to determine whether other divestiture methods (spin-off, sell-off or equity carve-out) have any impact on internal capital allocation efficiency and long run financial performance. Originality/Value – The paper adds to other studies examining the source of gains from divestitures by documenting the effects of changes in internal capital allocation efficiency on the creation of long-term shareholder wealth.Business performance, Canada, Capital markets, Divestment, Investments