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Korean Academic Society of Business Administration
[ Article ]
korean management review - Vol. 47, No. 6, pp.1541-1563
ISSN: 1226-1874 (Print)
Print publication date 31 Dec 2018
Received 06 May 2018 Revised 30 Oct 2018 Accepted 05 Nov 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17287/kmr.2018.47.6.1541

이익유연화가 기업 가치 및 회계정보의 가치관련성에 미치는 영향: 여성임원의 역할을 중심으로

신재은* ; 이건**
*(주저자) 고려대학교 기업경영연구원 jaeeun84@gmail.com
**(교신저자) 창원대학교 회계학과 gunlee@changwon.ac.kr
Earnings smoothing, Firm Value, and Value Relevance of Accounting Information: The Role of Female Executives
Jae Eun Shin* ; Gun Lee**
*Institute for Business Research & Education at Korea University, First Author
**Changwon National University, Corresponding Author

초록

본 연구에서는 기업의 이익유연화가 기업 가치 및 회계정보의 가치관련성에 미치는 영향을 설명하는데 있어 여성임원의 존재여부를 결정요인으로 살펴봤다. 선행연구에 따르면, 경영자는 다음 두 가지 목적에서 이익유연화를 수행한다. 첫째는 이익변동성을 줄임으로써 투자자에게 의미 있는 사적정보를 제공하며 이를 통해 기업 가치를 제고하기 위한 목적이며, 둘째는 경영자 자신의 기회주의적 효용을 증대시키기 위한 것이다. 본 연구에서는 이 중 첫 번째 목적, 즉, 기업 가치 증대를 위한 이익유연화에 초점을 맞추어 기업에 여성임원이 존재하는 경우 기업의 이익유연화가 기업 가치 및 회계정보의 가치관련성에 긍정적인 영향을 미치는지 살펴보고자 했다. 다시말해 여성임원이 존재하는 경우 기업 내 다양한 관점을 가져오고, 여성임원의 경우 남성임원에 비하여 윤리적이고 신뢰성이 높다는 선행연구에 따라 기업의 이익유연화가 기업 가치 및 회계정보의 가치관련성에 미치는 영향이 기업 내 여성임원의 보유여부에 따라 달라질 것으로 예측했다.

임원의 성별에 대한 공시가 2013년 11월부터 의무화되었기 때문에 2014년 이후의 자료를 사용해 여성임원의 보유여부 및 보유비율을 산출했으며, 2014년부터 2016년까지 4,000 기업-연도를 대상으로 실증분석을 수행했다. 연구결과는 다음과 같이 요약할 수 있다. 첫째, 기업 내 여성임원이 존재하는 경우 그리고 기업 내 여성임원 비율이 높은 경우 이익유연화가 기업 가치를 증대시키는 것으로 나타났다. 이는 임원구성의 성별다양성이 높은 기업의 경우 경영자 개인의 기회주의적 동기보다는 이익변동성 감소를 통한 기업 가치 증대를 위한 목적으로 이익유연화를 수행하는 것으로 해석될 수 있다. 둘째, 기업에 여성임원이 존재하는 기업의 경우 그렇지 않은 기업에 비해 회계정보의 가치관련성이 높으며, 나아가 여성임원이 존재하는 기업의 경우 이익유연화의 정도가 높아질수록 회계정보의 가치관련성이 증가하는 것으로 나타났다. 이는 여성임원이 존재하는 경우 이익유연화가 기회주의적 유인이 아닌 투자자에게 사적정보를 제공하기 위한 목적으로 수행되는 것으로 해석될 수 있다. 본 연구는 이익유연화가 기업에 긍정적 영향을 가져오는지 여부에 있어 여성임원의 존재여부가 결정요인으로 작용함을 보였다는 점에서 의의가 있다.

Abstract

This study examines the effect of earnings smoothing on firm value and the value relevance of accounting information with focusing on the role of female executives. Where there exist extant research on the effect of earnings smoothing, it is still an open question whether earnings smoothing is beneficial or detrimental to a firm and its outside stakeholders. On one hand, managers may smooth earnings to communicate their private information about the future prospect of the firm. In such a case, a smooth stream of earnings is more informative and thus value-adding. On the other hand, managers may smooth earnings for their own opportunistic incentives leading to garbled earnings information. This study examines the role of female executives in determining whether earnings smoothing increases or decreases firm value and the value relevance of accounting information. Specifically, with prior literature suggesting that female executives provide independent views to the firm and that female executives tend to be more ethical, and trustworthy compared to male executives, we examine whether the effect of earnings smoothing is different for firms with female executives versus firms without female executives.

We use Korean data from year 2014 to 2016 with 4,000 firm-year observations. The main findings of this paper are as follows. First, for firms with female executives, earnings smoothing is shown to increase firm value. The results remain the same when we exclude outside directors from the definition of female executives. This result is consistent with the prediction that firms with gender-diverse executives conduct earnings smoothing to increase the value of the firm by providing private information about the firm. Second, we find that the value relevance of accounting information is higher for firms with female executives when compared with firms that are composed of all-male executives. Furthermore, more importantly, we find that for firms with female executives, value relevance of accounting information increases with the extent of earnings smoothing. This result can be interpreted as firms with female executives smoothing earnings with an intent to increase the informativeness of earnings, as opposed to executives’self-serving private incentives.

Our study contributes to the existing literature in two ways. First, this study sheds new light on the long-held ongoing debate over the beneficial versus detrimental effects of earnings smoothing by introducing the role of female executives. Second, globally, female participation on corporate management is gaining more interest in recent days. However, due the lack of female executives in Korea, research on the effect of female executives on corporate decisions is scarce. By providing evidence of the role of female executives in increasing firm value and the value relevance of accounting information, our results provide policy implications on female participation on corporate management.

Keywords:

female executives, earnings smoothing, firm value, value relevance

키워드:

여성임원, 이익유연화, 기업 가치, 가치관련성

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• 저자 신재은은 현재 고려대학교 기업경영연구원 연구위원이다. 고려대학교 정경대학 경제학과를 졸업하였으며, 서울대학교에서 회계 전공 경영학석사를, 그리고 고려대학교에서 회계 전공 경영학박사를 취득하였다. 주요 연구분야는 이익에 대한 시장 반응, 이익 조정 및 조세회피 등이다.

• 저자 이건은 현재 창원대학교 회계학과 조교수이다. 고려대학교 경영대학에서 회계 전공 경영학 박사를 취득하였으며, 주 연구분야는 기업의 재무보고행태, 기업지배구조 등이다.