Earnings Quality in Stock-for-stock Mergers: The Perspective of Timely Loss Recognition

盈餘品質與股份交換併購之關聯性：損失認列即時性之觀點

張哲嘉(Che-Chia Chang)

《評價學報》 10期 (2016/08) Pp. 67-91

摘要

Prior studies suggest that stock acquirers manage their current accruals upward in the quarter immediately prior to the merger announcement. However, public scrutiny pressure and perceived litigation risk should limit acquirer ability and propensity to manage current accruals. In this paper, I first find that in comparison with cash acquirers, stock acquirers purposely report timelier accrued losses in the quarter immediately prior to the merger announcement. I also find that stock acquirers' discretionary current accruals exhibits an important feature of earnings quality, i.e. timely loss recognition. Finally, stock-for-stock and cash purchase mergers have diverse characteristics, and stock-for-stock mergers are associated with agency problems. The evidence in this paper suggests that discretionary current accruals of stock acquirers shrink and become indistinguishable from those of cash acquirers, after controlling for merger characteristics.

關鍵字

Stock-for-stock Mergers ； Cash Purchase Mergers ； Timely Loss Recognition ； Accrual-based Earnings Management

並列摘要

過去研究指出，主併公司在宣告股份交換併購前會管理流動應計項目以提高季盈餘。然而併購係市場關注的重大投資活動，亦會提高主併公司的訴訟風險，故本文推論併購期間主併公司應會提供較審慎的會計數字。本文發現在併購宣告日前一季，相對於現金收購主併公司，股份交換主併公司流動應計項目包含較及時的損失資訊，而裁決性流動應計項目中亦包含較及時的損失資訊。另外，股份交換與現金收購兩種併購模式具有不同特質，這些特質隱含不同程度的代理問題。故本文結果指出，在控制併購特質後，股份交換與現金收購主併公司的裁決性流動應計項目並無顯著差異。

並列關鍵字

股份交換併購 ； 現金收購併購 ； 損失認列及時性 ； 應計項目盈餘管理