The relation between financial statement quality and dividend payout: The role of information asymmetry

Abstract

過去很多文獻探討財務報表品質如何影響公司的籌資及投資決策，但卻很少文獻討論財務報表品質對股利政策之影響。因此，本研究分析財務報表品質對股利發放之影響，並將財務報表品質定義為下列三項：（1）應計盈餘管理程度；（2）實質盈餘管理程度；（3）應計品質。本研究進一步探討資訊不對稱對於前述關聯性的影響，並以控制股東股權偏離程度及採行國際財務報導準則來代理資訊不對稱程度。本研究以2010年至2015年的台灣上市櫃公司為研究樣本。本研究實證結果顯示若將財務報表品質定義為應計盈餘管理程度，則財務報表品質越差，股利發放率就越高；然而，若將財務報表品質定義為實質盈餘管理程度或應計品質，則財務報表品質與股利發放率之間不具關連性。除此之外，本研究也發現當資訊不對稱程度越高，則財務報表品質與股利發放之間的關聯性越強。換言之，當控制股東股權偏離程度越大、抑或是公司採行國際財務報導準則之前，財務報表品質與股利發放之間的關聯性越顯著。本研究結果可以補充文獻之不足，並作為上市櫃公司發放股利參考之用。

Many previous studies in the literature have explored how the quality of financial statements affects a company’s financing and investing decisions, but few have discussed the impact of the quality of financial statements on dividend policy. Therefore, this article explores the relation between the quality of financial statements and dividends payout and this paper defines the quality of financial statements by the following three items: (1) the level of accruals management; (2) the level of real earnings management; and (3) accruals quality. We further use “control-cash flow right deviation of ultimate controllers” and “adoption of IFRS” to proxy information asymmetry and examine whether information asymmetry will influence the relation between the quality of financial statements and the dividend payout. This study employs TWSE/TPEx listed companies from 2010 to 2015 as research samples. The empirical results show that if the quality of financial statements is defined by the level of accruals management, then the worse the quality of financial statements, the higher the ratio of dividend payout. However, if the quality of financial statements is defined by the level of real earnings management or accruals quality, then there is no relation between the quality of financial statements and the ratio of dividend payout. The study also finds that if the level of information asymmetry of companies is larger, the relation between the quality of financial statement and dividend payouts is more pronounced. In other words, The larger the control-cash flow right deviation of ultimate controllers or before adoption of IFRS, the more pronounced relation between the quality of financial statements and the ratio of dividend payout. The results of this research serve as a supplement to the literature as well as a reference for TWSE/TPEx listed companies with regard to the distribution of dividends.