Top institutional investors and accounting comparability

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https://doi.org/10.22495/cocv18i4art4

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Abstract

This study examines the relation between firm pair’s sharing of a top institutional investor (i.e., an institutional investor with the largest shareholding) and accounting comparability. Using data from Compustat, CRSP, and Thompson Reuters over the 1993–2017 period, the study finds that firm pairs that share the top institutional investor exhibit higher accounting comparability than other firm pairs. In addition, firm pairs whose top institutional investors are monitoring institutions (regardless of whether they are the same institutions) exhibit greater comparability than other firm pairs whose top institutional investors are non-monitoring institutions. Collectively, the study contributes to existing research on accounting comparability and large institutional investors by showing that the sharing of top institutional investors is an important determinant of accounting comparability.

Keywords: Corporate Governance, Institutional Shareholder, Shareholder Activism, Accounting Comparability

Authors’ individual contribution: The Author is responsible for all the contributions to the paper according to CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) standards.

Declaration of conflicting interests: The Author declares that there is no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgements: This paper is based on my dissertation at the University of Houston. I would like to thank Gerald Lobo (Chair) and Volkan Muslu (Co-chair) for their valuable guidance on this paper. I would also like to thank the members of my dissertation committee, Michael Neel and Vijay Yerramilli, for their constructive comments and suggestions. This paper has benefited from the comments of the workshop participants at Texas A&M University-Commerce, 2019 AAA Southwest Regional Meeting and 2019 AAA Annual Meeting.

JEL Classification: G20, G30, M41

Received: 31.03.2021
Accepted: 25.06.2021
Published online: 29.06.2021

How to cite this paper: Le, T. (2021). Top institutional investors and accounting comparability. Corporate Ownership & Control, 18(4), 42–66. https://doi.org/10.22495/cocv18i4art4