Book-Tax Differences, Uncertainty about Fundamentals and Information Quality, and Cost of Capital

53 Pages Posted: 16 Jul 2008 Last revised: 18 May 2020

See all articles by Dan S. Dhaliwal

Dan S. Dhaliwal

University of Arizona - Department of Accounting (deceased)

Hye Seung (Grace) Lee

Fordham University - Gabelli School of Business

Morton Pincus

University of California, Irvine

Logan B. Steele

Oregon State University

Date Written: November 11, 2008

Abstract

Prior research suggests that differences between book and taxable incomes reflect firms' underlying economic fundamentals and their earnings management activities. We investigate the extent to which book-tax differences (BTDs) explain differences in cost of equity capital across firms. Our analysis spans the 1982-2006 period. The results indicate that variability in BTDs estimated over five or six years is positively and significantly related to cost of equity capital (estimated in various ways), whereas other BTD variables generally are not. These findings are consistent with variability in BTDs over time capturing information regarding uncertainty about firms' economic fundamentals and uncertainty about the quality of their earnings. If we assume that only a relatively short time-series of data is available, then we find that the absolute value of BTDs is positive and significantly related to cost of capital.

Keywords: Variability of book-tax differences, innate characteristics, information uncertainty

JEL Classification: M41, M43, H25, G12

Suggested Citation

Dhaliwal, Dan S. and Lee, Hye Seung (Grace) and Pincus, Morton P.K. and Steele, Logan B., Book-Tax Differences, Uncertainty about Fundamentals and Information Quality, and Cost of Capital (November 11, 2008). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1127956 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1127956

Dan S. Dhaliwal (Contact Author)

University of Arizona - Department of Accounting (deceased)

Hye Seung (Grace) Lee

Fordham University - Gabelli School of Business ( email )

140 West 62nd Street
New York, NY 10023
United States

Morton P.K. Pincus

University of California, Irvine ( email )

Paul Merage School of Business
Irvine, CA 92697-3125
United States
949-824-4062 (Phone)
949-725-2812 (Fax)

Logan B. Steele

Oregon State University ( email )

Corvallis, OR 97330
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
933
Abstract Views
4,703
Rank
46,038
PlumX Metrics