Amsterdam TI Finance Research Seminars

Speaker(s)
George Nishiotis (University of Cyprus)
Date
2010-05-25
Location
Amsterdam

Using a large sample of international firms we jointly examine the corporate decision to voluntarily adopt International Accounting Standards (IFRS), and to cross-list in the US. Correcting for selection bias and controlling for country and firm characteristics, we document significant valuation premia for both IFRS adopters and US exchange listed foreign firms, but not for OTC cross-listings. The comparison of the relative valuation of the three globalization choices reveals that both IFRS firms and US exchange cross-listings enjoy significantly higher valuations relative to OTC firms. More importantly we do not document any significant valuation differences between IFRS and US exchange cross-listed firms. We next examine the determinants of the disclosure and cross-listing premia by positing that valuation gains should be related to either increased investor protection and/or lower market segmentation. We find evidence that the voluntary IFRS decision enhances both investor protection and market integration. For the US exchange cross-listings we do not find any evidence that abiding by the US legal system offers significant incremental valuation benefits. In fact, we document that their valuation premium increases with the level of home country investor protection. We posit that this result is due to the costs associated with listing on a US exchange and having to abide by US laws and regulations; these costs appear to neutralize any potential benefits of investor protection.