The Effect of Family Business Succession and its Types on the Earnings Management and Tax Avoidance of Firms

Succession in family business by inheritance or gifting of the ownership plays an important role in the economic development by maintaining company’s sustainability through the transfer of internal business expertise and accumulated technology. Nevertheless, the ownership transfer process in the Korean family businesses has largely been hindered by the imposition of a high inheritance tax. In this context, this study analyzes the level of earnings management and tax avoidance before and after the ownership succession in these companies. In particular, the family business succession is classified into ownership succession and management succession in order to highlight the difference in the level of earnings management and tax avoidance. The study conducts a multiple regression analysis for a sample of 9,361 firm-year observations of external audit companies from 2004 to 2018 to present the following results. First, the level of earnings management falls after the succession of family business. Second, the decrease in the level of earnings management after succession is greater for the ownership succession than for the management succession. Third, there is little impact on the level of tax avoidance by the succession of family business. Lastly, the ownership succession in family business tends to be accompanied with higher level of tax avoidance than the management succession. These results suggest that family business succession is likely to lead to stable management performance in the long-term perspective, while the taxable benefits in the succession process may not be effective for the Korean family businesses. In addition, it is suggested that the levels of earnings management and tax avoidance can be differed by the type of family business succession because succeeding managers tend to pursue different goals depending on the type of succession. This study will provide useful information to various stakeholders regarding family business succession and encourage the smooth transmission of family businesses to the younger generation in Korea.