Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

McNair, Frances

Committee Member

Addy, Noel D.

Committee Member

Rigsby, John T.

Committee Member

Usrey, Spencer C.

Committee Member

Campbell, Randall C.

Date of Degree

12-11-2015

Original embargo terms

MSU Only Indefinitely

Document Type

Dissertation - Campus Access Only

Major

Business Administration (Finance)

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

College

College of Business

Department

Richard C. Adkerson School of Accountancy

Abstract

Bank regulators limit the amount of deferred tax assets includable in the capital ratio calculations which measure the bank’s financial health. The increased balances in bank deferred tax assets after the beginning of the financial crisis raised concerns that applying this deferred tax asset regulatory capital limitation may contribute to the need for banks to raise more capital. Value relevance is the ability of information disclosed in the financial statements to capture and summarize firm value. Deferred tax value relevance literature generally omits the regulated industries. Because fair value accounting plays a much larger role the banking industry, the market value of a bank has a different relationship to its book value than its unregulated counterparts. Using annual bank data from 2004 through 2012 for publicly held banks in the United States, this study empirically examines the value relevance of the banks’ net deferred tax assets and liabilities over time (pre-crisis versus crisis periods). Findings indicate that although the deferred tax liabilities are value relevant in both the pre-crisis and crisis periods, the value relevance of the net deferred tax assets is limited to crisis period (increased net deferred tax asset balances). An additional test shows that investors view the increased levels of net deferred tax assets in relation to total assets as concerns about the bank’s financial health. This study also examines the whether investors value the net deferred tax assets of less financially healthy banks (low Tier I capital ratios) differently from the healthier banks. Findings indicate that the coefficient of net deferred tax assets for the less financially healthy banks is negative and significant. Using another measure of financial health (high probability of failure) finds similar results. This study extends the value relevance literature to the deferred tax accounts of commercial banks. It also shows that the deferred tax asset accounts are valued differently than the other assets, supporting the deferred tax asset limitation for capital ratio calculations. Finally, this study provides information useful to analysts’ valuations of the banks’ deferred tax accounts.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/20409

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