PurposeGiven the unique nature of Indian family firms and the recent failure of many business houses (Bhushan Steel Ltd., Hotel Leela Ventures Ltd. etc.) it is important to understand the relationship between the earnings management practices of the family firms and the debt. In this paper an attempt towards this has been made.Design/methodology/approachThis study makes use of an empirical approach to understand the relationship between earnings management and debt in the Indian context. This study was conducted by considering a large sample data of 16,629 family firm years spread across nine years. This study makes use of fixed effects and Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) regressions to test our hypothesis.FindingsFirst and foremost, this research supports the socioemotional wealth theory. It indicates that maintaining the control of the business is one of the socioemotional factors for the Indian family business and Indian family businesses ladened with debt engage in earnings management to protect their socio emotional wealth (control of the business). Evidence for higher earnings management practices for firms with above average debt has also been documented. Further, the fact that real activity earnings management is the preferred earnings management choice over the accrual-based earnings management as majority of debt is from the banks and financial institutions has also been demonstrated. Finally, the analysis indicates that accrual-based earnings management and real activity earnings management are complementary to each other. However, real activity earnings management can also act as a substitute for the accrual-based earnings management but the reverse is not true. Even among the real activity earnings management, cost-based real activity earnings management was preferred over the revenue-based real activity earnings management as the former is more elusory.Research limitations/implicationsThis research is limited to the listed family firms of India. Since the family firms around the world are heterogeneous the findings from this research might not be extended to other economies.Practical implicationsThe study has meaningful insights for policy making and monitoring of the family firms. It also aides the investors in taking investment decisions with respect to family firms in India.Originality/valueThe study is unique as it integrates the family firms, debt and various types earnings management. Previous studies have focused mainly on accrual-based earnings management. The study also provides insights on the relationship between earnings management practices and debt covenants at various levels of family holdings.

Purpose The objective of this study is to understand the linkages among executive compensation, corporate governance and performance of the Indian family and non-family firms. Further, the study also analyzes the level of shareholding pattern of the Indian family firms on their performance and the executive compensation. Design/methodology/approach The authors have collected panel data of the companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Limited. The data set consists of 284 companies (both family and non-family) for the period 2005–2014. The authors have made use of a dynamic panel data model with generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation to formulate the hypotheses and used fixed-effects regression model to check the robustness of our findings. Findings The authors find support for the agency theory, stewardship theory and resource dependence theory in the paper. Specifically, variables related to executive compensation, corporate governance (board size, proportion of independent directors on board, chief executive officers duality and other directorships held by the executive directors outside the company), firm performance (Tobin’s Q), leverage and shareholding pattern of the family are significant in this study. Practical implications The study has practical implications for all stakeholders of the family and non-family firms, especially in the emerging market economies. It can be used as a reference guide by various other stakeholders of the family firms, viz., customers, educators, tax authorities, government and society. Originality/value The authors confirm that their research is original and provides valuable insights on the Indian family firms. The authors study cross-holding of directorships, inter alia, in the Indian family business groups. As most of the previous studies in the Indian context ignored this important aspect, this study is unique in nature.

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