The Usefulness of Financial Reporting Quality in the Access to Bank Debt for Private Firms

ABSTRACT

This study provides evidence of the relationship between financial reporting quality (FRQ) and access to bank debt for private firms. While existing research has predominantly focused on larger private firms, smaller firms have received far less attention. This study raises the question of whether FRQ is more important for smaller firms, given their greater financial opaqueness and risks. Or, conversely, whether these characteristics diminish the role of FRQ in lending decisions. Employing an extensive dataset of 282,409 private Belgian firms covering 2013 to 2019, we expand on previous empirical research by showing that the association between FRQ and bank debt is not the same for all private firms. Our results suggest that the potential benefits of higher FRQ in increasing bank debt are weaker for smaller firms. Furthermore, we show that the effects of FRQ on bank debt are the strongest for firms with moderate default risk.

Keywords:

• private firms
• financial reporting quality
• bank debt
• firm size

Acknowledgements

We extend our sincere gratitude to the organizers and participants of the Paper Development Workshop of Accounting in Europe organized in conjunction with EUFIN 2022. Special thanks are due to Paul André for his invaluable comments as a discussant during the workshop. We also would like to thank the editor, Andrei Filip, and the anonymous reviewer for their valuable comments.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).