조세비용과 이익조정 간의 관계에 관한 연구 : 기업특성과 상호작용을 중심으로 = Tax Costs and Earnings Management : Evidence on Interaction Effects with Firm Characteristics

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study examines how tax costs are associated with tax-avoidance-related earnings management in Korean listed firms. Prior studies have documented mixed evidence on the relationship between tax costs and tax avoidance: while some argue that higher tax burdens incentivize firms to engage more aggressively in tax avoidance, others suggest that increased tax costs heighten tax risk and external scrutiny, thereby constraining such behavior. These inconsistent findings imply that the relationship between tax costs and tax avoidance may not be uniform, but instead may vary depending on firms’ financial characteristics and market environments. Accordingly, this study focuses not only on the average effect of tax costs, but also on how this relationship differs under heterogeneous firm conditions.
Using a sample of 5,148 firm-year observations from Korean manufacturing firms listed between 2014 and 2023, tax avoidance is measured by the residual component of the book-tax difference (BTD), which captures discretionary elements of tax-related earnings management. Tax costs are measured using a cash-flow-based effective tax rate (CFO_ETR), calculated as taxes paid divided by pre-tax operating cash flows. This measure reflects the actual cash outflow associated with corporate income taxes and mitigates potential distortions arising from accrual-based effective tax rates.
The empirical results indicate that the average effect of tax costs on tax-avoidance-related earnings management is relatively limited. This finding suggests that the coexistence of firms from structurally different markets—namely KOSPI and KOSDAQ—within a single pooled sample may attenuate the overall effect, given substantial differences in firm size, disclosure quality, and external monitoring environments. When firm characteristics are explicitly considered, the relationship between tax costs and tax avoidance weakens as firm size increases, consistent with the notion that larger firms face greater political costs and external scrutiny. A similar mitigating effect is observed for highly leveraged firms, implying that interest tax shields may reduce the incentive to engage in additional tax-avoidance-related earnings management. Foreign ownership is found to constrain such behavior, supporting the role of foreign investors as external monitors.
Furthermore, when firm size and leverage are jointly considered, the association between tax costs and tax avoidance exhibits different magnitudes compared to models that consider each characteristic independently. Additional analyses that separate KOSPI and KOSDAQ firms reveal that the impact of tax costs varies across markets, reflecting differences in firm structure and disclosure environments. These findings provide complementary evidence that the limited average effect observed in the full sample may be attributable to market heterogeneity.
Overall, this study contributes to the literature by demonstrating that the relationship between tax costs and tax avoidance should not be interpreted as a uniform average effect, but rather as one that depends on the combined structure of firm characteristics and market environments. Nevertheless, this study is subject to limitations, including its focus on manufacturing firms and the lack of direct controls for unobservable managerial characteristics. Future research may benefit from extending the analysis to other industries and incorporating corporate governance variables to further refine the understanding of firms’ tax strategies.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• Ⅰ. 서론 1
• Ⅱ. 이론 고찰 및 선행 연구 3
• 2.1 이론적 배경 3
• 2.1.1 조세회피의 개념 3
• 2.1.2 회계이익과 과세소득의 차이(BTD) 원인 및 이익조정 3
• 2.2 선행연구 4
• 2.2.1 회계이익과 과세소득의 차이(BTD)와 조세회피 관련성 연구 4
• 2.2.2 조세비용과 이익조정에 관한 연구 6
• 2.2.3 조세회피와 기업특성에 관한 연구 7
• Ⅲ. 가설 설정 및 연구설계 10
• 3.1 연구가설 10
• 3.2 표본기업의 선정 14
• 3.3 연구모형 15
• 3.4 변수의 조작적 정의 17
• Ⅳ 실증분석결과 24
• 4.1 기술통계량 24
• 4.2 상관관계분석 25
• 4.3 회귀분석 28
• 4.3.1 기본모형 분석 28
• 4.3.2 이중상호작용모형 분석(H1~H3) 29
• 4.3.3 삼중상호작용모형 분석(H4) 32
• 4.4 강건성 분석 35
• 4.5 추가분석 36
• 4.5.1 KOSPI 이중상호작용모형 분석 36
• 4.5.2 KOSDAQ 이중상호작용모형 분석 38
• 4.5.3 KOSPI&KOSDAQ 삼중상호작용모형 분석 39
• Ⅴ 요약 및 결론 42
• 참고문헌 45
• Abstract 49