Earnings quality and the cost of debt: A case study of Vietnam

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of earnings quality (EQ) on the Vietnam companies’ cost of debt (COD). We use data from companies listed on the Vietnam stock market from 2010 to 2019. In this paper, we develop a model to investigate the influence of audit quality and foreign ownership on COD. We find that EQ had a negative relationship with COD. However, when firm is in financial distressed, EQ has a positive relationship with COD. As an intermediate variable, EQ also has a negative relationship with COD.

Keywords

• Audit quality
• cost of debt
• earnings quality
• financial constraints
• foreign ownership