ABSTRACT

No accounting policy exists to mandate that employee-level human capital (ELHC) must be included on Annual Reports. Because structured ELHC information is rare, the association between ELHC and credit ratings (risk) is not demonstrated in the extant literature. South Korea is a unique instance where ELHC information is included on Annual Reports as a rule. Using a sample of 9,273 Korean listed firm-year observations from 2011-2020, we demonstrate that employee tenure, a ELHC proxy, has a positive association with credit ratings. The results infer that credit rating agencies interpret that employee tenure improves a firm's potential to survive a business cycle. The study also demonstrates that continuous employment has a more positive effect on credit ratings for NonBig4 and smaller clients/firms, compared to Big4 and larger clients/firms. The study contributes to the literature by demonstrating that firms that retain employees are less likely to default, implying that if firms look after employees, there are economic advantages. From a policymaking perspective, the study demonstrates the information advantage of reporting non-financial ELHC information on Annual Reports, on a structured/numerical basis.

摘要

没有会计政策强制要求年度报告中必须包含员工层面的人力资本 (ELHC)。由于结构化 ELHC 信息很少，因此现有文献中并未证明 ELHC 与信用评级（风险）之间的关联。韩国是一个独特的例子，ELHC 信息通常包含在年度报告中。我们使用 2011 年至 2020 年 9,273 家韩国上市公司的年度观察样本，证明员工任期（ELHC 代理）与信用评级呈正相关。结果表明，信用评级机构认为员工任期可以提高公司在商业周期中生存的潜力。该研究还表明，与 Big4 和大型客户/公司相比，连续就业对 NonBig4 和小型客户/公司的信用评级有更积极的影响。该研究通过证明留住员工的公司不太可能违约，这对文献做出了贡献，这意味着如果公司照顾员工，就会有经济优势。从政策制定的角度来看，该研究证明了在年度报告中以结构化/数字为基础报告非财务 ELHC 信息的信息优势。