We study how entrepreneurs’ attitudes toward risk, as measured by their personal legal infractions, are related to information asymmetry and agency problems prior to bankruptcy, using a sample of 260 small Swedish firms. We find that auditor resignations are more likely in firms where entrepreneurs have legal infractions. Furthermore, we find that legal infractions are negatively related to the likelihood of a firm disclosing its annual report and the quality of the bookkeeping, suggesting that information asymmetry problems are more severe when the entrepreneurs have legal infractions. We also find that creditors’ recovery rates in bankruptcy are lower if the entrepreneurs have legal infractions related to serious traffic offences, such as driving under the influence of alcohol or without a license.

我们使用 260 家瑞典小公司的样本，研究企业家对风险的态度（以他们的个人违法行为衡量）与破产前的信息不对称和代理问题有关。我们发现，在企业家有违法行为的公司中，审计师辞职的可能性更大。此外，我们发现违法行为与公司披露其年度报告的可能性和簿记质量呈负相关，这表明当企业家存在违法行为时，信息不对称问题更为严重。我们还发现，如果企业家有与严重交通违法行为相关的违法行为，例如酒后驾驶或无照驾驶，债权人在破产中的追偿率较低。