The relationships between Canadian firms' lobbying activities and their market and accounting performance

Abstract

The main objectives are to highlight the nature and scope of lobbying activities carried out by Canadian firms, and analyse the link between these activities and firm market and accounting performance indicators. Data on companies listed on the S&P/TSX index were analysed, covering the period from 2009 to 2018, inclusive. The main findings show that 26.6% of the firms under study have engaged in lobbying, with this proportion consisting, on average, of larger firms. The two industries at the forefront of these activities were mining, oil and gas, and manufacturing. Most of the lobbying activities under study focused on economic and multiple issues. While bivariate analyses (ANOVA and correlations) show that these activities in their scope and nature are significantly related to market and accounting performance indicators, multivariate GLM analyses demonstrate that only the variable 'number of salaried lobbyists' is positively and significantly linked to accounting and market performance indicators.