An Examination of the Association Between Gender and Reporting Intentions for Fraudulent Financial Reporting

We report the results of a study that examines the association between gender and individuals’ intentions to report fraudulent financial reporting using non-anonymous and anonymous reporting channels. In our experimental study, we examine whether reporting intentions in response to discovering a fraudulent financial reporting act are associated with the participants’ gender, the perpetrator’s gender, and/or the interaction between the participants’ and perpetrator’s gender. We find that female participants’ reporting intentions for an anonymous channel are higher than for male participants; the fraud perpetrator’s gender and the interaction with participants’ gender were not significantly associated with anonymous channel reporting intentions. Neither of the two factors nor the interaction between the two factors was associated with reporting intentions to a non- anonymous reporting channel. Results from an additional analysis indicate that male and female participants differ in the extent to which they judge the reduction in personal costs of an anonymous reporting channel compared to a non-anonymous reporting channel and that the reduction in personal costs mediates the relationship between participant gender and anonymous reporting intentions.     

Reporting Concerns About Earnings Quality: An Examination of Corporate Managers

Using an experiment with corporate financial managers (e.g., CFOs, controllers), we find that when red flags are present in the financial statements under their review, managers identify those red flags and, in turn, have greater concerns over earnings quality. In addition, when pressure to meet a financial target is high, managers are more concerned about earnings quality when red flags are present. We also document that when red flags are present, managers are more likely to report both internally to their CEO and, if their concerns are not resolved internally, externally to their auditor. Pressure to meet a financial target increases the likelihood managers report internally, but decreases their likelihood of reporting externally when red flags are present. Additional analyses document reporting differences between CFOs and controllers, and examine the important roles that short-term personal costs, job tenure, and a non-accounting background play in the ethical dilemma managers face when deciding whether to report externally.

     

Whistleblowing in Organizations: An Examination of Correlates of Whistleblowing Intentions,Actions, and Retaliation

Whistleblowing on organizational wrongdoing is becoming increasingly prevalent. What aspects of the person, the context, and the transgression relate to whistleblowing intentions and to actual whistleblowing on corporate wrongdoing? Which aspects relate to retaliation against whistleblowers? Can we draw conclusions about the whistleblowing process by assessing whistleblowing intentions? Meta-analytic examination of 193 correlations obtained from 26 samples (N = 18,781) reveals differences in the correlates of whistleblowing intentions and actions. Stronger relationships were found between personal, contextual, and wrongdoing characteristics and whistleblowing intent than with actual whistleblowing. Retaliation might best be predicted using contextual variables. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

The Impact of Ethical Leadership, the Internal Audit Function, and Moral Intensity on a Financial Reporting Decision

Two elements of corporate governance??the strength of ethical executive leadership and the internal audit function (IAF hereafter)??provide guidance to accounting managers making decisions involving uncertainty. We examine the joint effect of these two factors, manipulated at two levels (strong, weak), in an experiment in which accounting professionals decide whether to book a questionable journal entry (i.e., a journal entry for which a reasonable business case can be made but there is no supporting documentation). We find that ethical leadership and the IAF interact to determine the likelihood that accountants book the entry. Specifically, accountants are less likely to book a questionable journal entry when there is a weak ethical leader and a strong IAF compared to all other conditions. In addition, we find that accountants question the appropriateness and ethicalness of the request to book an undocumented journal entry more in the weak ethical leader and strong IAF condition than in the other conditions. These results suggest that the IAF has a different impact on financial reporting decisions depending on the ethicalness of executive leadership and that a strong IAF may cause accountants to question the appropriateness and ethicalness of an undocumented journal entry when combined with weak ethical leadership. We also find that the interactive effect of ethical leadership and the IAF on an accountant??s decision is fully mediated by his/her perception of the moral intensity of the issue. Thus, accountants, who perceive greater moral intensity associated with booking the entry, are less willing to do so.     

内部控制、财务报告质量与投资者保护——来自沪市上市公司的经验证据

本文以我国2006--2009年自愿披露内部控制自我评估报告的856家沪市上市公司为研究样本,通过检验自愿披露内部控制信息的公司与未自愿披露内部控制信息的公司在当年及在此之前5年财务报告质量的差异,以及自愿性内部控制信息披露对资本市场的影响,考察了内部控制对财务报告质量和投资者保护的影响。我们发现,自愿披露内部控制信息公司的财务报告质量在当年及在此之前5年均显著高于其未自愿披露内部控制信息的公司;从长期来看,投资者能据此对盈余进行区别定价。这表明,自愿性内部控制信息披露具有明显的信号发送作用,内部控制能够在一定程度上改善财务报告的质量,并强化对投资者利益的保护。     

Erratum to: Ethics,Diversity Management,and Financial Reporting Quality

This article proposes and empirically tests a theoretical framework incorporating Reidenbach and Robin’s (J Bus Ethics 10(4):273–284, 1991) conceptual model of corporate moral development. The framework is used to examine the relation between governance and business ethics, as proxied by diversity management (DM), and financial reporting quality, as proxied by the magnitude of earnings management (EM). The level of DM and governance quality are measured in accordance with the ratings of Jantzi Research (JR), a leading provider of social and governance research for institutional investors. This DM score is part of an index developed by JR that investment managers use to integrate DM criteria into their investment decisions. As expected, a negative relation between corporate DM development and financial reporting quality is found while controlling for other factors known in the literatures on governance and accounting choices to affect earnings quality. Despite some caveats presented in conclusion, this study contributes to the ethics, governance, and financial reporting literatures by studying the dynamics between governance and ethics in the prevention of EM.     

监事会、审计委员会与内部审计:功能定位与职责划分

随着审计委员会制度的引入 ,其与我国上市公司原有的内部监督机制———监事会、内部审计之间的关系处理问题已引起了人们的普遍关注。按照我国当前法律法规的规定 ,三者的职责存在着相似甚至重叠。因此 ,应依据委托—代理理论 ,对监事会、审计委员会和内部审计机构进行功能定位 ,并按照不同监督机制的层次和特点 ,对它们各自的具体职责进行重新划分。     

备战新审计报告准则——以罗尔斯·罗伊斯发动机集团审计报告为例浅析审计关键事项段的撰写

2016年12月中国注册会计师协会颁布了《中国注册会计师审计准则第1504号——在审计报告中沟通关键审计事项》等12项准则(新报告准则),宣告了我国的审计报告改革。如何将本次改革审计报告中的关键审计事项段表达清楚,提高审计报告的质量?最早开始审计报告改革的英国从2012年以来经过了两个完整的会计年度,积累了宝贵的经验。其中,毕马威会计师事务所在审计英国著名的发动机公司罗尔斯·罗伊斯发动机集团(Roll Royce Holdings PLC)2013年度财务报表时,尝试了采用长式审计报告,并在接下来的两个会计年度里,进一步进行了改进与细化,对审计报告,尤其是对审计关键事项部分的撰写,作出了初步的探索。     

To Discount or Not to Discount: An Assessment of Perceptions,Beliefs, and Intentions to Use Electronic Auctions with Discounts

In the digital economy, electronic auction systems are becoming more prevalent in facilitating the transactions between buyers and sellers. Auction websites, such as eBay and Amazon, as well as more sophisticated platforms, such as Moai and FrictionlessCommerce have increased transaction volume by offering tailored auction protocols to specific customer groups. meet2trade is a generic electronic market platform that supports various auction mechanisms. This study examines the impact of a discount in a second-price, sealed-bid mechanism on bidding behavior and market outcomes. Emphasis is thereby placed on bidders’ system-based perceptions, beliefs about usage and institutional-based trust, and intention to use such an auction. Ninety students were recruited to participate in an experiment held at a Western European university. The experiment observed user behavior in second-price auctions with and without a discount. The results demonstrate that although discounts do affect bidding behavior and economic outcomes, they do not influence bidder’s intentions to use such auction mechanisms. Instead, we found that intention to use is influenced by institutional and usage beliefs that are shaped by system-based perceptions, which in turn provide specific advice to market engineers on the technical aspects influencing system adoption.     

Internal Service Quality and the Psychosocial Work Environment: An Empirical Analysis of Conceptual Interrelatedness

There is a need to integrate service quality concepts withconcepts from other research fields, such as the psychosocialwork environment, to help us better understand and create abasis for quality control in services. The main aim of this paperis to explore empirically the relationships between thepsychosocial work environment and internal service qualily. Weuse concepts and measures derived from psychosocial workenvironment theory and service quality theory respectively. Datawere collected from 555 employees in a Swedish computerservice company using questions from a Stress Profile as well as from a Quality Profile. All 52 items from the Stress Projile and20 items from the Quality Profile were entered into a factoranalysis. The main result of the study is not the exact outcome ofthe factor analysis per se, but rather the point that questionsderived from two different research fields appear to measuredifferent mental representations of work conditions. Clearly,interdependence exists between the psyclzosocial workenvironment and internal quality. It is quite concmon to ncap adrestructure service processes in order to improve internal qualityin an attempt to solve quality problems created by organisationalchanges. We suggest that it should be equally inportant to takenieasures to increase work satisfaction by improvingpsychosocial work conditions.     

Enjoyment of the Shopping Experience: Impact on Customers' Repatronage Intentions and Gender Influence

In this paper the authors investigate enjoyment of the shopping experience, its influence on consumers' intention to repatronise a regional shopping centre and the effect of gender differences on shopping enjoyment. Four dimensions of shopping enjoyment are proposed and a 16-item measure is developed to assess 536 consumer perceptions of the shopping experience across five counties in the United Kingdom. Findings indicate that shopping experience enjoyment has a significant positive influence upon customers' repatronage intentions. Furthermore, men are found to have a stronger relationship of enjoyment with repatronage than women. The implications of these results are discussed, together with managerial implications, study limitations, and future research directions.     

Radials,Rollovers and Responsibility: An Examination of the Ford-Firestone Case

In August of 2000, Firestone executives initiated the second largest tire recall in U.S. history. Many of the recalled tires had been installed as original factory equipment on the popular Ford Explorer SUVs. At the time of the recall, the tires and vehicles had been linked to numerous accidents and deaths, most of which occurred when tire blowouts resulted in vehicle rollovers. While Firestones role in this case has been widely acknowledged, Ford executives have managed to deflect much of the attention away from themselves, mainly by claiming that the Firestone tires were not its product, and therefore not its responsibility. In this paper, we examine the extent to which Ford can be held morally responsible for the incidents at issue. In so doing, we develop an approach for determining when an item is a product in its own right, as opposed to a component of another product. We argue that such an analysis not only provides a better understanding of this case, but also more properly accounts for the extent to which evolutions in technology and business relationships can affect issues of moral responsibility in business contexts.     

内部审计质量对公司绩效的影响研究 ——基于制造业A股上市公司面板数据

上市公司内部审计是推动现代化企业管理,提高公司绩效的巨大推动力。文章选取2010—2017年所有A股上市制造业公司,剔除ST类及数据缺失样本,研究审计质量对公司绩效的影响。实证检验发现,A股上市制造业公司内部审计质量对绩效有显著影响。同时,对制造业上市公司增强审计质量与提高公司绩效提出建议。     

审计师个人视角下客户影响力与审计质量的关系研究

利用中国A股上市公司2012～2015年的数据,采用面板数据模型与文本挖掘方法检验了审计师层面的客户费用影响力、规模影响力、舆论影响力与审计质量的关系.研究发现: 客户的费用影响力、舆论影响力与审计质量显著正相关,在控制了事务所层面的客户影响力与内生性问题后该结果依然稳健.进一步研究显示,审计师部分个人特征、客户所处的法律环境、舆论环境等因素会对主要结果起到一定的调节作用.研究结果为客户影响力与审计质量的关系提供了进一步的理论解释和全新的经验证据,其重要启示是: 在我国的审计市场中,客户影响力并未迫使审计师在审计质量上做出让步,为避免审计失败可能造成的声誉损害、经济损失和诉讼风险,审计师有动机为影响力高的客户提供高质量的审计服务.     

审计质量、产权性质对上市公司投资效率的影响研究

审计质量作为第三方会计师事务所为公司提供的服务,可以独立于公司之外对上市公司投资活动进行监督。根据产权理论,产权性质不同的经济组织从事的经济活动不同,审计质量对不同产权性质的上市公司投资效率的影响也不相同。本文以2014—2018年沪深两市上市公司作为样本,实证检验了审计质量、产权性质与公司投资效率间的关系。研究发现,审计质量与上市公司投资过度显著负相关,与投资不足负相关但作用并不明显;在国有上市公司中审计质量对投资过度行为的抑制作用更明显,在非国有上市公司中审计质量可以在一定程度上防止投资不足行为的发生但作用并不显著。研究结论有利于启示各不同产权性质公司的利益相关方,客观认识审计师的作用功能及其局限性,有针对性、有效率地利用好审计服务,改善公司投资效率。