上市公司负面声誉与分析师关注:"趋之若鹜"抑或"避之若浼"

本文选取2008-2018年A股上市公司为样本,以公司违规处罚作为负面声誉的代理变量,考察分析师在选择跟踪对象时会否将公司负面声誉纳入考量.研究发现,公司违规处罚导致分析师关注度显著降低.机制检验表明,违规处罚通过降低投资者信息需求和分析师供给意愿两条路径影响分析师关注.拓展性分析发现,公司所受处罚越严重、被罚款金额越多,分析师关注度越低;处罚事件对分析师关注的负面冲击具有长期效应;对于非国有企业和处于高社会信任水平地区的公司,违规处罚对分析师关注的负向影响更显著.本文为深入理解我国证券市场中的声誉机制提供了经验证据,亦为监管机构加大违规惩处力度、借助分析师等市场"看门人"的力量提增监管威慑力提供了政策参考.     

上市公司负面声誉与分析师关注:"趋之若鹜"抑或"避之若浼"

本文选取2008-2018年A股上市公司为样本,以公司违规处罚作为负面声誉的代理变量,考察分析师在选择跟踪对象时会否将公司负面声誉纳入考量.研究发现,公司违规处罚导致分析师关注度显著降低.机制检验表明,违规处罚通过降低投资者信息需求和分析师供给意愿两条路径影响分析师关注.拓展性分析发现,公司所受处罚越严重、被罚款金额越多,分析师关注度越低;处罚事件对分析师关注的负面冲击具有长期效应;对于非国有企业和处于高社会信任水平地区的公司,违规处罚对分析师关注的负向影响更显著.本文为深入理解我国证券市场中的声誉机制提供了经验证据,亦为监管机构加大违规惩处力度、借助分析师等市场"看门人"的力量提增监管威慑力提供了政策参考.     

市场在关注审计师的职业声誉吗?——基于“科龙电器事件”的经验与启示

本文以我国资本市场上备受瞩目的科龙电器事件作为切入点,研究了我国的投资者是否关注审计师的职业声誉。研究结果显示,当审计师声誉受损时,市场会对其审计质量产生怀疑,并且通过股价机制体现出来。在本文研究的对德勤职业声誉造成严重影响的两个事件点,市场对经德勤和其他四大会计师事务所审计的上市公司都做出了负面的市场反应,且投资者对两者的反应程度并没有显著的差别。进一步的研究还发现,在声誉受损事件中,对于不同公司,投资者做出的负面市场反应并不相同,当公司存在盈余管理的可能性越犬,市场的负面反应也越强烈。     

声誉事件对商业银行市场价值的影响

声誉是商业银行不可或缺的信用基础和无形资产.本文采用事件研究法,选取2000-2012年期间媒体公开报道的16家中国上市银行声誉事件披露前后股票的市场反应,研究了声誉事件对银行市场价值的影响.研究表明,负面声誉事件主要与银行产品有关,而正面声誉事件主要与银行获得各类奖励有关;负面声誉事件将导致公告日银行股票显著的负超额收益,正面声誉事件将导致公告日银行股票显著的正超额收益,说明市场对银行声誉的提升和下降有明显反应,商业银行及其监管部门必须认真对待声誉事件,并采取有效措施降低负面声誉事件的影响.     

媒体报道能影响政府决算披露质量吗?

政府预算公开是增强财政透明度,提升政府治理水平的前提条件。而预算公开中信息披露质量的提升则是实现该治理目标的关键因素。本文从中央部门预算信息公开后的媒体关注入手,实证分析了媒体报道对政府决算信息披露质量的影响。研究发现:(1)通过信息中介功能(中性报道)与声誉治理功能(正面报道与负面报道),媒体报道能够有效提升政府决算信息披露质量;(2)媒体的信息中介功能易受到部门首长变更的影响,即首长变更会削弱中性报道对部门决算信息披露质量的提升作用;(3)媒体的声誉治理功能易受到部门决算业绩的影响,即较差的部门决算业绩会削弱正面(负面)报道对部门决算信息披露质量的提升作用。本文的研究不仅从信息披露质量的视角,拓展了公共领域的媒体治理研究,更揭示了媒体治理机制中的信息中介功能与声誉治理功能可能受到的约束。     

证券分析师的选股能力是否具有差异

跟随分析师的报告是投资者投资活动的主要策略,证券市场上存在大量的分析师发布报告,投资者到底跟随哪些分析师的报告能够为其获得更高的投资收益呢?《新财富》最佳分析师在分析师群体中具有更高的声誉、更高的薪酬、更高的社会地位,那么《新财富》最佳分析师的报告是否能够为投资者带来更高的投资收益呢?本文研究检验了证券分析师的选股能力是否具有差异,哪些分析师能够为投资者带来更高的投资收益,希望能够为投资者提供有价值的信息。     

食品安全事件对相关上市公司的溢出效应研究——以酒鬼酒塑化剂风波为例

食品安全问题不仅损害消费者的身体健康,而且对同行业公司的发展带来严重影响。以酒鬼酒塑化剂风波为例,采用事件研究法分析食品安全事件对同行业上市公司带来的溢出效应。研究发现,酒鬼酒塑化剂风波对整个酿酒行业都带来了负收益,白酒板块受影响最大,葡萄酒次之,啤酒受影响最小。之后采用多元回归分析法考察溢出效应的决定因素,最后给出了上市公司如何采取措施来防范同行业负面信息给自身带来不利溢出效应的政策建议。     

媒体公关、投资者情绪与证券发行定价

本文研究了拟上市公司通过专门针对媒体的公关活动影响其证券发行定价的内在机制。结果发现:公司可以通过投入媒体公关费用来增加媒体对于该公司的新闻报道量,这些报道在性质上属于正面的广告宣传,而正面新闻能够显著提高投资者对该公司的关注程度和乐观情绪;乐观情绪越强,则参与证券发行的投资者人数越多,需求量越大,进而导致证券发行价格的上调幅度越大。但是在长期内,当证券交易价格逐渐回归于实际价值时,发行前关注度越高的证券,其长期回报率越低。本文的研究意味着新闻媒体在证券发行中的宣传推介功能与其公司外部治理人的身份存在冲突。     

有限注意力、竞争性信息与分析师评级报告市场反应

证券分析师是资本市场中重要的信息提供者和解读者,竞争性信息的存在以及投资者有限注意力是否会损害投资者对证券分析师研究报告的反应是一个重要的理论和实践话题。本文采用分析师评级报告调整作为切入点首次研究了竞争性信息在证券分析师行业中的分散注意力现象。研究发现,同日发布的分析师研究报告越多,即竞争性信息越多,投资者对分析师评级报告的即期反应越弱,而滞后反应的程度越大,这意味着竞争性信息的存在的确分散了投资者对分析师研究报告的注意力,进而导致市场反应不足。研究结果在稳健性检验后仍然成立。进一步研究发现,竞争性信息导致的投资者注意力分散现象在分析师正面推荐和负面推荐中表现不同,而且投资者注意力分散现象主要存在于机构持股比例较低、同行业竞争信息较多、可见性较差的公司当中。     

媒体记者与公司管理层沟通提高了新闻报道质量吗?——基于公司调研活动的实证研究

本文以2007-2019年媒体记者参与的上市公司调研活动作为研究对象,实证检验了媒体记者与公司管理层直接沟通对媒体报道质量的影响。实证结果表明,调研媒体的报道语气整体更加乐观,集中体现在公司公布坏消息的情形之下。此外,仅当公司公布好消息时调研媒体的报道信息含量更高,而当公司公布坏消息时调研媒体的报道信息含量与非调研媒体没有显著差别。以上结果表明,媒体记者同管理层沟通后信息的阐述方式视调研所获取信息的性质而有所不同。进一步研究发现,分析师、机构投资者或者记者同行的共同参与,以及良好的公司信息环境能够帮助调研媒体改善新闻报道质量。参与公司调研是媒体维持和拓展经济业务的重要途径。在使用处理效应模型纠正变量自选择偏差及一系列其他稳健性检验之后,研究结论仍然成立。本文为媒体记者和上市公司管理层直接沟通所带来的经济后果提供了经验证据。     

Japanese stock market reaction to announcements of news affecting auditors’ reputation: The case of the Olympus fraud

The revelation of accounting fraud by the Olympus Corporation gave rise to shareholder allegations of audit failure against Olympus’ auditors—Ernst & Young ShinNihon LLC and KPMG AZSA LLC—in 2011. In this study, we investigate whether the auditors’ affiliation with Olympus contributes to divergent perceptions of audit quality in the event of news announcements affecting the reputation of Olympus’ auditors. First, we use a nonparametric generalized rank event study methodology on 918 sample firms from the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) to observe Japanese investors’ perceptions of auditor reputation as proxied by abnormal returns. Second, we perform a multivariate linear regression on firms’ abnormal returns after controlling for firm-specific variables. We find that Japanese investors do not respond to negative or neutral reputational information arising from news announcements concerning Olympus’ auditors for firms affiliated and not affiliated with those auditors. In the absence of legal penalties imposed on Olympus’ auditors, we argue that Japanese investors consider the Olympus fraud case as an expected occurrence of audit failure due to a lack of evidence suggesting systematic audit failure on the part of Olympus’ auditors and an expectation of lower audit quality in the Japanese capital market. As a result, Japanese investors do not consider news announcements affecting the Olympus auditors’ reputation as sufficient evidence to change their prior expectation regarding the reputations of the audit firms affiliated with the Olympus fraud case.     

The impact of corporate fraud on director‐interlocked firms: Evidence from bank loans

We examine the impact of corporate fraud committed by one firm (the “fraudulent firm”) on other firms with interlocking directors (the “interlocked firms”), focusing on the debtholder side. We argue that the revelation of a fraudulent firm's fraud can damage the reputation of the interlocked firms because corporate governance can propagate via director interlocks. Empirically, we find that the interlocked firms' cost of debt is higher and the loan covenants become stricter after the fraud cases of the fraudulent firms are revealed. Consistent with the corporate governance propagation explanation, our results are weaker (stronger) for interlocked firms that have better (worse) pre‐event corporate governance standards. Our findings suggest that corporate fraud of fraudulent firms can affect other firms through director‐interlocks beyond shareholder value.     

Don't Believe the Hype: Local Media Slant,Local Advertising,and Firm Value

When local media report news about local companies, they use fewer negative words compared to the same media reporting about nonlocal companies. We document that one reason for this positive slant is the firms' local media advertising expenditures. Abnormal positive local media slant strongly relates to firm equity values. The effect is stronger for small firms; firms held predominantly by individual investors; and firms with illiquid or highly volatile stock, low analyst following, or high dispersion of analyst forecasts. These findings show that news content varies systematically with the characteristics and conflicts of interest of the source.     

Who Blows the Whistle on Corporate Fraud?

To identify the most effective mechanisms for detecting corporate fraud, we study all reported fraud cases in large U.S. companies between 1996 and 2004. We find that fraud detection does not rely on standard corporate governance actors (investors, SEC, and auditors), but rather takes a village, including several nontraditional players (employees, media, and industry regulators). Differences in access to information, as well as monetary and reputational incentives, help to explain this pattern. In‐depth analyses suggest that reputational incentives in general are weak, except for journalists in large cases. By contrast, monetary incentives help explain employee whistleblowing.     

Information Complementarities and the Dynamics of Transparency Shock Spillovers

We show that information complementarities play an important role in the spillover of transparency shocks. We exploit the revelation of financial misconduct by S&P 500 firms, and in a “Stacked Difference-in-Differences” design, find that the implied cost of capital increases for “close” industry peers of the fraudulent firms relative to “distant” industry peers. The spillover effect is particularly strong when the close peers and the fraudulent firm share common analyst coverage and common institutional ownership, which have been shown to be powerful proxies for fundamental linkages and information complementarities. We provide evidence that increase in the cost of capital of peer firms is due, at least in part, to “beta shocks.” Disclosure by close peers—especially those with co-coverage and co-ownership links—also increases following fraud revelation. Although disclosure remains high in the following years, the cost of equity starts to decrease.     

Do Opinions on Financial Misstatement Firms Affect Analysts’ Reputation with Investors? Evidence from Reputational Spillovers

We examine whether opinions on firms subsequently revealed to have misstated earnings affect analysts’ reputation with investors. We find that positive opinions by bullish analysts hurt their reputation, leading investors to react less to their research on non‐misstatement firms after the misstatement revelation (i.e., negative spillovers). We also find that bearish analysts issuing more negative opinions gain reputation and experience positive spillovers. Finally, for analysts who dropped coverage of the misstatement firm before the misstatement revelation, we find no spillovers, which suggests that analysts experience limited reputational gains when they did not issue a public negative opinion.     

Valuation implications of socially responsible tax avoidance: Evidence from the electricity industry

Prior literature suggests that firms may bear reputational costs associated with corporate tax avoidance, which could in turn reduce the net present value of firms’ tax planning strategies. However, these studies do not consider the fact that firms may have opportunities to avoid tax in socially responsible ways. We investigate the equity valuation implications of one form of socially responsible tax avoidance: claiming the renewable electricity production tax credit (PTC). We predict and find that investors more positively value tax savings generated from PTCs compared to other forms of corporate tax avoidance, consistent with the notion that socially responsible tax avoidance should not subject firms to reputational costs. Additionally, consistent with the role that CSR can play in enhancing a firm’s reputational capital, we find evidence of a spillover effect in which investors more positively value other sources of tax avoidance to the extent the firm also reduces its taxes in a socially responsible way. Our results demonstrate the importance for managers to consider socially responsible tax avoidance as a component of a firm’s tax planning portfolio and for policymakers to recognize the appeal of socially responsible tax strategies as the reputational consequences of tax avoidance become more prominent.     

Stock market reactions to adverse ESG disclosure via media channels

This study examines the value relevance of corporate reputation risks (CRR) from adverse media coverage of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues on stock performance at the firm level. Empirical results advance signalling theory and resource-based view by providing evidence that corporate reputation is considered a valuable intangible asset by investors and adverse ESG disclosure via media channels have a significant and negative impact on firm valuation. The research is extended using various factors and indicates that heightened CRR have a substantially negative corollary effect on stock price of smaller and less liquid firms that are typically not S&P500 constituents. Further analysis using industry classifications reveals that stock performance of companies in the ‘sin’ triumvirate (i.e., alcohol, tobacco, and gaming) is not significantly affected by negative ESG media coverage. Instead, firms in candy & soda, steel works, banking, and insurance industries are the most susceptible to investors' repercussion from undesirable media spotlight. These findings provide new insights and indicate that beyond the type and delivery method of ESG disclosures, firm characteristics, corporate reputation status and industry explain differences in investors' reaction to ‘bad’ news.     

Does Limited Attention Constrain Investors’ Acquisition of Firm‐specific Information?

According to the framework outlined in Peng and Xiong ( 2006 ), attention‐constrained investors tend to process more market‐ and sector‐level information. We empirically test this theory. We find that firms with higher media coverage have lower contemporaneous stock return synchronicity. Such an effect is robust to analyses within size deciles, inclusion of firm fixed effects, estimation using a matched sample, and a two‐stage least squares approach. The effect becomes less pronounced during the financial crisis period when both the quantity and quality of firm‐specific information decrease. Further, the attention from media coverage has a spillover effect on the firm's industry peers without media coverage. Finally, investors of firms with higher media coverage are more efficient in incorporating future firm performance into current stock prices. Collectively, our findings support the theory in Peng and Xiong ( 2006 ) that investors increase their acquisition of firm‐specific information when a firm captures their attention.