注册会计师责任与审计判断绩效

责任(Accountability)是指事先存在的一个人要向其他人证明他的判断的预期(Johnson和Kaplan,1991)。许多审计研究者认为责任是注册会计师现实判断环境中的重要组成部分(Cloyd,1997;Koonce et al.,1995;Messier和Qualliam,1992),但许多审计判断的研究忽略了责任的潜在影响。Gibbins和Emby(1985)指出,责任压力特别适用于注册会计师领域,因为有很多的评价团体或个人能够影响注册会计师判断绩效和职业发展。与其他职业相比,注册会计师职业所负的责任更加重大。而社会心理学研究表明,使判断者承担判断责任会对判断过程产生影响。因而研究责任对审计判断的影响,对完善我国注册会计师审计质量监管制度具有极其重要的意义。     

时间压力与注册会计师判断绩效

本文介绍了心理学中压力与判断绩效之间关系的三种理论,回顾了国外通过问卷和实验等研究方式关于时间压力与审计判断绩效关系的研究,并通过对我国审计环境的考察分析认为深入研究我国注册会计师在时间压力下的判断绩效具有重要意义。在近40年来的职业审计及学术审计的研究文献中,有很多资料都强调了审计专业判断在审计工作中的重要性和普遍性。审计判断绩效取决于能力、知识、环境和激励等因素,而时间压力也是影响审计判断绩效的重要环境因素之一。在审计服务市场竞争日趋激烈的今天,事务所为了降低成本,要求审计人员减少其完成工作时间的压力日益上升,因此,研究时间压力对注册会计师判断绩效的影响就显得十分必要。     

时间压力下的注册会计师判断绩效

时间压力是影响审计判断绩效的重要环境因素之一。心理学中压力与判断绩效之间关系的理论有三种:工作记忆力理论、线索使用理论和应对行为理论。我国审计由于审计市场竞争、客户限期、披露限期以及事务所绩效评价等因素,注册会计师面临着巨大的时间压力。因此,深入研究我国注册会计师在时间压力下的判断绩效具有重要意义。     

时间压力下的注册会计师行为——来自一个全国性事务所的调查证据

审计判断是一个复杂的认知活动,对周围的环境非常敏感。在中国,时间压力作为影响审计绩效的环境因素,其重要性日益上升。目前有关时间压力的有限研究主要是针对外国审计市场背景进行的。通过对我国一个全国性事务所的调查,我们发现,近年来我国注册会计师面临的时间压力越来越大。时间压力阻碍了审计程序的实施,低报审计时间,降低了审计质量。     

基于风险导向审计的注册会计师职业判断研究

随着审计环境和审计目标的变化,审计模式发展到现代风险导向审计,注册会计师的职业判断受到前所未有的重视。我国最新发布的2010年审计准则中多次明确要求注册会计师在审计过程中运用职业判断,职业判断贯穿整个审计过程,研究注册会计师职业判断有着非常重要的现实意义。注册会计师应更加重视风险导向审计模式对职业判断的影响,关注职业判断在审计过程中的应用,从注册会计师自身和审计工作环境两个方面提高职业判断水平。     

分析注册会计师自身错误承担审计责任的成因及对策

注册会计师由于未按照规定的审计准则而提出了不合理的审计意见而承担的责任被称为注册会计师自身错误承担审计责任.注册会计师如果没有遵守职业道德,没有详细了解被审计单位的经营情况,审计程序不规范,都会承担相应的审计责任.注册会计师在不违背审计准则的基础上应提高风险管理能力,仔细研究被审计单位的经营情况,承接在自己胜任范围之内的业务,具备独立判断的能力,合理的运用分析和函证程序.     

审计判断中的时近效应和肯定性倾向——基于持续经营能力判断的实验研究

时近效应和肯定性倾向系审计判断偏误中的两种。本文利用信念调整模型,以持续经营能力判断为实验任务,检验了不同的反应模式下我国注册会计师审计判断中的时近效应和SBS反应模式下的肯定性倾向。实验结果表明,在SBS反应模式下,我国注册会计师表现出明显的时近效应,而在EOS反应模式下不显著。同时我国注册会计师对肯定性证据更为敏感,说明我国注册会计师审计判断的职业谨慎性不够。同时,会计师事务所应该采取诸如加强项目复核等措施对审计证据进行综合分析,以减轻审计判断中的时近效应。     

审计人员的谈判让步策略与客户的谈判判断:一项实验证据

审计谈判策略是影响审计谈判的重要因素。本文采用实验研究方法检验注册会计师使用的谈判让步策略对客户财务负责人谈判判断的影响。研究结果发现,客户同意的审计差异调整金额在注册会计师使用逐步让步策略时显著高于注册会计师使用初始让步策略,并且客户对审计人员最终决定的审计调整金额的满意度和继续聘用该注册会计师的可能性在注册会计师使用逐步让步策略时也明显较高。这表明使用逐步让步策略审计质量更高,也更有利于审计人员。     

信息不对称条件下提高上市公司审计质量的路径研究

近年来,许多事件和学术研究表明,当前注册会计师对我国上市公司的审计质量并不高,投资者对经注册会计师审计后的财务报表的质量存在广泛的质疑,亦即投资者并不认为审计意见具有信息含量或注册会计师审计会显著消除上市公司的财务舞弊行为。为此,本文借助委托—代理理论和信号传递理论,研究在信息不对称情况下注册会计师审计的质量特征,从理论上分析信息不对称是如何扭曲审计质量的,并在此基础上提出提高注册会计师审计质量的可行途径。     

关于注册会计师审计责任判断标准的思考

关于注册会计师审计责任的判断标准,司法界同审计执业界一直存在着认定标准的差异。这种差异对注册会计师在会计舞弊审计的责任界定上产生了不利影响。本文拟就此问题作一探讨。程序理性规范与结果理性规范的协调     

中国欠发达区域经济发展与金融生态环境的关联性——以江西省经济与金融的发展模型为例

江西省地处中国的中东部地区，具有欠发达区域经济的典型特征。文章以江西省近20年来的经济金融发展实况为体例，对金融生态环境评价模型的分析和演绎证明：一方面，金融机构内部环境因素，对区域性经济发展有着及其重要的作用；另一方面，金融机构外部环境因素与区域性经济发展具有极强的关联性。区域性金融生态环境的建设，直接影响到区域性资源配置和资源使用效率。金融生态环境建设，不仅要关注金融机构内部环境因素的影响，同时也要着力研究金融机构外部环境因素的改善。对于欠发达区域的金融生态环境建设而言，应从推进城镇化建设、提高人均受教育年限、改革社会保障制度、完善制度生成环境等方面予以支持。     

Antecedents and Consequences of Eco‐Control Deployment: Evidence from Canadian Manufacturing Firms

Environmental issues have become an important consideration for a growing number of organizations. Eco‐control may represent a valuable tool to help organizations address such issues. The aim of this study is to provide an overview of the eco‐control practices adopted by Canadian organizations and to understand the antecedents and consequences of their adoption. More specifically, this study examines (i) the extent to which eco‐control practices are deployed within organizations, (ii) the factors and motivations that lead organizations to implement eco‐control practices, and (iii) the impact of adoption on firms’ managerial and operational environmental actions as well as on environmental and economic performance. Using survey data from a sample of 249 Canadian manufacturing firms, this article shows that environmental missions, environmental policies, environmental strategic planning, environmental budgets and environmental performance indicators are the most frequently adopted eco‐control practices among the investigated firms, while environmental incentives seem to be less frequently adopted. The results of this study also suggest that competitive and ethical motivations as well as size, environmental exposure and stakeholder pressure are all important factors in explaining eco‐control practice adoption by Canadian manufacturing firms. Moreover, the results of this study show that organizations that have undertaken more intensive managerial and operational environmental actions have also adopted more intensive eco‐control practices. Organizations adopting more intensive eco‐control practices perform better both environmentally and economically performance than firms adopting less intensive eco‐control practices.     

On the interplay between environmental reporting and management accounting change

This paper investigates how environmental reporting (ER) and environment-related management accounting (EMA) practices may interact in the process of responding to disturbances of the natural environment (e.g., changes in environmental regulation, green consumerism, societal pressures for environmentally-responsible conduct). Based on data gathered in four Belgian case companies, we find that the emergence of an interplay between ER and EMA practices is related to the change pathways followed by these disturbances. Moreover, the strength of the environmental disturbances, top management commitment and the presence of an environmental champion are important contingent factors in understanding the development of a recursive relationship. Finally, the findings illustrate that an interplay between ER and EMA practices has the potential to foster or stifle organizational greening.     

Risk perception and worry in environmental decision-making – a case study within the Swedish steel industry

Sustainable development is an important issue for the industry in order to fulfil legislation requirements and to be able to use green marketing as a competitive advantage. The Swedish steel industry has implemented a large number of environmental improvements, for example, within energy efficiency, raw materials and recyclability. Technical improvements can help the industry decrease its environmental impact; however, in order to reach sustainable development, more factors need to be considered: an effective environmental decision-making process, for example. This process may be influenced by personal factors such as risk perception and worry, which are factors that will not contribute to an effective decision-making process. The aim of this study was to investigate if personal worry and risk perception influenced environmental decision-making within the Swedish steel industry. Thirty-eight interviews were performed at 10 Swedish steelworks using the Q-methodology. The major perceived environmental risks with the facility and personal worry were assessed, compared to the day-to-day work. It was concluded that the major perceived risks were emissions of carbon dioxide, use of non-renewable energy and emissions of particulate matter. The decision-makers were mainly worried about emissions of carbon dioxide, emissions of dioxin and use of non-renewable energy. The environmental issues that were prioritised in practice (day-to-day work) were emissions of carbon dioxide, emissions of particulate matter and emissions of metals. Even though emissions of carbon dioxide were given the highest priority in the Q-sorts, there was in general no clear relationship between risk perception and personal worry with the prioritised environmental issues at the steelworks. The quantitative analysis of the Q-sorts and the qualitative interviews both showed that the day-to-day work was unaffected by personal worry and risk.     

Investment decisions: The trade-off between economic and environmental objectives

While there are broader socio-political, psychological, and structural factors that influence investment decisions (see Harris et al., 2016), in line with the critical approach, this study provides an empirical insight into the notion that financialization, specifically the tendency to prioritise economic over environmental objectives, has a strong bearing on how managers view investment trade-off decisions in relation to sustainability issues. The study empirically investigates this notion by examining the investment trade–off preferences of Australian managers in relation to three decision attributes – economic outcomes (i.e. financial returns), environmental impact (i.e. carbon emissions) and stakeholder pressure to consider environmental issues. We use the discrete choice experimental method to quantify the trade-offs between the above mentioned three attributes. In addition, we also investigate the potential effect of three contingency factors on individual's preferences. Specifically, at the organisational level, we explore the effects of financial and environmental rewards and at the individual level, we explore the effect of environmental consciousness. In line with the financialization hypotheses our results indicate that managers prioritise financial returns over carbon emissions and stakeholder pressures with the preference for financial returns found to be positively associated with rewards for financial performance. However, in line with the pragmatic approach and despite the overall dominance of financial returns, there is evidence that manager's focus on financial returns can be influenced, with the preference for financial returns negatively associated with rewards for environmental performance and environmental consciousness. In addition, while stakeholder pressure was not found to be associated with any of the three contingency factors and, manager's emphasis on carbon emissions was not associated with financial rewards, manager's emphasis on carbon emissions was found to be positively associated with both rewards for environmental performance and environmental consciousness. Therefore, our findings suggest that corporate management have an important role to play, both in respect to the design of performance rewards systems and the recruitment of environmentally conscious managers, in order to promote the sustainability agenda.     

面向可持续发展的财务学:困境与出路

环境问题已经成为各个学科研究的一个热点问题,但有关环境问题的财务学探讨无论是理论还是实践都较为薄弱,滞后于我国目前提出的可持续发展的战略目标。传统财务学在处理环境问题、促进可持续发展方面正面临困境,可持续发展对财务学提出了新的要求,将环境因素纳入财务学,构建可持续发展导向的财务学路径对于改善生态环境,实现社会、企业和环境的协调发展具有重要意义。     

Organic salmon farming: risk perceptions, decision heuristics and the absence of environmental accounting

This paper reports on interviews with salmon farmers exploring their decision as to whether to adopt organic production methods. Organic salmon farming has the potential to considerably reduce the social, environmental and economic risks associated with salmon farming. Salmon farming is an industry subjected to intense scrutiny and is highly controversial. The combination of these two factors was expected to reveal the use of environmental accounting in evaluating this potentially difficult, expensive strategic decision, responding to the barrage of public criticism, driven by changing environmental regulations and a potential value shift by key actors.However, interviews revealed that going organic was regarded as a normal agricultural decision, largely based on price forecasts. The shift to organic was relatively easy, unproblematic and not too expensive. The environmental pressure groups campaigns had very little impact on this decision and it was not subjected to systematic accounting evaluation. The interviews described a sector exhibiting many of the characteristics of Beck's Risk Society thesis (1992, 1995, 1996).Decision makers’ risk perception is identified as important for considering what factors are thought to be legitimate/illegitimate and powerful/weak in the decision making process. Unless risks are considered ‘real’ by the decision makers then the associated costs/benefits of doing or not doing something are not going to figure in the decision heuristics, regardless of the nature of their calculation. Environmental accounting could play a part, not necessarily at the individual farm level, but as part of a reflexive process in reconstructing the underlying knowledge of the social, environmental and economic risks of salmon farming as a whole.     

环境污染责任保险对企业债务融资成本的影响研究

在欧美发达经济体中,环境污染责任保险在实现经济与环境可持续发展中发挥着重要作用。环境污染责任保险在中国尚处于推广阶段,企业投保意愿不强,参保率较低,急需提高企业对环境污染责任保险的价值认同。环境污染责任保险是否具有资金融通效应,是企业主动接纳该类保险的重要驱动因素。为检验环境污染责任保险能否为企业带来资金融通的价值,文章以2014~2015年沪深A股上市公司为样本,基于前环保部2014及2015年公布的投保环境污染责任保险的公司名单,探究环境污染责任保险对重污染型企业债务融资成本的影响。研究结果显示,企业购买环境污染责任保险后债务融资成本显著降低。进一步研究发现,这一影响在民营企业及法制水平较高的地区中更为显著,并且企业环境信息披露行为在这一影响过程中发挥了部分中介效应。文章的研究结论为环境污染责任保险的资金融通价值提供了直接证据,更为推广环境污染责任保险,建立环境治理的市场机制提供参考。     

The ecological transparency of the information society

A de-linking of pollution from economic growth and de-materialisation can probably be seen as the most important single characteristic of sustainable development. With regard to this, ecological transparency means understanding all human activities, processes and patterns that have an impact on the potential for sustainable development. Closely linked with this is the idea that the ecological footprint of the information society should be concerned with the environmental implications of its generations, applications and the disposability of information and communication technologies (ICTs). This paper aims at developing scenarios, and a set of criteria, plus indicators as tools for identifying various environmental impacts inherent in the information society. Furthermore, it aims for the successful unification of the positive factors of the information society with ecologically sustainable development. It is concluded that policy plans for the information society would benefit from the enhanced level of ecological transparency the information society can provide, as presented via the indicators mentioned later in the text. Further, it is suggested that prerequisites should be created for evaluating the implications of the information society and for the application of related information society technologies. Such an approach could be labelled an Information Society Assessment.     

论环境会计核算中的环境资产确认问题

环境资产是环境会计的一个重要会计要素,对环境资产的确认是研究其计量、记录与报告的基础。本文在依照会计确认标准对环境资产和环境成本的内涵进行研究的基础之上,提出只有符合资产确认标准而被资本化的环境成本才构成环境资产的主张,并围绕其相关问题进行了讨论。