企业环境信息披露的理论基础透视

环境污染是目前人类遇到的最大挑战,而造成环境污染的主要原因则是企业的工业污染,对企业的环境信息进行披露是当前环境保护的一大法宝。从环境信息披露动机来看,有强制披露和自愿披露两种。但不论是何种动机,其表象之后有着深厚的理论基础。目前政府强制要求污染企业披露环境信息,其理论依据源于一是环境规制理论;二是环境公共信托理论。环境规制源于对环境问题的市场失灵,而环境公共信托理论则强调环境资源“万民共有”的法理。此外,企业会采取自愿披露环境信息的策略,其理论依据也有两点：一是利益相关者理论;二是组织合法性理论。利益相关者对环境信息的需求是推动企业主动披露环境信息的外在动力,而企业自愿披露环境信息的内在动力,则是为了获得组织合法性。     

上市公司社会责任信息披露影响因素研究

本文以在深圳证券交易所上市的公司为样本，对上市公司社会责任信息披露程度及其影响因素进行了实证研究。研究发现，我国上市公司社会责任信息披露的总体状况较差，公司绩效、行业属性及规模是影响我国上市公司社会责任信息披露的重要因素，而独立董事比例及董事长与总经理是否二职合一两个公司治理结构变量均末表现出对社会责任信息披露的显著影响．     

Disclosure Practices by Family Firms: Evidence from Swedish Publicly Listed Firms

Abstract

I investigate the effect of family ownership on firms’ disclosure practices in their annual reports. In specific, I study Swedish publicly listed firms, which are typically characterized by controlling owners that have a strong influence in the corporate governance decisions of the firm, including corporate disclosures. To measure disclosure, I construct a comprehensive disclosure index covering information on (1) corporate governance, (2) strategic and financial targets and (3) notes to the financial statements. The results reveal that overall, family firms provide less disclosure in annual reports than non-family firms do. The finding is consistent with the premise that through their management positions, family owners can directly monitor managers and avoid costly public disclosures. Overall, the results suggest that ownership structure of firms is important to consider in understanding firms’ disclosure incentives, particularly in settings where controlling owners play a significant role in the governance of the firm.     

企业社会责任信息披露指标体系的构建

社会责任越来越受到经济社会的重视,如何计量和报告企业所承担的社会责任情况,成为了会计学科里一个新的研究热点,在分析和比较国外社会责任信息披露现状的基础上,结合国内的实际情况,参考了全球报告倡议组织（GRI）评价体系,试图从经济、社会、环境三个角度出发,分为六大类二十七小类构建出适合我国国情的企业社会责任信息披露指标体系。     

The Interpretation of Information and Corporate Disclosure Strategies

This paper analyzes a setting in which a firm's manager can credibly disclose facts, but not their valuation implications. Consequently, he is uncertain as to how those disclosed facts will be interpreted by investors. Introducing such uncertainty affects the manager's disclosure strategy in two important ways. First, it becomes a function of the market's prior valuation of the firm since that valuation provides a clue as to how future disclosures are likely to be interpreted by investors. Second, the disclosure strategy is no longer characterized, in general, by a single good news/bad news partition of the manager's private information.     

Flu Fallout: Information Production Constraints and Corporate Disclosure

Using influenza epidemic data, we examine how constraints on corporate information production affect disclosure policies. We find that firms in areas with higher flu activity are less likely to issue short-run earnings forecasts and more likely to issue long-run earnings forecasts. These results are more pronounced when the information production process is more complex, when managers face a greater reputational loss for issuing low-quality short-run forecasts, and when firms’ costs of switching the forecast horizon are lower. Further analysis implies that the effect of flu activity on these forecast issuance decisions is not driven by firm performance or information uncertainty. Our results suggest that managers do not simply avoid issuing forecasts in response to information production constraints. Instead, they shift the forecast horizon from short-run to long-run, appearing to balance the costs of issuing low-quality forecasts with those of not issuing forecasts at all.     

Corporate Social Responsibility: The Link Between Sustainability Disclosure and Sustainability Performance

This paper explores the relation between sustainability performance and sustainability disclosure within the Australian extractive industries. The study utilizes Ullmann's (1985) stakeholder framework, which depicts sustainability disclosure and performance as two components of management strategy for dealing with stakeholder demands. Consistent with this framework, we predict a positive performance–disclosure relation. Extending prior research that has utilized problematic environmental performance indices such as CEP indices or toxic emissions levels, we develop a sustainability performance index based on the International Finance Corporation's Measuring Sustainability Framework (2001). Using data from 339 mining and energy firms listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in 2006, we find that corporate sustainability performance is strongly associated with disclosure as expected. Sustainability disclosure is also greater for firms with a proactive communication strategy as manifested through press release activity. Finally, asset age and firm size are both positively associated with sustainability, consistent with predictions from the stakeholder framework.     

Quality of Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure and Cost of Equity Capital: Lessons from China

This article explores the relationship between the quality of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure and the cost of equity capital by analyzing the financial data and CSR reports of A-share listed firms in China from 2008 to 2014. The quality of the CSR disclosure is shown to be negatively related to the cost of equity capital of the listed firms. This negative correlation proves to be more prominent among firms of environmentally sensitive industries. Taking the ownership of the listed firms into consideration, it is further confirmed that the negative relationship between the CSR disclosure and the cost of equity capital is of higher significance for state-owned enterprises. Our findings also empirically demonstrate that the quality of CSR disclosure is more negatively related to the cost of equity capital among the large listed firms than the smaller ones.     

我国金融资产管理公司信息披露研究

随着金融改革的不断推进和市场的全面对外开放,我国金融资产管理公司作为商业化转型中的政策性国有金融企业,其信息披露不仅在开放的市场中不可或缺,而且也关系到其自身的经营绩效和后续发展。我国金融资产管理公司应充分认识到信息披露的意义,剖析现有信息披露制度的缺陷,通过各方共同努力提升信息披露水平。     

A New Measure of Disclosure Quality: The Level of Disaggregation of Accounting Data in Annual Reports

We construct a new, parsimonious, measure of disclosure quality—disaggregation quality (DQ)—and offer validation tests. DQ captures the level of disaggregation of accounting data through a count of nonmissing Compustat line items, and reflects the extent of details in firms’ annual reports. Conceptually, DQ differs from existing disclosure measures in that it captures the “fineness” of data and is based on a comprehensive set of accounting line items in annual reports. Unlike existing measures, which are usually applicable for a subset of firms or are based on a subset of information items, DQ can be generated for the universe of Compustat industrial firms. We conduct three sets of validation tests by examining DQ's association with variables predicted by prior literature to be associated with information quality. DQ is negatively (positively) associated with analyst forecast dispersion (accuracy) and negatively associated with bid‐ask spreads and cost of equity. These associations continue to hold after we control for firm fundamentals. Taken together, results from this battery of validation tests are consistent with our measure capturing disclosure quality.     

非财务信息披露与分析师预测——基于深市上市企业社会责任报告的实证检验

以深市上市企业披露的社会责任报告作为非财务信息的替代变量,实证检验了非财务信息披露质量与分析师盈利预测的关系。多元回归分析结果表明,企业社会责任报告披露质量越好,其分析师盈利预测越精确,并且在财务透明度低的企业中,这种正向关系更显著。这说明社会责任报告披露的这类非财务信息对分析师预测不仅具有信息含量,而且能够通过对财务信息的补充作用,缓解财务不透明对分析师预测精度的不利后果。     

社会责任信息披露对企业资本结构的影响——基于市场竞争度的视角

社会责任信息披露是企业与利益相关者进行沟通的重要渠道,亦是履行企业社会责任的重要手段,外部利益相关者可借此了解企业的经营策略。以2012年沪深两市上市公司为截面样本,通过实证研究发现：企业社会责任信息披露与资本结构之间呈现“U”型结构,且该结构在市场竞争激烈时显著,在市场竞争度低时不显著,说明市场竞争强化了企业社会责任信息披露与资本结构之间的关系。     

Environmental and Social Matters in Mandatory Corporate Reporting: An Academic Note

This note provides an overview of mandatory corporate reporting for environmental and social matters in Canada, the United States and the EU. When researchers and educators consider reporting on these matters, they often look to voluntary corporate reporting. However, we argue that a lot of related information exists in companies’ mandatory reports, either in the disclosures dictated by securities regulators, or via other required channels. Our objective is threefold. First, to describe what currently exists regarding mandatory reporting on environmental and social matters (to inform). Second, to discuss several of the current ongoing debates regarding such reporting (to encourage discourse). Third, to encourage research into the mandatory reporting of environmental and social matters.     

Disclosure Regulation and Corporate Acquisitions

This paper examines the effect of disclosure regulation on the takeover market. We study the implementation of a recent European regulation that imposes tighter disclosure requirements regarding the financial and ownership information on public firms. We find a substantial drop in the number of control acquisitions after the implementation of the regulation, a decrease that is concentrated in countries with more dynamic takeover markets. Consistent with the idea that the disclosure requirements increased acquisition costs, we also observe that, under the new disclosure regime, target (acquirer) stock returns around the acquisition announcement are higher (lower), and toeholds are substantially smaller. Overall, our evidence suggests that tighter disclosure requirements can impose significant acquisition costs on bidders and thus slow down takeover activity.     

Disclosure of Private Information and Reduction of Uncertainty: Environmental Liabilities in the Chemical Industry

We investigate the potential uncertainty-reducing role of accounting information in the context of contingent Superfund liability valuation. We first develop theoretical arguments for the way reduction of uncertainty regarding these contingent liabilities is expected to affect security prices. Empirical proxies are developed for two types of uncertainty surrounding contingent Superfund liabilities: site uncertainty and allocation uncertainty. In a valuation framework, we then investigate whether financial statement disclosures and accruals reduce uncertainty and thereby affect security valuation. Specifically, we analyze the interaction of private information contained in firm disclosures and accruals with inherent uncertainty surrounding contingent Superfund liabilities. Results suggest that in a regulatory environment allowing substantial reporting discretion, firm-provided financial statement information affects valuation of contingent Superfund liabilities by reducing uncertainty. Further, we find that information revealed through accruals versus disclosures is differentially effective at reducing site and allocation uncertainty.     

企业社会责任报告传递信息效度研究

通过分析国内上市公司2012年发布的社会责任报告与公司社会绩效的相关性来揭示社会责任报告反映信息的有效性,从而考察上市公司社会责任报告的质量水平。实证结果表明：上市公司社会责任报告与社会绩效之间存在显著关系,但社会绩效变量对社会责任报告水平解释能力较弱,表明上市公司社会责任报告存在一定的虚构内容。政府部门应加强监管,使企业社会责任行为落到实处。为认识我国上市公司履行社会责任提供了新的视角和经验证据,对于促进上市公司提高社会责任信息披露水平、积极履行社会责任具有现实意义。     

Environmental Regulations and Social Norms

The evidence suggests that a surprisingly large number of firms comply with pollution standards even though expected penalties for non-compliance are quite low. This paper establishes an environmental social norm model that embodies collective environmental actions among firms. It provides a plausible explanation for these puzzling empirical findings. In this social norm framework, we also explore how the extrinsic pricing incentive affects the intrinsic environmental morale among firms. By taking into account the crowding-out effect of pricing incentives, we show that pollution taxes may not be an effective tool in fighting pollution.     

董事会秘书与信息披露质量

2006年实施的新《公司法》从法律意义上第一次确认了董事会秘书的高管地位,董秘能否提高上市公司的信息披露质量值得深入研究。本文运用Kim和Verrecchia(2001)度量信息披露质量的方法,通过对沪深300指数成份股公司进行实证分析发现:新《公司法》实施后我国上市公司的信息披露质量得到了显著提高;董秘持股会降低信息披露质量,而董秘的年龄、任职时间、教育水平、兼任情况和相关经验等对信息披露质量没有显著影响,这说明董秘的个人特征还没有很好地发挥作用,董秘制度的实施还有待进一步完善。     

Determinants of corporate social and environmental reporting in Hong Kong: a research note

The patterns and determinants of corporate social and environmental disclosure (CSED) in Hong Kong (HK) are examined by analysing 154 annual reports of 33 HK listed companies from 1993 to 1997. The research finds that industry difference has an impact on the amount, content theme and location of CSED. There is a positive correlation between company size and the level of CSED. Utility companies disclose more CSED than property and banking firms.     

Heterogeneity of Funds and Information Disclosure: Evidence

Institutional investors, especially public funds, play an important role in governing listed firms as they grow in Chinese stock markets. We classify each fund as “dedicated,” “transient,” or “mixed,” according to the concentration, turnover, and profit sensitivity of their stock holdings. We find that listed firms with more shares held by dedicated funds have a higher disclosure quality, while firms with more shares held by transient funds have a lower disclosure quality. These findings are consistent in different model settings. In addition, dedicated funds improve the disclosure quality of non-state-owned enterprises more than state-owned enterprises. Dedicated funds can benefit from the lower debt-financing cost and higher stock liquidity of firms with better disclosure quality.