内部控制、审计师行业专长、应计与真实盈余管理

本文以2008至2009年中国A股上市公司为研究对象,研究内部控制和审计师行业专长对应计和真实盈余管理的治理作用,并进一步探讨内部控制和审计师行业专长对应计和真实盈余管理的治理是以替代方式还是以互补方式来发挥作用。研究发现:首先,高质量的内部控制有助于抑制公司的应计盈余管理行为,但对真实盈余管理的抑制作用较小。事务所的行业专长能同时抑制公司的应计和真实盈余管理行为。其次,内部控制与审计师行业专长在抑制公司的盈余管理方面存在互补关系,而不是替代关系,即公司的内部控制越好,越有助于发挥审计师行业专长对应计和真实盈余管理的治理作用。     

公司治理、机构投资者与盈余管理

本文选取沪深两市2003至2005年(非金融类)上市公司的数据,采用最小二乘法和二阶段回归方法,对公司治理、机构投资者与盈余管理三者的关系进行了实证研究。研究发现:机构投资者在一定程度上参与了上市公司的治理,其持股比例与公司治理水平呈正相关关系,说明机构投资者的持股比例越高越有助于提高公司治理水平;公司治理水平与盈余管理程度呈负相关关系;机构投资者的持股比例与盈余管理程度呈负相关关系,说明机构投资者能有效地抑制管理层的盈余管理行为。     

机构持股、终极产权与内部控制缺陷

依据机构持股具有的"有效监督"假说和"利益冲突"假说,本文从三个维度实证检验机构持股对内部控制缺陷的影响。研究发现:机构持股与内部控制缺陷显著负相关,大机构投资者(持股比率大于3%)对内部控制缺陷的抑制作用更强,验证了机构持股的"有效监督"假说;与非独立型机构投资者相比,独立型机构投资者对内部控制缺陷的抑制作用更大;与短期机构投资者相比,长期机构投资者更能抑制内部控制缺陷的产生。此外,终极产权性质会影响机构持股对内部控制缺陷的治理监督作用,总的来说,机构持股对内控缺陷抑制作用在非国企中更为明显,且不同类型机构持股对内控缺陷抑制作用在国企与非国企中存在差异。     

社保基金持股对上市公司盈余管理的治理效应

社保基金作为证券市场上主要的机构投资者之一,能否发挥机构投资者对上市公司的治理效应,实现其社会效应愈发被社会各界所关注。本文从社保基金持有上市公司股票前后公司盈余管理变化的角度来衡量社保基金持股对上市公司的治理效果。研究结果表明社保基金与其他投资机构者一样发挥了监督作用,能够积极参与公司治理,有效抑制盈余管理,提高公司的治理水平,同时发现,国有持股比例、公司规模对社保基金的这种治理效应也有一定影响。     

机构投资者、信息披露与盈余管理

本文以反映公司治理效率的信息披露与盈余管理作为关注要点,深入研究了机构投资者持股的治理效果问题.本文研究表明,机构投资者持股公司的盈余管理程度显著低于无机构投资者持股公司,并且盈余管理程度随着机构投资者持股的增加而显著降低.本文还检验了机构投资者持股能否有效提高公司信息披露的质量,发现机构投资者持股公司的信息披露质量显著高于无机构投资者持股公司,而且信息披露质量随着机构投资者持股的增加而提高.本文还发现,机构投资者持股公司信息披露对于盈余管理的监控作用更为显著,并且随着机构投资者持股的增加促进作用更为明显.以上发现意味着目前我国机构投资者已经参与到公司治理中,并在一定程度上发挥了积极的治理作用.     

机构投资者的治理效应研究述评:盈余管理视角

本文在综合分析了国内外学者对公司治理、机构投资者和盈余管理三者关系的基础上,认为机构投资者在一定程度上参与了公司治理,其持股比例越高则在公司治理中发挥的作用越大,越有助于提高公司治理水平。在公司治理水平高的公司,盈余管理行为受到有效的监督;而公司治理水平低的公司则为盈余管理提供了环境和机会。     

中美内部控制信息披露比较研究——基于纽约证券交易所中国上市公司的考察分析

与美国证券交易监督委员会内部控制信息披露要求相比,我国内部控制信息披露虽然包括财务报告以及非财务报告内部控制这样更广的信息内容,但缺乏对披露内容的分层规范与划分;虽有董事会的责任声明,却欠缺具体管理层责任人的评价意见与责任声明。对于在纽交所上市的中国公司,内部控制信息披露存在的问题主要体现在财务报告内部控制的实质性缺陷以及审计报告的披露两个方面,纽交所和上交所交叉上市的公司内部控制信息披露状况则较好,只是内部控制评价依据的披露不佳。     

社保基金持股与企业盈余质量:A股上市公司的证据

本文利用中国A股上市公司2006-2015年的数据,研究社保基金持股对上市公司盈余质量的影响。我们用上市公司财务重述作为测度盈余质量的指标,发现社保基金持股能够显著降低企业发布财务重述的概率,这表明社保基金对上市公司盈余质量的提高具有促进作用。并且,社保基金的这一治理作用在国有企业、内部治理水平较差以及市场化程度较低地区的上市公司中更加显著。通过双重差分模型和安慰剂检验等方法弱化了内生性问题之后,以上结论依然成立,说明社保基金持股和盈余质量提升之间存在因果关系,我们称之为社保基金的公司治理作用。进一步研究发现,社保基金可以通过抑制控股股东资金占用、增加机构调研次数等途径提升被持股公司的盈余质量。本文有助于认识和评估社保基金持股对于上市公司的监督与治理作用。     

内部控制对股权结构与盈余质量的传导效应

以2007～2009年我国深沪A股上市公司为研究样本,引入中介变量的研究方法,检验并揭示内部控制对股权结构影响盈余质量的中介传导作用。结果发现:第一大股东持股比例越高,内部控制水平越低,盈余质量水平越低;股权制衡能力越高,内部控制水平越高,更利于提高企业的盈余质量;机构投资者持股比例越高,企业的内部控制水平越高,但盈余质量越低。总体看,内部控制对股权结构与盈余质量具有传导效应,但是显著性存在差异,对股权结构中的第一大股东持股比例、机构投资者持股比例与盈余质量的中介传导效应要显著高于对股权制衡能力与盈余质量的中介传导效应。     

内部控制、应计盈余管理与会计稳健性

本文从会计稳健性角度出发,实证研究内部控制有效性的经济后果。结果发现,与其他利益主体相比,公司管理层由于直接参与公司经营管理,是公司信息优势一方,同时其与其他利益主体之间的利益冲突是的其有动机和可能性进行盈余管理。而内部控制作为一项内部治理机制,对管理层机会主义行为有一定约束作用,从而有利于会计稳健性水平的提高。本文研究也表明,应计盈余管理对会计稳健性有负向,而内部控制质量的提高则有助于提高会计稳健性水平。     

Do institutional investors reinforce or reduce agency problems? Earnings management and the post-IPO performance

This study investigates the dual roles of institutional investors in earnings management during initial public offerings (IPOs). Research suggests that institutional investors play a monitoring role in the corporate governance of firms by mitigating earnings management to reduce agency problems. However, institutional investors have incentives to opportunistically maximize their wealth by manipulating earnings when firms engage in IPOs. Results suggest that institutional investors facilitate accrual-based earnings management before IPOs but restrain earnings management after their issuance. We also find that firms with high institutional ownership experience superior post-IPO stock returns and operating performance, thereby suggesting that the capital market positively prices the monitoring function of institutional investors after IPOs, and the performance of these firms is improved. Our results are robust to controlling the endogeneity problem of institutional investors and further identifying active institutional investors.     

Corporate diversification,institutional investors and internal control quality

This study investigates the relationship between corporate diversification, institutional investors and internal control quality. Using a sample of firms disclosing internal control information from 1999 to 2011, the results show that corporate diversification is positively associated with the likelihood of internal control weakness. Moreover, this relationship is stronger (weaker) when firms have higher transient (dedicated) institutional ownership, indicating that transient (dedicated) institutional investors increase (mitigates) the internal control problems arising from diversification. This study contributes to the literature by providing evidence on the role of corporate diversification in the quality of internal control.     

Institutional Ownership Type and Earnings Quality: Evidence from Iran

Institutional ownership is an important factor in corporate governance. Institutional investors play important roles in firms because of their substantial shareholdings and their capability to monitor managers. However, the question is whether they are capable of monitoring the managers. The literature has provided different evidence for the monitoring role of institutional investors. This study attempts to provide insights into the monitoring roles of institutional investors by examining the relationship between institutional ownership and earnings quality on the Tehran Stock Exchange. Institutional investors are classified into two groups, namely active institutional investors and passive institutional investors, based on their monitoring power in Iran. A multidimensional method is used to measure the various aspects of earnings quality, such as earnings response coefficient, predictive value of earnings, discretionary accruals, conservatism, and real earnings management. The results show that institutional ownership has a positive effect on earnings quality. Similar to total institutional ownership, active institutional ownership has positive effects on proxies of earnings quality. Nonetheless, passive institutional ownership does not have any power to affect earnings quality. Moreover, lead-lag tests of the direction of causality suggest that institutional ownership leads to more earnings quality and not the reverse.     

Legal protection of investors,corporate governance,and the cost of equity capital

This study examines the effect of firm-level corporate governance on the cost of equity capital in emerging markets and how the effect is influenced by country-level legal protection of investors. We find that firm-level corporate governance has a significantly negative effect on the cost of equity capital in these markets. In addition, this corporate governance effect is more pronounced in countries that provide relatively poor legal protection. Thus, in emerging markets, firm-level corporate governance and country-level shareholder protection seem to be substitutes for each other in reducing the cost of equity. Our results are consistent with the finding from McKinsey's surveys that institutional investors are willing to pay a higher premium for shares in firms with good corporate governance, especially when the firms are in countries where the legal protection of investors is weak.     

Institutional investor type,earnings management and benchmark beaters

This paper classifies institutional investors into transient or long-term by their investment horizons to examine the association between institutional investor type and firms’ discretionary earnings management strategies in two mutually exclusive settings – firms that (do not) use accruals to meet/beat earnings targets. The results support the view that long-term institutional investors constrain accruals management among firms that manage earnings to meet/beat earnings benchmarks. This suggests long-term institutional investors can mitigate aggressive earnings management among these firms. Transient institutional ownership is not systematically associated with aggressive earnings management and is evident only among firms that manage earnings to meet/beat their earnings benchmarks. This indicates transient institution-associated managerial myopia may not be as prevalent as posited by critics. This study highlights the importance of explicitly considering the type of institutional investor and the specific setting when investigating the association between institutional ownership and corporate earnings management.     

保险治理与公司违规——董事高管责任保险的治理效应研究

公司治理机制被认为是影响公司违规的重要因素,然而董事高管责任保险作为一种重要的外部治理机制,是否会影响公司违规尚未得到充分研究。本文研究发现董事高管责任保险显著降低公司违规概率,符合监督效应假说。经工具变量法、Heckman两阶段模型和倾向得分匹配法稳健性检验,上述结论依然成立。影响机制分析表明,董事高管责任保险显著降低了公司违规倾向,显著增加了违规后被稽查的概率,并降低了上市公司的第一类代理成本。对董事高管责任保险的监督职能做进一步分析发现:(1)董事高管责任保险对上市公司经营违规和领导人违规的监督效应更为显著,但对信息披露违规的治理作用并不显著;(2)董事高管责任保险发挥的监督职能与股权属性和保险机构股东治理存在替代效应,与外部审计师治理和董事长CEO二职分离存在互补效应;(3)分组检验结果表明,董事高管责任保险对公司违规的监督效应在外部监管环境较差或者公司内部信息透明度较高的情况下更加显著。本文既提供了保险合约通过公司治理渠道影响公司违规的证据,同时也表明保险机构通过董事高管责任保险为中国资本市场提供了一种较为有效的公司外部治理机制。     

Minority Stockholders' Protection in a New Corporate Control Law: Market Implications in an Emerging Economy

This paper analyzes the effect of a new corporate governance law in the emerging capital market of Chile to determine if capital markets perceived the intended protection of minority stockholders against wealth expropriation as effective. The unique nature of the new law allowed for voluntary adoption during the initial three-year period, after which it became mandatory. We find no evidence of superior abnormal returns for those firms voluntarily adopting the new law versus those forced to accept the new law as it became mandatory. Trading volume also increased for those not adopting and declined for those that did voluntarily adopt. These results indicate that the capital markets did not perceive voluntary adoption of the new law as effective protection for minority shareholders. We also find a greater presence of institutional investors in the ownership structure of those firms not voluntarily adopting the new law, indicating their monitoring role by investing in firms with better corporate governance practices. Our results suggest that, in the Chilean case, the presence of strong institutional investors is as effective a corporate governance mechanism as is the new law.     

Information asymmetry,mutual funds and earnings management: Evidence from China

This paper investigates how information asymmetry and mutual fund ownership affect listed companies’ earnings management. We show that (1) reducing information asymmetry improves firms’ earnings management behavior; (2) relative to short-term mutual funds, long-term mutual funds promote earnings quality by adopting a monitoring role; and (3) by dividing firms into high/low information asymmetry groups, we find that the information environment significantly increases the effect of long-term mutual funds on firms’ earnings management. In this paper, we provide new evidence for the role that institutional investors play in a typical emerging capital market. Our results have clear policy implications: to increase earnings quality, it is essential to improve information transparency and develop long-term institutional investors.     

环境信息透明度与企业信用评级——基于债券评级市场的经验证据

基于2008至2015年期间公司债券发行主体的信用评级数据和手工收集的上市公司环境信息数据,本文研究了环境信息透明度对企业信用评级的影响。研究结果显示,公司获得高信用评级的概率与其环境信息透明度显著正相关;环境信息传递出公司的特质风险、盈余持续性以及盈余质量等信息,从而影响评级决策。进一步研究发现,环境信息透明度与企业信用评级之间的正相关关系在内部控制质量高、具有高质量外部审计的公司中更显著。采用工具变量两阶段回归方法、公司固定效应模型以及倾向得分配对方法控制内生性后,上述结论依然成立。此外,本文发现环境信息透明度可通过影响企业信用评级降低公司的债券融资成本,环境信息透明度对企业信用评级和债券融资成本的影响在污染行业中显著更强。上述研究发现有助于拓展环境信息披露对市场中介行为影响的相关研究,对认识非财务信息在资本市场中的作用和推进节能减排提供了重要参考。