审计委员会:本原性质与作用机理

本文研究审计委员会的本原性质和其在公司治理中的作用机理,并剖析以美国为代表的现行审计委员会制度安排。本文分析指出,审计委员会的本原性质在于,它是代表股东利益直接负责企业外部会计事务,并享有企业内部会计事务的消极权力,从而确保注册会计师对经理人的独立性,以降低企业治理成本。审计委员会的作用机理则需基础于其本原性质而设计。而以美国为代表的现行制度安排下的审计委员会不是符合本原性质的审计委员会,其性质是经理人为履行自身向股东等诚实报告之受托责任而专设的职能管理机构。     

上市公司内部治理结构与会计信息质量的关系研究

公司内部治理结构是基于股东大会、董事会、监事会和经理层之间的正式制度安排,除此之外的其他利益相关者之间的非正式制度安排则是公司的外部治理机制。公司内部治理结构与会计信息质量之间有着密切的联系,完善的公司治理是提高会计信息质量的保证,高质量的会计信息是高效公司治理的基石。上市公司的股权结构、董事会和监事会、独立董事制度和审计委员会与会计信息质量密切相关,完善上市公司治理结构是提高会计信息质量的有效途径。     

上市公司内部治理结构与会计信息质量的关系研究

公司内部治理结构是基于股东大会、董事会、监事会和经理层之间的正式制度安排,除此之外的其他利益相关者之间的非正式制度安排则是公司的外部治理机制。公司内部治理结构与会计信息质量之间有着密切的联系,完善的公司治理是提高会计信息质量的保证,高质量的会计信息是高效公司治理的基石。上市公司的股权结构、董事会和监事会、独立董事制度和审计委员会与会计信息质量密切相关,完善上市公司治理结构是提高会计信息质量的有效途径。     

审计委员会职责再造与关系梳理

我国将产生于一元结构下的审计委员会嵌入二元治理结构而打造的“监事会+审计委员会”模式,无论是强化董事会对经理层的控制,还是弥补现行监事会机制设计及其运行中的缺陷,都是一种现实的选择。但是,要使审计委员会机制植入我国公司治理框架后产生浑然天成的效果,实现监督资源最有效地配置,必须依托于审计委员会职责界定和关系定位。本文在专家调查的基础上,提出审计委员会职责再造与关系梳理的建议。     

我国上市公司治理结构改革路径分析

一、公司治理结构简述公司治理结构的内涵可从广义和狭义两个角度来理解。广义的公司治理结构是指剩余控制权和剩余索取权等一整套制度安排,这些安排决定公司的经营目标、谁在什么状态下拥有对公司的控制权;狭义的公司治理结构是指有关公司股东大会、董事会与经营者的职能、结构与权利等方面的制度安排。具体而言,它主要是由股东大会、董事会、监事会以及以总经理为代表的经理阶层组成的一种企业组织结构。     

中美上市公司治理模式剖析

从本质上讲，公司治理结构是有关公司控制权和剩余索取权分配的一整套法律、文化和制度性安排，涉及到所有者、董事会和高级执行人员即高级经理人员三者之间权力分配和制衡关系。表现为明确界定股东大会、董事会、监事会和经理人员职责和功能的一种企业组织结构。     

论证券公司的法人治理结构

广义上的公司法人治理结构是指：有关公司剩余索取权[对企业剩余(总收益减去固定合同支付)的要求权]和控制权[主要指选择和监督代理人(经理层)的权力]分配的一整套法规、文化和制度安排。狭义上的公司法人治理结构是指：公司董事会、监事会、股东大会以及经理层的功能、结构与权力分配等方面的制度安排。本文仅对狭义上的公司法人治理结构进行研究。     

论内审质量控制在公司治理和风险管理中的作用

一、内部审计质量控制与公司治理(一)内部审计是完善公司治理结构的重要力量公司治理结构是一套制度安排,用来支配若干在企业中有重大利害关系的团体,包括投资者、经理、工人之间的关系,并从这种联盟中实现各自的经济利益。公司治理结构应包括:如何配置和行使控制权;如何监督和评价董事会、经理人员和职工;如何设计和实施激励机制。目前公认的比较完善规范的公司内部治理结构,由股东大会、董事会(经理层)和监事会组成。     

基于决策、执行、监督分离治理模式下的企业内部审计地位探讨

公司治理是依据企业产权关系建立起的一种权力制衡结构。我国的公司治理主要有以监事会为核心和以董事会(独立董事)为核心的两种结构模式。在公司治理中,内部审计与企业投资人及其他利益关系人不存在直接的委托与受托关系,其本身并不能单独成为一个合格的治理要素。内部审计与总经理为代表的经营管理系统是一种功能"抵消"和"消溶"的关系,与以董事会为代表的决策系统则是一种功能"排斥"关系,而与监事会或审计委员会位代表的监督系统却是一种功能"互补"和"融合"的关系。因此,内部审计只有依附于监督系统而成为监督支持系统和监督信息系统,才能成为一个合格的治理要素。     

上市公司外部审计制度变革：基于公司治理的思考

公司治理与外部审计制度密不可分。当前，上市公司治理结构的不完善，是导致外部审计制度的固有缺陷，造成审计质量低下的重要原因。本文从上市公司外部审计制度与公司治理的关系出发，以公司治理角度对现行外部审计制度进行分析，提出公司治理决定了审计制度，审计制度对公司治理又会起到积极作用，健全的审计制度可以促进公司治理的完善的观点。鉴于上市公司治理的现实状况。本文提出以监事会为中心、以董事会为中心与以独立董事为中心的三种外部审计制度模式。以期重新构建上市公司内部治理框架．提高审计机制运行效率．     

Auditing in the United States: a historical perspective

This article reports several archival auditing discoveries and episodes, including significant previously unpublished ones, in a context that relates auditing to early corporate enterprises in the United States. While the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's reliance on its audit committee of directors from its inception in 1827 and the functions of the auditing committee of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad in the 1850s are the principal subjects of the article, other railroad examples are also provided. These uses of auditing in the early corporate United States provide materials which provide a useful perspective for today's accounting researchers and practitioners as to the fundamental control and governance values of the auditing function. The article advances the basis for explaining the origins and development of auditing in the United States.     

The impact of corporate governance on Internet financial reporting

This study examines the association between corporate governance mechanisms and disclosure transparency measured by the level of Internet financial reporting (IFR) behavior. We measure corporate governance by shareholder rights, ownership structure, board composition, and audit committee characteristics. We develop a disclosure index to measure the extent of each sample firm’s IFR by presentation format, information content, and corporate governance disclosures. Results indicate that firms with weak shareholder rights, a lower percentage of blockholder ownership, a higher percentage of independent directors, a more diligent audit committee, and a higher percentage of audit committee members that are considered financial experts are more likely to engage in IFR. The findings suggest that corporate governance mechanisms influence a firm’s Internet disclosure behavior, presumably in response to the information asymmetry between management and investors and the resulting agency costs. Additional exploratory analysis indicates that the association between corporate governance and IFR varies with firm size. Our results suggest that new regulatory guidance in corporate governance leads to improved disclosure transparency via IFR.     

An Investigation of Audit Committees' Oversight Responsibilities

Audit committee performance has come under close scrutiny in recent years from a variety of policy-makers, interest groups and researchers. In particular, the adequacy of audit committee oversight has been challenged. At the same time, audit committees are under pressure to increase the scope of their oversight work. This study examines audit committee oversight from the internal perspective of active U.S. audit committee members. A two-part survey used Wolnizer's (1995) list of seventeen prescribed audit committee objectives related to accounting and reporting, auditors and auditing, and corporate governance in general as a basis to assess audit committee members' abilities to recognize their assigned objectives and explore their perceptions of the key tasks and issues currently addressed by audit committees. The results indicate that audit committee members appreciate the importance of all audit committee members having sufficient expertise in oversight areas related to accounting, auditing and the law. However, some respondents agreed they lacked sufficient expertise in many or all of these areas. In addition, the findings indicate that audit committee members tend not to recognize their assigned responsibilities, but agree with the proposed expansion of committee responsibilities. Using a multimethod approach, internal control evaluation was consistently listed and ranked as the most important oversight responsibility. These findings provide insight into the priority perceived by audit committee members as to their oversight responsibilities, and the adequacy of U.S. reporting disclosures as signals of audit committee work.     

内部控制框架的构建

内部控制的嬗变告诉我们 :保证会计信息的真实性是内部控制发展的主线 ,会计控制是企业内部控制的核心 ,内部控制目标随公司治理机制的完善呈多元化趋势。内部控制框架与公司治理机制的关系是内部管理监控系统与制度环境的关系。内部控制框架在公司制度安排中担任内部管理监控的角色 ,成为公司管理中不可缺少的部分。在内部控制框架的构建中 ,应采取双管齐下和分步走的战略。内部控制框架构建中应抓住的关键问题是 ,健全管理机构 ,厘清管理权责 ;确立董事会在内部控制框架构建中的核心地位 ;内部审计机构设置与科学定位 ;强化预算管理 ;建立具有操作性的道德规范与行为准则。     

Increasing the role of auditing in corporate governance

While critical accounting research has long been vitally interested in relationships between accounting, auditing and control of business organizations, mainstream research in accounting, finance and management has only recently displayed an increased interest in questions of corporate governance. The notion of corporate governance typically employed in mainstream research focus on enhancing benefits to shareholders. The structure and the functioning of boards of directors, and audit committees of such boards, are primary concerns within this line of research. This paper presents an alternative view of corporate governance and the role of auditing within corporate governance. We argue that the role of auditing should be increased in order to enhance the control of corporations for the benefit of all stakeholders and society generally.     

A study of the relationship between corporate governance structures and the extent of voluntary disclosure

The primary objective of this study is to test a theoretical framework relating four major corporate governance attributes with the extent of voluntary disclosure provided by listed firms in Hong Kong. These corporate governance attributes are the proportion of independent directors to total number of directors on the board, the existence of a voluntary audit committee, the existence of dominant personalities (CEO/Chairman duality), and the percentage of family members on the board. Using a weighted relative disclosure index for measuring voluntary disclosure, the results indicate that the existence of an audit committee is significantly and positively related to the extent of voluntary disclosure, while the percentage of family members on the board is negatively related to the extent of voluntary disclosure. The study provides empirical evidence to policy makers and regulators in East Asia for implementing the two new board governance requirements on audit committee and family control.     

Accounting conservatism and voluntary corporate governance mechanisms by Australian firms

This study examines the relationship between voluntary adoption of selected corporate governance mechanisms and accounting conservatism for a sample of firms listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) over the 11‐year period prior to the promulgation of the ASX Corporate Governance Council Good Governance Principles and Best Practice Recommendations in 2003. Using four accounting and market‐based accounting conservatism measures, our results provide evidence of both conditional and unconditional conservatism in accounting reporting for Australian firms. We find that voluntary audit committee formation, increasing board independence and decreasing board size are positively associated with unconditional accounting conservatism and negatively related to the degree of conditional conservatism. Our results support the contention that firms voluntarily adopting perceived best practice corporate governance mechanisms employ unconditional accounting conservatism as a complimentary agency control device and are consistent with the observed negative association between the unconditional and conditional forms of accounting conservatism practice.     

Board Monitoring and Earnings Management Pre- and Post-IFRS

In this paper, we address the question of whether the board of directors is more effective in constraining earnings management after the mandatory application of IFRS. Specifically, we explore how two board characteristics — board independence and (2) the existence of an audit committee impact earnings management. Our empirical results suggest that board independence and audit committees play an important and effective role in reducing earnings management after the introduction of IFRS and that the accounting regulatory framework significantly contributes to the effectiveness of the two corporate governance mechanisms. Our findings also confirm that a company's corporate governance characteristics remain an important determinant of earnings quality; therefore, an analysis of the effects of new regulations must consider firm-level determinants.