Parent-subsidiary dispersion and executive excess perks consumption

We investigate the impact of parent-subsidiary dispersion on the corporate executives' excess perks consumption using comprehensive data of 1784 Chinese listed firms over the 2003–2017 period (i.e., total firm-year observations of 24,976). We argue that firms with greater geographic and institutional environment dispersion are subject to an acute information asymmetry problem, which makes it difficult and costly for shareholders and the public to monitor managerial actions and hence, facilitates managers to consume perks excessively. Consistent with this assertion, we find a positive relationship between parent-subsidiary company dispersion and executives' excess perks consumption. These patterns are not likely to be driven by the firms' endogenous choice and remain robust to various proxies for parent-subsidiary dispersion and executives' excess perks consumption. In addition, our results also show that firms with a greater dispersion between parent and subsidiary companies have higher investor recognition. However, investor recognition does not appear to negatively impact the rate of executives' excess perks consumption, which may explain why executives' excess perks consumption is not mitigated in firms with greater parent-subsidiary dispersion.     

Excess perks and stock price crash risk: Evidence from China

We investigate the impact of excess perk consumption on crash risk in state-owned enterprises in China. To enjoy excess perks, executives in state-owned enterprises have an incentive to withhold bad news for extended periods, leading to higher future stock price crash risk. Consistent with this assertion, we find a positive correlation between excess perks and crash risk. The findings are robust to the inclusion of other determinants of crash risk identified in the literature, such as earnings management, conditional conservatism, and firm-level corporate governance mechanisms. The results still hold after accounting for possible endogeneity issues using a two-stage least squares estimation. Earnings management (conditional conservatism) helps amplify (lessen) this impact. Moreover, better external monitoring mitigates the impact of excess perks on firm crash risk. We further find that the impact of excess perks on crash risk is more pronounced in firms whose executives are approaching retirement and persists for at least two years.     

Work‐related perks,agency problems,and optimal incentive contracts

Work‐related perks, such as corporate jets, nice offices, and so forth, improve the tradeoff between incentives and insurance that determines the optimal incentive contract. We show that (i) such perks may be offered even if their direct consumption benefits are offset by their costs; (ii) they will be offered for free; (iii) agents in more uncertain production environments will receive more perks; (iv) senior executives should receive more perks; and (v) better corporate governance can lead to more perk consumption by CEOs. Our analysis also offers insights into firms' decisions about how much autonomy they should grant to their employees.     

Public governance and executive perks under a weak corporate governance environment

We reveal state-led anti-corruption campaigns in China can mitigate excess executive perk consumption facilitated by firms' weak internal control environment. Our findings suggest that public governance can substitute for firm-level governance mechanisms. Since these campaigns enhance the central government's disciplinary power over local state-owned enterprises (SOEs), the above effects are heightened among SOEs controlled by provincial/municipal governments rather than the central government. Irrespective of political connections, non-SOEs are also affected, indicating policy effect spillover to China's private sectors. We explore several underlining mechanisms for these effects, including Communist Party Committee governance, chief executive officer/chairperson dismissal, industry competition, and firm productivity.     

党组织参与治理与国有企业金融化

本文基于中国特色国有企业公司治理视角分析党组织参与治理在解决国有企业金融化中的作用,并以2006—2018年A股国有上市公司为样本进行实证检验。理论分析方面,通过整合金融化“预防性动机”“投机动机”和“盈余管理动机”构建综合的机制分析框架。实证研究发现,党组织通过“双向进入”“交叉任职”参与治理,有效抑制了企业金融化的“投机动机”和“盈余管理动机”,显著降低了国有企业金融化程度。党组织参与治理的效果在“讨论前置”实施前后、不同层级国有企业间以及不同方式的“双向进入”安排中存在显著差异。进一步研究发现,党组织参与治理对金融资产收益率没有影响,但显著提高了风险金融资产的市场价值。本文有助于丰富和发展中国情境下公司治理理论,为抑制国有资本“脱实向虚”、促进实体经济健康发展提供了政策启示。     

The use and consequences of perquisite types in nonprofit organizations

We document perquisite use in the nonprofit sector, the determinants of that use, and the ensuing consequences. Relative to the for-profit sector, the nonprofit sector is characterized by a lack of residual ownership rights and less detailed disclosure requirements, factors that have the potential to influence this piece of the compensation package. Using a sample of over 126,000 organization-year observations from 2008 to 2018, we document that approximately 24% of organizations report providing one or more of their executives with perquisites. We find that perks are more likely in larger nonprofits with excess endowments and fewer governance policies, and less likely at organizations with more outside monitors. We also find that perk disclosure has a negative impact on future donations. However, when we decompose our analysis by type of perk, we find evidence that some perks have a positive effect on future donations. Our results are robust to a variety of alternative formulations and provide useful insights for nonprofit regulators, boards, and donors.     

State ownership and the structuring of lease arrangements

The existing literature provides extensive evidence that firms intentionally structured lease arrangements to achieve off-balance-sheet accounting treatment prior to ASU 842 (FASB, 2016) and IFRS 16 (IASB, 2016). However, this study finds the opposite for Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs): compared to non-SOEs, SOEs in China have a higher tendency to use finance leases rather than operating leases. This result remains significant after we control for the possibility that Chinese capital providers are discriminatively extending credit to SOEs in the form of finance leases. We explain SOEs' preference for finance leases by their executives' empire building incentives. Such incentives are created by the executives' hunger for compensation, promotion and subsidies, which are determined by the government. Consistently, we find that SOEs' engagement in finance leases increases with their incentives to expand the firms' size. And indeed, SOE executives obtain more compensation and subsidies by growing their firms with finance leases. Finally, we find that SOEs with higher borrowing costs structure more finance lease arrangements. Such structuring further increases SOEs' financial leverage and, to some extent, decreases their corporate value. Taken together, these results suggest that the benefit of the ASU 842 (or IFRS 16), which aims to bring leased assets onto the balance sheet, may be impaired in situations where executives have strong incentives to build empires.     

Clawback policy enforcement: To disclose or not to disclose

The SEC proposed in 2015 to require the disclosure of incentive compensation recovery efforts by companies' boards of directors. While such disclosure of enforcement can signal the effectiveness of corporate governance as the SEC suggested, firms have argued that the proposed enforcement disclosure may harm executives' reputation regardless of their involvement in misstatement because the clawback includes a no-fault clause. Results of our experimental study suggest that when the board does not disclose its clawback enforcement, investors perceive weak corporate governance, particularly when a restatement results from an intentional misstatement. This, in turn, leads investors to be less willing to invest than when clawback enforcement is disclosed. We also find that investors' perception of management reputation is not negatively affected following the board's clawback enforcement disclosure. Overall, our study provides insights into the potential effect of the SEC's proposal requiring the disclosure of clawback enforcement and addresses concerns raised in comment letters.     

Agency cost,top executives' overconfidence,and investment-cash flow sensitivity — Evidence from listed companies in China

We examine the effect of agency cost on the relation between top executives' overconfidence and investment-cash flow sensitivity using the data from Chinese listed companies. We find that on average top executives' overconfidence leads to increased investment-cash flow sensitivity. However, this relation holds only for companies with state-owned entities as controlling shareholders. In contrast, the relation is not significant for non-state controlled firms. We construct proxy for agency cost and find that state-controlled companies have significantly greater agency cost than non-state controlled companies. Results on sub-samples sorted by agency cost again show that the positive effect of top executives' overconfidence on investment-cash flow sensitivity holds only for companies that exhibit high agency cost. Our results therefore suggest that agency cost has a significant impact on the relation between top executives' overconfidence and investment-cash flow sensitivity, and the investment distortion due to top executives' overconfidence behavior may be alleviated by reducing agency cost through elevated supervision.     

高管海外经历与企业全要素生产率

依据2007-2016年沪深A股上市公司数据,考察高管海外经历对企业全要素生产率的影响。结果发现：高管海外经历正向影响企业全要素生产率。从内部制度环境角度来看,企业内部控制质量越高、薪酬制度越完善,高管海外经历对企业全要素生产率的影响越显著;从外部制度环境角度来看,高管海外经历对企业全要素生产率的影响在政府监管较好、存在机构投资者持股以及市场化程度较高地区的企业中更显著。     

Are New Tigers supplanting Old Mammoths in China’s banking system? Evidence from a sample of city commercial banks

“New Tigers” (including city commercial banks) outperform state-owned commercial banks burdened with non-performing loans from unprofitable state-owned enterprises. We study whether this is solely due to superior corporate governance (multiple shareholders versus total government ownership) or also to the favorable environment (the New Tigers target affluent China, while state-owned commercial banks operate nationwide).     

实体企业金融化行为的逆周期效应及"脱实向虚"风险研究

基于2002-2017年A股上市公司数据,利用面板固定效应回归分析方法,检验实体企业金融化行为.结果显示:实体企业金融化行为具有显著的逆周期效应,但受企业异质性影响,不同类型企业金融化行为逆周期效应具有差异性,属于轻资产、国有制、制造业以及非东部的企业,其金融化行为的逆周期效应较为突出.实体企业金融化行为会抑制固定资产及研发创新的投入,进而挤出实体资产收益.在经济周期不同阶段,实体企业金融化行为的潜在动机表现不同.在经济上行期,企业金融化是套利投资行为;在经济下行期,企业金融化可以起到平滑资金作用,但需防范实体企业过度金融化可能带来的"脱实向虚"风险.     

制度背景、在职消费与企业绩效——来自证券市场的经验证据

以2008~2013年沪市 A 股制造业为样本,通过将在职消费划分成正常、超额两部分,研究发现：以薪酬管制、冗员负担为代表的制度背景与上市公司高管超额在职消费显著正相关。并且,高管超额在职消费会显著损害企业绩效,而正常在职消费则能显著提升公司业绩,证明调和在职消费两种理论的关键在于一个合理的“度”。进一步研究发现,当前约束中国上市公司高管攫取超额在职消费的力量主要来自公司内部治理以及外在政治因素,市场化程度的提高并未能产生明显的作用。     

The Role of Auditing in Corporate Governance in Australia and New Zealand: A Research Synthesis

Corporate governance is of growing importance in Australia, New Zealand and all over the world. Corporate governance interacts with auditing and it is useful to understand how corporate governance and auditing affect companies. A related issue is whether better governance is a substitute for auditing or a complement. Previous studies of that issue have had mixed results. This review article provides a synthesis of Australian and New Zealand research about corporate governance and auditing that assesses what has been found and examines issues that can be explored using multiple studies. We conclude that despite extensive research, there is still considerable uncertainty about how corporate governance mechanisms are related to auditing and how auditing is associated with corporate governance. We conclude that recommendations for better governance (beyond a minimum level) are not yet supported by evidence. The results are intended to be helpful in providing advice about policy in Australia and New Zealand, and in determining directions for new research.     

Does the social security fund help non-financial enterprises to transform from the virtual to the real?

At its 19th National Congress, the Communist Party of China vowed to “strengthen the financial sector’s ability to serve the real economy.” However, many studies provide evidence of the opposite trend, a problematic “transition from the real to the virtual,” among Chinese enterprises. Meanwhile, the investment efficiency of China’s Social Security Fund (SSF), a public fund, attracts much attention. In this context, we use A-share listed companies in China from 2009 to 2018 to study the relationship between holding by the SSF and enterprise financialization. We find that SSF holding significantly inhibits financialization and that this effect is non-linear. Mechanism analysis indicates that SSF holding suppresses enterprises’ financialization mainly by improving their governance. Moreover, SSF holding more strongly inhibits small-scale (vs. large-scale), state-owned (vs. non-state-owned), and non-eastern (vs. eastern) enterprises in China. Furthermore, SSF holding can alleviate corporate value impairment caused by financialization. The conclusions enrich theoretical research and provide empirical evidence that may help regulatory authorities to guide investment by enterprises and prevent financial risks.     

Corporate Governance,Managers' Independence,Exporting, and Performance of Firms in Transition Economies

Using data on 157 large companies in Poland and Hungary, this paper employs Bayesian structural equation modeling to examine the relations among corporate governance, managers' independence from owners in terms of strategic decision making, exporting, and performance. Managers' independence is positively associated with firms' financial performance and exporting. In turn, the extent of managers' independence is negatively associated with ownership concentration, but positively associated with the percentage of foreign directors on the firm's board. We interpret these results as indicating that concentrated owners tend to constrain managerial autonomy at the cost of the firm's internationalization and performance, but board participation of foreign stakeholders enhances the firm's export orientation and performance by encouraging executives' decision-making autonomy.     

Government's Say-on-pay Policy and Corporate Risk-taking: Evidence from China

This paper investigates whether the restriction on executive compensation in Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) imposed by the Government's say-on-pay schemes is conducive to corporate risk taking. Using a sample of listed SOEs over the period 2005–2018, we find that the restriction on executive compensation is negatively associated with corporate risk taking, suggesting that regulatory intervention in executive pay may produce unintended consequences. Our analyses also demonstrate that this negative regulatory effect on corporate risk taking is driven by listed SOEs in the growth stage of the business life cycle and by those in the provinces with a significant degree of government intervention. An additional test shows that the negative effect of the pay restriction on risk taking disappears in the SOEs in which managers hold shares, suggesting that an alignment of interests between managers and other shareholders mitigates the negative effect of the pay restriction. Our finding is robust to a batch of tests to alleviate the concerns about self-selection and reverse causality.     

论我国商业银行内部审计制度和模式的创新

内部审计是公司治理的重要控制和监督环节,在公司治理结构中发挥着越来越重要的作用.当前,加强银行公司治理是我国商业银行改革的关键环节,如何更好地发挥内部审计在银行治理结构中的作用,从而为银行机构增加价值并促使其高效率、高质量地运转,是一个具有重要现实意义的课题.本文从既有的研究成果出发,通过考察银行治理结构和内部审计的关系及西方国家商业银行内审理念的演变趋势,针对巴塞尔新资本协议等对商业银行内审工作提出的新要求,指出我国商业银行内部审计应从财务型审计转向增值型审计,在内审理念、内审体制及方法手段等方面进行创新.     

Shareholder Rights, Boards, and CEO Compensation

I analyze the role of executive compensation in corporate governance.As proxies for corporate governance, I use board size, boardindependence, CEO-chair duality, institutional ownership concentration,CEO tenure, and an index of shareholder rights. The resultsfrom a broad cross-section of large U.S. public firms are inconsistentwith recent claims that entrenched managers design their owncompensation contracts. The interactions of the corporate governancemechanisms with total pay-for-performance and excess compensationcan be explained by governance substitution. If a firm has generallyweaker governance, the compensation contract helps better alignthe interests of shareholders and the CEO.     

Does Internal Corporate Governance Complement or Substitute for External Auditing? Evidence from China's Anti‐corruption Campaign

Two competing hypotheses have been developed for the relationship between internal corporate governance and external auditing. One proposes a complementary relationship, while the other suggests it is substitutable. This study takes advantage of China's recent anti‐corruption campaign as a quasi‐natural experiment to explore this relationship. Using a difference‐in‐differences approach, we find that, after the campaign, internal corporate governance improved more in SOEs (state‐owned enterprises) than in non‐SOEs. SOEs were less likely to choose Big 10 auditors after the campaign, while audit firms assigned less experienced auditors to their SOE client firms and charged lower audit fees. These effects were more pronounced in SOEs that exhibited greater improvement in corporate governance. Overall, we find the anti‐corruption campaign improved corporate governance in SOEs but, at the same time, reduced external audit quality, which supports the substitution view. We argue that this result might be driven by the fact that SOEs have limited demand for high‐quality accounting information because the Chinese government maintains strong control over the capital markets.