Firms’ performance following the initial resignation of independent directors: evidence from Taiwan

This study investigates the operating performance of firms listed on the Taiwan stock exchange following the initial resignation of independent directors. The results show that the firms’ operating performance following the resignation of these directors has not only deteriorated, but is also significantly below the industry average. In addition, firms with a relatively severe agency problem, including firms that have lower insider or institutional shareholdings, receive audit opinions other than unqualified opinions or change their auditors prior to the resignation of the independent directors, tend to perform more poorly following the resignation.     

上市公司声誉与自愿性信息披露——来自深市的经验证据

本文以深市A股上市公司为例,以深交所信息披露考评结果代表企业声誉,实证分析了上市公司声誉与自愿性披露水平的关系。结果发现：高质量声誉与自愿性披露水平正相关,但不显著,低质量声誉与自愿性披露水平显著负相关。在控制变量中,公司规模、扣除项后的每股收益以及独立董事人数,均与自愿披露水平显著正相关。说明我国股票市场缺乏有效的声誉激励与约束机制,在股权分置改革后,需要尽快建立信息披露的声誉激励与约束机制,促进长期稳步提高上市公司的信息披露质量,增强股票市场的有效性。     

声誉激励、财务重述与审计费用

选取2001—2016年深沪两市主板上市公司为研究样本,实证检验财务重述对审计费用的影响。结果表明：财务重述与审计费用显著正相关,发生财务重述的公司审计费用显著高于没有财务重述的公司;发生财务重述的公司具有变更事务所和购买审计意见的动机倾向,行业竞争激烈加剧了事务所间的恶意竞争,事务所有可能蓄意降低审计费用招揽有财务重述的低端公司客户;由于声誉激励效应,声誉良好的大规模事务所对财务重述的公司所收取的审计费用显著升高,形成事务所竞争的“马太效应”。     

审计师选择与设立审计委员会的自选择问题——来自中国证券市场的经验证据

本文采用Heckman(1978)的二阶段回归方法,以2002-2006年我国证券市场上市公司为研究样本,在研究审计师选择的同时控制了设立审计委员会的自选择问题,并将公司设立审计委员会的实际情况与假设的相反情况进行对比,分析它们不同的审计师选择倾向,从而间接检验了审计委员会的治理效率。研究发现:自选择问题对审计师选择存在显著的影响。因此,拒绝了公司随机设立审计委员会的原假设;在控制自选择之后,回归方程中变量的斜率系数整体上存在显著差异;并且没有设立审计委员会的公司比设立审计委员会的公司更可能聘请四大会计师事务所。     

主办券商声誉机制对新三板挂牌企业会计信息质量影响的实证研究

新三板作为完善我国多层次资本市场的重要举措,在扩宽企业融资渠道、促进实体经济 发展等方面发挥着重要作用,然而信息披露质量不完善仍是制约新三板挂牌企业发展的重要因素。 基于企业会计信息质量视角,文章以 2006-2015 年新三板挂牌企业为研究样本,探讨主办券商声 誉机制是否能够发挥相应的治理作用。研究发现:高声誉主办券商促进了新三板挂牌企业信息披 露质量的提高,而且主要体现在市场化水平较高的省份;进一步研究表明主办券商声誉对信息质 量的治理作用在协议转让与创新层企业中更为明显。研究表明主办券商声誉能够对新三板挂牌企 业发挥相应的持续督导作用,对于如何提升新三板挂牌企业信息披露质量具有一定的借鉴意义。     

考虑合谋和声誉的高能耗企业碳减排主体间博弈分析

在考虑企业和地方政府的声誉的基础上,分析了高能耗企业碳减排中各主体及其行为倾向,构建了中央政府与地方政府间、地方政府与高能耗企业间的博弈模型,并分析了两模型的混合策略均衡解。研究结果表明:提高中央政府的检查效率、降低检查成本、加大惩罚力度、提高声誉对地方政府和企业的影响、提高地方政府做假时需付出的伪装成本,可以有效制约地方政府和高能耗企业的欺骗及做假行为。最后,提出了提高高能耗企业减排积极性、避免企业与地方政府合谋行为发生的政策建议。     

地方官员更替、企业辖区知名度与股价同步性

以2009～2013年我国A股上市公司为研究样本,实证分析地方官员更替、辖区企业知名度与股价同步性的关系,结果表明:地市级政府官员变更所带来的政治不确定性会显著降低辖区企业的股价同步性,并且相对于新任官员来源于本地而言,新任官员来源于异地更能够显著地降低辖区内企业的股价同步性.进一步研究还发现,当地市级政府官员发生变更时,相对于辖区知名度较高的企业而言,辖区知名度较低的企业会披露更多的企业私有信息以应对政治不确定性风险,从而其股价同步性有了更大程度的降低.研究的结论证实了政治不确定风险的增加能够显著降低辖区内企业的股价同步性,客观上有助于提高股价的信息含量.     

Auditor Quality,IFRS Adoption,and Stock Price Crash Risk: Korean Evidence

This paper investigates the relationship among auditor quality, International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) adoption and stock price crash risk. Using 657 unique listed companies spanning 2002–2014 in Korea, this study finds that stock price crash risk decreases, especially for firms using Big 4 auditors, after IFRS adoption in Korea. Stock price crash risk decreases for a firm included in Big 4 auditors, while it does not increase for a firm excluded from Big 4 auditors after IFRS adoption. Finally, this study finds that Big 4 auditor decreases stock price crash risk only when the firm size is above-median.     

Do Audit Clients Successfully Engage in Opinion Shopping? Partner‐Level Evidence

This study investigates whether companies engage in audit opinion shopping activities by exerting influence over an audit firm's decision to switch the engagement partner (“partner‐level opinion shopping”) in the Chinese setting, where the identities of engagement partners are publicly disclosed. Adopting the empirical framework developed by Lennox [2000], we show evidence that companies successfully engage in partner‐level opinion shopping. Further, partner‐level opinion shopping is more likely to be successful if a company is economically important to an audit firm, and it is less likely to be successful if the audit firm is formed as a partnership rather than a corporation. We also find that companies successfully engaging in partner‐level opinion shopping exhibit significantly lower earnings quality. Finally, we directly compare audit records between incoming and outgoing partners and find that, for companies that successfully improve audit opinions after partner switching, incoming partners have a significantly higher propensity to issue clean opinions than their outgoing counterparts.     

Non-audit services provided to audit clients,independence of mind and independence in appearance: latest evidence from large UK listed companies

This paper investigates whether the provision of non-audit services (NAS) to audit clients impairs auditor independence of mind and independence in appearance. The main contributions of this paper are in terms of its timeliness with respect to regulatory changes, the simultaneous examination of both forms of auditor independence and the methodological innovation whereby it uses a variable derived from the level of abnormal audit fees as a moderating variable in order to capture the direct impact of the NAS fee level on auditor independence as well as how its influence is moderated by the level of unexpected audit fees. Our results indicate that auditor independence of mind is compromised by the size of NAS fees, particularly for clients who pay below the level of expected audit fee. The stock market perceives that auditor independence is compromised by NAS fees but, at the same time, additional tests indicate that there are benefits that accrue from NAS and, in particular, the relation between return and non-discretionary net income is increasing in NAS fees. The balance of evidence suggests that the European Union is correct in undertaking some reform of the auditing market.