The Informational Role of Short Sellers: The Evidence from Short Sellers’ Reports on US‐Listed Chinese Firms

Using US‐listed Chinese firms as the setting, this paper studies a novel channel through which investors can acquire information about firms’ financial reporting quality, that is, the reports published voluntarily by short sellers. I find that short sellers tend to target firms that have financial reporting red flags and that exhibit ‘good’ operating performance and stock valuations. Targeted firms experience an average three‐day cumulative abnormal return (CAR) of ?6.4%, and ?13.6% for initial coverage of the firm, and the CARs are more negative when the reports allege more severe misconduct of the firms. Non‐targeted firms also experience losses in value following short seller reports, especially when they hire the same non‐Big 4 auditors as targeted firms and when their earnings quality is poor. In comparison, analysts fail to perform proper due diligence and are much less effective than short sellers in exposing misreporting risk in Chinese firms.     

Financial crisis and accounting quality: Evidence from five European countries

This study investigates how the economic crisis affects the scope for earnings manipulation and the value relevance of reported financial numbers for companies that are audited by a big 4 auditor. The analysis is focused on Portuguese, Irish, Italian, Greek and Spanish listed companies. The findings show that Portugal, Italy and Greece tend to engage more in earnings management in their effort to improve their lower profitability and liquidity, and accommodate their higher debt and growth. Ireland exhibits less evidence of earnings manipulation, while the findings for Spain are to some extent conflicting. Additionally, the reported financial numbers of Portuguese and Greek companies that are audited by a big 4 auditor were found to be of higher quality before the crisis. In contrast, Irish, Italian and Spanish companies report more value relevant financial numbers during the crisis. The results of this study are particularly useful for accounting regulators when preparing accounting rules that seek to reduce information asymmetry and earnings manipulation and increase the quality of reported disclosures in light of a crisis and for investors that need further assistance for the establishment of a profitable investment strategy in periods characterized by high uncertainty and volatility.     

Modus operandi of transnational transfer pricing for window dressing

A goal of transfer pricing may be to maximize after tax revenue by setting transfer prices that reduce the total tax paid. ＂Transfer pricing＂ is the pricing of products or services provided by one division to other division of the same corporate entity. Most of the corporate entities are using the method of ＂Window dressing＂, which is a technique used in preparation of financial statements of corporate entities. A transnational corporation is any enterprise that undertakes Foreign Direct Investment （FDI）, owns or controls income gathering assets in more than one country, produces goods or services outsides its country of origin, or engages in international production. Profitability of the transnational corporate entities is being manipulated by the technique of transfer pricing. Abuse of transfer prices is a key tool used by the corporate entities to think that they have virtually no profit; hence, they shouldn＇t pay any taxes. India needs to realize the fundamental need for co-operation among tax administrations in order to remove the obstacles that international double taxation presents to the free movement of goods, services and capital between various countries. In this context, one needs to consider that transactions among associated enterprises may take place under different conditions from those taking place among independent enterprises, while enforcing the act of transfer price mechanism. This paper focuses on transfer pricing and its implications in transnational transactions.     

Relationship between positive psychological capital and creative performance

Despite considerable attention to the creative process and its relationship with personal characteristics, there is no published study focused directly on the relationship between the recently recognized core construct of psychological capital (PsyCap) and creative performance. Drawing from a large (N = 899) and heterogeneous sample of working adults, this study investigates PsyCap and its components (i.e., efficacy, hope, optimism, and resilience) as predictors of creative performance. Overall PsyCap predicted creative performance over and above each of the four PsyCap components. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are considered. Copyright © 2010 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The spillover effect of financial information in mergers and acquisitions

In this study we investigate whether and how a firm's investment activities are affected by the financial information of peer firms on merger and acquisition (M&A) efficiency. Using changes in M&A accounting performance to measure efficiency, we find a positive association between the post-M&A accounting performance of an acquiring firm and that of previous peer acquirers. We show that this spillover effect is derived from peer firms with improved rather than poorer post-M&A accounting performance. We also find that the spillover effect varies with the characteristics of both the acquiring and the peer firms. The effect is stronger when the peer firms are larger, are non-SOEs (vs. SOEs), have improved accounting performance after M&As and undertake M&As with unrelated (vs. related) entities, and when the acquiring firms are smaller, non-SOEs (vs. SOEs) and have poorer accounting performance before M&As.     

多元化并购、资源基础与制造企业服务化转型——基于fsQCA的多案例分析

为探究制造业企业通过并购实现服务化的转型路径,以2014至2018年制造企业并购服务企业并购事件为研究对象,运用组态思维和fsQCA方法整合服务型资源质量维度与服务型资源整合维度的5个前因条件,讨论前因变量组合与制造业服务化转型之间的复杂因果机制。结果表明,制造业服务化转型存在3条转型路径,即研发能力驱动型、财务能力驱动型和服务化经验驱动型。通过分析路径和典型案例发现：在评估服务型资源质量时,标的方的盈利能力、研发能力存在替代效应;并购方财务柔性在基于并购的服务化转型中具有重要作用;并购方服务化经验有助于并购整合。     

中国金融结构问题与M2/GDP偏高现象研究

上世纪90年代中期尤其是1997年之后,流动性过剩和资产价格剧烈波动成为中国经济运行中的典型现象,表现为货币供给量的变化和实体经济变量即产出和物价变化的脱节———M2/GDP偏高现象。根据宏观经济学的分析框架,货币总量与名义GDP之比作为衡量流动性过剩的尺度,反映了货币供求状态与实体宏观经济总量之间的关系。当流动性过剩成为持续现象时,说明相对于实体经济形成的总供给,货币市场持续出现超额供给,即货币市场提供的一部分货币资金没有流向实体经济,或投入到实体经济的货币资金没有形成真实的商品供给。由于现代货币制度下,货币供给量与金融体系提供的信贷规模和信贷资金流向紧密联系。因此考察流动性过剩现象应该更多关注金融结构,进而金融资源的配置方式和效率的变化。本文结合金融结构发展情况分析中国M2/GDP偏高现象,揭示金融结构发展中的问题并提出相应对策。     

M2M消防远程监控系统的应用

文章把M2M的概念引入消防远程监控系统中应用,消防远程监控系统通过运营商网络将各建筑物内独立的火灾自动报警系统联网,在监控中心内对所有联网建筑物的火灾报警情况进行实时监测,对消防设施进行集中管理。