审计独立性 会计信息质量与市场反应

会计盈余信息有用性的研究都是以无差别的审计服务和盈余作为现金流的替代指标为前提的。本文放宽了这些假设,通过模型建立、实证研究,经验地研究了审计独立性与市场反应的关系。研究结果发现,除非预期盈余具有信息含量外,审计意见具有增量的信息含量,尤其是非标审计意见的影响。     

Auditing standards,increased accounting disclosure,and information asymmetry: Evidence from an emerging market

The interest in accounting disclosure and audit quality by academics, practitioners, and regulators heightened following the various financial reporting scandals, and subsequent legislative and professional response to these scandals. An important question is whether the implementation of stricter auditing standards such as those mandated by the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act would improve the information environment of firms whose shares are publicly traded. In this paper, I investigate the link between information asymmetry, measured by bid-ask spread, and increased accounting disclosures following the adoption of new auditing standards in China—an environment in which disclosure hitherto was relatively low. I report the following primary results of the statistical analyses. First, information asymmetry cost is substantial in the Chinese order-driven emerging markets. Second, the firms in the sample experienced significant reductions in their bid-ask spreads subsequent to the adoption of the new auditing standards. Third, the reductions in the bid-ask spreads were abrupt and permanent. However, no significant result is found for firms in the control group with foreign ownership, whose financial statements were prepared in accordance with international accounting standards and were audited with international auditing standards. The results have implications for policy makers and regulators in general, and those in emerging markets in particular.     

Expected earnings growth and the cost of capital: an analysis of accounting regime change in the European financial market

This study focuses on the relation between the cost of equity capital and earnings expectations when the properties of accounting that determine earnings vary across different regulatory regimes. More particularly, it addresses the European setting where different types of GAAP regime have continued to function in the presence of the gradual harmonization of the underlying legal framework, and where the adoption of internationally recognized accounting standards by certain firms has anticipated the requirement for International Financial Reporting Standards. On the basis of estimates of the cost of equity that are implied by analysts' earnings forecasts, the article provides evidence that financial market integration may have already contributed to mitigating the economic consequences of accounting diversity, and that switching to IFRS could have a short lived impact on capital markets. Moreover, based on firm level transparency and disclosure rankings provided by Standard and Poor's, it is shown how the quality of financial reporting conditions the implied cost of equity under different GAAP.     

Accounting decoupled: A case study of accounting regime change in a Malaysian company

Using a case study of accounting regime change in a Malaysian company, this paper analyses how an accounting regime was changed to overcome an instance of decoupling that management of the case company perceived to be problematic and, despite certain technological and managerial improvements, why the accounting regime yet remained decoupled from the control of core operations. Through an eclectic use of ANT, neo-institutionalism and political economy, it demonstrates that accounting remains decoupled from operational processes because of the particular manner in which accounting is constructed and enabled; the ostensive characteristics of accounting objects around which performativity of accounting is defined; and the organisational context, which involves certain ‘political imperfections’ that cannot be narrated within organisational apparatus of modernity. Accounting, being an apparatus of modernity, finds it difficult to codify such ‘imperfections’ and to offer an operational doctrine to govern the real business processes that are embedded within these ‘imperfections’. Hence, it remains decoupled from core operational activities but performs an important role of insulating ‘political imperfections’ with which business operates.     

Manufacturing shareholder value: The role of accounting in organizational transformation

This paper explores the role of accounting calculations in constructing shareholder value within the context of organizational transformation in work organization. Using an intensive longitudinal case study (Conglom, a pseudonym), the paper relates innovation and experimentation in new forms of work organization to a drive for shareholder value creation. The priority given to shareholder value creation was articulated through a proliferation of accounting metrics and calculations that intermediated between the strategic preoccupation with securing financial profitability, as demonstrated by the share price, and the operational challenge of squeezing costs and improving margins to boost short-term performance through outsourcing, programme management and divestment. We interpret the discourse of shareholder value creation and the development of related accounting metrics as a hegemonic move which is central to the reassertion of capital – a development that, we contend, is symptomatic of a shift towards a more ‘despotic’ mode of capitalist reproduction [Burawoy, M., (1985). The politics of production. London: Verso], where the whip of the market, allied to notions of possessive individualism, free choice and self-determination, progressively replaces the velvet glove of the corporatist state.     

Changes in the value relevance of accounting information over time: Evidence from the emerging market of China

We investigate the changes in the value relevance of accounting information among Chinese firms over the past two decades, during which accounting reforms are launched to provide decision makers with increased disclosure and higher quality financial information. We also investigate the factors that differentiate firms showing significant value relevance improvement from firms showing little improvement. We find increases in the value relevance of some financial variables and decreases in others, which suggests that accounting numbers help to explain the pricing process of stock shares although at different levels. In addition, we find that value relevance improvements are more pronounced for smaller firms, firms with lower growth rates, and those with greater asset tangibility. We also document that value relevance improvements are generally lower in an exuberant stock market. These results have implications for a variety of information users and policy makers in emerging countries which are reforming their accounting systems.     

The options market response to accounting earnings announcements

We examine the reaction of the equity options market to accounting earnings announcements over the period 1996–2008 using changes in implied volatility to measure the options market response to earnings news. We find that positive earnings surprises and positive profit announcements produce a larger uncertainty resolution than negative earnings surprises and loss announcements. We demonstrate an inverse relation between the change in implied volatility and earnings news in a three-day window immediately after an earnings announcement. We refer to the magnitude of this relation as the ‘options market earnings response coefficient’. This ‘options market earnings response coefficient’ is stronger for both bad news announcements and positive profit announcements. We do not find any significant relation between changes in implied volatility and earnings news in the pre- or post-announcement periods. We conclude that the options market efficiently absorbs earnings information.     

A comparison of value relevance of accounting information in different segments of the Chinese stock market

This paper investigates the difference in the value relevance between the accounting information prepared and audited under the Chinese GAAP for A-share investors and under the international accounting standards (IAS) for B-share investors in the Chinese stock market. The study reports three primary findings. First, accounting information influences the pricing process in both the A-share market and the B-share market. Second, the accounting information in the B-share market is more value relevant than that in the A-share market, as expected. Finally, the value relevance level of accounting information in the A-share market was low in earlier years, peaked in 1996, and then decreased due to changes in the disclosure environment. However, the value-relevance level of accounting information in the B-share market had no substantial changes. Using a constant sample, control variables on firm features, and measures of traders' behavior, we obtain robust results. These findings have implications for policymakers on recent moves toward replacing local GAAP with the IAS.     

The accounting and market consequences of accelerated share repurchases

We evaluate the representational faithfulness of the accounting treatment of a recent and well-established type of structured transaction—accelerated share repurchases (ASRs). ASRs are popular because accretive earnings per share benefits are recognized immediately, while any gains or losses on the forward contract used to execute an ASR bypass income, and are reported directly in equity. We document lower value relevance for the liabilities of ASR companies compared with a size- and industry-matched sample. ERC tests also indicate a market discount for the earnings of ASR companies compared with the control sample. Finally, we document significant abnormal returns to a trading strategy based on unrealized gains or losses on ASR transactions. Our results indicate that the current accounting for ASRs does not result in representative reporting of these transactions. As a result, financial statement users might benefit from recognition of ASR elements in financial statements.     

Pension plan solvency and extreme market movements: a regime switching approach

We develop and test a new approach to assess defined benefit (DB) pension plan solvency risk in the presence of extreme market movements. Our method captures both the ‘fat-tailed’ nature of asset returns and their correlation with discount rate changes. We show that the standard assumption of constant discount rates leads to dramatic underestimation of future projections of pension plan solvency risk. Failing to incorporate leptokurtosis into asset returns also leads to downward biased estimates of risk, but this is less pronounced than the time-varying discount rate effect. Further modifying the model to capture the correlation between asset returns and the discount rate provides additional improvements in the projection of future pension plan solvency. This reduces the perceived future risk of underfunding because of the negative correlation between interest rate changes and asset returns. These results have important implications for those with responsibility for balancing risk against expected return when seeking to improve the current poor funding positions of DB pension schemes.     

The market for public accounting services: Demand,supply and regulation

An analysis of the market for public accounting services is derived from agency theory. The theory shows that owners and their agents (employees) benefit from monitoring. Furthermore, the owners and managers of enterprises bear the cost when potential investors and users of financial statements (outsiders) fear that those in control operate the enterprise contrary to the interests of the outsiders. The demand for public accounting services is derived from these concerns. The public accountants' comparative advantages in providing this service, the structure of the market supplying the service, and the nature of the demand for its regulation follow from the initial analysis. In the last part of the paper the staff reports of the 1972 U.S. House of Representative (Moss) and Senate (Metcalf) committees are examined and compared with the available evidence.     

管理会计的核心价值:信息变成利润

在银行业务处理实现了信息化的今天，各家银行日益感觉到管理信息化的落后严重制约了银行的发展。过去，银行通过不断更新自己的金融产品来扩大市场份额；今天，在经济全球化的大环境下，很少有哪家银行拥有别人没有的产品。尽管金融机构的规模和资产不断扩大，但其盈利能力逐渐下降，竞争也变得愈加激烈。随着对新经济模式认识的深入，银行逐渐认识到，     

Fair value accounting: Simulacra and simulation

The paper examines the application of simulacra and simulation in fair value accounting for financial instruments in the U.S. As copies of copies, simulacra problematize the notion of an original and with it an imaginary of a single authentic reality. We examine simulacra as they have been applied in two interconnected fair value accounting arenas. Firstly, simulacra employed as a measurement basis for certain financial instruments. In this regard, we challenge the FASB's insistence that fair value accounting is an originary market based measurement system. Secondly, we examine the process of simulation as employed by the FASB in copying and amending FAS 157 in its subsequent modifications to the guidance provided to the preparers of financial statements. Our purpose here is to both reinforce the absence of a market reality and also to illustrate how the FASB's subsequent modifications to FAS 157 were shaped by political forces. We conclude with some suggestions as to how simulacra and a politicization process might be productively embraced in future fair value accounting endeavors.     

The value relevance of dirty surplus accounting flows in The Netherlands

Recently the Dutch financial reporting standard setters have taken steps to make dirty surplus accounting flows more visible to parties outside firms, either by eliminating their possibilities or by requiring comprehensive income-type statements. These steps are presumably based on the idea that dirty surplus accounting flows are relevant to investors and hence have to be visible to them.Whether dirty surplus accounting flows are indeed relevant in firm valuation is an empirical issue. This paper, therefore, explores both the incremental and relative value relevance of dirty surplus accounting flows for the Dutch listed firms in the period 1988–1997, when their existence was relatively unhindered.We find consistent evidence that both reported income and clean surplus income are relevant in explaining stock returns, though reported income seems a more relevant measure of returns in the period considered.The results suggest that aggregated dirty surplus flows are not associated with stock returns with accumulation intervals up to 10 years; however, asset revaluations and currency-translation differences are at times incrementally relevant to returns.     

论会计市场的市场细分及进入策略

市场细分是市场学中的一个概念,最早由美国著名市场学家温德尔·斯密提出.由于会计师事务所同一般的企业一样处于激烈的市场竞争中,同样面临市场细分的问题.会计市场中的不同需求群体对会计服务需求的多样化以及会计服务本身的多样化迫使会计师事务所进行市场研究,发现需求者的需求差异,有针对性地提供不同的服务.本文介绍了市场细分原理以及会计师事务所如何对会计市场进行细分以求发展的策略.     

美国《多德-弗兰克法案》域外管辖效力对衍生产品市场的影响

2012年6月29日,美国商品期货交易委员会（CFTC）发布《关于〈多德-弗兰克法案〉中掉期相关规则域外效力影响的指引（草案）》,进一步明确了美国监管者对与美国实体进行衍生产品交易的外国机构的管辖权,体现了美国干预他国金融机构治理和金融监管体系的政策走向。《指引》的出台引起大部分非美国的金融机构和监管机构的反对和质疑。文章围绕《指引》的内容,分析其出台背景、原因,及其对其他国家市场造成的潜在影响,并对我国发展衍生品市场提出相关对策建议。     

Fair value accounting and the present value fallacy: The need for an alternative conceptual framework

The major functions of company accounting identified by the IASB and the FASB are (1) reporting on ‘the custody and safekeeping’ of the company's resources and (2) reporting on ‘their efficient and profitable use’. The joint IASB/FASB project for improving the conceptual framework for financial reporting is directed towards better performance of both functions within the conventional ‘accrual’ system of accounting through the use of ‘fair value’. Although the disclosure of fair values is a development to be welcomed, the requirement that changes in fair value should be reported as ‘gains’ or ‘losses’ appears to rely on the ‘Hicksian’ concept of income as a theoretical ideal.The object of the present paper is to establish that this concept is fundamentally flawed by what may be called the ‘present value fallacy’. Even in an economic utopia of perfectly competitive markets (with no discrepancies between objective market values and subjective present values), the concept of income or profit as value growth can be seriously misleading.If the prevailing Hicksian conceptual framework is discarded in favour of an alternative based on Fisher's theory of income, the two major, but incompatible, functions of financial reporting can be carried out independently and without compromise. The conventional ‘hybrid’ system of accrual accounting, in which backward-looking measures of volume and forward-looking measures of value are mixed together, would be replaced by a ‘segregated’ system in which they are kept strictly apart. A logical extension of Fisher's theory suggests the disclosure by agent/managers of the return on investment that they are planning to deliver to their principal/owners. This type of ‘decision-useful information’ is vital for the efficient operation of capital markets and for removing the accounting incentive to short-termism.     

证券市场与会计行为的规范:来自美国的经验

会计行为倾向历来与会计主体的组织形式直接相关.随着证券市场的建立并日益发达,公司上市制度的逐步完善,企业的所有权变得不但非常分散,而且极不固定.从所有权的角度看,每一个上市公司几乎都具有全社会公众拥有的性质.